It is a serious understatement to say Carlos Diaz Alvarenga had a big year: He graduated from UC Merced, successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis and landed a position as an assistant professor at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Oh, and he got married.
"Yeah, those are all big life events and I did them all in one year," Diaz Alvarenga said, laughing. "It's been super difficult, but it's been worth it."
As classes begin Wednesday for UC Merced's 20th academic year, the campus and its offerings continue to grow to meet the needs of students and the community at large.
Edwin Lopez was so excited for his college experience to begin that he volunteered to help his fellow students move in last week. The first-year student from Firebaugh was set to attend Fresno State when he got a scholarship offer from UC Merced he said he couldn't refuse.
"This campus feels like home," he said. As soon as he visited, he knew he wanted to attend and couldn't wait to start.
A diverse group of students participated in a stem cell training pilot program at UC Merced this summer.
It was the second summer for the Training Undergrads in Stem Cell Engineering and Biology (TUSCEB) program, funded through the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). It's a collaborative effort between the schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering led by professors Kara McCloskey and Jennifer Manilay and serviced through the university's Health Sciences Research Institute (HSRI).
Cattle are a fairly regular sight around the UC Merced campus. They graze along the 6,500-acre Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve and the 40-acre Experimental Smart Farm, and an annual student-run spring event is even named "Cowtopia."
But cattle, as effective as they are, can't get everywhere to graze, so this summer the campus has received a visit from their smaller, more nimble colleagues: goats.
Hundreds of goats are grazing large swaths of land on the northeast side of the campus.
Construction has begun on a pilot project to install solar panels above two sections of Central Valley canals. This innovative initiative, which studies significant power and water issues, has already garnered recognition.
Project Nexus, a partnership between the Turlock Irrigation District (TID), the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), Bay Area development firm Solar AquaGrid, and UC Merced, received the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Award from the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance (CCEEB).
Editor's note:This is part of a series of profilesabout new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2024 semester.
Jesus Silva graduated from Central Valley High School in Ceres after being named the school's Central California Conference male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. "I had no idea I was going to win," Silva told the Ceres Courier. "My athletic director (Greg Magni) told me. I think it's pretty cool. It's an incentive to do your best in the class and on the field."
Almost 3 billion people worldwide are projected to suffer from severe water scarcity by 2025. Thousands have already been affected in California alone, where more than 1,200 wells ran dry in 2022.
It's never been more important to find ways to make the best use of this precious resource.
When the city of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District wanted specifics about the impacts of truck traffic on the health of some of the city's most vulnerable residents, officials turned to UC Merced's Community Labor Center (CLC) and public health Professor Sandie Ha.
National Parks are magnificent landscapes where the public can go for sightseeing and recreation. They also are research labs - gorgeous, awe-inspiring and wild research labs, to be sure. And the science conducted there can help ensure that the parks' natural beauty will be available for generations of people to come and enjoy, and also support local and national issues calling for sustainable management.
Researchers at UC Merced examined the relationship between science and the parks and how both can serve each other better.
California high-speed rail, a multibillion-dollar project designed to connect the Central Valley to Los Angeles and the Bay Area, promises swift transportation, the protection of agricultural land and contributions to a cleaner environment.
It's also providing a lot of jobs - from design to construction to, eventually, operation.
