Campus Landscaping Under Green Microscope

UC Merced is already well known for its commendable practices in sustainable building design and construction. Now the university's landscaping will be evaluated for environmental responsibility.

The campus will be one of the first landscapes to participate in the Sustainable Sites Initiative, taking part in a pilot program to test the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance.

UC Merced will join more than 150 other projects from 34 states as well as Canada, Iceland and Spain as part of the international pilot project program, which will evaluate the new rating system for sustainable landscapes both with and without buildings.

UC Merced will use its planned Science and Engineering 2 building as the template for the pilot project. Like the other pilot projects, the site will help officials evaluate how practical and effective a tool the point system is for determining different levels of site sustainability. The 250-point scale evaluates landscaping in terms of site selection, water use, soil and vegetation, choice of materials and other factors in accordance with the group’s Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009.

Bell, Escobedo Named Athletes of the Year

Tim Bell and Darlene Escobedo both ended up focusing on sports that were new to them when they came to UC Merced, but both excelled. Last month, Bell was named the second recipient of the Cobi Jones Male Athlete of the Year award, while Escobedo was presented with the Georgette "Ma" Kelley Female Athlete of the Year award.

Bell and Escobedo each received a plaque and will have their names engraved in a perpetual plaque displayed in the Joseph Edward Gallo Recreation Center.

David Dunham, UC Merced’s director of recreation and athletics, said Bell, a lacrosse player, and Escobedo, a cheerleader, both served as presidents of their respective club teams while excelling in the classroom, as well.

“Tim led the lacrosse team through a very challenging year, their second year in competition,” Dunham said. “They have a very difficult league and went through coaching changes this season. Throughout the entire season, Tim served as a steady leader for the group.

“Darlene started with the cheer team with no prior experience three years ago. She grew into a leader on the team and was chosen as the president of the club her senior year.”

Bell grew up as a hockey player in Torrance. He said he knew nothing about lacrosse when he came to UC Merced, but he started learning during his freshman year and has since helped the team grow and flourish.

Escobedo, a lifelong athlete from San Mateo, was primarily a softball player growing up but also played soccer, volleyball and many other sports. She decided to try cheerleading when she arrived at UC Merced, and she helped found the club and was elected president her senior year.

Robotics Society Embraces Spirit of Collaboration

The UC Merced Robotics Society, though still in its infancy, has undertaken some ambitious projects — among them an autonomous blimp, a combat robot, a robotic explorer and an autonomous plane. And, true to its founding spirit, most have included help from fellow scientists in other clubs and organizations.

The brainchild of engineering majors Ernesto Mora and Joshua Gonzales, the Robotics Society formed last summer and has grown to include 12 members representing all three schools — Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

The club’s origins can be traced back to the spring of 2008, when Mora got involved with the school’s service learning program, now known as Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS). Mora began working with local K-12 students, and the following semester, he became the leader of the program’s robotics sub-team, creating activities that helped students understand the principles of engineering, robotics, programming, magnetism and physics.

Mora and Gonzales created the unofficial “Society of Makers” in the spring of 2009, joining members of the Merced chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers on trips to the Mojave Desert for RocStock and to San Francisco for the RoboGames. That summer, with a supporting cast that included current club president Edward Smith and current secretary Melony Bowling, the group came together. They settled on the less ambiguous “Robotics Society” name in the fall.

“Our primary reason for starting the Robotics Society was that we saw little interest among the established professional engineering associations for supporting projects like ours,” Gonzales said. “Furthermore, we wanted to create an organization that was open to all schools and disciplines, and not limited to engineering.”

UC Merced Junior Puts Her Leadership Skills to Good Use

Junior Olivia Bentley has been involved in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life since the eighth grade. This weekend she will lead a Relay team in her hometown, Sonora.

Bentley has a deep-seated passion for community service which, bolstered by sociology classes at UC Merced, grows stronger each year. Her commitment reflects UC Merced’s mission of uplifting the surrounding community while equipping students with the skills to become tomorrow’s leaders.

More Progress for Planned Medical School

UC Merced’s planned medical school took another step forward this week, when the university announced the appointment of Donald M. Hilty, M.D., to the position of co-director of the UC Merced San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education. The appointment furthers UC Merced’s long-term plan to develop a medical education program leading to an independent medical school.

Hilty — a professor of clinical psychiatry and director of the Rural Program in Medical Education (Rural-PRIME) at UC Davis — will work alongside Frederick J. Meyers, M.D., who was named UC Merced’s executive director of medical education and academic planning in fall 2008.

Born and raised in rural Ohio in a town with a population of 800, Hilty will leverage the knowledge and opportunities of the existing UC Davis program to develop a UC Merced San Joaquin Valley PRIME, where students will become knowledgeable about health issues pertinent to the San Joaquin Valley. His expertise is in curriculum planning, underserved populations, mood disorders, and telemedicine used for clinical care and distance education to rural and underserved areas. Like Meyers, Hilty will share his time between UC Merced and UC Davis.

“I am delighted to join UC Merced’s medical school planning team,” Hilty said. “I look forward to applying my expertise — particularly in the areas of curricula development, interactive teaching and telemedicine to develop a medical education program at UC Merced.”

Lester Holt Addresses UC Merced's Class of 2010 at Commencement

NBC news anchor Lester Holt spoke from the heart this evening when he spoke at UC Merced's commencement.

In his first address at a university commencement, Holt reflected on dramatic, technology-driven changes affecting the news business and traditional news sources. He encouraged the Class of 2010 to be critical consumers of news.

Among those who participated in the ceremony, which marked the end of UC Merced's fifth academic year, were six students scheduled to receive a master's degree and 12 earning a doctoral degree. Graduation candidates represented 39 California counties, along with two other states (Maryland and Washington) and four countries (Germany, France, Russia and Lebanon).

UC Merced Awards Student Employee of the Year

Graduating senior Miguel Ruvalcaba was named UC Merced's Student Employee of the Year.

Ruvalcaba's supervisor in Housing and Residence Life said she nominated him because he is a shining example for other students and they aspire to be like him.

UC Merced Alum All Smiles About Pursuing Dentistry

After submitting application to 19 dental schools, Ducvinh Vo is making history. When he walks onto the UC San Francisco campus this September, he will be the first UC Merced graduate to attend dental school.

“I was absolutely ecstatic,” Vo said of receiving the offer. “UCSF was my top choice for various reasons, including geography, academic reputation and research opportunities. Although I am a bit nervous, I am excited to move to San Francisco and begin a new chapter in my life.”

First Five Years Show Strong Progress

UC Merced will wrap up its fifth year of operation with this weekend’s commencement activities, and if the first half-decade is any indication, the university has a bright future ahead.

When the university opened in the fall of 2005, high hopes and swelling optimism were tempered by hard questions about the state’s economy and the campus’ viability. Despite some struggles and external pressures, those questions have largely been answered.

UC Merced has, in just five years, made significant progress toward each of its principal goals. It has increased the availability of a college education to students in the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere; it has served as an economic stimulus to the Valley economy; it has become a model of environmentally responsible development; it has hired world-class faculty and attracted significant grants for meaningful research; and it has begun the process of establishing professional schools to address the Valley’s health and economic-development challenges.

There is much work to be done if UC Merced is to fulfill its mission, but the first steps have been taken, and a sound, thorough plan is in place for the future. The university is already beginning to have a meaningful impact in many ways, and the hard work that went into the first five years has laid a foundation upon which future successes will be built.

Read more.

Professor Chosen for Solar Board of Advisors

Roland Winston, UC Merced professor of engineering and natural sciences and director of the University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute, has been named to the board of advisors of the California Solar Energy Collaborative (CSEC). The board — which also includes members from UC Davis, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz, the California Energy Commission and several utilities — will meet twice a year to prioritize and define research and development projects for the CSEC.

The board held its first meeting, along with a daylong solar workshop, on Tuesday at UC Davis. UC Merced’s participation in such an endeavor is yet another example of the university’s commitment to taking on society’s most challenging problems through unique and fruitful collaborations.

The mission of the CSEC is to assist the state, key stakeholders and the California Energy Commission in developing and expanding the utilization of solar power in California. The CSEC provides a unique forum in which stakeholders can meet and discuss ways to accelerate the development and deployment of solar energy systems in California, including photovoltaic, concentrated solar power and solar heat/cooling.

The collaborative also provides the California Energy Commission with access to solar energy expertise. In addition, the CSEC will maintain the existing Public Industry Energy Research roadmap for solar research, development and demonstration, which the board will help guide.

Physicist Earning 6th University Degree at “Cutting-edge” UC Merced

Despite being in his 50s and having five degrees already under his belt, Jon Inouye still felt "intellectually restless" so he decided to pursue graduate school – again.

After one visit to UC Merced, Inouye knew the relatively new campus was the right choice for him.

“There is no ‘cliqueism’ here,” Inouye said. “It is not part of the culture. I think this tolerance of diversity may be one of the greatest strengths of the university.”

At UC Merced, Inouye needed only his innate intellectual drive to fit in and succeed. And as he finishes his master’s in physics and proceeds to a planned Ph.D., that’s all that matters.

Student Commencement Speaker: "I Found My Confidence at UC Merced"

Jill Tsai, a senior biology major from Diamond Bar, says her experiences at UC Merced have prepared her for what she's doing now: preparing to speak on behalf of the Class of 2010 at Commencement on May 15.

When Tsai arrived on campus four years ago she decided it was time to break out of her shell.

"In high school, I was very shy and a real wallflower," she said. "I was determined to change that. The first couple of weeks on campus, I would shake anybody's hand, get people's names, join organizations. I forced myself to network and become a real social butterfly. It was a period of finding myself."

The new Jill is well equipped to succeed on stage at commencement and in her future plans.

UC Merced Student Harvard-Bound, Boosted by Undergraduate Research

Bioengineering major Christian Ayeni thinks one of the main reasons he was accepted to Harvard University's graduate school was because of the research opportunities he had at UC Merced.

During his sophomore summer he interned with the Center of Intergrated Nanomechanical Systems working on a project with a UC Berkeley professor. Ayeni was also accepted into the UC Merced Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (LEADS) program as well as the Ronald E. McNair Scholars program.

He had nearly decided against applying to Harvard University's virology program last fall. Not only was it an Ivy League school, he reasoned, it was charging an application fee about twice what he had been paying at other universities.

Still, something deep inside him said, go for it.

Roughly two weeks after submitting his application, he was lying in bed, recovering from finals when his cell phone rang. He cleared his throat when he didn't recognize the number. The representative from Harvard invited him to visit the campus for an interview. During the interview weekend, Ayeni impressed Harvard, despite some jitters, and was accepted into its virology program. He'll begin pursuing his doctoral degree in the fall.

"They have an exceptional program," Ayeni explained. "There's so much depth with so many professors doing so many different things."


After he graduates on May 15, Ayeni plans to spend the summer at home, continuing to learn more about the virology field. He is currently unsure of his plans after graduate school. Some of his options include pursuing a position with a national laboratory, heading into academia or working for a private company.

Whatever his decision, he'll be following that voice deep inside himself.