Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM)

Sea Of Dreams Foundation, Inc., Waianae HI

Investigators

Abstract

Richard L. Radtke University of Hawaii at Manoa Dr. Radtke effectively balances his time between scientific research and community/youth education in a highly productive way. He engages students, parents and teachers in his laboratory, in the field, in his global expeditions and in countless civic presentations, schools visits and public television programs. Dr. Radtke works with a diverse student body including undergraduate and graduate students. He has mentored more than eighty youths with physical disabilities. He has inspired blind youth to paddle canoes; youth with mental health needs to control their emotions; and Deaf students to share their observations in American Sign Language. Dr. Radtke is an outstanding role model, particularly for physically disabled youth, since he too is severely disabled due to multiple sclerosis and has been paralyzed from the neck down since the mid 1980's.