HWEA is one of the 17 member associations that make up the Hawaii Council of Engineering Societies (HCES). HCES has been in existence since 1965 and is celebrating its 55th anniversary this year. HCES publishes the monthly Wiliki magazine and coordinates the annual Engineers Week activities in Hawaii, with each organization responsible for specific tasks.

For 2020, the national eWeek theme is Pioneers of Progress. It is about how engineers use knowledge and creativity to innovate and improve the lives of people. In Hawaii, on Monday (February 17th – President’s day), there were engineers exhibits/displays by HCES member societies at Windward Mall from 10am-2pm at the same time as a VEX IQ robotics skills challenge which had dozens of elementary school teams competing. There was a large crowd. On Tuesday (February 18th) there was the kick-off Luncheon at the Hale Koa which featured guest speaker Ed Sniffen from HIDOT. The annual eWeek Awards Banquet was on Saturday, February 22nd at Koolau Ballroom. HWEA’s job is to provide the banquet emcee, which was performed by Roger Babcock. Awards were given to several local engineers including HWEA member and PWC Conference co-chair, Ken Kawahara, who was selected as Engineer of the Year. Other winners included Rika Okino, Student Engineer of the Year (UH volleyball player, CE student, intern at Wilson Okimoto), Sam Dannaway, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Carly Kaneko, Young Engineer of the Year. Proclamations were provided by both Governor Ige and Mayor Caldwell. The 2020 Engineers Week activities were a success in part due to HWEA members.