Student Team Honored for Solar Research Paper

A team of three students recently became the first such group from UC Merced to be chosen as a finalist in the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) Big Ideas competition.

CITRIS partners more than 300 faculty and thousands of students from myriad departments at four UC campuses (Merced, Berkeley, Davis and Santa Cruz) with industrial researchers from more than 60 corporations. Each year, the Big Ideas competition awards thousands of dollars in prize money to a select few student teams that submit research white papers.

Ten finalists were chosen to show their work at an April 22 poster session at UC Berkeley. UC Merced was among them for the first time, with graduate students Ricardo Marquez and Hugo Pedro and undergraduate David Larson being selected for their project, “Distributed Computing for Open Access Solar Forecasting: Information Technology Lowering the Cost of Solar Energy Worldwide.”

The UC Merced team earned honorable mention and $1,000, one of only seven entries to receive a monetary award. The project — with oversight from faculty adviser Carlos Coimbra and UC Merced CITRIS campus director Jeff Wright — proposes a distributed computing network that will enable accurate forecasting of cloud movement and other factors that greatly influence the ability to gather solar irradiance, thus making the use of solar energy much more efficient and cost-effective.

University Adds Four Minors in Expansion of Programs

Beginning in the fall, students will be able to minor in Chicano/a studies, public health, chemical science, and environmental sciences and sustainability.

MERCED — The University of California, Merced, has added four minors this year to its slate of academic offerings.

Beginning in fall 2010, students will be able to minor in chemical sciences and environmental sciences and sustainability, both offered though the School of Natural Sciences. Minors in Chicano/a studies and public health will be offered through the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

"These minors represent UC Merced's commitment to cutting-edge programs that will prepare students to tackle some of society's most challenging problems," said Maria Pallavicini, dean of the School of Natural Sciences. "The chemical sciences minor enables students in multiple majors to broaden and enhance their knowledge in a disciplinary area that is fundamental to the world in which we live. The environmental sciences and sustainability minor exemplifies the campus' commitment to educating students to be stewards of the Earth."

UC Merced now offers 19 majors and 22 minors through its three schools, Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

"There has been great interest from students in adding these programs to our university," said Mark Aldenderfer, dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. "With an underlying emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, we think these minors will help produce well-rounded graduates with knowledge that will benefit them in the next chapter of their lives."

UC Merced Professor Studies Wall Street Formulas

The costly miscalculations by so many major Wall Street firms and the unanswered questions about what went so wrong compelled UC Merced applied math Professor Harish Bhat to look into the relationship between mathematics and finance's failed models.

"All the formulas people were using weren't as good as they said they were. They weren't on a sound footing," he noted. "It's a good time to repair the damage."

Bhat, who also researches circuits, began studying up on probability and finance. He also began trading stocks online to get a feel for how the market functions. He has since had a paper he wrote with his graduate student Nitesh Kumar accepted for publication in the proceedings from the 2009 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Conference on Mathematics for Industry.

The paper, "Markov Tree Options Pricing," questions one of the fundamental assumptions made in the pricing of European stock options – that daily returns of a stock are independent and identically distributed. The assumption is part of the Black-Scholes model, which has been around for decades. Bhat argues that using a Markov chain provides a better way to estimate returns by accounting for the option's changes. It's an example of the university's innovative research into some of society's most-pressing problems.

The proposal represents such a paradigm shift that some have been resistant to it, Bhat said.

"People are kind of skeptical," Bhat said. "A visitor from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley was open to the idea, but wanted to see more empirical studies that confirm our findings before tossing out the standard dogma."

Four UC Merced Students Publish Essays in Book

Four UC Merced graduate students expanded their curriculum vitae after publishing essays in a book that builds on Orientalism, an idea from literary and culture critic Edward Said, who was critical of the way Western countries viewed the East.

The book, “One World Periphery Reads the Other: Knowing the ‘Oriental’ in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula,” was edited by UC Merced Professor Ignacio López-Calvo. Cambridge Scholars Publishing released the 405-page book in January. It’s also been published as an e-book.

The students read their essays at a UC Merced conference about Orientalism organized by López-Calvo last year. The international conference, “East Reads West; West Reads East: The Near and Far East in the Western World,” was the second conference on Orientalism he planned. A third conference, organized with Professor Cristián H. Ricci and Professor Kevin Fellezs, is scheduled for April 2011.

The UC Merced doctoral students published in the book are:

• Carlos Miguel Bazua Morales, who is working on ethnographic research about the contemporary Maya diaspora in Northern California.

• Marco Valesi, who is in cultural studies with a focus on postcolonial productions and transmodern society.

• Michael Barba, who is investigating the formation of the American Literature canon.

• Malgorzata Skorek, who is studying the impact of mass media and advertisements on perceptions and behavior.

López-Calvo’s conference and book reflects UC Merced students’ opportunity to engage and collaborate with world-class faculty in an atmosphere that promotes collaboration in scholarship.

Sustainability Strategic Plan, Website Unveiled

UC Merced's commitment to preserving the environment and its valuable resources took another step forward this week, when the university released its inaugural Sustainability Strategic Plan and formally unveiled its sustainability website, sustainability.ucmerced.edu.

The Sustainability Strategic Plan includes environmental goals in 12 areas, such as energy use and “green” construction, and lists objectives and milestones for each. The goals were determined with the UC mission of teaching, research and public service in mind.

“This plan outlines UC Merced’s commitment to taking a leadership role in both sustainable development and construction and in sharing our progress openly as an educational contribution to society,” said Steve Kang, UC Merced chancellor.

The plan spells out initial steps the campus is taking to realize its ambitious “Triple Zero Commitment,” which calls for the university to use renewable sources to produce as much energy as it consumes, eliminate landfill waste altogether and produce zero net greenhouse gas emissions, all by 2020.

The website is organized much like the plan, with objectives and achievements for each listed goal. It also includes a list of sustainability-related awards the university has received and detailed LEED scorecards for each of the buildings on campus.

UC Merced Psychologist Awarded $1 Million Education Grant

UC Merced psychological sciences Professor William Shadish has received a grant to develop new statistics for measuring the effects of educational interventions on individual students.

Beginning May 1, the research will be funded at $974,523 over three years. The grant is from the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. The research will be headquartered at UC Merced and will include faculty collaborators at Northwestern University and at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.

"Usually we study the effects of educational interventions in large experiments with hundreds or even thousands of students," Shadish said. "But those large experiments are not always possible for some kinds of rare or highly variable problems."

Shadish’s research will focus on an alternative method called a single-case design. For example, many studies on the effects of educational or behavioral treatments with children diagnosed with autism use single-case designs in which one child is studied over time while treatment is repeatedly introduced and removed.

Statisticians have yet to agree on the best analysis for such data. Shadish, a quantitative psychologist, proposed a new analytic method two years ago. He will use the new grant to study its statistical properties and to create practical tools to allow other researchers to use the analysis more easily.

UC Merced Provides Alumni Unlimited Possibilities

UC Merced’s alumni are already making their mark on the world, and one thing they know for sure is that their education has opened up a world of possibilities.

Jason Castillo, 2009, is attending medical school at UC San Francisco and on his way to realizing his dream of becoming a doctor.

“Earning my degree at UC Merced helped me get into one of the top medical schools,” he said. “I was able to be involved in tremendous levels of leadership, interact with top-notch faculty, administrators and staff, be a part of a renowned research lab and receive a stellar education.”

Lots of Events Planned for Earth Week

UC Merced students are hard at work finishing up plans for a series of events to celebrate Earth Week, April 19 to 23, including guest speakers, campus tours, a farmers market and a bike-to-school campaign.

The Alliance to Save Energy's Green Campus UC Merced team is leading the way with its first annual Earth Week Speaker Series. The speaker series is designed to showcase the increasing availability of so-called "green" jobs. Featuring speakers from various sectors — from both on campus and off — whose jobs focus in one way or another on the environment, the series will culminate on Earth Day, April 22.

The UC Merced Green Club also has events scheduled throughout the week, highlighted by tours of the university's solar array on April 19, a farmers market April 20 and a film festival April 23. And the campus' Cycling Alliance will offer free snacks and beverages from 9 a.m. to noon all week to those who bicycle to school.

"It is truly inspiring to see UC Merced students working so hard to raise awareness of sustainability and how it can influence our day-to-day lives," said Jim Genes, special assistant to the vice chancellor of administration and co-chair of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Sustainability. "Earth Week is a perfect time to promote these efforts, but we all need to make positive changes year-round if we're going to preserve our environment and its resources."

For more information and a complete schedule of events, click here.

Researching Under the Sea

UC Merced does not currently have a stand-alone marine biology program, but that hasn't prevented a number of quality faculty members from being drawn here, providing numerous research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students alike.

Monica Medina and her students have recently gleaned new insight into the effect of climate change on coral reef health. Michael Dawson is using marine studies to learn about how environmental variation influences the distributions of genes, organisms, populations and species. And there are several other faculty members whose research deals with marine studies.

"We're only two hours from some of the most dramatic and well studied coastline in the world," Dawson said. "The only universities that are better placed are a small number of our sister campuses, state universities and private colleges."

UC Merced has always emphasized an interdisciplinary approach to research, and that is certainly the case with environmental sciences. Marine life represents one aspect of an interconnected environment, and the marine landscape lends itself to many different types of sciences.

"My research involves other aspects of science that deal with genomics, bioinformatics, physiology, ecology, evolution and cell biology," Medina said. "I just happen to work on a marine system."

UC Merced Science Partnership Continues as Students Visit Campus

Students from Farmdale Elementary School will visit UC Merced Tuesday, April 13 to learn more about the university.

The students were part of the Scientists of Tomorrow Educational Partnership, organized by the Graduate Students Association.

David Gravano, the association's outreach coordinator, felt inspired to give back to the community after hearing first lady Michelle Obama speak at last year's commencement.

"You don't want the university to be an island," Gravano explained. "I wanted to do my part to increase outreach."

Gravano helped organize twenty five graduate students, who volunteered two times a week for three hours to teach science to about 100 children at Farmdale Elementary School in South Merced.

The partnership is another example of leadership opportunities available for students interested in a college experience that goes beyond the classroom.

Farmdale school students in the fourth and fifth grade applied the scientific method, performed experiments and made posters to present. The winning posters will be on display during Research Week, which began Monday and goes through Friday.

UC Merced Student Helps Bring Indie Flicks Downtown

Community involvement has helped one UC Merced student fulfill one of his top goals – putting on a film festival.

David Cheng, a founder and president of the UC Merced Film Association, has teamed up with The D magazine publisher Tom Price Jr. and the Merced County Arts Council to organize the "Independent Film Showcase," which will be from 5-9:30 p.m. this Saturday (April 10) at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center on Main Street.

The festival features the Coen brothers' latest film, "A Serious Man," along with other short films from the Sundance Film Festival, including one that won an Oscar. This will be the first time this Coen brothers' movie will be shown in Merced.

"It's a joy to share my passion with the community, my friends and my classmates," Cheng said, adding he hopes the festival is a way for students to interact with members of the community.

The film festival reflects the opportunities for UC Merced students to leave a mark on the community. Cheng, an economics major, is just one of the university's students who are willing to put in extra effort during college to create events that benefit fellow students and the area.

Matsumoto Named Interim Dean of Engineering

Dr. Mark Matsumoto, professor of environmental engineering and associate dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside, has been appointed interim dean of the UC Merced School of Engineering, effective April 1.

Matsumoto's UC Merced appointment will be for one year, during which he will take a leave of absence from his UC Riverside duties. UC Merced's search for a permanent dean is under way, and an appointment is expected later this year.

Matsumoto joined the faculty of UC Riverside as professor of environmental engineering in 1994, following 11 years as a professor or program director in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the State University of New York in Buffalo. At UC Riverside, he has served at various times as chair of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department; as chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department; and twice as associate dean of the Bourns College of Engineering (once for student affairs and once for research and graduate affairs). He also served as interim dean of the Bourns College of Engineering during 2004 and 2005.

In his new position, Matsumoto replaces Dr. Thomas Harmon, who served as acting dean for three months following the resignation in December 2009 of Dr. Jeff Wright, who was founding dean of the UC Merced School of Engineering. Harmon, one of UC Merced’s founding faculty members, returns to his position as professor of engineering.

UC Merced Awards Prize to Former President Jimmy Carter

The 2010 recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance is former President Jimmy Carter. The prize will be awarded on May 3 during Carter’s previously announced visit to the campus.

The Spendlove Prize was established through a generous gift to the university from Sherrie Spendlove in honor of her parents, lifelong Merced residents Alice and Clifford Spendlove, and honors an individual who exemplifies the delivery of social justice, diplomacy and tolerance in his or her work.

The Spendlove Prize event is by invitation only; however, a live Webcast will be made available. More details will be posted at www.ucmerced.edu/spendloveprize.

UC Merced Proves Good Fit for Non-Traditional Student

Finding her way back to student life after decades focused on career and family has brought Rebbecca Crescenti face-to-face with the unique challenges and culture shock that non-traditional students deal with on campus.

After earning her associate degree with high honors at Fresno City College, she transferred to UC Merced in Fall 2009 to major in literature and world cultures, and minor in writing.

Determined to make the situation work, and recognizing that she is not alone in her struggle to find a niche for herself; Crescenti is working to establish a re-entry club for students who are returning to college life after a long hiatus.

Program Reaches Out to First-Generation UC Merced Students

Jesse Bernal knows what he's talking about when he discusses the challenges faced by first-generation college students carving their way through campus life to earn a degree.

Like more than half of UC Merced students, Bernal came from a family where neither of his parents graduated from a four-year university or college. The student regent is applying his UC experience as the new Fiat Lux Scholars Program coordinator.

The program, created by the Student Advising and Learning Center and supported by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education, will recruit and reach out to first-year students that have been identified as struggling academically and lacking the participation levels of typically successful students.

Research Week continues to grow

UC Merced's Research Week enters its fourth year bigger and better than ever. In addition to traditional mainstays like the Research Poster Competition and the Vital and Alice Pellissier Distinguished Speaker Series, the university's annual celebration of student and faculty research will now also be home to the Sigma Xi Spring Symposium.

The symposium, itself in its third year, will focus this year on climate change science and governance. Open to the public, the symposium will will feature three distinguished scientists: Richard Somerville, Catherine Gautier-Downes and Steven Schneider.

The Research Poster Competition will once again feature the best student research the university has to offer, along with monetary prizes for the best-judged posters in both graduate and undergraduate divisions.

And the Pellissier speaker series will for the first time draw its speaker from campus. Mark Aldenderfer, the new dean of UC Merced's School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, will lend his expertise in archaeology as this year's speaker.

For more on Research Week, including a full schedule of events, click here.