Through visionary leadership from the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, our revered Mauna Kea mountain is home to a new astronomical facility.  The Hoku Ke`a telescope, which contains a 36-inch diameter mirror at the Cassegrain focus, is a refurbishment of the old 24-inch AirForce telescope (which was the first astronomical telescope placed on Mauna Kea).

The new telescope is designed to provide both education and research services to the students and faculty of the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. Specifically, we discuss how we will use this new telescope to help us teach astronomy to our UHH students, by actively engaging them in cutting-edge research at a world-class astronomical facility. We will also explain how this facility will champion the philosophy of "it takes a village to raise a child" by developing strong and lasting ties with local schools, continuing education centers and community leaders. By encouraging the UHH physics and astronomy students to develop their scientific learning and educational experiences, they can then go out into the community and use them to ignite the fire of curiosity in our local school kids and adults alike. We will show that an on-going theme of the education/research benefits of the Hoku Ke`a telescope will be to raise awareness among our students and among our local community of the unique Native Hawai'ian heritage we all enjoy, from their use of the stars and night-sky for agriculture, time-keeping and of course oceanographic navigation.