This competition seeks to:

● Support the development, expansion, and integration of microbial research into dissertation, thesis, or postdoctoral projects;

● Foster scientific communication and marketing skills through the public promotion and pitch of their research;

● Cultivate transdisciplinary collaborations that integrate multiple knowledge systems—including cultural, ecological, historical, and computational perspectives—to investigate microbial dynamics and their role in sustaining resilient ecosystems and communities.

Proposals must clearly identify a pressing Hawaiʻi-based problem and articulate how their research will address it through a microbiome-focused solution with measurable, translational impacts. Projects should emphasize the potential benefits of their research to Hawaiʻi’s ecosystems, communities, or industries, and demonstrate how microbial science can contribute to sustainable, place-based solutions.

We encourage submissions from graduate students and postdoctoral trainees across all disciplines. While applicants do not need to be in STEM fields, proposed projects must center microbes as foundational drivers of a biological or physical process and demonstrate clear pathways to impact in Hawaiʻi. Proposals should reflect C-MĀIKI’s holistic, place-based approach by leveraging Hawaiʻi’s unique ecology, geography, and cultures to advance microbiome science and increase scientific literacy.