Uni receives quarter million lab funding despite widespread NSF cuts
12 Oct 2025
America’s Hawai’i Pacific University (HPU) has received a two year grant of nearly US$243,780 for rare earth metal research designed to boost undergraduate experience of professional lab work.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund the study of photoredox separation methods together with undergraduate student research stipends.
Equivalent to £186,000, it will centre on the separation of group 4 metals, consisting of just four elements including titanium, zirconomium, hafnium and rutherfordium.
These play a role in the construction of nuclear reactors, but also in electronics, batteries, LEDs, and wind turbines.
Said HPU assistant professor of chemistry and principal investigator of the grant Kimberly Mullane: “The separation challenges we’re addressing are very similar to those faced with rare earth metals.
“Right now, the U.S. imports about 70 percent of these elements from China. If we can make separation more efficient, it would have a major impact.”
A key part of the investment is the opportunity to improve students’ involvement in real lab research, added Mullane.
Three students will receive US$8,000 stipends to conduct research for 10 weeks, with four in the next round. They will also have the chance to present their work at the American Chemical Society’s national meetings in Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans and San Diego.
The university emphasised that its lab opportunities were not limited to “top tier” students but also those “who may have struggled early on in their academic careers”.
Unlike large state universities, where only top-tier students are selected for research, HPU states it offers lab opportunities even for those “who may have struggled early on in their academic careers”.
A small, privately funded university, HPU has a strong armed forces connection thanks to its Military Campus Program for service personnel, veterans and their families. Its alumni include the current Director of National Intelligence, former servicewoman Tulsi Gabbard.
The award comes at a time when the Federal government has reversed swathes of NSF research grants provided to some of the country’s best-known institutions.
Loss of the research funding has resulted in court actions in states including California and Massachusetts, as well as Washington DC.
Pic: Vlad Chetan
