Along with cutting costs, the goal of Akilan’s project is to provide primary care physicians with tools to begin the Alzheimer’s diagnosis process instead of having to go through the multi-step elimination process. He’s working with developers to create an ophthalmic lens that offers a fundus image of the retinal vessels. The algorithm then extracts data from the image of the vessel network and begins the classification process.

Early Alzheimer’s diagnosis will enable more people to test treatments that might slow the disease’s progression and to give people more time to plan for care. As of now, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s.

Akilan is working with UC Merced’s Venture Lab to secure capital and investors — with a patent pending on his algorithm.

“He is not only an innovator, but an entrepreneur as well,” said Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Research and Economic Development Peter Schuerman, who oversees the Venture Lab. “Kumaran understands the power of building and leveraging networks. The Venture Lab has given him the opportunity to connect with fellow students and alumni who have started their own companies and get advice. None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Though Akilan has only been working on the project for nine months, he has already made waves in the digital tech world.

With the help of a recommendation from Schuerman to the Consumer Electronics Show selection committee, Akilan presented his work at the Las Vegas event in January as part of Living in Digital Times’s Young Innovators to Watch. He was one of five presenters — 18 years of age and younger — who also got to meet with influencers in the digital health field, lawyers, journalists, researchers and biotech entrepreneurs.

“It was definitely a cool moment, but it’s an ongoing process,” said Akilan. “A milestone doesn’t mean what you are doing will succeed, but it definitely is a sort of external validation that I needed to make sure I was on the right track.

“Knowing that medical professionals agree with what you are saying provides validation that is important.”

Alumni who took part in UC Merced Day activities included: Keith Ellis (’12), Aaron Hill (’09), Marko Zivanovic (’14), Domonique Jones (’16), Danielle Dawang (’14), Brooklynn Pham (’09), Michelle Teran (’11), Taylor Woolfork (’11), Ulises Vargas (’18), Stephanie Brausch (’13), DeVaughn Ogles (’17), Matt Wainwright (’13) and Daniel Martinez-Peralta (’12).

During her time at the Capitol, Chancellor Leland met with Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction, to discuss increasing college-going rates in underserved areas. Leland also met with Lande Ajose, the senior higher education policy advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom. Ajose also served as special guest speaker at the UC Merced Day luncheon, where she discussed triumphs, challenges, and the future of higher education in California under Gov. Newsom.

Chancellor Leland and the UC Merced Day delegation also met with State Senators Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno), Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), Anna Caballero (D-Merced); Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys); Assembly Members Adam Gray (D-Merced), Ash Kalra (D-Palo Alto), Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield); and the Jose Medina (D-Riverside) and Steven Choi (R-Irvine), chair and vice chair of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, respectively.

Last week, Chancellor Leland was in Washington, D.C. to advocate for Dreamers as part of the first convening of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.

In approving her grant, reviewers at the NSF called this project “transformational science” because it connects these dots.

Kim, with the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences in the School of Natural Sciences , said extracting the environmental data from the stable isotopes in shark teeth fossils — which the teeth take on from the water around them — allows her and her colleagues to look as far back in time as 55-40 million years ago to find out when the Drake Passage opened. Knowledge about the opening is limited; more data has been established about the Tasman Strait, so putting the two together will indicate the era in which the climate shifted.

“The Eocene epoch is seen as an analog for modern-day climate change and what we can expect,” Kim said. “If we can better understand the role of oceanic circulation, CO₂ concentrations and tectonic configuration in the climate events of the Eocene, we can better predict what’s coming.”

The climate and what drives changes to it is complex, made up of interconnected factors that have typically been studied in isolation, Kim explained. But when researchers look at the different components — ocean, land and air — and how they interact, they can improve climate models and see what needs adjustments.

“Taking all these components into consideration in global climate models is pretty cutting-edge,” Kim said.

Over the course of the three-year, $850,000 project, Kim and the research team will examine fossil samples from museum and science collections all over the world that share one commonality: They all come from Seymour Island near the South Pole.

Professor Howard Scher from the University of South Carolina will analyze neodymium isotope tracers related to oceanography, and Professor Alexandra Jahn from Colorado University, Boulder, and Professor Matthew Huber from Purdue University will work on the paleoclimate modeling. Professor Jürgen Kriwet with the University of Vienna, Austria, a shark and paleo expert, and Thomas Mörs, senior curator at the National History Museum of Sweden, an expert on Seymour Island, are also collaborators on the project.

Kim is as excited about the educational component of the project as she is about the research itself. The grant supports having undergraduate students participate in the research through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center ’s Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.

They will be paid to conduct hands-on, specialized research for the project, and will be supported to go to conferences and meetings where they can meet mentors and advisers which, Kim hopes, will help them transition to graduate school. She’s also planning ways in which the undergrads can be co-authors on papers that result from the project.

“They don’t have to go into academia, but I want to help make graduate school possible for them, especially the first-generation, underrepresented students,” she said. “Science is a great career.”

As a senior, she entertained pursuing her undergraduate studies at either UC Merced or UC Davis.

“I chose UC Merced because it was a small, research-based university where I could contribute,” says Mohamed. “It was financially a good decision, and there was a strong sense of community.” A biology lecture that spring solidified her decision: “I want to be here.”

Originally, Mohamed had her eyes on medical school. But after a taste of research under the supervision of Professor Jennifer Manilay, she changed direction. She says she enjoyed the process of research — asking a lot of questions, conducting the research and answering her own questions.

But mainly, “I am pursuing a career in research because the knowledge obtained from research impacts humanity for generations, and I want to be a part of that impact,” she says.

Mohamed built a foundation of research while at UC Merced, taking fellowships and internship opportunities such as the National Institutes of Health — Maximizing Access to Research Careers (NIH-MARC) Undergraduate Research Fellowship from 2017-2019, and serving as a NSF-CREST intern at UC Merced’s Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM). Her role as an intern focuses on connecting the center’s research to Merced and the UC Merced community. She designs modules and activities based on the center’s research to be used in outreach events.

Mohamed also supports her peers studying contemporary biology, molecular immunology and chemistry as a learning assistant at the Calvin E. Bright Success Center and STEM Research Center. She has been a team leader for the Engineering Service Learning project Get S.E.T. and the Expanding Your Horizons Conference, and has volunteered for many on-campus events, including Bobcat Day.

Her passion for sharing her research led her to present at a dozen conferences and symposia during her undergraduate years, and she received a number of awards, notably the Outstanding Women of UC Merced Leadership Award in 2016.

“It has been a pleasure to observe Asmaa mature as a student and into a scientist: She is hardworking, diligent, methodical and willing to take risks,” says Manilay. “She is technically skilled, and loves biological research despite all of the many hours required to spend in the lab, analyzing data, troubleshooting experimental designs and thinking about, discussing and presenting the results.”

This summer, Mohamed is headed to Dartmouth College to earn her Ph.D. in the Molecular & Cellular Biology (MCB) graduate program. The highly competitive program prepares graduate students for careers in research, teaching and biotechnology.

But this isn’t her first trip to the Dartmouth labs. Mohamed spent last summer researching how a specific protein influences T cell development through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (ISURF) New Hampshire Idea Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (NH-INBRE). She is eager to return to her project and continue the research to determine how scientists can use the information in the future.

“I will be doing this science project, but I am excited to see what the applications could be,” she says with a smile. “Why is this happening this way? What is the pathway? How can we use this information?”

As for her time outside the lab, doodling on campus is still fun for Mohamed.

“I get excited about both art and science. As an artist, you connect a lot of distinct ideas to create a cohesive piece. Science is the same thing,” she says. “You have to be able to make connections between different concepts. Art empowers me to think critically and ask the questions I need to ask in research.”

Rediscovering Starlite

Imagine an almost magical material with a thermal barrier so strong it can protect spacecraft from incineration during atmospheric re-entry.

UC Merced mechanical engineering seniors Christopher Toy, David Sagastume, Moataz Dahabra and Luis Soto are working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on a methodology to rediscover the lost, secret formula for an intumescent material that resists extreme heat.

The material, originally named Starlite, was invented by Maurice Ward in the 1970s. Ward, from northern England, was an eccentric hairdresser and amateur chemist with no formal scientific training. In 1991, using mostly organic ingredients, such as cornstarch and baking soda, Ward famously demonstrated the material on television by holding a blowtorch on a Starlite-coated egg. After 10 minutes, the egg was merely warm to the touch and still runny inside.

Out of concern for the potentially malicious use of Starlite, and to protect his rights to patent, Ward died in 2011 without having brought the material to market — or ever revealing its formula to the public. Since then, researchers and inventors have been racing to replicate the legendary formula.

Now, a team of UC Merced seniors are working hands-on with Thomas Peev, an instruments engineer with JPL to develop a methodology to reinvent the material in a race to discover its properties and ingredients.

“We’re close; it’s feasible,” said Sagastume.

“We’re conducting a qualitative study to see what works,” said team member Toy. “Figuring out the right mixture is the main challenge; we may even help other inventors recover Starlite technology.”

Arias, of Clovis, initially was disappointed when she wasn’t admitted to several big-name universities. Then she toured UC Merced.

“It just blew me away — the people and the type of community,” said Arias, whose major is applied mathematics with an engineering emphasis. “I think about that all the time. UC Merced offered me so much that I just wouldn’t have been offered anywhere else.”

Her list of achievements includes an internship at the NASA Langley Research Center through UC Merced’s MACES program — which stands for Merced nAnomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing. She also worked as an undergraduate researcher in two different campus labs and helped found the Society of Physics Students. Arias plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Early on, the chance to become a DECARTES (Data-Enabled Science and Computational Analysis Research, Training and Education for Students) Scholar contributed to her career path. In part, she spent several weeks of three consecutive summers developing programming, mathematical modeling and machine-learning skills and also completed an independent project.

“I had never programmed in my life and I didn’t know much about technology or my own computer,” Arias said. That experience helped launch an ambition to become a successful Hispanic female engineer and help others reach their potential.

She plans to research hypersonics — traveling roughly five times faster than the speed of sound — for her doctorate. Her goals also include becoming a pilot, an astronaut, a research engineer, a musician/DJ and a leader in education reform and STEM outreach.

Arias thinks fellow graduates can identify with her story.

“I want everyone to feel that excitement and feel proud of going to UC Merced,” she said.

Caradonna, of Gilroy, started her college career in Hawaii on a basketball scholarship. Youth and distance from home led to her return to Gilroy after one year.

Caradonna enrolled in community college and continued chasing her basketball dreams — ultimately, to UC Merced. First, she had to overcome the challenge created when some credits from Hawaii didn’t count toward her athletic eligibility.

She talked with Coach Sarah Hopkins-Cherry, took a campus tour and worked out with the women’s basketball team. A determined Caradonna added 20 units to her workload before a mid-year transfer.

“To feel like I was getting a second chance was big for me,” Caradonna said. In 2017, she was part of the team’s “three-peat” conference championship — just the start of her UC Merced experience.

Caradonna fell in love with academics as she dug into her Spanish major. She discovered empowerment in her studies and the “super-powers” that languages hold.

She also found a home in the Transfer, Returning and Veteran program, where she now serves as lead fellow and peer instructor.

“That really helped shape me and the teacher I’m going to be some day,” she said. Next is a Fresno State master’s program in higher education administration and leadership.

Caradonna feels gratitude toward UC Merced and the community that supported her when a concussion and other issues knocked her out of school for a month. She talks about leading and celebrating individuality as a gay Chicana with tattoos.

“There is an unspoken support on campus,” she said. “Everyone pays it forward in some way. There’s no way you can step on this campus without feeling it.”

In July 2017, anthropology Professor Kathleen Hull hired Perez as an archaeological intern based on her performance in the Lithic Artifact Analysis class. Now she’s leaning toward anthropology after loving her first backpacking experience.

Perez was part of a team that conducted archaeological excavation for a wilderness evaluation project in the Sierra Nevada back-country. It was a 10-day trip, including four days to backpack in and out of the area.

“It was a pleasure to have Araceli working with me on the Yosemite project — she was observant, skilled, thorough, diligent and game for whatever tasks needed to be completed,” Hull said. “The entire crew enjoyed working with her and we were impressed with her eagerness and ability to do new things.”

Perez, an avid hiker, said that work spurred more interest in outdoor activities and the branch of archaeology in anthropology. Following the trip, she also worked to catalog, analyze and photograph the site collections.

“It was a new experience for me, and something I hadn’t considered before,” she said. “I didn’t really picture being able to do that, but I enjoyed it and the lab work.”

“It was a new experience for me, and something I hadn’t considered before,” she said. “I didn’t really picture being able to do that, but I enjoyed it and the lab work.”

Perez was looking for just those kinds of opportunities when she decided to attend UC Merced after a campus tour.

“It really caught my attention — it was the newest UC and it was small,” she said. “I felt like there would be more opportunity.”

Throughout her years on campus, Perez made diverse choices — including trying out for the cheerleading squad even though she didn’t have any experience.

“I just decided to try something new,” she said. Perez spent two years on the team and also worked for two years in on-campus catering.

“I was constantly amazed by her ability to do so many diverse things — from class work to her job on campus to her extracurricular activities — and do them all so well,” Hull said. “I don't know how she found the time or the energy, but she clearly is very skilled at pursuing and balancing all her interests.”

Perez said UC Merced helped inspire her to work harder academically and to grab hold of new opportunities.

“The sense of community here — it’s very welcoming,” she said. “There are many people who will help you do what you need to do to succeed.”

Saturday’s ceremony included a historic moment for the university. Modesto native Berenice Cervantes-Perez became the first graduate of UC Merced Extension's Teacher Preparation Program. The program debuted this academic year and provides culturally responsive instruction to help educate the newest group of TK-12 teachers in the San Joaquin Valley. Berenice completed the program in less than a year and is set to begin her teaching career in Manteca in the fall.

The weekend’s festivities also marked the 10-year anniversary of UC Merced’s first full graduating class. Members of the class of 2009 played a role in the commencement ceremonies, with several serving as flag bearers. Brooklynn Pham (’09), who sang the national anthem at the 2009 commencement, returned to sing the alma mater at Sunday’s ceremony. Jason Castillo (’09), the student speaker for the first graduating class, presented the alumni speech Saturday to the newest cohort of UC Merced alums — a group that now includes more than 10,000 former Bobcats.

“Your UC Merced journey does not end here, and neither does the connection you have with your alma mater,” Castillo said. “What sets UC Merced apart from other universities is that this is a young university that has been completely built on the efforts of its faculty, staff, students and alumni. Unlike more established institutions, we cannot rest on the reputation of our university, but instead, we are part of creating our reputation as a campus.”

The conference’s keynote speaker was Professor Karen Wilcox, director of the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin. She delivered a talk titled “Data to Decisions: Computational Methods for the Next Generation of Engineering Systems” to a large audience of undergraduate and graduate students. The seminar focused on the use of data-driven techniques to create simple reduced-order models of complex physical phenomena and the subsequent use of models for expedient dynamic decision making, such as in the need to alter a flight path when an airplane incurs damage.

The final event of the day-long conference was a research poster session that culminated with prizes awarded to those who could both clearly convey the content and quality of their research. The winners were chosen by poster judges from UC Merced, the Naval Postgraduate School and CSU Fresno. This year, three poster prizes were awarded:

• Third place to Keith Rhodewalt and Jorge Ruiz Gonzalez of Sonoma State University, for their joint work “Oscillatory Patterns Arising Out of Stop and Go Patterns.”
• Second place to UC Merced graduate student Omar DeGuchy for his poster “Trust-Region Minimization Algorithm for Training Responses (TRMinATR): The Rise of Machine Learning Techniques.”
• First place to UC Merced, graduate student Matea Alvarado for her poster “Modeling Chemical Concentrations Around Pulsating Soft Corals.”

This year’s conference is considered to have been a success.

“The UC Merced SIAM Chapter has successfully planned and hosted an impressive interdisciplinary event with an extraordinarily wide appeal,” said UC Davis graduate student and SIAM Student Chapter Secretary Sam Fleischer. “Their state-of-the-art campus was a perfect place to host students and faculty from across California.”

UC Merced’s SIAM student chapter was founded in 2010 to provide students of mathematics and related STEM fields with networking and professional development opportunities. In the past year, the chapter has coordinated a weekly student-run research seminar series , offered a panel discussion on applying to academic positions, and organized the Putnam mathematics undergraduate competition and an integration bee.

Applied mathematics Professor Noemi Petra has served as the group’s faculty advisor since 2014. She attributes much of the chapter’s success to student efforts.

“These activities would not have been possible without the chapter officers’ dedication to promoting applied mathematics and computational science to undergraduate and graduate students on our campus and without excellent teamwork,” Petra said. “We are also very grateful for support from SIAM, and from the School of Natural Sciences and the Department of Applied Mathematics at UC Merced.”

Editor's note: Tucker Hartland is a graduate student and SIAM Student Chapter treasurer.

UC Merced’s first class set the tone for the robust social and academic experience students have today. The group’s persistence and innovation convinced former First Lady Michelle Obama to serve as commencement speaker for 2009’s historic graduating class.

“All students in UC Merced’s inaugural class took a great risk in turning down established universities to create the basis of what this campus could become,” said Jason Castillo, student speaker at the first commencement. Castillo, who is now a Mohs surgeon and dermatologist in Southern California, returned as an alumni speaker at the commencement for the schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering last weekend. “We were all leaders in our own ways and developed the skills to work together, struggled to create, fought for change, and believed we could make a difference.”

The dedicated students lobbied Obama, writing letters about their unique experience and urging her to grace the stage to help them celebrate their commencement.

Heather Hopkins (’09), a flag bearer at the ceremony, said the journey to bring Obama to campus made her feel “completely energized and full of hope.”

“We had to consistently tell everyone where UC Merced was, why it was relevant, why our education was equal to all others. In that moment, when Michelle chose us, it felt like all of the hard work, passion and dedication that went into UC Merced was validated,” Hopkins said. “To this day, thinking about that moment gives me chills.”

The success of bringing Obama to campus and the subsequent growth in student enrollment are not the only metrics by which to measure UC Merced’s ascension in the 10 years since that commencement.

UC Merced is the fastest-growing public university in the nation and Education Dive’s 2018 University of the Year. It’s also the greenest —the only university in the nation with every building LEED Certified. In terms of research, it is the youngest university to ever receive a Carnegie R2 research classification and has 24 CAREER awards to its name.

While these successes have raised UC Merced’s profile, if you ask alumni, not everything has changed.

“Two things that haven't changed are the passion for the university from the staff, faculty and students, and the sense that students can achieve anything they want with the right amount of time, effort and dedication,” Fong said.

As for the memories? Those are irreplaceable.

“I made great friends and have memories I will never forget,” said Trevor Albertson (’09), one of seven Ph.D. graduates in 2009, who now serves as dean of Lassen Community College. “I received a world-class education. And I joined the University of California family. I wouldn't change it for anything. Looking back, I would do it all over again.”

The second project, supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Office, is a portable water purification unit that harnesses solar power for 24/7 operation.

“This desalinates and cleans water at half the price of using natural gas to power a similar process,” said Project Manager Lun Jiang. “There would be a reduced need for natural gas, so we could clean up dirty and toxic water and reduce the number of natural-gas related accidents like the massive leak in Aliso Canyon in 2015.”

Wastewater can be shipped to stationary purification plants, but that’s expensive, the researchers said, and the hauling process contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Having a portable unit allows companies and groups to take advantage of the weather to get around-the-clock work right where they are.

The team on this project, which includes UC Solar Co-Director Professor Gerardo Diaz and Professor James Palko, anticipates a full pilot-scale unit in 2021.

Each of the projects was deemed worthy of $1 million or more in grants, and at least one has already grabbed federal attention: A solar unit for commercial production that produces extremely high heat — 650 Celsius or more.

Such a unit would be used in manufacturing industry, and right now, the team is preparing for an on-site demonstration at a wallboard-production plant in California.

The unit UC Solar has designed is much smaller than a traditional solar unit would have to be to produce these temperatures, and the technology would also allow the plant to store heat and power turbines.

The researchers are in the middle of a three-year project supported by the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, or ARPA-E, which funds the development of high-risk-high-reward advanced-energy technologies. A demonstration model was on display at the Dirksen Senate Building in Washington, D.C., last year so lawmakers could see and understand it.

The ARPA-E project partners UC Solar with Gas Technology Institute (GTI) in Des Plaines, Ill. Producing such high temperatures — nearly the heat that liquefies steel — requires specific adaptations and components including a suitable thermal fluid that comes from GTI, while the nonimaging collector comes from Merced.

The project is unique in that of about a dozen projects funded, it alone has survived several rounds of scrutiny under ARPA-E’s Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS) program.

“Going from a seedling project to a full-demonstration model is unprecedented, and neither of us could have done it alone,” Winston said. “No one thought you could do this and, honestly, no one else can do it. No one else knows how to design the optics for it.”

In fact, I2G projects are frequently so successful that students have started up ventures to continue the work they began as seniors or have been hired by their partner company.

For example, in the spirit of entrepreneurship, Tergis Technologies and Sweep Energy are two companies that spun off from I2G projects. In the case of Tergis, founders Michael Urner (’15) and Paul Barghouth — who is currently working on his Ph.D. in Quantitative and Systems Biology at UC Merced — teamed with students to develop a humidifier for babies on ventilation in a neonatal intensive care unit suffering from pneumonia or other respiratory ailments.

Winning their track, student team Power worked with alumni collaborators at Sweep Energy to successfully design, build, and test a non-invasive power supply for two of their devices that monitor loads and performance in a wide range of machinery.

Power team member Luke Kostrikin invited his parents, Tom and Laura Kostrikin, to attend I2G coming from their Bay Area home to UC Merced.

“This is big, what’s happening here. It’s vital for our community and to society,” said Laura Kostrikin. “As parents, we are a springboard for our son’s success, but our future is here in this place.”

For a complete list of finalists and prize winners, please visit Innovate to Grow 2019 .

Students are encouraged to connect with the advisors starting in their first year at UC Merced.

“When I came here, I wasn’t sure what steps to take,” said Lorena Aguilar, now a fourth-year student and peer advisor in the Pre-Health Advising program. “There are workshops where you get your questions answered, connections with academic clubs and extracurricular activities that can make you a more competitive applicant for any professional program, and a sense of community that a lot of students want.”

Part of her inspiration in becoming a peer mentor was the experience she had in the Pre-Health Advising program as a younger student.

“When I started, I was shy and scared to ask questions,” she said. “But now that I’ve been part of the program, I know there are other first-generation students who need the same kind of help and guidance I got.”

“The School of Natural Sciences is committed to preparing and guiding students toward professional training in a wide range of health professions,” said Betsy Dumont, dean of the School of Natural Sciences. “Our students are impressive; their success and positive effects on their communities speak for themselves.”

Aguilar wants to go to medical school after she takes a gap year to get more clinical experience. Her intent is the same as Rueda’s — and many of the students who come from small towns or underserved areas.

“I want to go back to my community (near Bakersfield) and serve the people who don’t have as much access to medical care as they need,” she said.

About 1,000 students are engaged with the Pre-Health Advising program at any given time, Robbins said, and interest in it has grown year over year since it started in 2007. The program is also gaining in name recognition.

“Recruiters are reaching out to us more often,” she said. “The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing recently visited to connect with our highly prepared and qualified students.”

Getting into an advanced degree program in medical fields can be extremely competitive. Pre-Health advisors help students design their class selections each ensure they take everything in the right order. The program connects struggling students with resources to help them succeed, helps them track their progress and network with older students and other mentors, and assists with the application process for professional degrees, from pharmacy and nursing programs to medical and veterinary schools.

“We offer workshops to talk about the different professions, one-on-one counseling, advising and planning meetings, help with testing and course requirements and lots of opportunities for students to learn more,” Robbins said.

Rueda said he took advantage of the Pre-Health Advising program all four years as an undergraduate because of the resources, but also because of the support he got.

“I found the same kind of community at Davis as at UC Merced, and I welcomed it,” he said. “They both helped me learn so much about myself. They were there for me and helped me make what I had into what I wanted.”

Stockton native Jovo Velasco finished a bachelor’s degree in public health at UC Merced in May and will attend the University of Southern California’s Master of Health Administration program in the fall. He received offers from five graduate programs: University of La Verne, University of Illinois-Chicago, Portland State University, Penn State and USC, and he believes his experience with the UROC had a lot to do with his success.

“UROC gave me a glimpse as what to expect from graduate school,” he said. “I took advantage of what the program offered and challenged myself by designing my own research study as the primary data collector.”

Velasco’s research with faculty mentor Professor Denise Páyan, focused on people ages 65-90 who reside in Merced County. He asked participants about challenges they face navigating the healthcare system and social services in Merced, as well as their perceived benefits of being part of a community senior center, their perceptions of nursing homes and assisted living communities, and what services they need that are not being provided to them.

Last fall, he received the UROC-H Public Humanities Grant made possible through a diversity initiative grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The collaborative program was developed for undergraduate student research in the humanities and is led by UROC, the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and the Graduate Division, with additional support provided by the Center for the Humanities.

With the grant, Velasco is using his previous research results to engage the Merced community with his project.

“A huge portion of UROC is helping prepare you for grad school,” Velasco said. “We had to write a personal statement, a statement of purpose and a CV. I used these essays when I submitted my grad school application.”

Jeffrey Aceves is driven, dedicated, and not afraid to push his personal envelope. He was named UC Merced’s Outstanding Bioengineering Student, was a finalist for the Distinguished Leadership Award, and graduated with honors in 3½ years in December 2018.

Now, the Bakersfield native is headed to Harvard University to earn his Ph.D.

As a new student at UC Merced, Aceves immediately took control of his college career. He found or made opportunities for himself, from leading other students in his residence hall as director of activities and helping found a fraternity to applying for and getting a slot in Professor Jennifer Manilay’s lab, where he co-authored a paper for the Journal of Immunology.

And every time internships or fellowships presented themselves, he jumped. Aceves credits the UROC Summer Undergraduate Research Institute Fellowship and KURE, the Kidney Undergraduate Research Experience, with contributing to his success.

Starting this fall at Harvard, he’ll be working with Professor Jennifer Lewis, whose lab is working on developing an artificial kidney using 3D printing.

Aceves wouldn’t have known about Lewis’ lab if it weren’t for another UROC internship that took him to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for a summer, where he discovered that his time in Merced allowed him “hang with” students from bigger, older universities, such as Cornell.

“That is what has been such an important part of the great education I’ve received at the UC,” Aceves said. “The research, the experiences. At any other school, I wouldn’t have flourished like I have here.”

After graduate school, he hopes to find a faculty position at a research university so he can be a mentor for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Unveiling the Houses

Themed communities for students are not new at UC Merced. From social justice to AFRO Hall and Fiat Lux Scholars, the Office of Residence Life and Education has provided opportunities to enhance student learning and retention through these housing options.

The School of Natural Sciences LLCs differ because they connect directly to students’ academic interests. Aristotle House, Beyond the M.D., Carson House and Vaughan House — the names of the four LLCs — feature students who work closely with resident house fellows — current UC Merced Ph.D. students who lead study sessions, field trips and house events and teach 1-unit seminars relating to their house’s specific topic.

Dumont said she has seen other universities employ a strategy where postgraduates serve as mentors to graduate students, but the faculty decided to scale it to help undergraduates.

Kinsey Brock, a fourth-year Quantitative and Systems Biology doctoral candidate, learned about the opportunity to serve as a fellow for Carson House just months before it started, and jumped at the chance to return to a themed community setting, which she enjoyed as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. Brock served as lead instructor for Carson House’s weekly seminars introducing students to basic sustainability concepts.

“I had always hoped UC Merced would start something like the LLCs during my time here,” said Brock. “I think immersive experiences like the LLCs build intellectual community and friendships that help sustain undergraduates throughout their four years, and present transformative experiences for students that traditional classrooms just don’t provide.”

Aristotle House focuses on leadership, education and service in the natural sciences. Aristotle House scholars took a field trip to Yosemite Lake, which included collecting more than 50 pounds of trash in less than three hours. Students in this house build an association with CalTeach, which offers a minor that puts students halfway to earning a teaching credential.

Beyond the M.D. engages students interested in pursuing careers in health care to reflect on multiple pathways to their goals. Beyond the M.D. scholars visited UC Davis’ Pre-Health Conference, and enjoyed regular visits by alumni and other health professionals who discussed their career paths and experiences.

“This program really helped me open up and become a more social person, including having the courage to initiate conversation with others,” said first-year student and Beyond the M.D. Scholar Karina Gil. “The program also helped me realize the various health professions careers and encouraged me to not be so closed-minded toward pursuing a medical degree. Although I am still wanting to follow my career path as a general practitioner, this experience helped me realize the enjoyment and potential career path as a physician assistant.”

Carson House — a nod to conservationist and “Silent Spring” author Rachel Carson — explores sustainability through engagement with local and on-campus ventures related to food waste, energy efficiency and community education. Carson House scholars used an overnight retreat in Yosemite National Park to immerse themselves in ways to help alleviate concerns for the wellbeing of national parks.

“Carson House is the highlight and the backbone of my college experience,” said first-year student Austin John Escobar. “I came to college with a lot of heart and wonder, and Carson House nurtured that.”

Vaughan House — named after mathematician Dorothy Vaughan — provides students with opportunities to learn how to use computers to code and solve problems in math and science. Vaughan House scholars learned the basics of Python and engaged with faculty members who use computer simulations for their research.

'The students are over the moon about it'

Hui-Ling Chan helped develop more than 40 learning communities during her time at The Ohio State University and served as a consultant on living learning communities across the country. She said her first task after arriving on campus in February 2018 was to ensure the four houses could meet principles that studies have shown make LLCs effective for retaining students.

“Successful LLCs have these three criteria: measurable learning outcomes; strong partnerships between academic affairs and student affairs; and an integration of learning, living and learning, or, in other words, experiential learning opportunities,” Chan said.

Ryals added, “I think the LLCs foster a strong, supportive peer community. The transition to college can be a vulnerable and anxious time for many students. Students may have to navigate challenging coursework, a job, a new social environment, distance from family and other obstacles. At the very least, I think LLCs help students feel less overwhelmed in that transition.”

Though the arrangements came together in less than a year, the response to the first year of the LLCs has been overwhelmingly positive, Dumont said.

“The house fellows love it. The students are over the moon about it,” Dumont said. “We have nailed the social bonding part, but we still need to know what attendance is like at help sessions and how students are doing in classes.”

Dumont said faculty and staff will use the summer to examine data for potential program tweaks. One important aspect of the LLCs that will likely remain as the concept develops over the coming years is bringing tutors to the weekly house study sessions instead of encouraging the students to seek help on their own, which can be intimidating.

Gil said she arrived on campus nervous that she would need to be independent and reserved in order to succeed academically. But the Fresno native quickly evolved into an ambassador for the Beyond the M.D. house and learned she is not alone in her quest to find success at UC Merced.

“This program really helped me find comfort, as I was able to build a great group of friends and succeed academically,” Gil said. “It’s about finding a community where you can be yourself, surrounded by a group of students with similar interests but sometimes different majors, who can support one another emotionally and even academically. It’s a program where you can live and find a chance to grow as a person and learn to expand your mindsets in interests of career paths or opening up to others.”

Just as the LLC experience has resonated with the students — many are the first in their families to pursue higher education — the bonds formed in each house extend to the fellows and faculty involved, too.

“It brought me a lot of joy watching them tutor each other in subjects they excelled at in study hours. Many of them became best friends and travelled in packs around campus and joined clubs together,” Brock said. “The whole thing was really special to witness.

“The students were my community, too. When I walked home from lab at night, I’d often catch them at dinner and we’d share a meal together. A highlight of my day was seeing them wave to me from their study lounge on my bike ride home. We all became quite close and I think they supported me just as much as I supported them.”

Students can become Gateway Scholars as early as their freshman year at Merced High, and take part in a college-readiness academy at UC Merced in the summer. The two-week academy, which began in 2016, helps incoming sophomores and juniors learn how they can become more competitive in the college application process. Merced High School’s 2019 graduating class featured the first group of students to go through the Gateway Scholarship Program for all four years.

“For these students, having that personal relationship and knowing — no matter what — that there is someone they know at UC Merced brings them comfort, as does the fact that they are familiar with campus after spending several summers here,” said Alex Delgadillo, associate director of the Calvin E. Bright Success Center.

Delgadillo oversees the Gateway Scholarship Program, which will expand to include Golden Valley High School in the fall — a testament to the success of the program.

“What will be foreign to these students is how college will function, but the summer academies help introduce them to that, so they get a glimpse of what it will be like.”

Click on each student's picture below to learn about their journey to UC Merced through the Gateway Scholarship Program.

Promoting Social Mobility the Key to Partnerships with KIPP and College Track

With more than 73 percent of the student population being first-generation, and many students coming from underrepresented and underserved communities, UC Merced provides opportunities for students to receive an education that will change their personal and professional future and, in turn, their family’s future as well.

Thanks to the work of Delgadillo, nonprofit organizations that share the same vision, have begun to guide students to UC Merced. That includes College Track and the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a nationwide network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory schools in low income communities.

College Track is designed around a 10-year promise that supports students from the beginning of high school through college graduation. Students attend College Track centers and receive guidance in preparing for the academic, financial, social and emotional rigors of higher education. UC Merced has the second largest cohort of College Track students in the UC system.

Rising fourth-year student Andrea Molina went through College Track’s East Palo Alto site and credits the program with not only helping her get into UC Merced, but — along with continued support through the Bright Success Center — also making the Dean’s Honor List.

“College Track still supports me through my college career by having bi-weekly check-ins with me, securing internships of my interest, minimizing my student loan debt and empowering me to pursue higher education,” the sociology major said.

KIPP has more than 220 public charter schools across the country, including several in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The tuition-free schools work to instill change in educationally underserved communities by highlighting the knowledge, skills, character and habits needed to succeed in college.

Deanna Morfin-Chavez — who completed her second year at UC Merced in May — was a KIPP student in the Bay Area from elementary school through high school. She said the rigorous curriculum and long school hours not only prepared her academically for college, but taught her to handle a heavy workload. She said KIPP’s strong internship pool meshes well with what UC Merced offers, giving her a chance to explore options in the public health field.

“The skills I developed at KIPP led to my ability to receive straight A’s in college,” Morfin-Chavez said. “KIPP allowed me to gain various life-long skills that will continue to guide me in college and life.”

San Diego native Leslie Barrera Morales attended a KIPP school from fifth through eighth grade and continued to receive guidance throughout high school. As she works toward a degree in management and business economics, she believes she would not be able to succeed at UC Merced if not for the help she received from KIPP.

“They were always pushing me, and I feel like that push is what helped me in being here,” the rising third-year student said. “I owe so much to them because I felt like they really cared for us. They were like our second parents telling us to go to college and helping to lead us to a better life.”

The two named the Triceratops skull after the land owner.

Alice was found among other Cretaceous period plant fossils. While less exciting to find, the plant fossils provide important insight into Alice’s life all those years ago.

“It is wonderful that we found fossilized wood and tree leaves right around, and even under, the skull,” Duran said. “It gives us a more complete picture of the environment at the time.”

It took a full week to excavate Alice, whose fragile skull was meticulously stabilized with a specialized glue to solidify the fractured, mineralized bones, before an accelerant was applied to bond the structures. With the help of a local cattle rancher and his family, Alice was coated in foil and plaster, wedged onto a makeshift box and lifted onto a truck. Wrapped in a memory foam mattress for protection, she was driven to an undisclosed location until transport to Kjelland’s lab.

The reason for the secrecy?

“There have been people in the past who have stolen dinosaur bones,” Kjelland explained, noting dinosaur fossils can be extremely valuable.

While some fossils become part of private collections, Kjelland has another idea in mind — one that would allow others to experience the awe he and Duran felt upon discovering Alice.

“My vision is to have Alice rotate locations,” Kjelland said. “The goal is to use this find as an educational opportunity, not just reserve Alice in a private collection somewhere so only a handful of people can see her.”

Now that Alice is safely in Kjelland’s lab, Duran will return to North Dakota in the coming months to assist Kjelland in conducting further research and preparing the fossil for display. Alice’s future is in the hands of Fossil Excavators and the exact location she will call home is yet to be determined.

In the meantime, Duran and Kjelland intend to create a cast of the skull, which Duran hopes to put on display at UC Merced. This wouldn’t be the first time Duran displayed fossils at UC Merced — he helped curate a Columbian Mammoth exhibit of bones found near the campus as part of his Student Success Internship with the Library as a sophomore.

One day, Duran would even like to bring the real Alice to campus.

“It would be amazing for UC Merced to be able to display Alice on campus,” Duran said. “It’s such a rare opportunity to showcase something like this, and I’d like to share it with the campus community.”

Ghosh wasn’t thinking about moon or Martian colonies or interstellar spaceships when her lab developed electrospraying. But Delmas recently returned from his second summer internship with NASA, where worked with NASA scientist Timothy Peshek at the John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Peshek develops solutions for space-based solar power and co-authored the proposal to develop perovskite solar cells in space along with a NASA colleague, Lyndsey McMillon-Brown. McMillon-Brown and Peshek have been developing perovskite solar cells specifically for space applications.

The NASA scientists invited UC Merced to apply to be part of their project after working with Ghosh and Delmas and the NASA-supported Merced nAnomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing (MACES).

“These materials are very interesting and have been part of an exciting time in the development of better solar cell materials,” Peshek said. “However, their usage for space applications is only now becoming apparent as an option to reduce power-generation costs. There is a lot more work to do before we can demonstrate their feasibility.”

For the next year, Ghosh and her lab will create perovskite film products. But these materials have only been tested on Earth, Ghosh said. Perhaps as soon as next summer, they will be studied under a variety of conditions at NASA. One testing location could be the Glenn Research Center, where a large facility simulates the entire solar spectrum under the same conditions experienced at the International Space Station.

“When you’re in sunlight in space, it’s very hot, and when you’re not, it’s extremely cold, and the transition between the two is rapid,” Delmas said. “They will be able to test under all those conditions. It’s ridiculously cool and I am super excited to have them test our products.”

But will the solar films survive in space? Strubbe’s group will try to help answer that question using computer simulations. Strubbe, who is researching how sunlight affects perovskites and other silicon-alternative materials, will work on degradation issues with the films, including light and stress.

“We’re going to look at the atomic level to reveal what we can’t ordinarily observe,” he said.

Meanwhile, the two groups of students will get hands-on experience working on a real NASA project and strengthening the bond that has developed between the agency and the campus since MACES began four years ago.

“I had never thought of NASA as a career possibility because I thought you had to be doing aerospace to work there,” said Delmas, a physics Ph.D. candidate who focuses on semiconductors. “I had no idea they are doing all this diverse research to push science forward. The people there are amazing, and I would encourage other students to think about getting involved with MACES. It offers a lot of great opportunities.”