UH, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency sign landmark partnership agreement

from UH News August 19, 2025

The University of Hawaiʻi System and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) have officially entered into a new Education Partnership Agreement aimed at enhancing science and technology education while advancing DPAA’s critical mission of accounting for missing U.S. personnel from past conflicts.

The five-year agreement, signed on August 19, by UH President Wendy Hensel and DPAA Director Kelly K. McKeague, creates a formal framework for collaborative research, educational enrichment and workforce development. Under the agreement, UH students and faculty will gain access to DPAA’s scientific expertise, state-of-the-art facilities, data collections and assignment opportunities, while DPAA will benefit from UH’s innovation initiatives, academic resources, and talented staff and students.

“This partnership exemplifies how state and federal institutions can work together to inspire and nurture the next generation of researchers and public servants,” said Hensel. “Through hands-on experience and direct mentorship from DPAA experts, our students will be uniquely positioned to contribute to a mission rooted in honor, science and service.”

This agreement will also allow DPAA to continue to work with UH on joint efforts to develop new methods and technologies to support DPAA’s personnel recovery operations. Since 2021, DPAA partnered with the UH Mānoa’s Department of Anthropology to develop Cambodia’s archaeological capacity through the Cambodian Completion Initiative, which enables Cambodian archaeologists to potentially lead investigative and recovery-type accounting operations in their home country.

More recently, DPAA also worked with the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine’s Willed Body Program to develop a database of isotopic signatures of Hawaiʻi-based individuals to establish comparisons with continental U.S. American and Asian populations to help in DPAA’s efforts to distinguish Asian American personnel missing from World War II and the Korean War.

“The Daniel K. Inouye Center of Excellence, located at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, is the preeminent forensic science laboratory in the world,” said McKeague. “Through this strategic partnership with UH, DPAA is able to leverage their cutting-edge academic research and technological innovation to advance our humanitarian mission. This collaboration also provides unique educational and professional development opportunities for students and researchers who are passionate about public service and science.”

The UH and DPAA Education Partnership Agreement connects academic talent with real-world challenges, and fosters an environment where academic discovery and national service go hand in hand.

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Educational Partnership Agreement between the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the University of Hawaii

News Release from Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, August 21, 2025

HAWAII   –  The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the University of Hawaii signed an Education Partnership Agreement on Aug. 19, 2025, establishing a collaboration that advances DPAA’s critical mission of identifying missing U.S. personnel while expanding educational and research opportunities for students and faculty.

“Today, we celebrate the beginning of an important new partnership between the University of Hawai‘i and DPAA,” said UH President Wendy Hensel. “One that will strengthen science and technology education, expand training and research opportunities, and open new career pathways for our students.”

The agreement grants UH students and faculty unprecedented access to DPAA’s world-class forensic laboratories and cutting-edge equipment. Students will gain hands-on experience through internships and research projects, while faculty will collaborate on fieldwork and advanced scientific studies.

Hensel noted the partnership builds on years of collaboration between UH and DPAA, including efforts to strengthen Cambodia’s archaeological workforce and the creation of isotopic databases to better identify Asian American service members missing from World War II and the Korean War.

DPAA Director Kelly McKeague emphasized how the partnership adds to the agency’s 130 existing academic and scientific affiliations.

“By mutual benefit, DPAA gains the extraordinary capabilities of the UH system—such as isotope analysis—to help us find more missing Americans and bring them home to their families.”

McKeague underscored the scope of DPAA’s mission, noting that more than 37,000 U.S. service members remain unaccounted for.

“Those aren’t just numbers,” he said. “Each case is challenged by time and the environmental degradation of remains. Yet each one represents a promise we must keep.”

He illustrated the humanitarian impact by recalling the identification of U.S. Army Pfc. Roland Bowser, who died in a North Korean POW camp and was buried this summer at Arlington National Cemetery—75 years later.

“His 89-year-old brother and 77-year-old sister buried him two weeks ago,” McKeague said. “Despite waiting decades, his sister told us she never lost hope.”

“Through this educational partnership agreement, thank you to the University of Hawaii system for contributing to that hope,” McKeague concluded.

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SAS: University of Hawaii students to aid Pentagon’s war-dead recovery mission | Stars and Stripes

SA: UH signs agreement with military’s POW/MIA agency | Honolulu Star-Advertiser