PISCES’ Akamai Intern Kylie Higaki is originally from Pearl City, Oahu and currently studies Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University.
PISCES wrapped up an intensive summer internship last month with Akamai intern Kylie Higaki, an Oregon State University student from Oʻahu studying Environmental Engineering.
Over seven weeks, Kylie worked with PISCES to research Hawaiʻi island basalt samples and determine their usefulness as a feedstock in basalt sintering construction. Under the mentorship of Geology Technician Kyla Edison and Ops. Manager Christian Andersen, she learned the fundamentals of planetary geology and applied that knowledge to catalog the mineral and chemical compositions of basalt found at three locations on Hawaiʻi island. Kylie then applied sintering techniques to these samples to determine which worked best as an ISRU construction material.
On Aug. 8, Kylie previewed her final presentation of the project with two special guest visitors at PISCES headquarters: DBEDT deputy director Mary Alice Evans and the Office of Aerospace Development’s new coordinator, Chung Chang.
On the following day, Kylie was among 38 interns who presented the results of their Akamai Internship projects at the program’s annual symposium held in Hilo.
Other organizations that provided students with work in the program included HELCO, NELHA, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Institute for Astronomy, Liquid Robotics, Akabotics, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). TMT provided significant funding support for the Akamai program.