UC Merced Police Mentor Program Steers Youngsters Toward College

Uriel Bravo is about to become a freshman in high school, but he’s already thinking about college — thanks partly to the encouragement of a UC Merced program.

“I really want to go to college,” he said. “I know if I don’t go, I won’t find a good-paying job.”

Uriel, 14, is one of the hundreds of students touched by the UC Merced Police Department’s Mentor Program since it began in 2006. Through the program, UC Merced student mentors and other role models work with fourth-grade students at Alicia Reyes Elementary School in south Merced.

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Climate Change to Increase Yellowstone Wildfires Dramatically

An increase in wildfires due to climate change could rapidly and profoundly alter the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, according to a new study authored by environmental engineering and geography Professor Anthony Westerling of the University of California, Merced.

The study by Westerling and his colleagues — which will be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — suggests that the expected rising temperatures caused by climate change could increase the frequency of large wildfires in Yellowstone to an unprecedented level.

The projected increase in fires would likely cause a major shift in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with fewer dense forests and more open woodland, grass and shrub vegetation. The change could happen by 2050, Westerling posits, with forests becoming younger, the mix of tree species changing and some forests failing to regenerate after repeated fires. This would affect the region’s wildlife, hydrology, carbon storage and aesthetics.

“What surprised us about our results was the speed and scale of the projected changes in fire in Greater Yellowstone,” Westerling said. “We expected fire to increase with increased temperatures, but we did not expect it to increase so much or so quickly. We were also surprised by how consistent the changes were across different climate projections.”

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UC Merced Staffers Find Fitness Benefits Beyond Looks

With busy job schedules, family demands and hectic social calendars, working out often seems impossible to work in. But finding time for fitness reaps great rewards, according to a number of UC Merced employees.

Take Lisa Perry, for example. Answering call after call at the Students First Center can take a toll, but she finds a run after work to be the perfect way to shake off the day and get refreshed.

“I like the way it makes me feel,” the UC Merced cheerleading coach said. “It gives me confidence and helps me to manage daily stress.”

Faust Gorham, who works for information technology, has also made fitness into a lifestyle instead of a fad. Gorham lost almost 100 pounds within his first three years of working at UC Merced. When it comes to staying fit, there isn’t much in the way of exercise that he won’t do. He lifts weights, runs outdoors when the weather permits, plays competitive racquetball and gets his body moving every chance he gets.

UC Merced has made a deliberate effort to create a culture of wellness among faculty and staff. The university’s Choose Well program offers a variety of incentive-based activities to help employees incorporate healthy eating and exercise choices. One of Choose Well’s most popular programs is the Fit Cat Weight Loss Challenge.

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Engineering Service Learning Links UC Merced Students with Community

UC Merced students gain hands-on experience as they develop solutions to real-world problems. Get S.E.T., a team of about 20 students, develops supplementary K-12 science curricula in collaboration with the Merced County Office of Education.

Get S.E.T. team members say their project is especially important as schools deal with tight budgets while also working to meet the demands of state educational standards.

“Time is so constricted in the classroom,” said Océane Stanek, an engineering student and Get S.E.T. team leader who came to UC Merced from the Bay Area.

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Golden Bobcats Announce Inaugural Sports Schedules

The first varsity sporting event on the UC Merced campus will take place Sept. 22, when the Golden Bobcats host Pacific Union College in women’s volleyball. And UC Merced’s men’s basketball team will face its biggest test on Nov. 11, when it travels to face Santa Clara.

Those are among the highlights on the schedules released today by UC Merced, which will join the California Pacific Conference in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in four sports this fall. Schedules for men’s and women’s cross country have not yet been finalized.

“This will be a momentous year for UC Merced as we begin building the foundation for what we hope will be a vibrant athletics program with a rich tradition,” said David Dunham, director of recreation and athletics. “That tradition begins now, and our future success will depend on the hard work put in by our athletes, coaches and staff, as well as support from the community.”

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Study: Cap-and-Trade Trumps Carbon Taxes

A cap-and-trade system is more likely than a carbon tax system to trigger the adoption of clean energy technologies, according to a study by UC Merced Professor Yihsu Chen. The study also found that the volatile pricing of a cap-and-trade system could lead to earlier adoption of clean technology by firms looking to hedge against carbon cost risks.

The study used economic models based on a framework of real options to determine the optimal timing for a coal-burning firm to introduce clean technologies using the two most commonly considered policies — cap-and-trade, in which carbon emissions are capped and low-emission firms can sell excess permits to high-emission firms; and carbon taxes, which employ a fixed monetary penalty for per-unit carbon emissions.

"To our knowledge, there has been no formal study based on real options that compares the investment timing of these two instruments," Chen said. "In our view, cap-and-trade offers 'carrots' while taxes offer 'sticks.' Cap-and-trade induces firms to explore profit opportunities, while taxes simply impose penalties to turn clean technology into a less costly option."

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Impact: Sustainable Students Making a Difference

UC Merced is a campus built on a foundation of sustainability, and that commitment has been taken up by its students, as well.