In July 2023, then 16-year-old Corina Kayin Liang sat in a darkened Iwilei theater viewing Oppenheimer, the acclaimed drama thriller. She was on a field trip with 30 local high school students in the College of Social Sciences’s four-week Academy for Hawaiʻi Intelligence Studies (AHI) Summer Program. Liang remembers watching the movie with apprehension and dread. “When the first nuclear bomb was detonated, I was trying to grasp the magnitude of what had just been unleashed,” said Liang, now a senior at University Laboratory School. “I was struck by the willingness of those scientists and officials to gamble all of humanity, despite the small possibility that the bomb could have set off an endless chain reaction and destroyed the world.”
One year later, Liang learned about another new four-week AHI program at UH Mānoa, this time in IT Cybersecurity. In July 2024, she was thrilled to be notified of her acceptance, with 26 other O‘ahu and Maui high schoolers. Significantly, she was the only participant to attend both AHI summer programs. One memorable field trip this year was to the Honolulu office of Booz Allen Hamilton, a global technology and professional services company. “We learned about the latest technologies, ranging from an AI simulation that modeled different scenario strategies, to a new virtual reality cockpit for flight training,” said Liang, now 17. “We also did a fun Lego-building activity to demonstrate the challenges and importance of clear communication.”
The two AHI programs – the first housed in the Department of Political Science and the second administered by the Mānoa Academy in CSS and the UH Mānoa Department of Information and Computer Science — were open to rising juniors and seniors in high school students statewide. Both the Intelligence Studies and IT Cybersecurity courses were free to participants, thanks to funding from local and national donors. They featured multiple field trips, and networking opportunities with industry experts to complement in-class learning.
“Since the College’s top priority is student success, I’m so proud that we are preparing Hawaiʻi students to enter high-demand professions in national intelligence and cybersecurity,” said CSS Dean Denise Eby Konan. “The AHI programs are prime examples of how working with community partners can empower our young people in their future careers, even before they step foot on a university campus.”
AHI-SP Intelligence Studies
- Expanded from 30 high school participants in 2023 to 40 in 2024 from Hawaiʻi, predominantly from the neighbor islands. The Intelligence Studies program included a three-week online component and an immersive in-person residence week on the UH Mānoa.
- The high-schoolers explored the basics of international relations and national intelligence, laying a solid foundation for future studies and careers.
- Participants who successfully completed the program earned three college credits for POLS 120: Introduction to World Politics, the first course in the intelligence studies sequence at CSS.
- The program was free to participants, thanks to funds from UH and UH Foundation, including from donors to the Social Sciences Fund. In addition, the Pacific Intelligence and Innovation Initiative (P3I) covered expenses including registration fees, tuition, on-campus housing, and airfare for neighbor island participants. P3I is a public-private partnership focused on developing a professional workforce in national intelligence, IT, cybersecurity and data.
AHI-SP Cybersecurity
- Attracted 27 participants from local high schools in its first year in summer 2024, led by faculty and staff from CSS, and Kapi‘olani and Windward community colleges.
- The course was offered online and asynchronously, allowing students to access and complete coursework at their own pace and on their own schedules. Topics of study included the basics of information flow, confinement, information assurance, malicious programs, vulnerability analysis, network security and writing secure programs.
- Participants who successfully completed the program earned three college credits for ICS 426: Computer System Security.
- Expenses covered for AHI-SP IT Cybersecurity participants – including registration, tuition/fees and transportation to field trips – were paid through P3I with the support of Hawaiʻiʻs congressional delegation.
Now that Liang has completed both AHI summer courses, she is ready to face her college future armed with clarity and conviction. While she hasnʻt yet finalized her university of choice, Liang is considering UH Mānoa to study both the social and natural sciences. Perhaps she may double-major in political science and neuroscience, possibly public health, she said.
Whatever her eventual professional career pathway, she would definitely recommend next year’s AHI programs to local high school students. “The courses diversified my perspectives, challenged my understanding of the world, and instilled a deep appreciation for the complex factors that drive society,” said Liang. “I now better understand the interplay of the humanities and science.”
Registration for AHI programs in 2025 will begin in February 2025. For more information on both the Intelligence Studies and Cybersecurity programs in 2025, contact Jaret K.C. Leong, CSS director of Manoa Academy and Aloha Pathways, at jaretl@hawaii.edu or (808) 956-3687.
