Maunakea Observatories Join UH Mānoa College of Engineering for Career Expo

Last month, Maunakea Observatories joined the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa College of Engineering’s Career Expo in Honolulu. Hosted twice a year, the Career Expo is an important event for connecting UH Mānoa Engineering students with jobs, internships, and co-op opportunities in Hawaiʻi and beyond.

Staff from various MKO telescopes, including W.M. Keck Observatory, University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA), and Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT), tabled at the Expo, aiming to show students the wide range of positions and job possibilities across MKO operations. Staff members, like Keck Mechanical Engineer Ellie O’Brien and IfA Mechanical Engineer Raycen Wong, provided students a peek into what an engineering degree could lead them to in the future.

“The Career Expo is a great opportunity for the Maunakea Observatories (MKO) to connect with new students as well as the larger STEM community in Hawaiʻi,” said Mary Beth Laychak, the Maunakea Observatories Internship Coordinator and primary organizer of MKO’s booth at the Career Expo. 

MKO has participated in the Career Expo for a number of years now, and over time, their goals for the event have shifted. “At first, we [MKO] thought we should only attend if we had active jobs posted,” Laychak explained. But after discussing with Brennon Morioka, the Dean of the College of Engineering, and his team, “we realized that career awareness was a huge part of the Career Expo.” 

“Students weren’t aware that working at the MKOs was a viable career path for engineering students,” she explained. Representation is critical for inspiring upcoming graduates, and showing them the opportunities available on island can help these students put their new degrees to work.

For Mary Beth, it’s also a great opportunity to reconnect with former students she has met through directing the Maunakea Scholars program, a groundbreaking astronomy education program that gives students the opportunity to conduct their own research using the Maunakea telescopes. She recently won the 2024 ATHENA Leadership Award for her work with Maunakea Scholars, which you can read more about here. 

Mary Beth was delighted to see ten Maunakea Scholars alumni at the Expo who stopped by the MKO booth, all of whom are now UH Mānoa College of Engineering students. “It was incredible to see the number of students who decided to pursue engineering as a major in college,” she said. “The goal of Maunakea Scholars has always been to empower students to see themselves as people who can do STEM.” Maunakea Scholars students have gone on to publish their research, receive Hōkūala scholarships, attend the International Science Fair, and graduate with degrees in astronomy.

It’s important to Mary Beth that Maunakea Scholars continues to be a part of students’ academic and professional lives. “It’s a huge testament to the impact of Maunakea Scholars on their lives that students decide to stop by and say hi. For many students, this is how they stay connected to the program,” Mary Beth elaborated. “I often tell former scholars that I’m around and available as long as they’d like. I still talk to a handful of the students well after they’ve graduated from college — one just got engaged!”

Chriselle Nagata, the program manager of the Akamai Workforce Initiative, also staffed the MKO booth with Mary Beth. Akamai provides summer internships for college students from Hawaiʻi to gain work experience at one of the telescopes. Akamai scholars are paired with a mentor and collaborate on an eight-week project. These projects cover a variety of interests, ranging from robotics to machine learning to electrical engineering.

Since Akamai was created in 2003, its programming has also built a community of dedicated mentors who can welcome students into observatory-related careers. Akamai’s commitment to nurturing the future of STEM professionals was highlighted in 2018 when the program received a Presidential Award for excellence in STEM mentoring.

Akamai aims to connect local students with local STEM jobs, a goal that’s deeply needed in Hawaiʻi right now. Investing in local college students through programs like Akamai and Maunakea Scholars supports the “specific workforce needs that come with Hawai‘i observatories.” 

Programs like Maunakea Scholars and Akamai are great pathways for students to gain confidence in their abilities working in STEM and understand the diversity of career pathways within the observatories. “Both programs are incredible opportunities for students to see what a career at MKOs could look like,” Mary Beth said. “One can work as an astronomer, but that isn’t the only option. We also need electricians, instrument specialists, engineers, and software developers.” 

For the MKOs, regularly showing up at events like the Career Expo demonstrates to students that the observatories are committed to helping them pursue a STEM career in Hawaiʻi. Many of the other vendors at the Career Expo are governmental – state agencies, federal agencies, or the military – or large companies like Boeing and Hawaiian Airlines. “When we show up to these events and connect with students, we show them that there are opportunities at home here in Hawaiʻi for them, and that we care,” Mary Beth explained.

The MKOs will be attending several high school career expos and events in the next few weeks, and the applications for the Akamai internship will be opening shortly. Mary Beth is working on creating an MKO-wide internship program, which will create a number of recurring positions for high school and college students in the future.

Events like the Career Expo are amazing opportunities for young, promising students to see the wide range of careers their engineering degree can unlock. As Mary Beth said, “It all connects to the larger mission of showing local students that there’s a place for them in astronomy on island.”