uc merced magazine, fall 2015

THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCED

FALL 2015

Leadership perspectives | student affairs leader

talks about how the campus has changed in 10 years

and about what hasn’t changed — the campus spirit.

focus on students | uc Merced students work

together with the community to accomplish tasks

and act as role models.

donor spotLight | the Lakireddy family

sees supporting education as the best way

to help people reach their potential.

a heaLthy perspective | as interest

in the biological sciences grows, the campus

increases emphasis on human health research.

having tea with professor christopher

viney | time hasn’t diminished this founding faculty

member’s love for the campus.

18

aLuMni corner | former students say the

foundations they learned — and earned —

here influence their daily lives.

the fLow of water data | uc water,

the newest research institute, looks to the

future of the state’s water security.

our worLd | professors volunteer to teach

science to scholar monks living in exile in

india.

what’s new | a venture Lab connects

campus with community for innovative

partnerships.

governMent reLations | former and

current government liaisons talk about the

importance of relationships in building a new

university.

our green caMpus | sustainability

continues to be a major effort as leaders

look to instill a wider green culture among

the campus community.

8

contents

6

17

26

28

30

14

4

3

24

THE MAGAZINE OF THEUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, MERCED

Fall 2015

ABOUT THE COVERS | The photos on the front and back covers are from the campus lighting ceremony, held just

before opening day, Sept. 5, 2005. A huge banquet was held where the sports fields and amphitheater are now. Early

campus community members, supporters and friends enjoyed the light show highlighting the buildings, as well as a

fireworks display.

university communications

i happily remember Sept. 5, 2005 — opening

day at UC Merced — because that was the day

I fell in love with this place.

As a reporter for The Modesto Bee, I wrote

about UC Merced and founding Chancellor Carol

Tomlinson-Keasey (CTK, as most people called

her). She was an amazing woman — and a little

intimidating because she was so intelligent, so

driven and so intense. I never envied any reporter

who wrote about her because she did not suffer

fools. At all. If you wasted her time, you were done.

But what we didn’t know then was that she only

had a few years left. She didn’t have time to waste.

She was determined UC Merced would open, grow,

thrive and succeed at all the goals the founders set

out for it — all the visions they had for a university

in the middle of a valley where most people didn’t

dare dream of a college education.

On opening day, I met faculty members in their

dress robes and many dignitaries.

But what made me fall in love were the students.

How brave they were! Not just that most of

them were the first in their families to even go to

college, but that they aimed for and grabbed the

brass ring of a UC education. Most of all, though, I

was in awe of their pioneer spirit.

When they started, there were no clubs, no

organizations, no student government. They took

classes in the California Room and the library

because that was the only place for them.

The students were nervous, like every kid going

away to college for the first time is. But instead of

wondering what they would get out of this place,

they wanted to figure out what they could bring to

this place. They looked around at what was a dirt

lot with construction noises booming all around

them and said, “Let’s build a university.”

I left The Bee and came to work here in 2006.

Enrolling or taking a job here still requires

a certain type of person. You’ve got to have an

adventurous spirit, because at UC Merced, not

everything is mapped out for you. And as founding

faculty member Professor Christopher Viney said

(page 14), though many of the usual university

offerings have been developed, there is still much

more to do.

It takes guts to come to a job or a school

where the buildings aren’t finished, the academic

programs are still being crafted and if you want

something, you pretty much have to get it, find it

or do it yourself.

One phrase you never hear here: “That’s how

we’ve always done it.”

You might think, 10 years in, we’d be “settled.”

You’d be wrong.

UC Merced is a place without limits, and I hope

that never changes.

Please enjoy looking back and looking forward

with us as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the

opening of UC Merced.

LORENA ANdERSONEditor in chief

We welcome your feedback at

[email protected].

We hope to hear from you soon!

UCMERCED MAGAZINEFall 2015

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Lorena Anderson

PHOTOGRAPHY

Veronica AdroverLorena AndersonJacob CroasdaleAlan Fishleder Encarnacion RuizJoshua ViersChristopher VineyRoger WyanElena Zhukova

And the many people who, over the years, have taken photos of the campus and events and given them to us for our use.

MAGAZINE DESIGN

Jennifer Biancucci

PUBLISHED BY

University Communications

UC MERCED LEADERSHIP

Dorothy LelandChancellor

Thomas PetersonProvost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Kyle HoffmanVice ChancellorDevelopment and Alumni Relations

Patti WaidAssistant Vice ChancellorUniversity Communications

Cori LuceroExecutive Director, Governmental and Community Relations

VISIT US ON THE wEB

ucmerced.edu

FOUNDING CHANCELLOR CAROL TOMLINSON-KEASEY PROUDLY DISPLAYED HER DEDICATION TO UC MERCED, EVEN ON HER LICENSE PLATES.

Letter froM

It is hard to believe that just 10 years ago, most of the

entire student body could reside in our original residence

halls, which hold just shy of 700 students.

I wasn’t here that first year, but understand it was a very

different place to be a student.

The very first Bobcat day was held at Lake Yosemite and

future students viewed the “campus” through binoculars.

When they started, there was no gym, limited classrooms

and automobile travel up and down Scholars Lane. Early

inaugural events easily fit in the Bobcat Lair, while textbooks

were sold out of the Office of Student Life.

The early student experience was marked by big hopes on a

campus without grass and only three buildings.

Back then, students knew everyone they passed crossing

the bridge.

The students viewed the blank canvas as an opportunity

to create and hoped they were starting traditions that would

outlive their time on our campus.

Today, more than 2,100 students live on campus. Both

the recreation center and the dining center have completed

expansions. And the number of

buildings filled with faculty offices, labs

and classrooms has more than doubled.

We have grown from one graduate

program and eight majors to 11

graduate programs, 22 majors and 24

minors.

With the physical development of the

campus and the fall 2015 enrollments

that demonstrate more than 750 percent

growth since the beginning, UC Merced

is a much different place than its

inaugural year.

But some of the most important

parts of university life have remained

the same.

The students still walk the campus

filled with big hopes.

Recently, a group of students talked

about the importance of being engaged

in our growth and making sure the

student voice is still significant.

They don’t know everyone they pass on the Scholars Lane

Bridge anymore, but they all have something in common:

They have all come here because of the opportunity.

Parents who sent one son to UC Merced in 2008 and are

sending their second this fall commented on how much we’ve

grown and how different the campus looks.

But the spirit they felt as they walked the campus and

interacted with our students, faculty and staff members

still communicated the innovative energy and authentic

commitment to student success that has always characterized

UC Merced.

We have strengthened our commitment to making higher

education accessible, especially for youth in the Central Valley.

The dedication to student success means the cultivation of an

inclusive campus climate.

We strive to affirm individual significance,

provide challenges and support for student growth

and persistence, and create innovative and integrated

student experiences to maximize the possibilities

associated with a UC Merced degree.

The university and our partners

have accomplished much in the

past decade, clearly reflected in

our growth from 875 to 6,600-plus

students and the development of

highly sustainable physical spaces.

But what always remains is the

spirit of innovation exhibited by

the people who work, play, study,

contribute and learn here, creating

this community of scholars and

propeling us into the future.

At the end of the day, as I

drive down Lake Road and watch

the lights of campus fade in my

rearview mirror, the image

amazes me.

Yes, there are more lights — fiat

lux! But more amazing is what has

been created and what is to come

— a powerful and transformational

educational experience.

FALL 2015 | UC MERCED MAGAZINE 3

Campus’ Spirit Saw it Through the Beginning, Propels it into the Future BY CHARLES NIES, interim vice chancellor of Student Affairs

They don’t know

everyone they pass on

the Scholars Lane Bridge

anymore, but they all

have something in

common: They have all

come here because of

the opportunity.”

— CHARLES NIES —

CHARLES NIES DISCUSSES PLANS wITH STUDENT ORIENTATION LEADERS.

4 UC MERCED MAGAZINE | FALL 2015

For UC Merced students like deVonyo Bills, community service is a

way of life.

Bills was in the seventh grade when he set a goal of completing 100 hours

of volunteer work annually. Changing addresses from Oakland to Merced

made no difference to the senior majoring in Earth systems sciences.

In his adopted hometown, Bills has participated in Project 10% (aimed

at improving high school graduation rates), cleared trash from the fairgrounds and

parks, pitched in as a handyman and more. He sees boundless value in service.

“The most important thing to remember is that you are doing something with the

community, and not for them,” he said.

Today, Bills is an intern in the Office of Student Life and one of hundreds of UC

Merced students, faculty and staff members who embrace the community through

research projects, community service and other collaborations.

That work registered nationally this year. The Carnegie Foundation honored the

campus with its Classification for Community Engagement designation — making

the UC’s newest campus one of just 361 universities to earn

that distinction.

Throughout the community, those partnerships are valued.

“The benefits the community receives from the volunteerism of students, faculty

and staff today will continue paying off for decades in the future,” said Mike Conway,

assistant to the Merced city manager.

ENgAgINg CHILdRENThat work takes many forms. For example, the campus Resource Center for

Community Engaged Scholarship (ReCCES) connects community members with

faculty and staff members and students to work toward common goals. The center

also has helped craft a new academic minor — Community Research and Service —

that debuted this fall.

One recent project included senior Brenda Rojas of San Bernardino, who

researched youth councils around the state to provide information to the city.

Working with anthropology Professor Robin deLugan, she and other students

explored the councils’ funding, structure and practices.

“We were trying to look at those that were working and finding ways to keep kids

engaged,” said Rojas, who has a dual major in sociology and psychology.

Senior Maria “Lucy” Ayala Rodriguez, also from San Bernardino, was another

researcher. The anthropology and sociology major said she hopes the findings will

strengthen the local youth council.

Conway said the information is invaluable — especially because city employees

might not have time for such extensive research. deLugan said students are ready to

lend a hand.

“These are students who are committed to working in the community,” she said.

“Students want to understand how to help.”

Both Rojas and Ayala Rodriguez also are involved in community service through

the Rotaract club.

“There’s always something to do,” Rojas said. “Community service has really

opened my eyes to all the types of people who need help.”

“We want to be more connected to the community,” said Ayala Rodriguez. “Overall,

at the end of the day, you see people smile for the work that you’ve done.”

Volunteerism, research PartnershiPsBond UC MerCed, CoMMUnity

FOCUS ON STUDENTS

BY CYNDEE FONTANA-OTT

ABOVE, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NORMA HERNANDEZ wORKS wITH MIDDLE-SCHOOLER JESSICA LEAL. BELOw, UNDERGRADUATE DANIELLE IRVING SPEAKS wITH A GROUP OF GIRLS.

BOTTOM, UNDERGRAD NORMA HERNANDEZ HAS ONE-ON-ONE TIME wITH MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT JUNE GONZALEZ.


VALuAbLE RESouRCEVernette doty, the associate director of student life and civic

leadership, said about 30 percent of UC Merced students are regularly

involved in the community. They contributed more than 5,000 hours of

service in the past academic year — a conservative figure because every

hour can’t be tracked.

doty said students have been generous with their time since the

campus opened in 2005.

“Our students are unique,” she said. “Many of them have experienced

that type of help from somebody and they want to give back.

Students really respond well when they’re asked to be involved in the

community.”

For example, UC Merced students have been an integral part of the

“Lift While You Lead” mentoring and empowerment projects at the

high school and middle school levels.

Annie delgado, a women’s studies teacher with Merced Union High

School district, coordinates the projects and has worked with more

than 30 UC Merced students over the past few years.

The mentoring program places UC Merced undergraduates in

high school classrooms as a resource for students. The multi-year

empowerment project starts at the middle school level and is designed

to help guide young women into making informed decisions in

academic, personal and other areas of their lives.

“The UC Merced students bring a level of enthusiasm that has

a direct impact,” delgado said. “It has been a positive influence on

students to see someone who looks like them and realize, ‘I can go to

college.’”

Undergraduate Zabrina Campos Melendez, a management and

business economics major, is a first-generation college student who

volunteers her time. She said she appreciates the program’s mentoring

aspect and message.

“When I was a kid, I didn’t have someone there to ask questions,” said

Campos-Melendez, who grew up in Watsonville. “Now I can encourage

students to attend college and express their opinions.”

ROLE MODELSJunior Juan C. Hernandez, president of the campus chapter of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said he’s grown

from his volunteer service at Castle Air Force Base. Mainly, he works in

the restoration hangar.

On any given day, you might find student volunteers assembling,

painting or swapping parts on aircraft such as the douglas C-47

Skytrain. Hernandez, a mechanical engineering major from San diego,

views his service as more of an internship.

“I get to work with highly skilled people,” he said. “They really know

what they’re talking about.”

Another high-profile community collaboration is showcased on the

restroom building at McNamara Park.

Jacob Croasdale, coordinator of the Yosemite Leadership Program

(YLP) in the Office of Student Life, approached the city when he heard

officials were thinking about adding a mural.

The idea attracted the campus community, including lecturer

Richard Gomez, who teaches Art for Social Change. YLP and art

students collaborated with the city to engage community members,

canvassing the neighborhood around the park to find out what

residents wanted to see in the park.

Gomez’s students created the mural design, which was refined

further through feedback from Merced community members and

representatives from the city. More than 100 people volunteered to

paint, including residents and area children. The mural features a

picture of a little girl blowing bubbles, each of which contains role

models for the community, such as John Muir and Maya Angelou, and

roses and cacti — common in the yards of the park’s neighbors. The

bubble painting wraps around two sides of the building, and on the

third side, an eagle drops a clutch of broken handguns to symbolize

residents’ desire to be free of gun violence.

Senior Vanessa Velasco, a human biology major from Hanford,

participated on the design and painting team. She said it was

interesting to speak with residents and to help envision a piece of

public art.

The process also helped Velasco overcome some lingering shyness.

“I am finding myself,” she said.

Another solid collaboration exists with the Boys and Girls Club of

Merced County. John H. doty, the club’s director of education, said

dozens of UC Merced students serve as volunteers.

Some worked over the break to help children overcome the “summer

slide,” in which they get out of their regular learning habits. The

summer program employed films like “Wall-E” — and scripts from

those movies — as tools to improve literacy.

doty said UC Merced students are an important resource. Some also

bring first-hand experience in learning to read a second language.

“They are extremely helpful,” he said. “The college students also

provide role models for the kids.”

This summer, senior Natalie Hernandez volunteered in the morning

literacy program and often stayed for afternoon activities. She was

enrolled in summer college classes and wanted to be productive in her

spare time.

“It’s important to volunteer and I enjoy working with kids,” said

Hernandez, a sociology major from San Jose. “They just light up

my day.”

Many say the bonds between community and university are

beneficial to both.

“It’s absolutely fantastic to have UC Merced as a resource,” Conway

said. “Working with new groups and ideas is one of the things that

keeps us fresh and creative.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cyndee Fontana-Ott is a freelance writer who has been writing about UC Merced for more than a decade. She regularly contributes to the university’s website and magazine with stories about students, faculty members and staff members.

FROM LEFT, UNDERGRAD STUDENTS DEREK HOLLENBECK, JUAN CARLOS HERNANDEZ AND SALVADOR UVALLE wORK ON RESTORING PLANES FOR CASTLE. CENTER, THE MURAL AT MACNAMARA PARK, PAINTED BY UC MERCED STUDENTS FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD. RIGHT, HOLLENBECK DOES SOME DETAIL wORK ON A VINTAGE PLANE.

A HeArtfelt legAcy of giving

you’d be hard-pressed to find a UC Merced student who

hasn’t taken a class or attended an event at The dr.

Lakireddy Auditorium in the Classroom and Office

Building.

The auditorium opened in January 2006 and has been home to UC

Merced’s first graduation as well as many other events. It remains the

campus’s largest lecture room.

The large, heavy doors, theater-style seats and red stage curtain

represent more than a space to teach and entertain; they exemplify a

family’s legacy of giving.

Growing up in the small village of Velvadam, India, dr.

Hanimireddy Lakireddy didn’t have modern conveniences like

electricity or a telephone. He often walked to school barefoot. Yet

from a young age, he was sure of two things: One day he would

become a cardiologist, and he would help others.

When British rule ended in 1947, the new Indian prime minister

fought to make a better life for the country’s citizens. Part of his

plan included building 1 million high schools, which helped further

solidify Lakireddy’s vision for the future.

After graduation, he went on to college, and then earned his

medical degree and returned to his village to practice medicine.

“My observation has been that education is the easiest way for a

better future,” he said. “I believe because of education, I got out of

that little village and got somewhere.

“My mission is to help as many people as possible.”

With that goal in mind, 37 years ago, Lakireddy, his wife, Vijaya,

and their two sons moved to the United States. He trained in internal

medicine in New York and cardiology in Connecticut.

In July 1984, the Lakireddys moved to Merced to be closer to family

members, and Lakireddy became the first board-certified cardiologist

in Merced County.

Following through with their passion to help others, the couple

created a scholarship for Merced High School graduates in the name

of Lakireddy’s parents. They have also generously donated to Merced

College.

The Lakireddys formed their relationship with UC Merced before

ground had even been broken. In 2002, after reading about plans for

the campus in the newspaper, Lakireddy said he got excited and went

straight to founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey.

“I went to the chancellor and offered, ‘I want to be part of the

university. I am writing you a check right now,’” he said. “That was

the beginning of the story.”

PASSINg ALoNg tHE PRIoRItIESThe family’s initial $1 million gift was designated to enhance the

auditorium that now bears his name. It was initially designed as a

space for lectures, but the donation allowed for a larger stage, state-

of-the-art audio-visual system and backstage rooms.

On Sept. 4, 2005, the Lakireddys opened their home to more than

400 guests, including dignitaries and the other UC chancellors who

came to celebrate the campus’s official opening the following day.

They again hosted a dinner celebration in 2007.

Lakireddy stays connected to the university in many ways, and

often brings his grandchildren to events held in the auditorium, like

the symphony and lectures. He said he is honored to know the family

is part of UC Merced.

“It’s a wonderful feeling, and it makes my heart feel good,”

he said.

The Lakireddys support other areas on campus, from health

sciences fellowships to student clubs. But the family’s generosity goes

well beyond the campus and Merced.

They give extensively to help the small town in India where

their journey started by providing food, clothing and educational

opportunities to those in need. The town has grown to about 10,000

population, but the dire living conditions still remain.

The desire to help others has been embraced by the next

generation.

The couple’s oldest son, dr. Vikram Lakireddy and his wife,

Priya, met in Merced while she was visiting family after her college

graduation and he was home for the weekend from his cardiology

residency on the East Coast.

“I told her the first day that we met that I am going to be coming

back here to practice,” Vikram Lakireddy said. In 2009, after the

two were married, he did just that and joined his father’s thriving

cardiology practice.

In addition to helping community members through his medical

expertise, he said it was natural for him and Priya to perpetuate the

family’s legacy of philanthropy.

BY BRENDA ORTIZUniversity Communications


Donor SpotligHt

To hear Dr. Hanimireddy Lakireddy talk about why his philanthropy comes from his soul, visit bit.ly/doctordonor.

“Education is the only way for upward

mobility for anyone.” — PRIyA LAkIREddy

VIKRAM AND PRIYA LAKIREDDY

I believe because of education,

I got out of that little village and

got somewhere. My mission is to

help as many people as possible.”

— dR. HANImIREddy LAkIREddy —


“The seeds were sown by my father,” Vikram

Lakireddy said.

He hopes their support of the campus will shape the

future for his children.

“We talked about how we wanted this town to be the

kind of place that our kids would want to come back

to,” Vikram Lakireddy said. “I do not want my kids to

automatically cross Merced off the list of options when

they get older.”

A LoNg-tERm RELAtIoNSHIPThat’s one of the reasons behind their establishing

the dr. and Mrs. Lakireddy Innovation and design

Clinic Endowed Fund in 2014.

The endowment helps area nonprofits to participate

in the campus’s annual Innovation and design

clinic, where UC Merced students apply engineering

principles to come up with solutions to pressing

problems.

“If more people came up with ideas — whether it’s

manufacturing jobs, programming, whatever industry

— if those jobs could be established here in the Valley,

it would create great opportunities for the town and the

university,” Vikram Lakireddy said.

The couple also shares in the senior Lakireddy’s

belief in the power of education.

“Education is the only way for upward mobility for

anyone,” said Priya Lakireddy, who works on campus

as an administrative coordinator for Environmental

Health and Safety. “That’s why we think supporting

higher education is so important.”

The senior Lakireddy said his younger son,

Sidhardha, a lawyer in San Francisco, continues to

look for ways for the family to support the burgeoning

campus.

“We want to have a long-term relationship, even with

the next generation of my family,” Lakireddy said.

From humble beginnings, the family’s legacy of

compassion and generosity began and will benefit

many generations to come.

DR. HANIMIREDDY LAKIREDDY AND HIS wIFE, VIJAYA, HAVE A LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIP wITH THE CAMPUS.

the growing popularity of biology studies and the campus’s plans for its future areas of concentration lead to a new focus on human health

8 FALL 2015 | UC MERCED MAGAZINE

the University of California, Merced, was plotted at the juncture

of mountains, fields and urban sprawl with the mission of serving

the diverse needs of the San Joaquin Valley region.

Little has changed with that philosophy a decade later as

UC Merced flips the switch on a new era in which public and

human health sciences will be some of the core subjects for the institution in

its teaching, research, faculty recruitment and program development.

As research funding and activity have grown exponentially on campus,

studies have targeted global health issues such as HIV and Alzheimer’s disease,

but many professors have concentrated efforts on issues uniquely endemic to

the Valley.

CAMPUS hAS A heAlthy PerSPeCtive

on where its research is heading BY JEREMY OLSON

• ProfessorClarissaNobileisamongthescientistsat

UC Merced studying the mechanisms of valley fever,

an infection caused by fungal spores commonly found

in the soil of the largely agricultural region.

• ProfessorPaulBrownandcolleaguesareusingafederal

grant to pursue interventions that address child obesity,

which is alarmingly common in Merced County.

• ProfessorFabianFilipprecentlymetwithphysiciansat

the Cancer Center of Mercy Medical Center in Merced

to collaborate on studies of cancer-related disparities in

an area that is largely Hispanic and low-income.

PROFESSOR JAN wALLANDER STUDIES HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY.

“One of the reasons they made it UC Merced, instead of UC

Beverly Hills, is that this was a region that was very underserved,”

said Brown, a health economics researcher and director of the

university’s Health Sciences Research Institute. “You go other

places, and there are researchers tripping over each other to do

studies. In the San Joaquin Valley, not so.”

The paucity of research in the Valley has not been for lack of

things to examine, or problems to solve.

Asthma rates in Merced County nearly double those in the state

of California. Its rankings for stroke, diabetes and heart disease

rank among the worst of the state’s 58 counties.

A UC Merced study found 41.2 percent of teens in the county

were overweight or obese, a rate that would be among the worst

in the world. And despite producing some of the healthiest foods

on the planet, such as almonds and pomegranates, many of the

county’s residents — a quarter of whom live below the poverty

line — either can’t afford them or live in food deserts and can’t

access them.

The new energy and innovation coming from UC Merced

to address such issues is perfectly timed for the community, as

residents in the Valley have become somewhat tone deaf to the

messages from social service and public health agencies, said

>> CONTINUEd ON PAGE 10


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jeremy Olson, a reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, shared the local reporting Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for a series of stories on a spike in infant deaths at poorly regulated day-care homes. The series resulted in legislative action to strengthen rules. He has primarily covered health care and social services in his 18 years as a journalist. Olson also won a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism when he worked for the Omaha World-Herald.

“UC Merced, to me, feels a lot like a startup. It’s one of those places that has

started strong and has so much potential to achieve amazing things.”

— PROFESSOR CLARISSA NobILE

PROFESSOR CLARISSA NOBILE, LEFT, wORKS wITH A STUDENT ON BIOFILMS RESEARCH.


Claudia Corchado, program manager for the Central California Regional

Obesity Prevention Program.

It’s a struggle to hit home on even basic messages, she said, such as

convincing people that high-sugar beverages contribute as much to obesity

as high-fat foods.

“They think it’s what we eat, not what we drink,” she said. “We need the

credibility of the university. That’s huge, especially in Merced County.”

gRowINg EmPHASIS oN bIoLogyPushing the growth in health care and related research is the infusion

of students studying biology, which is the most popular major on campus.

Of the 1,800 students in the university’s School of Natural Sciences, about

1,300 have chosen degree paths in biology, said dean Juan Meza.

“There’s a sense that this is where the action is,” Meza said.

But the move toward health care research also comes from key decisions

by university leaders, including the creation in 2012 of the research institute

Brown leads, and the selection in 2014 of human-health research as one of

six strategic focus areas for the university.

Both steps will influence faculty hiring at a critical time, considering that

the institution expects to add 150 faculty members in the next six years to

keep pace with swelling student enrollment.

And that, in turn, is expected to fuel something of a renaissance in health

research — despite the fact that the university lacks the classic infrastructure

such as a medical school, and will be competing in a state in which nine

universities routinely pull in more than $100 million in National Institutes

of Health (NIH) grants per year.

UC Merced’s record for NIH grants came in 2014, when it surpassed

$4 million for the first time. Five years earlier, it had drawn less than $1

million, which Meza said points to the university’s growth.

“Biology is going to be the big growth area in the 21st

century,” he said. “It’s changing in that it’s much more

quantitative than it used to be. There are a whole lot of things

that people haven’t looked at before that we are able to look at

now. So we don’t have that big infrastructure, but you can still

be a big player these days without it.”

Recently, researchers have drawn the attention of grant agencies

like the NIH for such projects as:

• ProfessorMasashiKitazawa’sstudyofthelinkbetween

copper in drinking water to Alzheimer’s disease;

• ProfessorKaraMcCloskey’suseofstemcellstoengineer

cardiovascular tissues that could someday be used to repair

damaged blood vessels or heart tissue;

• ProfessorAndyLiWang’sworkonunderstandingbiological

clocks;

• ProfessorPatriciaLiWang’sdevelopmentofanHIV-

inhibiting silk protein that can be stored without refrigeration

for up to six months at temperatures up to 120 degrees;

• ProfessorMiriamBarlow’sexaminationofantibiotic

resistance; and

• ProfessorWei-ChunChin’sworkonnanomaterialsthatcould

help people with respiratory ailments better expel mucus.

Those are just a few of the health-related projects being

undertaken at UC Merced.

One factor in the growth of health research is that equipment

has become smaller, more efficient and less expensive. For

>> CONTINUEd FROM PAGE 9


example, genetic sequencing equipment used to be larger

than refrigerators, but the equipment Nobile has used for

some pioneering work on biofilms is cheaper and smaller

than a toaster oven. Biofilms are clusters of microbes that

might have more to do in combination with the origins of

disease than any one bacteria or fungus. (A common example

of a biofilm would be the plaque that forms on teeth.)

Nobile assembles biofilms and studies them under a time-

lapse microscope to learn how organisms communicate and

behave together.

“We are probing how each can influence the activity of

a partner species and identifying the molecules they use to

communicate,” said the professor who recently became the

campus’s first Pew Scholar. “These findings could change the

way we look at microbial interactions and lead to better ways

to combat infectious disease.”

A FutuRE IN PubLIC HEALtHContinued successes in health care and biological research

could eventually compel university leaders to make bigger

investments in infrastructure.

Nobile believes the university will one day need its own

biosafety-level 3 lab to remain a leader in the study of valley

fever as well as in the roles of biofilms or the origins of

antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.

discussions of a medical school have already taken place,

and the university will eventually visit questions of whether

nursing, pharmacy or dentistry programs are appropriate

additions, said UC Merced Provost Tom Peterson.

Biology is going to be the big growth area in the 21st century. It’s changing in that it’s much more

quantitative than it used to be. … So we don’t have that big infrastructure, but you can still be a big

player these days without it.”

— SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES DEAN JuAN mEzA —

Student interest could be the main driver. More than 60 percent of them

are the first in their families to attend college — and many of them have

eager ambitions of medical careers.

But a medical school is not a necessity for cutting-edge medical research,

Peterson said. UC Riverside waited 50 years before opening a medical

school, and UC Berkeley has none despite a robust research program that

pulled in more than $26 million in NIH grants last year.

“We are finding new and exciting ways to make significant contributions

to human health science … without the need for a medical school in the

immediate future,” the provost said. “Further, we believe that building the

strong foundational activities cutting across many aspects of human health

science will favorably position UC Merced for future expansion of a medical

school associated with the campus.”

One such area is public health — the study of broad societal influences

on the health of communities, and of interventions to address poor

health outcomes.

Merced researchers, for example, are looking to repackage information on

air quality in the Valley so residents can understand it and take precautions

to protect those at the greatest risk for health complications.

Professor Jan Wallander’s research has focused on identifying the risk

factors for obesity and related metabolic diseases, such as the amount

of time people spend sitting in front of video screens, or their racial

and genetic origins. But now the professor is moving toward testing

interventions in the San Joaquin Valley to see if they can have impacts.

“Public health is more about preventing health problems from developing

and improving the health of the population,” he said. “One could say

Merced and the San Joaquin Valley need strong public health research and

interventions as much as they need doctors coming out of the university.”


AT LEFT, PROFESSOR ANDY LIwANG RESEARCHES HUMAN BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS. ABOVE LEFT, THE PRODUCE ON THE GO FOOD TRUCK VISITS CAMPUS TO BRING FRESH PRODUCE. ABOVE RIGHT, PROFESSOR JITSKE TIEMSENSMA, CENTER, STUDIES HOw EMOTIONS AFFECT CHRONIC DISEASE.


CANCER, dIAbEtES, HEALtH outComESMolecular biology is another focus area among UC

Merced’s researchers.

Professor Filipp has concentrated much of his work on the

genetic and biological origins of melanoma, a skin cancer with

a high fatality rate if diagnosed late.

Professor Rudy Ortiz is searching for biologic clues that

predict the irreversible cellular damage that leads to diabetes

before it happens.

“What are some of those characteristics or markers that we

can use to better identify and diagnose, if you will, the early

events” preceding diabetes, he asked.

Health psychology is also a growth area for research at

UC Merced, highlighted by the work of Professor Jitske

Tiemensma on how prior stress in life affects coping with

diseases later on, and how perception of diseases affects

people’s abilities to fight them off.

Her research included analysis of drawings and artistic creations

by patients with conditions such as cancer, as well as patients with

a disorder in their pituitary glands that is rare but also a great

biological indicator of how lifetime stress affects the body.

“How you perceive your disease and the treatment and the

symptoms really influences how you cope,” she said.

The evolution of her research is a somewhat familiar story at

UC Merced. Tiemensma joined the university from an institution

in the Netherlands, so much of her initial research stretched back

to work with patients from that country. Over time, she is looking

for more opportunities to work with local populations, and to

examine how the stresses of poverty and racial disparities that are

so prevalent in the Valley can affect coping.

“Can we influence those processes?” she asked. “Are there things

we can do so there is a less intense response to stress?”

oPPoRtuNItIES wItHIN PARtNERSHIPSBrown said the untapped research opportunities that exist in the

Valley are a major draw for faculty, along with the chance to attempt

interventions in an area with so much need.

“That’s part of our mission,” he said. “And for researchers seeking

to make a difference with the work, there are so many opportunities

to make a positive impact by forming partnerships with people and

communities in underserved areas to address challenges they face

every day.”

Brown and Wallander are involved with a $90,000 NIH grant to

establish connections in the community and identify the interventions

that will have the greatest impact on obesity in the region.

Corchado said it is important to build trust and understanding

between the researchers at the university and the people in the

community who would be participating in interventions and research

studies.

She recalled how UC Merced researchers enthusiastically presented

a new program in one community by which a truck would arrive on

Wednesdays to provide them with the affordable produce that isn’t

immediately available to them.

The researchers were surprised by the tepid reaction, which turned

out to be dissatisfaction with the day of the week.

“’We don’t get paid till Friday,’” community members eventually

revealed to the researchers.

Such startup problems are to be expected in a community with deep-

seated health problems and a new university trying to address them for

the first time.

Nobile, the biofilms researcher, said the process seems much the same

as what she encountered in 2013 when starting up a biotech company.

“I really like the feel of startups,” she said. “UC Merced, to me, feels a

lot like a startup. It’s one of those places that has started strong and has

so much potential to achieve amazing things.”

“You go other places, and there are researchers tripping over each other

to do studies. In the San Joaquin Valley, not so.”

— HEALTH SCIENCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE DIRECTOR PAuL bRowN —



PROFESSOR FABIAN FILIPP IS STUDYING MELANOMA, THE MOST SERIOUS TYPE OF SKIN CANCER.

Viney’s Journey1980Earned bachelor’s degree in metallurgy and

materials science from University of Cambridge,

in the United Kingdom.

1983Earned Ph.D. in liquid crystalline polymers from

University of Cambridge; started postdoctoral

research at Cambridge.

1986Took a position as World Trade Visiting Scientist

at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose.

1987Joined faculty at University of Washington, in

Seattle, in materials science and engineering,

and subsequently bioengineering.

1995Joined the faculty at the University of Oxford,

in the United Kingdom, teaching and researching

in materials.

1998Held the established chair in the Chemistry of

Materials at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh,

Scotland, where he also served as deputy head

and then head of chemistry, and as an elected

member of the University Court.

1999Became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics

and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

in London.

2000Received the Interdisciplinary Award from the Royal

Society of Chemistry; elected as a Fellow of ASM

International.

2003Became one of the founding faculty members

of UC Merced. In the past 12 years, he led

the establishment of degree programs in

bioengineering and materials science and

engineering, as well as general education; served

on the Board of Trustees of the ASM International

Materials Education Foundation; received UC

Merced’s inaugural Faculty of the Year Award;

served as UC Merced’s first vice provost for

Undergraduate Education and as dean of College

One; received the Science Communicator Award

from UC Merced’s chapter of Sigma Xi, the

Scientific Research Society; and was recognized

as UC Merced’s first Chancellor’s Associates

Faculty Scholar.

When Professor Christopher Viney travels, he prefers using

a compass and map to smartphone apps to find his way

around.

And as a founding faculty member, Viney has been the

campus compass for most of UC Merced’s first decade,

helping guide the university’s development since before the campus even opened.

He has developed degree programs, written curricula, taught, mentored, served

on pretty much every academic committee on campus — from physical planning

to arts — and worked for a time as vice provost for undergraduate education. He

continues to publish innovative research, and has authored or co-authored more

than 170 research articles and book chapters in his professional career.

“There’s no instruction manual on how to start a university or how to develop

a curricula completely from scratch. You have to do it to believe it. Last year,

I made it to the top of Half dome in Yosemite. People who’ve done it, they

understand. For people who’ve never done it, how do you communicate that?”

Viney said of starting the newest UC campus. “I think each one of us who

participated must have our own unique feelings about it.”

Viney left a position in Scotland where restructuring meant departmental

deconstruction. He had options, including an established school “somewhere on

the East Coast,” where he’d be tasked with building a department.

He said choosing UC Merced — a place that is continuously under

construction — was a no-brainer.

He and the other original faculty members joined the founding three deans

in laying the first foundations of the campus, including personally recruiting

students around the state and telling parents and children about the opportunities

and economic impacts of having a college degree.

HAVING TEA WITH

BY LORENA ANDERSONUniversity Communications


EdITOR’S NOTE: Usually this feature is called “Having Coffee With,” but Viney is British and drinks tea, of course.

There’s no instruction

manual on how to start a

university or how to develop

a curricula completely from

scratch. You have to do it

to believe it.”

— PROFESSOR CHRIStoPHER VINEy


One of UC Merced’s goals has been to build a college-going culture, especially

in the San Joaquin Valley, where higher education has not always been a priority.

That change began with the first group of faculty members and administrators,

who helped people understand what a research university is.

“We had to explain that engineering is more than just mechanical engineering,

and that it wasn’t about fixing cars,” Viney said. “Everything that turns energy into

movement is mechanical engineering.

“We’d talk about job opportunities, and how engineers are not the stereotype:

unkempt and unwashed with 14 different colored pens and no social skills. We

assured parents that we weren’t ogres when it came to working with their kids.”

ENtHuSIASm HASN’t wANEd As the father of one college student and one soon-to-be college student, Viney

said he understands why parents were skeptical at first, and well remembers the

pressure of making sure he was developing curriculum that his students could

actually use.

“The big question parents were asking us was ‘What advice do you have for us

as parents of college students?’”

He encouraged parents to be supportive, even if their children came home with

challenging new ideas.



To hear one of Christopher Viney’s favorite memories about the campus’s early days, visit bit.ly/vineyspeaks.


“We encourage them to go home with all

the love and respect for their families, cultures

and traditions, but maybe they have a new

perspective, have new ideas about what’s going

to change the world over the next 50 years,

or have changed their political views,” Viney

said. “And that’s a sign of good parenting —

that these kids are listening to new ideas and

coming up with their own. It’s also a sign that

the kid and the university have both done their

job of working in an environment where new

ideas happen.”

Viney can be seen most days wearing UC

Merced T-shirts or sweatshirts. He still shows

up for most campus events, and his message to

prospective students is still the same:

“We’re doing admissions now like this is just

a regular university. What we’re not saying —

but should be saying — is that this is going to

be a place for pioneers for decades,” Viney said.

“Maybe some of the grid has been filled in, but

the whole grid is not filled in yet, and the grid

is not constrained. Come in. Make a difference.

Help yourself! Help us!”

To meet Viney is to realize he is unflaggingly

upbeat and curious — attributes that have

served him well in forging a life in Merced. One

reason he didn’t choose the East Coast school

was because of its small, homogenous town.

People say there’s not a lot to do in Merced,

but Viney doesn’t agree. He called this a

place of limitless options, not just because of

the campus but because of its location. His

curiosity for the world around him is likely

what drew him to materials science in the first

place, because he looks at everything as possible

inspiration for creating new materials.

The community’s diversity intrigues him.

He’s fascinated by other cultures, their histories

and customs and particularly

their foods.

His father, who traveled with the British

Army, introduced him to curry, and spicy foods

have been a lifelong pleasure. He’s such

a fan that a now-defunct Asian restaurant that

offered “hell noodle soup” eating challenges

wound up naming one of the challenges after

Viney — the one where contestants had to

eat the hottest bowl of noodle soup without

accompanying cold beverages, as Viney did.

“Just acclimatize to the heat and get on with

it,” he said.

Even without the hell noodle soup, Viney

said he finds plenty of spicy food in Merced. A

favorite Indian restaurant goes off the heat scale

for him.

“They know to do that,” he said. “If they have

some ghost chilies, they’ll throw them in, too.

They know I won’t sue.”

Not FINISHEd yEtHis father had an intrepid spirit, which

Viney inherited. He refers to his various moves

around the world as adventures, but he finds

plenty of those here, too, including wilderness

hiking. Viney goes off-trail with no hesitation,

though he’s always careful to respect the soil

and plants that are protected.

One hobby Viney can’t practice in Merced

is change ringing, the art of ringing a set of

tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns

called changes. Change or method ringing is

most popular in British churches that still have

sets of a few large bells rigged to swing freely.

during his graduate student days, Viney was

steeple-keeper for the Cambridge University

Guild of Change Ringers, responsible for

maintaining the bells and splicing frayed ropes

in the Guild’s home tower.

But he finds plenty to do in Merced.

People around Merced are probably

familiar with one of Viney’s other passions:

photography. Either they’ve seen his work

displayed or they’ve seen him roaming about

with a camera to his eye, documenting a variety

of events, people, places and phenomena, such

as this year’s lunar eclipse.

“I’ve taken pictures for decades, but here I’ve

run into people and opportunities that have

encouraged me to actually develop it, to enter

competitions, to put my stuff out there on walls

and invite people to comment on it,” he said.

One of his most recent shows was part of a

graduate student’s program to combine science

and art, pairing scientists with artists who

could convey their partner’s research in photos,

murals, sculptures and other media. Viney

served as both scientist and artist.

Viney, who is 56 this year, said when he

thinks about retiring from UC Merced, there

are two ways to answer: from the head and

from the heart.

The realist’s answer, he said, is that he has

already put in half the time one normally

would accrue before retiring from the UC,

and “if you run more than halfway around the

block and get tired, you don’t turn around and

go back, you finish running around the block.”

Plus, he hesitates to predict the future

because most of his adventures were not ones

he saw coming years ahead of time.

But his heart tells him he hasn’t come close

to finishing at UC Merced.

“Absolutely not. There is a lot of useful work

to do. I’m not done yet.”

ABOVE, VINEY’S PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE TOP OF HALF DOME LOOKING AT THE SUMMITING PATH. BELOw, LEFT, VINEY DRESSED AS A BOBCAT FOR THE FIRST BOBCAT DAY.

ALUMN

ICORN

ERtHe Journey continueS

for grADuAteSBY DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

Students at UC Merced often say

“Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat.”

Alumni, especially those from

the original undergraduate class,

say they carry their UC Merced experiences

with them every day.

The first students had to embrace the

newness, the challenges and opportunities,

and have gone on to become doctors,

lawyers, professors, professionals, engineers,

entrepreneurs and leaders in their

communities.

Yaasha Sabbaghian (biological sciences,

2009) understood the value of banking on

a brand-new university. He took advantage

of the unique research opportunities offered

and expanded his experiences beyond his

major.

“The research opportunities provided me

with a global understanding of what was

important for me to learn,” he said.

Sabbaghian, a patent attorney for Visa,

is still involved with UC Merced, serving

as the UC Merced Alumni Association

secretary. He watches the campus grow and

hopes the opportunity for undergraduate

research will continue to be a distinguishing

factor for UC Merced.

He aspires to promote financial

literacy and volunteers his time to help

entrepreneurial young people with issues

such as trademarks as they start their own

companies.

“My UC Merced experience helped me

gain confidence, but it was the pioneering

leadership spirit that created a proactive

culture that empowers me today to

continue to initiate projects,” he said.

oPPoRtuNItIES ANd INItIAtIVEJanice Cosio (physics and chemistry,

2010) stayed at UC Merced longer than

some of her classmates, earning her master’s

in physics and chemistry after getting her

bachelor’s degree.

“Undergraduate research was an amazing

opportunity that I would not

have had at a more established campus,”

Cosio said. “I got a lab position as a

junior. Most universities don’t even

offer that opportunity until you’re

in graduate school.”

Like all of UC Merced’s students, Cosio

helped set the foundations for future

generations of Bobcats. She spent her free

time helping form the student government.

“UC Merced was an empty canvas, and

we were able to start whatever clubs we

would think of,” she said. “It was an honor

to help draft the student government’s

constitution, as it helped to serve as a base

for the student leaders of today.”

She recently returned to campus for the

Always Love UC Merced (ALUM) day to

share with current students what it means

to be an alumnus. As an adjunct professor

for Madera Community College, her

experiences at UC Merced help her

every day.

“Being in the pioneering class taught me

to be a leader and to take initiative at work

when an idea or concept is presented to

me,” Cosio said.

StARtuP mENtALIty“We were all part of a start-up

university before any of us created start-

up businesses,” said derrick Gellidon

(psychology, 2009), who started a company

called Blendid with fellow alumnus

Efferman Ezell (psychology, 2009).

Blendid, a company that serves organic

milkshakes in the Bay Area, isn’t Gellidon’s

first startup. He is helping expand recruiting

efforts in engineering and operations for

Instacart, a grocery delivery company that

has grown from 25 employees to more than

285 in his year there.

“UC Merced set the tone. We didn’t

take older, established processes and build

on them, we built new things and had to

look first at each situation in multiple ways

before we implemented anything,” he said.

The exposure to ambitious classmates

served as motivation — an opportunity he

credits UC Merced with as a less-established

institution.

“Whenever I felt lost or was unclear, I

surrounded myself with a group of peers

who were goal-oriented and always reaching

higher. This big network of mine pushed

me to operate at a higher level and take

ownership of a lot of things.”

As he continues to build on his

entrepreneurial career, Gellidon hopes his

journey will lead him back to campus as

the first UC Merced alumnus to deliver a

commencement address.

As the campus community collectively

looks ahead to 2020, many of the inaugural

class of students reflect on the journeys that

started a decade ago.

While they know change is inevitable,

some realize this ever-changing place is

now in the hands of the current campus

community to maintain what makes UC

Merced special.

“UC Merced will continue to change for

every generation,” Sabbaghian said. “It’s a

much different place than when the Class

of 2009 was here. However, as long as the

learning and development of UC Merced is

the same and it has the same infrastructure,

it will still continue to feel like home for

generations of alumni to come.”

“we were all part of a start-up

university before any of us created

start-up businesses.”

— ALUMNUS dERRICk gELLIdoN

FROM LEFT, INAUGURAL UNDERGRADUATES DERRICK GELLIDON, JANICE COSIO AND YAASHA SABBAGHIAN (FAR RIGHT) SAY UC MERCED CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE THEM IN THEIR JOBS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES.



California, long envied by the rest of the country for its

climate, beauty and natural resources, is four years into a

drought and in the midst of a water crisis a century in the

making.

With Gov. Jerry Brown imposing mandatory water restrictions on

residents, the state’s staggeringly complex water woes have taken the

sheen off at least some of the California dream.

But researchers at UC Merced are trying to unravel the Gordian knot

that is California water through a new inter-campus initiative.

The new UC Water Security and Sustainability Research initiative,

known as UC Water, is led by UC Merced professors Roger Bales and

Joshua Viers and involves researchers from other campuses. One of

the goals is to amalgamate research on infrastructure, institutions and

information — what Bales calls the three Is of water security.

Researchers want to integrate information on headwaters and

groundwater to see how changes affect the downstream groundwater.

UC Water also intends to provide information and offer ideas that could

be implemented by resource managers for a more secure water future

for the state and beyond.

One of the biggest questions is how the state, with a population

increasing by a million people a year, can meet insatiable demand for

water for irrigation for food production, for recreation, for fisheries and

more. demand peaks when it’s hot, which is not, typically, when it rains.

Meeting demand is only more difficult as the climate warms,

Viers said.

“We don’t live in a place of continuous plenty,” Viers said.

By gathering data showing where the water is, and where

and how much water is needed, Viers and his colleagues

hope to help put the state’s water and how it’s managed on a

sustainable path.

As Viers said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

The causes of California’s water crisis are many, from a

lack of naturally occurring snowpack in the Sierra Nevada

and drained underground aquifers to an oversubscribed and

antiquated water-rights legal system.

The ramifications are numerous as well.

drier conditions can result in more frequent and severe

wildfires. developed land and natural habitat is much

more susceptible to flooding when it rains. And millions of

homeowners, farmers and other citizens are forced to pay

higher and higher prices for utilities and irrigation systems.

“Opportunities exist for all sectors to better use and manage

water,” Viers said.

Fortunately, there are a multitude of technological and

political solutions to the problems that are worth pursuing. UC

Water’s role is to explore those solutions and their feasibility.

UC MERCED RESEARCHERSGathering Data to Tackle California’s Water Crisis on Multiple Fronts


BY JOEL PATENAUDE

uP IN tHE mouNtAINS

Part of the problem is that what needs to be managed is not

measuring up.

“Typically there would be feet of snowpack. Last year, we had just

a couple inches,” Bales said. “That’s a problem, because the Sierra

Nevada is where a lot of our water comes from.”

In fact, an estimated 60 percent of the water stored in California’s

reservoirs — many of which are under capacity or empty — comes

from the snowpack that (ideally) accumulates each winter and

becomes runoff in the spring and summer.

Professor Martha Conklin and Bales are among those who

study the changing snowpack and rising snowlines in California’s

mountains.

Bales, also director of UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research

Institute (SNRI), said thinning the forests of thirsty younger trees and

undergrowth could free up runoff to replenish underground aquifers.

Conklin is the lead water researcher on the seven-year Sierra

Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP). Along with Bales

and others at UC Merced, she has studied the issue in the American

River Basin and in forests near Yosemite and Lake Tahoe.

The experiments SNAMP used were designed to evaluate forest

response to strategically placed “treatments,” or thinnings, focused on

reducing the risk of high-intensity fires.

But the researchers also suspect that restoring forests to

the densities that were standard a century ago — before fire

suppression measures were put in place — could yield up

to 1 million acre-feet of water across the Sierra Nevada in a

normal-to-wet year.

“Using models calibrated by years of data, we were really

pleased with the results, because they showed that even with

a light treatment — removing 10 percent to 15 percent of

the biomass — we actually did have measurable increases in

water responses,” Conklin said. “That’s exciting because it

means that where you treat makes a big difference.”

The researchers don’t propose ridding forests of all the

undergrowth, rather restoring sustainable forest densities,

which would also help control the intensity of wildfires.

“Not only are low-intensity fires necessary to forest

health, they are managed differently,” Bales said. “Land

managers’ funds are often limited because of the resources

expended in fighting high-intensity fires and their

subsequent cleanups. They don’t have enough resources for

restoration projects.”

The issue requires further monitoring and verification

in order to guide investments in forest management by the

water community.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joel Patenaude lives in Madison, Wis., where he’s the managing editor of Silent Sports Magazine. He has many years of professional newspaper experience, covering state and local politics, Native American treaty issues, the environment and a wide array of other topics.


“You have to show the benefits and assign numbers,” Bales

said. “How much more runoff can you get and can you

sustain that?”

University researchers also study current and future effects

of a warming climate. For example, Bales has found that as the

climate warms, trees have longer growing seasons at higher

elevations.

That means “we could lose our water gains from forest

thinning at lower elevations, because the trees will use more of

the water,” Bales said.

In the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory near the

Kings River, researchers also found that the longer growing

season meant more water was being transpired into the

atmosphere, too, said Professor Steven Hart.

“That means less water stored in the soil,” Hart said.

One way to confirm that unknown would be to expand a

project Bales, Conklin and others have been working on with the

California department of Water Resources.

They developed a system of wireless ground sensors that

monitor soil moisture, snowpack and the whole water cycle, and

deployed it in the American River Basin.

The system could replace the old method the water agency

used of measuring the snowpack at the same selected spots each

year and using those numbers to project the year’s runoff.

“That doesn’t work well in very dry or very wet years,” Conklin

said. “We’re collecting data every 15 minutes about the spatial

variations across the whole area, which provides a much clearer

picture of where the snow is and how it is melting, and offering

daily, real-time information.”

Bales said if the state invested $100 million to $200 million

in a unified, statewide system of sensor networks, it would have

immediate and sustained payoffs by reducing uncertainty about

how much water the state has and where it is.

“We’ve shown that it can be done,” Conklin said.

dowN IN tHE VALLEy

It seems counterintuitive, but another project has shown the

benefits of moving levees so rivers seep in and recharge aquifers.

Restoring floodwaters’ access to floodplains in some areas can

help replenish groundwater supplies and improve salmon fisheries,

according to the results of a project along the Central Valley’s

Cosumnes River near Lodi, Viers said.

After four years of study, levee setbacks were found to have

reduced flood magnitude, allowed for agricultural production and

— at three times the normal rate — recharged the local aquifer.

UC Water, again using water-sensor technology, bolstered

the state Legislature’s recent decision to invest $660 million in

rebuilding levees to make room for floodwaters and add to local

groundwater stores instead of waiting years for the runoff from

precipitation to do the same job.

Recharging the aquifers and managing groundwater grows

increasingly urgent as water tables drop and farmers dig wells as

deep as 1,000 feet or more, It’s “a literal race to the bottom” of

emptying groundwater basins, Viers said, to keep irrigation systems

running.

“In the Central Valley, we’re overdrawn by more than 100 million

acre-feet. It is like having 25 Lake Shasta-sized reservoirs completely

drained and not refilling,” Viers said.


REguLAtIoNS ANd PoLICIES

Until last year, when the California Legislature passed the

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, groundwater usage was

neither measured nor regulated.

Only recently did the state start releasing information about the

geologic substrate and depth of the water table. And while groundwater

usage remains largely unknown, a more than 100-year-old system of

allocating rights to surface water is a regulatory nightmare.

In a paper published last year, Viers and Ted Grantham, a UC Water

affiliate, analyzed the state’s database of 35,000 water-rights allocations.

They found the allocation of 350 million acre-feet of water was at least

five times the 70 million acre-feet of water available in a “good” year.

In the San Joaquin Valley, the allocation is closer to 10 times the

actual water supply.

And California, more often than not, does not have “good” wet years.

The disparity could be higher because Viers’ analysis didn’t take into

account water rights given out before 1914 and grandfathered into the

current system.


“Typically there would be feet of snowpack. Last year, we had just a couple inches. That’s a problem,

because the Sierra Nevada is where a lot of our water comes from.”

— PROFESSOR RogER bALES

“In any case, the numbers alone show the water-rights system

doesn’t match the demand and availability,” he said.

Viers, director of the UC Merced branch of CITRIS and a

member of the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy

Center, hopes UC Water’s work helps bring about reform.

“Many of our problems are political ones in the end, but

without making measurements in all facets of water — how

much water is being used by whom for what purpose — we

won’t be able to manage our future,” he said.

Multiple levels of additional bureaucracy, in the form of

local water management districts and state agencies that are

alternately concerned with water quality and quantity —

mandates that often put them at loggerheads with one another

— complicate matters further.

Scientific data like that being produced by UC Merced

researchers will ultimately provide a means to a more

sustainable future. “The next step is collecting better data so we

can make better decisions,” Viers said.


The ongoing drought has slowed the flow of available

surface water to farm fields in the Central Valley,

resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars

worth of crop production last year alone.

Farmers have turned to pumping groundwater faster than

the rate at which the submerged supplies can be replenished.

But that’s probably not a sustainable practice. Helping

agriculture, as well as monitoring, measuring and saving water,

and understanding how climate change is going to affect us in

the future — those are just some of the many research topics

and projects involving UC Merced and water.

Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei is concerned with restoring

meadows and their water-banking properties. Professor

Steven Hart looks at the effects of forest restoration

treatments such as thinning with or without prescribed fire

and wildfire on ecosystem carbon and water balance, soil

microbial communities and belowground processes.

Hart is also part of a larger meadow restoration project

with Professor Joshua Viers to see if restoration improves

hydrology, which in turn, could reduce the volume of

greehouse gas emissions.

That project is funded through the California Air Resources

Board with money from AB 32, the California Global Warming

Solutions Act of 2006.

Such changes throughout the Sierra Nevada could

change the amount of greenhouse gases coming from these

ecosystems, Hart said.

“Water is definitely an important part of the restoration

project,” Hart said, “because the more water the meadows

hold, the less greenhouse gases are emitted to the

atmosphere.”

Viers also works with groups like CalTrout, a nonprofit

concerned with environmental, fish and water issues and

the social, political and economic nuances surrounding

them, and the Earthwatch Institute, which connects scientists

with everyday people who volunteer to help with myriad

environmental projects all over the world.

Professor Tom Harmon and the students in his lab research

a variety of topics pertaining to hydrology, climate and

sustainability issues in California the world, measuring and

modeling environmental systems to better understand and

manage water resources and sustain ecosystems services.

And those are just a few of dozens of projects.

“We’re at the forefront of critical issues like climate change

and a sustainable future,” Vice Chancellor for Research Sam

Traina said. “Solutions for a secure water future will come from

the innovative thinking and cutting-edge research happening

at UC Merced.”

REsEARCHERs’ WoRk CoUlD ADD Up to MUCH MoRE tHAn A DRop in tHE BUCkEt

“You can’t manage what

you don’t measure.”

— PROFESSOR JoSHuA VIERS


California’s water myths

myth: California is running out of water.

reality: California has run out of abundant water and will need to adapt to increasing water scarcity.

myth: A villian is responsible for California’s water problems.

reality: There is no true villain in California water policy, but opportunities exist for all sectors to better use and manage water.

myth: We can build our way out of California’s water problems.

reality: New infrastructure can contribute to California’s water-supply solutions, but it is not a cure-all.

myth: We can conserve our way out of California’s water problems.

reality: Water conservation is important, but its effectiveness is often overstated.

myth: Healthy aquatic ecosystems conflict with a healthy economy.

reality: Healthy ecosystems provide significant value to the California economy, and many opportunities exist for mutually beneficial water management.

myth: More water will lead to healthy fish populations.

reality: Fish need more than water to thrive.

myth: California’s water-rights laws impede reform and sustainable management.

reality: The legal tools for reform are already present in California’s water-rights laws. We just need to start using them.

myth: We can find a consensus that makes all parties happy.

reality: Tough tradeoffs mean consensus is not achievable on all water issues; higher levels of government will need to assert leadership.

SOURCE: Public Policy Institute of California bit.ly/waterworries

He’s talking about solutions like the one proposed by one of

Ghezzehei’s former students, Vivian Dominique Lopez, in her

master’s thesis.

Lopez has since graduated, but she wrote her paper on

biochar, a byproduct of burning biofuel.

Heavy reliance on irrigation has led to the salinization of

soil, which further impedes water infiltration, especially in

the loamy soil so abundant throughout the Valley. To combat

this problem, farmers add huge amounts of soil conditioners

that increase drainage in the short term but cause long-term

leaching of valuable nutrients from the soil.

A promising and more “sustainable solution to enhancing

water flow through soils may lie in adding biochars to soils,”

Lopez wrote.

She studied the benefits of adding almond biochar — a

carbon-rich charcoal made from burning the cast-off shells

and hulls of almonds — to soil used for agriculture. Shells and

hulls are plentiful in the Central Valley, where nearly all of the

almonds and half of the fruits and vegetable consumed in the

U.S. are grown.

“The potential for almond residues to be used as large-scale

biomass is possible and has the potential to be a sustainable

use of agriculture waste,” Lopez concluded.

evolving DHArmA: profeSSorS Help monkS expAnD Scientific knowleDge

Buddhism teaches us that existence is suffering, but this summer, two professors

found out that teaching neuroscience to Buddhist monks can be enlightening.

Cognitive science Professors david Noelle and Carolyn dicey Jennings each

spent about 10 days in southern India, sharing some of their knowledge with

groups of exiled Tibetan monks at two of the three monasteries that take part

in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative.

They returned with a new understanding of the political refugees, their lives, their beliefs and

their culture.

“There were lots of things that went against my expectations,” Jennings said. “When I think

of a Tibetan monastery, I think of people meditating in solitude. But this was one of the most

engaged communities I’ve ever seen.”

Inaugurated in 1998 by dalai Lama XIV, an affiliation between Emory University and

drepung Loseling Monastic University has grown into a multi-dimensional organization that

helps advance the dalai Lama’s directive that scholarly monastics study science and promote the

convergence of science and spirituality.

The summer sessions offer about four weeks of courses on the philosophy of science, physics,

biology and neuroscience. Courses are taught by faculty members from Emory and other

universities. Students spend six hours a day in class, hearing lectures, holding discussions,

watching demonstrations and participating in hands-on experiments. At the end of each week,

every student takes a final exam on the week’s topic.

If scientific analysis were

conclusively to demonstrate

certain claims in Buddhism to

be false, then we must accept

the findings of science and

abandon those claims.”

— dALAI LAmA XIV

writing in his book “The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality”

BY LORENA ANDERSONUniversity Communications


TOP, MONKS OBSERVE THE INSECTS THEY FIND OUTSIDE THEIR MONASTERY. ABOVE, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, THE MONKS KNEEL IN A DAY-LONG PRAYER FOR THE DALAI LAMA’S BIRTHDAY; THEY LIVE IN REPLICAS OF THEIR TIBETAN MONASTERIES; THE MONKS STUDY SCIENCE AT THE DIRECTION OF THE DALAI LAMA, wHO IS THEIR SPIRITUAL LEADER.

“The dalai Lama stresses that Buddhism has an empirical

foundation, and that practitioners should question everything.

They have a long history of considering questions involving

our origins and about the nature of the mind, the self and

consciousness,” Noelle said.

“They hold daily debates on religious and philosophical topics.

Critical thinking is a very important component of their tradition.

They are very excited by the possibility that we can now start

addressing some of these deep philosophical questions through

scientific methods.”

Scholar monks can participate in the six-year summer science

program, contributing to their advanced degrees. Some of the monks

also have opportunities to enroll in classes at American universities.

They can then return to their communities, which revolve around

the Gaden, Sera Jey, and drepung monasteries — which are replicas

of identically named sites that they left in Tibet when they fled

China’s encroachment. Equipped with scientific knowledge, they

often contribute to the education of their fellow monks.

While they take the dalai Lama’s scientific prescription seriously,

some of the more established monastic leaders view science

primarily as a means to communicate and justify their beliefs to

Westerners, Noelle said.

INtRIguINg ANd CHALLENgINgThe monks carefully examine and challenge knowledge claims

made by instructors in the classroom, which is quite different from

the typical teaching experience at home, where students often accept

what they are told, the professors said. The monks especially want to

understand how studies are conducted and evidence is gathered —

these applications of the scientific method are new for them.

“In their practice, personal experience counts as evidence,” Noelle

said. “In contrast, scientists are wary of the many ways in which our

brains can be fooled. To demonstrate this concern, we presented the

monks with a collection of optical illusions, showing them how our

perceptions cannot always be trusted.”

“I don’t think most of them are exposed to much science. Many

of their beliefs would sound medieval to Americans,” Jennings said.

“For example, I heard several times a tale about frogs growing out

of wet belts left in the yard. Our program gave them lots of new

material to think about. We tried to explain how we know what we

know in a way that was respectful of their traditions.”

The monks were intrigued by the professors’ lectures, even if

the ideas challenged their beliefs. Noelle said the students watched

a video of a white blood cell moving around other cells to absorb

bacteria, and, as they watched, the monks ascribed human emotions

to the bacteria being “chased.”


To see a video of the day-long prayer for the Dalai Lama’s birthday, visit bit.ly/monksprayers.

To see a video of the monks’ participation in the classroom exercises, visit bit.ly/monkslearn.

They readily ascribed sentience to these microscopic entities,

and were skeptical that such complex processes could arise without

thoughts and feelings.

Noelle and Jennings said the monks would heartily participate in

exercises that American college students might be shy about, such as

acting out the roles of rods and cones in the human eye to help them

understand what’s happening physically as we see the world around us.

In the monastic classroom, when a teacher asks a question, many

students simultaneously shout out answers, and the teacher’s aides —

in this case the translators — need to mediate.

More senior monks also had opportunities to converse with the

professors in the evenings, allowing the professors and the monks to

pose larger questions to each other, with each side providing long and

detailed answers.

AN EXPERIENCE woRtH REPEAtINgAssigned to different monasteries, Noelle and Jennings didn’t see

each other while they were in India, but they shared similar experiences.

They both saw the monks engage in a special style of debating, which

is more physical than what you might see in the United States or the

United Kingdom.

during their stay, both attended celebrations that the monks held in

honor of the dalai Lama’s birthday, including an all-day prayer session

which the visitors were allowed to watch and even film.

“It is a relatively closed-off community that I heard gets only about

10 other Western visitors a year, but inside of their community, they are

very open,” Jennings said.

The professors also learned about the monks’ personal backgrounds.

In Tibetan families, it is considered an honor to have a family member

join a monastery, and children can take monastic vows as early as 6

years old. But the monasteries also take in many of the poorer Tibetan

children whose families might not be able to afford to feed them.

Because Buddhists believe existence is suffering, they believe it is

their duty to help relieve other people’s suffering as much as possible.

They value learning and community far above money and power.

The professors agreed that the experience is one that they are

likely to repeat, and they hope other researchers from UC Merced

will volunteer, as well. Next year, the program will include third-year

scholar-monks as well as first- and second-year students, so there will

be more opportunities for professors to contribute.

Jennings said she wants to go back because, while not a Buddhist, she

supports the dalai Lama’s scientific edict, but also because being there

was good for her.

“I could benefit from more time in their culture,” she said. “They are

not so concerned with what others think of them. I think it is a great

way to reset the system.”


Great businesses have one thing in common: Each started as an idea.

The recent launch of UC Merced’s new business incubator provides budding entrepreneurs with the tools, resources and

connections to turn great ideas into reality.

The campus’s Office of Research and Economic development, in partnership with the city of Merced, launched the UC Merced Venture

Lab in late July. Located in the Parcade Building at 18th and M streets in downtown Merced, the lab works with partners to invent and

launch new businesses.

“Innovation is about creating something new. Entrepreneurship is about connecting things to solve problems and generate wealth,” said

Peter Schuerman, associate vice chancellor for Research and Economic development. “The Venture Lab is about connecting innovation to

entrepreneurship to create business opportunities that have never existed before.”

The lab is off to a promising start.

“We have more than a dozen university-related business concepts incubating in the Venture Lab, with more emerging as people learn

about our program,” Schuerman said. “For other opportunities, the UC Merced Small Business development Center is on-site to provide its

services to the community. By putting these two programs together in one space, we are laying the foundation for connections.”

Current business ideas range from delivery services and agricultural robotics to regenerative medicine, said Venture Lab team member

Robert Goodman, a career specialist for the UC Merced Center for Career and Professional Advancement. Goodman works with the lab’s

student population. When the career center hosted a seminar on how to start a business, approximately 40 students attended.

Convincing those who had novel ideas to further explore their viability “wasn’t a hard sell at all,” Goodman said. “We have a lot of smart

and ambitious students who want to take their ideas and turn them into something tangible.”

Business is Blooming at new uc Merced venture Lab


The Venture Lab is operated by the UC Merced Office of Business development, which opened in 2015. That’s when the university’s

Office of Research and Economic development broadened its mission from solely licensing intellectual property rights to nurturing startup

companies, building partnerships and cultivating entrepreneurship.

UC Merced was founded in the San Joaquin Valley to increase educational attainment and serve as an economic engine for the region.

The Venture Lab’s downtown location on M Street — one of the city’s main transportation arteries — contributes to those goals while

expanding the campus’s presence in the community.

The space’s casual, open design — with clustered workstations, open desks, comfortable seating and conference rooms for meetings and

more focused work — encourages collaboration.

Frank Quintero, Merced’s economic development director, toured the facility before it opened and called the lab a welcome addition to

downtown. The space inhabited by the Venture Lab was vacant for several years.

An influx of students, faculty members, researchers and community members supports the connection between the campus and broader

community and further strengthens those ties, Quintero said.

The Venture Lab’s soft opening during the summer allowed staff members to do some fine-tuning before the fall semester started. An

official open house is planned for October.

“Traditionally, people have had to choose between staying here in the community they love, and leaving to pursue their dreams,”

Schuerman said. “Our goal is to show people how to create their own opportunities so they can achieve their dreams right here in the

Central Valley.”

BY DONNA BIRCH TRAHANUniversity Communications

“Innovation is about creating something new. Entrepreneurship is about connecting things to solve

problems and generate wealth,” said Peter Schuerman, associate vice chancellor for Research and

Economic Development. “The Venture Lab is about connecting innovation to entrepreneurship to

create business opportunities that have never existed before.”

PETER SCHUERMAN, STANDING, AND THE STAFF MEMBERS OF THE OFFICE OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ARE LOOKING FORwARD TO THE PARTNERSHIPS THAT wILL GROw FROM THE VENTURE LAB.

Building and running a university campus is a massive undertaking, requiring countless hours

of behind-the-scenes work from dedicated staff members, and that has been true of UC

Merced since before the campus opened.

The importance of the Office of Governmental and Community Relations, in particular

— from obtaining funding for the campus’s first buildings to navigating its ambitious next

phase of growth — cannot be overstated.

The term “office” was a misnomer in UC Merced’s early days. The campus’s first director of

governmental relations, Larry Salinas, was an army of one, forging key relationships with elected officials

and connecting them with founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey.

Salinas moved to Merced in 1995, just two months after the city was chosen as the site of what would

become the first new University of California campus in four decades. He soon joined the citizen

committee supporting the endeavor, and in 2000, he became part of a staff of fewer than 20 who worked

diligently to ensure the campus would get off the ground.

“We were a very small, merry band of pioneers who were led by a tenacious chancellor — a woman

who was beyond belief in terms of energy, determination and drive,” Salinas said. “We all followed her

vision and her goal of bringing the campus to reality.”

EARLy yEARS took tENACIty In the years before construction of the campus began, Salinas and Tomlinson-Keasey practically lived

in Sacramento.

Their goals required both assertiveness and diplomacy: Convince doubters, even within the UC system,

that a campus in the San Joaquin Valley was needed, and obtain support and funding for the project.

One of Salinas’ most delicate tasks in those early days was repairing relationships with elected officials

from the cities who lost out to Merced in the siting process, such as Fresno and Madera.

In 2001, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution urging the UC Board of

Regents to reconsider its selection of Merced, and the Madera County Board of Supervisors was

considering the same.

With help from the citizens committee, Salinas was able to convince the Madera board to vote against

such a resolution, despite opposition from Chairman Frank Bigelow.

“We convinced the other four supervisors to stay with Merced and to understand that their area was

going to benefit economically from the build-out of the campus,” Salinas said. “Afterward, Frank said,

‘You beat me fair and square, kid.’ I said it wasn’t about beating him, but that we’re moving forward, and

the entire Valley is going to benefit from this campus.

“In hindsight, it was true. It’s come to fruition.”

UC Merced’s tenacity in those early years was matched only by that of its leader. Tomlinson-Keasey

was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 but was undaunted by her treatment, Salinas said. She would

routinely go to chemotherapy on a Friday, take the weekend off, and be back in Sacramento for another

grueling week of meetings at the Capitol on Monday.

“She worked that building like nobody else,” he said. “My job was to open the doors and be an advisor

to her. She was the one selling the vision.”

Tomlinson-Keasey led the campus to its proud opening in 2005 and remained chancellor until 2006,

ultimately losing her battle with cancer in 2009 at the age of 66.

Salinas left UC Merced a year later for a position in the UC’s state governmental relations office in

Sacramento, where he coordinates systemwide advocacy efforts — and often crosses paths with Bigelow,

who is now a state assemblyman.

“We were just doing our jobs,” Salinas said. “Frank and I are good friends, and now we’re working

together again. It really shows how vital relationships are in politics.”


Selling tHe viSionlArry SAlinAS Spent A DecADe BuilDing relAtionSHipS witH legiSlAtorS AnD foStering Support AnD ADvocAcy for A fleDgling cAmpuS, AnDCori lUCero HAS pickeD up wHere He left off

“If Carol were here

today, she’d be beyond

thrilled to see the

growth of the campus

and the success of its

students. I can’t

wait to see what the

next decade brings.”

— FORMER DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS LARRy SALINAS

BY JAMES LEONARDUniversity Communications

Go

VERNM

ENTRELATIO

NS


NEw CHAPtER, NEw CHALLENgESAs the campus transitioned to the next chapter of its

development, so did its government relations office.

Salinas hired Cori Lucero in 2007 to be his director of federal

governmental relations. It was a natural fit for the California

native, who grew up in Mariposa but worked for four years in

Washington, d.C., after graduating from UC San diego. When

Salinas left UC Merced in 2010, Lucero ran with the baton.

As executive director, Lucero has built her own team, with Lacey

Kiriakou handling federal relations and UC Merced alumnus

Miguel Lopez working in community relations.

She has spent much of the past six years in Sacramento,

building relationships in the spirit of — and with frequent advice

from — her predecessor and mentor.

“I don’t think there’s anybody who has more energy or

commitment to this than Larry did,” Lucero said. “That really

shaped the way I knew I would have to approach this position. He

left some very big shoes to fill.”

“She’s done a great job building her own team and making her

own mark,” Salinas said. “I’ve tried to step out of the way and not

be in the shadows, but always be a phone call away. Ultimately, I

get to sit back and watch the great work she’s doing with a new set

of legislators and a new chancellor.”

A modERN SuCCESS StoRyThe two have played major roles in the creation of the first

American research university of the 21st century — and they’ve

done so in a state where economy has gone through extreme highs

and extreme lows all along the way.

Salinas helped UC Merced find its footing while the state was

flush with cash, then helped it survive when the bottom fell out.

Lucero faces an altogether different challenge, working

with local and county officials whose support and

cooperation will be critical as the campus pursues

Chancellor dorothy Leland’s vision of doubling its

physical size by 2020 in order to accommodate growing

student demand.

Yet as much as the names and faces and budget

allocations have changed, the foundation of the job has

not.

“The relationships make what we do possible,” Lucero

said. “When you need help or guidance or assistance, or

when you need to ask for something, it makes it so much

easier when you have an established relationship with a

person.

“Our local officials want to make sure they’re doing

the best thing for their area, and they realize the success

of this campus directly ties to the success of the city and

county.”

Like so many at UC Merced, Salinas and Lucero

have lived professional lives of constant change, of

one adaptation after another, of commitment and

determination to help the campus grow and thrive —

and of fierce pride, which Salinas still wields anytime

someone speaks ill of his former campus.

“There are still legislators here today who are

questioning UC Merced’s viability, questioning students’

desire to go to Merced,” he said. “They are a little

misinformed. I know what’s going on in Merced. The

word is out — the experience is wonderful for students.

It really is a special place.

“If Carol were here today, she’d be beyond thrilled

to see the growth of the campus and the success of its

students. I can’t wait to see what the next decade brings.”

“Our local officials want to make sure

they’re doing the best thing for their

area, and they realize the success of

this campusdirectly ties to the success

of the city and county.”

— CURRENT DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS CoRI LuCERo


When Colleen McCormick considers the future of UC

Merced, she sees a campus where everyone is fully engaged

in sustainability efforts, where being green is just how

things are done.

The campus is already well on its way, but Sustainability director

McCormick and others have big plans for the coming years, from

landscaping all the way to the curriculum.

The campus’s Triple Zero commitment to using zero net energy, creating

zero net landfill waste and creating zero net greenhouse gas emissions by

2020 is one of the most prominent green programs on campus, but it’s

certainly not the only one.

Part of amplifying the campus’s green culture is in helping students

understand why a sustainable future is necessary.

“I don’t think we can afford not to have sustainability in our curriculum,”

Tom Hothem, co-director of the Merritt Writing Program, said. “We live in

an area where resources are becoming increasingly limited. We need people

to live in an environment without taking too much from it.”

A gREEN PILLAR oF EduCAtIoNSustainability is one of the eight pillars of general education at UC

Merced, and is part of the curricula in more than 30 classes, a number that

grows each year.

Some courses are explicitly about conservation, such as ecology, but others

incorporate it into lessons on different topics, such as health, economic and

even electoral system sustainability.

That’s in keeping with UC President Janet Napolitano’s UC Global

Climate Leadership Council initiative, which includes the goal of developing

broad faculty support and participation in UC’s 2025 carbon-neutrality

goal and to advance UC leadership in climate change and sustainability

education. The group intends to make sustainability and climate neutrality

part of the curricular and other educational experiences of all UC students

by 2020.

Hothem and Professor Marilyn Fogel will be the campus’s first officially

trained sustainability educators. Fogel teaches ecology, and Hothem, who

teaches science writing and general education, is taking on a new class this

fall called the LEEd Lab, to prepare students to become U.S. Green Building

Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental design (LEEd) certified.

That will help them if they choose careers in sustainability-related fields.

Sustainable FutureBY LORENA ANDERSON

University Communications

Once they have completed the course, students can take the

LEEd Green Associate exam and will have met the requirement

for one of the LEEd Accredited Professional exams.

Students in the class will also help the campus by auditing the

Classroom and Office Building so it can be LEEd certified for

operations and maintenance, adding to the university’s long list

of LEEd certificates.

There are many other ways for students to learn sustainability

lessons.

For example, the Center for the Humanities is focusing on

water for the next three years. The center will sponsor faculty,

guest speakers and research, all of which offer opportunities for

student involvement. Water was also a main topic in the CORE

1 curriculum this year. Students were asked to develop statewide

water-management plans based on their analyses of reservoir

data, groundwater pumping rates and forecasts calling for little,

if any, precipitation.

“It led to some very intense discussions,” Hothem said.

CREAtINg A SuStAINAbILIty CuLtuRETeaching students about sustainability is only one part of the

puzzle.

Getting the entire campus community to be active recyclers

and composters is a massive challenge for Matt Hirota, the waste

reduction and recycle coordinator for Facilities Management.

He operates the campus sorting line, where every bag of

garbage is sorted each day to remove recyclables, reusables and

compostables. The goal is to divert as much waste as possible

from area landfills, generate compost and make sure everything

that can be recycled is.

It takes 30 labor hours a day to sort the garbage, and that’s

only from the upper half of campus, where most of the offices,

classrooms and labs are.

Hirota wants UC Merced to be like other UC campuses that

have central locations for dumping garbage and compostable

and recyclable materials. That would require each person on

campus to separate their own trash and take it to the proper

containers.

FocuSing on a


“We wouldn’t need garbage pickup at individual offices, so it

would allow the maintenance staff to focus on other campus needs,”

Hirota said.

But people on campus — like people everywhere — seem to have

trouble knowing what goes in the compost bin, what’s recyclable and

what goes to the landfill. Hirota is working on a series of educational

signs, but “We just need to get people thinking differently about

trash.”

Right now, the upper half of campus is diverting 70 percent to 80

percent of its trash from landfills. But to meet the Triple Zero pledge,

the campus has to be at 95 percent or better.

In the coming years, Hirota would like to see the campus develop

its own compost-making area, and use the compost to help a campus

garden grow food that could be eaten in the dining facilities.

“If we’re going to reach our goals, we have to be aggressive —

more aggressive — about all our sustainability efforts,” Hirota said.

“What we’re trying to do here, no one has ever done.”

Sustainability director McCormick agrees that green goals need to

be a priority in every aspect of campus life.

“We’re in the business of teaching, and we can teach people to

think more sustainably,” she said.

Sustainability practices are making strides forward, including some

key changes this year: • TransportationandParkingServicesswitchedthelibraryparking

lot to a high-volume commuter lot with designated spaces for carpool vans and solar-powered charging stations for electric vehicles.

• Theuniversityaddedmoreelectricvehicles to its fleet.

• FacilitiesManagementistesting“smart”electrical plugs that show users when they can recharge electric vehicles using only energy from renewable sources.

• FacilitiesManagementisalsotestingaquick-responsecodeintheSocial Sciences and Management Building that lets people report water leaks in specific rooms just by using their smartphones.

• Smartirrigationhasbeeninstalledtomonitor soil and weather to make sure water is only used when it needs to be.

• Studentsareincreasingtheirparticipationin spearheading programs from expanding Earth day to the annual residence hall water battle, taking part in the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability and offering suggestions on how to be more sustainable.

wAtER, SoLAR ANd gREENHouSE gASESMcCormick and others want to take campus efforts further forward.

She said she has spoken to campus leaders about removing the

lawn from the Carol Tomlinson-Keasey Quad and replacing it with

xeriscaping — natural materials that don’t require water or are drought

tolerant and don’t require mowing. There’s no word yet on whether that

idea will be realized.

She’d also like to see the campus have its own water reclamation and

recycling facility, because moving water from one place to another uses

a lot of energy and “in this time of drought, we need to be using water

more than once,” she said.

Other factors contributing to meeting the energy goal — likely by

2018 — include amplifying the campus’s 1 megawatt solar array with

rooftop solar-system installations and through a University of California

purchase of 80 megawatts of solar power from two solar fields near

Fresno.

With the right moves, UC Merced could be the only campus in the

country to get 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2018.

“As a campus, we are constantly looking for ways to exceed

expectations and sustainability standards,” former Assistant Vice

Chancellor of Strategic Facilities Planning Graeme Mitchell said. “We

employ new and innovative ways to do everything, from planning and

construction to everyday operations.”

The goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be enhanced by

the campus’s renewable energy efforts, not just in using solar energy to

power the campus, but from using electric vehicles — and making sure

to recharge them using solar power during times when electric grid

supplies come from renewable sources — to smart-building technology

that can improve energy efficiency.

Across campus, efforts continue to explore sustainability in many

possible ways. The campus strives to use as many recyclable and

compostable products as possible, reduce packaging, create community

gardens through which dining Services can supplement its local

purchases, recycle lab chemicals to reduce waste and save resources,

research into biofuel, solar energy and water conservation, and much,

much more.

“There are many people at UC Merced working on sustainability in

ways we don’t usually think of,” McCormick said. “There are so many

opportunities for enhancing our campus culture of sustainability.”

uC merced installed a 1-megawatt solar array in Fall 2009. This array produces two-thirds of the campus electricity load on a summer afternoon and 20 percent of its annual electricity needs.

uC merced began installing rooftop solar panels this summer, and the work should be online by the end of 2016. They will provide approximately 1 megawatt of electricity.

uC merced dining Services customers used reusable food containers for takeout meals more than 161,600 times in the 2014-15 school year, reducing landfill waste by the same number of packages.

uC merced developed an aggressive food-waste composting program for pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste and has developed best practices recognized by the entire 10-campus system.

uC merced has 15 LEEd certificates for new construction, and one LEED certification for maintenance and operations, with more certifications pending.

the campus used 30 percent less water this June than in June 2013.

HERE ARE JUST A FEW EXAMPLES OF WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY BEING A PART OF THE FABRIC OF UC MERCED:

uC merced is the only university in the nation to have a triple-zero commitment — to use zero net energy, emit zero net greenhouse gases and contrib-ute zero waste to area landfills by 2020.

uC merced has installed 20 water-bottle-refill stations — including 13 in the on-campus residence area — that allow students, faculty and staff mem-bers to reuse water bottles.

uC merced has campuswide standard contracts for purchasing everything from furnishings and equipment to services from vendors who can show the products are green and sustainably sourced and produced.

the campus has a 33-percent-minimum requirement for locally sourced fresh food products from prime food suppliers, and remains closer to 40 percent, depending on the season.

the campus installed a web-based control system for irrigation on the entire campus (except The Bowl). The system reads weather data and applies it to irrigation needs andwater output.


From January to may 2014, the upper campus (the area north of dining and housing) recycled 27.52 tons of material, composted 9.27 tons and sent 45.35 tons to the landfill. In the same time period in 2015, thanks to the work of students who collected and sorted all the upper campus waste, the campus recycled 47.23 tons, composted 29.58 tons, and sent 27.65 tons to the landfill.

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uc merced magazine, fall 2015

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