Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Recipient 2025: Travis Kuo

The Paubox Kahikina Scholarship helps Native Hawaiian students pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and Tech in general. Its purpose is to offer financial support and create a strong network for these students. The scholarship makes education more affordable and connects students with professionals, giving them valuable opportunities to learn and grow in their chosen STEM or Tech fields. This scholarship is about more than just money; it's about building a community and empowering Native Hawaiian students to succeed in STEM or Tech careers.

See also: The big ideas behind the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship

As a recent graduate and scholarship recipient, Travis will move on to attend Washington University, where they will double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with Mathematics. Here is a word from Travis: 

“Aloha kākou! My name is Travis Kuo and I am honored to be a recipient of the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship for the class of 2025. I'm currently a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis pursuing a double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science + Mathematics. I am extremely grateful for this scholarship as it will enable me to pursue more of my interests and focus on my studies.

Challenging problems have always intrigued me throughout my academic journey, and throughout middle school and high school, I found that in my school's math team. Entering college, it seemed liked the natural extension of that was computer science, so my first semester, I took a bunch of CS courses.

While I enjoyed learning about algorithms, programming paradigms, and building projects, I missed the mathematical rigor from my math classes, and was also itching to learn things outside of the digital space. That semester, I ended up really enjoying the intro electrical engineering class I took on a whim, and gave electrical engineering a chance for the next semester.

My favorite classes from that semester were my math proofs class and my engineering design class. It was a nice contrast, getting to think abstractly to rigorously to prove foundational aspects of calculus in my math class, while prototyping an autonomous vehicle in my engineering class. This further solidified my decision to continue learning more in all of these subjects.

As a Hawaiʻi native, this summer, I wanted to explore the opportunity of a career in engineering back at home, and I had an amazing summer interning at HDR, an engineering firm, where I worked on power delivery and resilience projects for electrical circuits in Maui.

This year, I've been indulging in exploring more fields that interest me and learning as much as I can. I have been working as an undergraduate researcher in the Micro/Nano Photonics lab, helping on a project that utilizes hyperspectral imaging techniques and machine learning as a method to exponentially speed up certain medical imaging procedures, aiding effective diagnosis. This has been exciting to work on as this could potentially positively impact the lives of many.

I've also joined the school's rocketry team on the airbrakes subteam, working on coordinating sensors with a PID controller and developing custom hardware. Along with my classes in computer architecture and electronic circuits this semester, I've become increasingly interested in hardware design, especially how hardware and software can be optimized together to achieve certain tasks. In the near future, I'd love to explore the hardware and embedded systems industry.

In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, cooking, swimming, and arranging music for my a cappella group!

Sometimes, being on the continent is a little isolating, so I am so grateful to Paubox and the Kahikina Scholarship for fostering a community of Native Hawaiian in STEM that I know I can reach out to. Mahalo nui again for the support, as with less financial pressure to work while in school, I am able to pursue my goals and interests!”

Read more: Paubox Kahikina Scholarship Recipient Reflection | Travis Kuo