The works of Shakespeare, perhaps more so than any in the western canon, have been subject to reinterpretation and reappraisal by generations of artists, scholars and laypeople.

Some, like Verdi’s opera “Otello,” are considered masterpieces in their own right. Others, most notably Thomas Bowdler’s much maligned, puritanical expurgation of Shakespeare’s works, have been roundly scorned and derided.

“Shakespeare in Yosemite,” performed on Earth Day weekend in the national park, has taken an altogether novel approach. Written, directed and produced by Shakespeare experts Katherine Steele Brokaw of UC Merced and Paul Prescott of the University of Warwick, the production recasts the Bard as “Shakespeare the Naturalist.”

Weaving together Shakespeare’s more sylvan passages with writings of the eminent American naturalist John Muir, and using Yosemite’s majestic wilderness as the backdrop, audiences were compelled to reimagine Shakespeare as a playwright deeply attuned to the drama of nature.

Coinciding with Muir’s birthday (April 21), Earth Day (April 22) and Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23), the play was enthusiastically received by audiences, with more than 600 visitors to Yosemite attending four performances over two days. The audiences included many members of the UC Merced community.

“It was exciting to learn that Shakespeare is inspired by and in nature,” said Manuel Baez Jr., an undergraduate student. “I found a new perspective on Shakespeare’s works and how nature plays an active role in the action.”

The 13-player company — which included students from UC Merced and University of the Pacific, along with other actors from the community — was minimalistically attired, wearing blue T-shirts with the “Shakespeare in Yosemite” logo on the front and a passage from Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” on the back: “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” The passage is frequently misattributed to Muir, who famously quoted it in his book “Our National Parks.”

Indeed, some passages from Shakespeare even seem to advocate for the staging choices made in “Shakespeare in Yosemite.” The third act of Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII” opens with a despondent Queen Katherine asking her servant to sing her a song to disperse her sorrows. The servant, lute in hand, begins:

UC Merced graduate student Soheil Fatehi accompanied the actors on the lute. His Shakespeare-inspired program included lute works by Henry VIII, alongside works by prominent Renaissance lutenist-composers John Dowland, Joan Ambrosio Dalza and John Johnson. The play opened with three improvisational pieces in which Fatehi accompanied Ranger Shelton Johnson, who performed on indigenous American flutes.

More than mere entertainment, the play’s themes were meant to subtly provoke. Given California’s recent drought, widespread concern about climate change, and anxiety over the future of funding for the arts and sciences, the authors felt the subject matter was timely.

“Without being preachy, there was a clear message embedded in the show, an exhortation to protect what’s left of the planet,” Prescott said. “Many audience members came straight from the March for Science. Having marched for science, they sat down for some art. And, on Earth Day, the gap between the two cultures of art and science seemed pretty small.”

Prescott’s perspective resonated with many in the audience. Some commented on the play’s relevance to Earth Day, while others noted that it reminded them that Yosemite is best experienced through the dual lenses of science and poetry.

According to Brokaw, with the success of this year’s production, arrangements for next year are already underway. Though the details are still being hashed out, organizers are planning to return for Earth Day weekend. Brokaw said next year’s event will feature a 90-minute production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which will incorporate “several Yosemite twists.”

“We are thrilled to have brought Shakespeare to Yosemite and to have received such positive feedback from audiences,” Brokaw said. “‘Shakespeare in Yosemite’ is the merging of many great ideas: It brings together art and nature, writing and community, history and activism. It’s also an exciting new partnership between UC Merced, Yosemite and University of Warwick — one that we hope will continue for years to come.”

Dozens of educators took part in the CalTeach Professional Development Summer Institute for Valley Teachers last year, and thanks to another generous gift from Educational Employees Credit Union (EECU) the program will continue so more can benefit.

The program, launched in summer 2016 with the help of EECU, works to enrich the Central Valley by addressing an immense need to provide local professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers.

“One of UC Merced’s Principles of Community is to ‘pursue excellence in teaching and learning through contributions from all community members in an effort to foster a culture of open exchange,’” CalTeach Program Director Chelsea Arnold said. “By providing this program, we would like UC Merced to be seen as a resource for teachers seeking professional learning experiences and curriculum for their classrooms.”

Elementary, middle and high school educators in Atwater, Livingston, Merced, Madera, Mariposa, Modesto and Turlock took part in the inaugural program. This year, the institute will work to expand to Fresno or beyond, depending on interest and need.

The new EECU sponsorship could support the program up to three years, demonstrating the credit union’s deep affinity for supporting education.

“As a longtime partner with UC Merced, we are proud to support the CalTeach Summer Institute,” EECU president and CEO Beth Dooley said. “This wonderful program incorporates UC Merced’s and the credit union’s shared values and commitment to education and the community.

“This collaboration to enhance professional development opportunities for our teachers will pay dividends for years to come.”

Last summer’s workshops focused on STEM-related topics including computer programming, Lego robotics, conductivity and circuits, math, and RNA and DNA. This year’s workshops may vary depending on the professional development needs of Valley teachers.

UC Merced CalTeach students participate in the summer workshops, giving them the opportunity to learn along with teachers, and providing a rich networking experience.

Educators are encouraged to sign up to attend the summer workshops. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Manuel Meraz transferred to UC Merced with a mission: to revive what had once been an award-winning, student-led robotics scene on campus.

Meraz had just completed a robotics internship at the University of New Mexico, where his advisor introduced him to Stefano Carpin, professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Merced.

Carpin, who heads Robotics at UC Merced, had a long history of mentoring students who shared his enthusiasm for robotics. His advisees even competed in international robotics competitions — they competed in RoboCup three times, taking second place in 2008 and first place in 2009. But when scheduling conflicts arose, Carpin took a break from competing.

Enter Meraz, who arrived eager to resuscitate the undergraduate robotics efforts. Carpin, initially reluctant to add another obligation to his taxing schedule, was swayed by Meraz’s determination.

“When Manuel showed up, I wasn’t immediately sold on the idea,” Carpin said. “These things tend to take a lot of time, and I have various other projects to work on. But the students really pulled all of this together.”

Meraz had become familiar with NASA’s Swarmathon, a robotics competition jointly administered by NASA’s Minority University Research Program and UNM. Teams, selected from minority serving institutions, are supplied with three identical rovers (endearingly called Swarmies) equipped with identical hardware. It’s then up to each team to develop software that transforms these rovers into effective foragers. Rovers must find and gather objects of interest without the aid of real-time human guidance. And unlike the solitary rovers of NASA missions past, Swarmies must work together.

UC Merced’s branch of the Blum Center for Developing Economies rebooted this spring with a faculty-led effort to spend two years working on becoming the hub for all food-security-related research and outreach on and off campus.

Part of that effort includes seed grants for UC Merced researchers. The Blum Center just announced this year’s winners:

• Professor Paul Brown and his research team, including Professor Nancy Burke and graduate students Kevin Kwan, Tashelle Wright, Jazmine Kenny, Adriana Nunez and Ravi Singh, are studying malnutrition among the elderly, a serious public health concern. They plan to document the rates of malnourishment, understand the causes of malnutrition identify potential remedies.
• Jaapna Dhillon, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Natural Sciences, will work with Professor Rudy M. Ortiz and Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist Karina Diaz Rios to examine the sensory and cognitive perceptions of local fruits vegetables and nuts among UC Merced students, a food desert campus, and study associations with metabolic risk factors, as well as the factors affecting consumption such as food cost, availability and prior exposure.
• Graduate student Zahra Goliaeli will work with Diaz-Rios and professors Mariaelena Gonzalez and Nancy Burke to explore factors affecting food access, food choice and the risk of food insecurity among recently resettled Dari-speaking refugees in the San Joaquin Valley.
• Rodolfo Rodriguez, a graduate student in the School of Social Studies, Humanities and Arts, will work with Professor Mario Sifuentez to analyze farm worker union contracts for the incorporation of food access in contract demands to determine which strategies are used to increase access to fresh foods.
• Sifuentez also received a grant for his project entitled “The Color of Water; Race, Work, and Land in California’s Central Valley.” He will work with graduate student Laura Gomez to collect archival documents and primary-source oral histories of Central Valley farm workers, informing ongoing research in the areas of food and water, contributing to the burgeoning field of food studies.
• Professor Zulema Valdez and her research team, including Professor A. Susana Ramirez and graduate students Katie Butterfield and Vicente Mata and undergraduate student Nicole Raygoza, will examine alternate food outlet contributions to the food environment. They plan to survey alternate food outlets in two Merced County communities to help identify resources and solutions to food access, providing a more well-rounded picture of the rural food environment.
• Graduate student Tiebiao Zhao, with the School of Engineering and the MESA drone lab, and fellow students Jan Tana, Brandon Yang and Christian Tran are developing an autonomous rover to detect irrigation pipe leakage, saving agricultural ventures time, effort and money, ultimately increasing food production potential.

If you want to follow along with the teams’ progress, visit the Blum Center website.

Since 2006, 10 UC Merced undergraduates have been awarded the prestigious Donald A. Strauss Foundation scholarship. This year, two more joined their ranks.

The Strauss Foundation selected biological sciences major Pranuthi Kanneganti and public health major Akhila Yechuri as recipients of this year’s awards.

The Strauss Foundation awards 15 scholarships annually to sophomores and juniors from select California universities who propose public service projects focused on social change. Winners receive $10,000 and mentoring from the Strauss Foundation.

Prospective applicants learned of the scholarship from UC Merced's Calvin E. Bright Success Center, which provides students with mentoring, learning resources and access to a variety of competitive scholarships, including the Strauss.

Bright Center Associate Director James Barnes identified qualified students and invited them to Strauss Scholarship information sessions. According to Barnes, this year’s applicant pool was exceptionally strong.

“They are achieving at levels as good or better than students at other universities,” Barnes said. “These are students with records of service, high GPAs and big ideas. We want every student who fits this profile to apply.”

Applicants met with Barnes regularly. Together they developed a timeline to ensure that students met important application milestones. This included coordinating with members of the community to identify a project, obtaining recommendations from community partners, and attending application coaching sessions.

Winners were informed of the Strauss Foundation’s decision in April. Projects are scheduled to run from September 2017 through April 2018.

Kanneganti’s project, “Stepping Into Science,” encourages female and minority students to pursue STEM careers. Kanneganti will work with approximately 80 sixth-graders at Merced’s Peterson Elementary school and use hands-on activities to help students develop the skills they need to succeed in STEM.

“This project allows me to work with children and get a better understanding of the best ways to interact with them while encouraging them that anything is possible, regardless of what other people tell them,” Kanneganti explained.

But she won’t be working alone. Kanneganti recruited a team of UC Merced undergraduates — biology majors Stephanie Quezada and Leticia Diaz, chemistry major Christian Ramirez, computer science and math major Belinda Vasquez, and psychology major Victoria Sierra — to help her make “Stepping into Science” a reality.

“The project may end in April 2018, but I hope that it leaves a positive, lasting impression on the young students,” Kanneganti said.

For Yechuri, the Strauss Scholarship allows her to continue a project she began in January. As the recipient of a Community Engagement Student Fellowship from the California Campus Compact, Yechuri worked with three teachers at Merced’s Yosemite High School to conduct civics lessons.

With the Strauss Scholarship, Yechuri can expand her earlier outreach efforts into a multi-part civic education program in Merced high schools. Her project, “Civics in the Central Valley,” provides civics education to underrepresented and underserved high school students. It also offers high school students the opportunity to meet with local officials and engage in student-led development projects.

“My goals are to institutionalize this program, as well as to successfully recruit more students for this project,” Yechuri said. “The Strauss ends in April 2018, but I'd like this be continued beyond then.”

According to Barnes, a campus with one Strauss Scholar is rare. But having two winners in one year is a remarkable feat for any university.

“This is a way we’re making a name for the university and building success stories,” Barnes said. “It’s important for the Bright Center and the university to raise the profile of exceptional students here.”

Barnes encourages sophomores and juniors with big ideas to serve others and a 3.7 or higher GPA to contact him at jbarnes@ucmerced.edu for more information about this opportunity.

UC Merced alumna Linda Barreto always wanted to become a lawyer, but an experience in college helped reinforce her career path.

While driving, Barreto was pulled over and cited for failing to stop before making a left turn. She decided to fight the citation in court because there was no requirement or need to stop.

It was her first case — and her first win. “I felt a rush, a passion for fighting for my rights,” she said.

Today, the 2008 graduate takes up legal battles for others as an immigration attorney with Lazaro Salazar Law Inc. in Fresno. Barreto also handles pro bono cases for her former employer, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a national nonprofit that represents unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children in deportation proceedings. Many of these children are fleeing violence or abuse in countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Thousands of these young refugees come over the border each year. KIND advocates for the child’s interests and can look for legal pathways allowing a child to remain in the United States. Barreto, born and raised in Fresno, understands that story partly because her mother is a first-generation immigrant.

She is similarly dedicated to the Central Valley — one reason she applied to become part of UC Merced’s inaugural class in 2005. Barreto, then enrolled under her maiden name of Torralva, said she wanted to attend college and work in the Central Valley to combat the “brain drain” that afflicts the region.

“I also wanted to be a part of something new, and I was excited to have a UC in the Valley,” she said.

At UC Merced, Barreto worked toward her academic degree while helping develop the fledgling campus as a member of the chancellor’s committee. She gained a feeling of confidence from her college experience and from working with the university’s highest-level administrators.

“It made me feel empowered — if I could do that, I could walk into law firms and ask for a position,” Barreto said.

She also greatly appreciated the pioneering spirit of the campus. “It’s OK to be the first one,” she said. “That gave me more tools to be prepared.”

She completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology in just three years, then took a few years off and got married. She and her husband have two children and are expecting a third this fall.

In 2010, Barreto enrolled at the San Joaquin College of Law and earned her degree in four years. She also worked in the school’s New American Legal Clinic.

Barreto acknowledges her success but points out that she’s not alone. Her former UC Merced roommates include a general surgeon, a librarian with a doctorate, and a psychologist.

“I feel like I was just one of the success stories,” she said. “You can find success stories everywhere.”

Today, Barreto recommends UC Merced to others — including her younger brother, Marco Torralva, who is now entering his senior year at the campus and is a member of the men’s soccer team.

“I really encouraged him,” she said. “I told him what a great experience I had.”

Considering that the United States spends about $3.3 billion on United Nations-related activity each year, including peacekeeping — and President Donald Trump has proposed a 40 percent cut in that spending — this seems like a good time for U.S. policy makers to have a clear understanding of how the U.N. works and how to navigate its politics to get desired outcomes.

UC Merced political science professors Courtenay Conrad and Nathan Monroe secured a $118,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to assemble a team of graduate and undergraduate students to compile and analyze a massive database of U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) proceedings since the international organization was founded in 1945.

Because the majority of UNGA resolutions that reach the plenary floor pass, scholars often describe its votes as “consensual.” Conrad and Monroe say that’s because previous work hasn’t looked at the process by which resolutions come to the floor, missing out on important disagreement that occurs, for example, in UNGA committees.

“The UNGA is a very important body trying to legislate international issues of peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance and food production,” Monroe said. “People don’t often realize that the UNGA’s legislative process has important similarities to that of our own Congress.”

Starting this semester, students in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) will have a new major option: Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES).

Led by professors Ma Vang and Kit Myers, the new major dovetails with UC Merced’s emphasis on inequality, power and social justice. The major is housed in the Humanities and World Cultures Unit, and Vang said that’s emblematic of how interdisciplinary the topic is.

“A significant portion of our faculty members are from the History, Global Arts Studies, English, Spanish and Sociology programs,” Myers said. “Faculty from lots of other majors have offered their classes toward the major, too.”

UC Merced’s Sociology group already has a focus on inequality and justice, so the two can work together, Vang said.

The two professors have been working with a group of faculty members from across SSHA to develop curriculum and guide the major through the rigorous approval process for three years. The major has four interdisciplinary core classes, including a capstone/senior thesis course, along with various electives. Faculty members from affiliated programs will offer a host of other courses that students can take to fulfill additional major and elective requirements.

“We wanted draw on the existing disciplines to offer a breadth and depth of knowledge,” Vang said. “Our goal is for students to learn to think more deeply and be able to apply what they learn.”

Ethnic studies blossomed out of the Civil Rights Era, sparking social movements on campuses around the country. It’s the study of difference — mainly in race, ethnicity and nationality, but also gender, class and other areas — and power as expressed by the state, society and individuals. It was originally conceived to reframe what many people considered a Eurocentric approach to the stories, histories, struggles and triumphs of people of color, to hear their stories on their own terms. More recently, ethnic studies has expanded to include questions of representation, racialization, indigeneity, sexuality and other topics.

More than 2,200 students — many entering their first year at UC Merced — arrived last weekend in cars, trucks and minivans packed to the gills with living essentials from clothing and toiletries to laptops and microwaves.

Move-in weekend is always a bustling time on campus as parents, families and friends help their Bobcats get settled in and spend some time on the campus with them before heading home.

Student and staff volunteers met and greeted new students throughout the day, helping them to move luggage, boxes, mini fridges and other items — as well as answering questions and providing directions — as they moved into the residence halls.

To launch the 2017-18 academic year, incoming students gathered Aug. 22 at the recreation field and walked across the Scholars Lane Bridge and through the Beginnings sculpture — an annual tradition. Faculty, staff and continuing students lined the bridge to welcome UC Merced’s newest Bobcats.

On Sept. 22, MacArthur “Genius” Award winner and Stanford University bioengineering Professor Manu Prakash will deliver the keynote lecture at the first annual open house for UC Merced’s Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM), a National Science Foundation Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (NSF-CREST).

The daylong open house will include a variety of events and activities related to biophysics, biochemistry and bioengineering, in addition to Prakash’s keynote.

Prakash is a renowned scientist and inventor famous for developing scientific tools from inexpensive, easy-to-obtain materials. His inventions have the potential to revolutionize medicine, diagnostics and basic science by making scientific instruments available to resource-poor regions of the world.

The Foldscope, perhaps his most famous invention, is a fully functional microscope made from 50-cents of paper. Users simply fold a paper stencil to produce a microscope powerful enough to visualize disease-causing microbes.

Prakash is also inventor of the Paperfuge, a hand-powered, lightweight, paper centrifuge that costs 20 cents to make and is capable of produce G-forces in excess of 30,000 G’s. Compare that with astronauts, who experience about 3 G’s during takeoff, or fighter pilots, who occasionally peak at 9 G’s during their most intense maneuvering. Essential to medical diagnostic labs, centrifuges spin fluids at super-high speeds to separate them into their constituent parts, which can then be analyzed to diagnose a wide array of diseases.

More than just a brilliant inventor, Prakash is also a gifted lecturer and science communicator. He’s delivered TED Talks viewed and shared millions of times (talks can be found here and here), and he’s bringing his rhetorical gifts to UC Merced.

Prakash will deliver a keynote lecture titled “Curiosity, Frugal Science and Global Health: Opportunities and Challenges.” The talk will be held at 12:45 p.m. in the Classroom & Office Building 1, Room 120. But the keynote isn’t the day’s only highlight.

The University of California, Merced, received the largest incoming class of students in its 13-year history this semester, as total enrollment neared 8,000 for the first time.

The fastest-growing university in the nation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, UC Merced now enrolls 7,375 undergraduate and 592 graduate students for a total of 7,967 students — an 8.6 percent increase from 7,336 in 2016, as reported in the university’s fall census.

“UC Merced’s record enrollment is fueled by growing popularity and increased demand, as demonstrated by a significant increase in applications and subsequent registrations to our campus,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said. “We continue to support our students on their academic journeys by placing a strong focus on the development of academic programs, hands‐on research opportunities for undergraduates and a growing array of student activities and amenities.”

More than 22,000 students applied to UC Merced for the Fall 2017 semester, and about 2,300 are now beginning their educational journeys on campus. Among those, 24 rose to the top of the class to be named Regents Scholars, recipients of the University of California’s most prestigious scholarship award.

First-year student Michael Grey is one of those select 24, having proven himself through determination and diligence. He said taking advanced placement and honors courses in high school in Antelope, just north of Sacramento, motivated him to succeed academically.

“The classes challenged me to think differently and use various perspectives and techniques when analyzing,” Grey said.

Being named a Regents Scholar was a relief for Grey. He and his older sister were raised by their grandparents, who aren’t able to help to pay for college tuition and expenses.

“In so many ways, this award is a blessing for me and my family,” Grey said. “This scholarship lifts the burden and provides me comfort in knowing that I can focus on my future career and education and not have to worry about how I am going to be able to afford college.”

Since its first academic year in 2005-06, UC Merced has awarded 203 Regents Scholarships to incoming students selected based primarily on their academic achievements.

“In order to build a community of high achievers, we must recognize those who have already demonstrated academic distinction within their schools and communities,” Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships Ron Radney said.

UC Merced’s Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve has become a hallmark of the campus — acres of preserved lands that contribute to the university’s mission of environmental conservation and while offering unique research opportunities to students and faculty.

One of the campus’s best-kept secrets, though, might be The Vernal Pool, a scholarly journal for undergraduate students’ creative writings, from poetry to plays.

Founded by UC Merced instructor Paul Gibbons, the journal gives students the opportunity to publish their creative works in a formal way that can benefit them when applying for graduate school or jobs. It’s also an outlet for them to express themselves through creative work, editorial board member John Hundley said.

The journal only accepts submissions from UC Merced undergraduates, and is published twice a year on the eScholarship platform, which allows UC affiliates and departments to have direct control over the creation and dissemination of their work. Gibbons had to apply to be allowed to publish the journal and had to ensure a strict review policy for all submissions.

“They publish in perpetuity,” he said, “so they want to make sure these journals are sustainable.”

It’s not easy to be a college student these days.

Rising tuition has made obtaining a degree feel like more of a dream than reality for many students. Yet, now more than ever, a college degree is a prerequisite for even entry-level jobs — the bachelor’s is the new baseline.

Here in California, many students face another challenge: Their parents, many of whom emigrated from Mexico, never went to college. These students might not have anyone in their family who can guide them through the higher education maze, and once ensconced on campus, that sense of isolation can brew doubts about their future prospects.

As a faculty member at UC Merced, where more than half of our students are the first in their families to attend college, I have often seen students struggle as they reach these turning points.

For several, I was able to step in and make a difference.

Faculty members teach classes, but also conduct research, which by the way is time-consuming work. So, we often get assistance from the students. It’s a win-win situation — our research moves from idea to manuscript more quickly, and the students gain valuable experience.

In the U.S., most students in this role are graduate students. They are hired by professors for their research potential, after earning their degrees at other schools. UC Merced is somewhat different, in that it offers research opportunities to undergraduate students. For these students — living for the first time away from home — the experience they gain and the connections that they make through research can truly be life-changing.

For example, I had two precocious students in a statistics class I taught — we’ll call them JG and TC — who stopped by for a chat in office hours. They were thinking about graduate school. As I do with any student who’s thinking of grad school, I first told them that the process was competitive. Instead of backing off, they pulled their chairs up closer — this told me they were game, and so was I.

“With all things being the same,” I said, “what’s going to make a difference is research experience on your resume.”

“A lab,” they said, eyes wide with images of goggles and white coats.

“Not exactly,” I went on. They looked befuddled. “For the research that I’m doing, you’ll be working on your own.”

Beginning this year, UC Merced’s fall graduates will have an earlier occasion to celebrate their outstanding accomplishments.

UC Merced is launching a new tradition with its first Fall Commencement. The intimate ceremony, which will be held at 11 a.m. Dec. 16 in the Art Kamangar Center at the historic Merced Theatre downtown, will include all the pomp and circumstance at spring commencement — caps and gowns, full regalia and crossing the stage in front of friends and family.

Students have been advocating for an additional ceremony for some time. Ana Le, who graduated last December, worked on the idea for a writing class project in November 2016 with fellow student Chigoziri Ibechem, who graduated in May. The duo interviewed campus and student leadership in order to be thorough.

UC Merced students had the chance to gain knowledge and leadership skills for their personal and academic careers at the 2017 Leadership Conference, hosted by the campus’s Margo F. Souza Student Leadership Center on Sept. 23.

Now in its 11th year, the annual conference was redesigned to help facilitate deep transformational learning to increasing student leadership on campus and beyond.

“The UC Merced Leadership Conference is an incredible way for students to accelerate their leadership development early on in the academic year,” said Steve Lerer, who oversees the center in his role as associate director of the Office of Leadership, Service and Career. “I can’t wait to see what students do with the new skills and self-knowledge they acquired at the conference.”

About 300 undergraduate and graduate students participated in a day full of speakers — from on and off campus — presenting on a wide range of topics centered on the concepts of leadership and skill development. 

UC Merced’s Homecoming Oct. 20-22 will draw students, staff, faculty, alumni, family and friends together for a weekend of activities that highlight the campus and the community.

For the first time, three major campus events are being combined into a larger celebration. At Homecoming, alumni are invited to return to their alma mater and see all of the changes on campus; prospective students, families and educators are welcomed to learn more about UC Merced at Open House; and current students and their families are reunited during Family Weekend.

Many of the weekend’s activities will also be of interest to the local community, including campus tours, sporting and a tailgate party. 

Topics ranging from ethnobotany, public health and feminism to agriculture, urban growth and social movements are among the highlights of the Mesoamerican Studies Center’s upcoming conference at UC Merced.

“Mesoamericans in California: Immigrants’ Resistance, Social Movements, Rights, and Memory” is a daylong event that features presentations by undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members and guest speakers, including the fifth-grade class from Planada Elementary School, giving an oral presentation of their parents’ immigration experiences. The day culminates with a dinner, mariachi music and a performance by a group of indigenous dancers from Merced.

Everyone is invited to attend, but seating is limited, so it’s important to RSVP for the Nov. 3 event.

The MASC is a new center on campus, singular in the UC system. It aims to be the hub for Mesoamerican studies throughout the country.

“There are some important Latin-American centers at other campuses, including UCLA, UC Berkeley and the University of Texas, but nowhere is there a Mesoamerican center,” co-Director and Professor Arturo Arias said.

Mesoamerica is defined as the region that stretches from Central America up through Mexico and into the American Southwest — areas where indigenous people formed some of the world’s most complex societies, including the Aztecs, Olmecs, Inca and Maya.

“California is unique in that it is not artificially linked to Mesoamerica — it has been part of it all along,” he said. “The immigrant flow has never stopped. The relationships California has with the rest of Mesoamerica merit deeper understanding.”

Being headquartered at UC Merced, the MASC can integrate a wide variety of studies into its examination of Mesoamerica, including history, archaeology, literature, the arts, biology and sociology.

“These issues are very important for our students, many of whom come from Mesoamerica,” Arias said. “Many of them come from other disciplines, but want to stay in touch with their roots.”

For example, he pointed out undergraduate student Epiphaneia Juarez, who is of Mayan descent. She wants to be a doctor in part so she can give back to the community she came from.

He and co-Director and SociologyProfessor Paul Almeida have organized the conference to allow panel discussions, presentations and three keynote speakers:

• UC Santa Cruz Professor Veronica Terriquez, who will speak on “Building Power and Fighting for Social Transformation: Contemporary Youth Movements in California”;
• Brown University Professor Iris Montero, whose speech is entitled “One Pair of Sandals to Go and Another to Return: Of Hummingbird Cycles and Circular Histories in Mesoamerica”; and
• University of Texas at Austin Professor Charles R. Hale, who’s delivering a speech on “Rethinking (Again and Again) Latin American Studies: Three Keys to the Field’s Vibrancy and Two Dangers on the Horizon.”

Traditional UC Merced events — Homecoming, Preview Day and Family Weekend, plus the Chancellor’s Scholars recognition ceremony — came together for a first-of-its-kind bundle of activities that highlighted the campus for current and prospective students, alumni, family members and friends, and the community. Events included a women’s volleyball game, information sessions, women’s and men’s soccer games, a tailgate party and karaoke.

“One of the things I love most about UC Merced is no matter how much we grow, we will never lose the sense of family and community that brings us together,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said.

Zach Petrek, a second-year doctoral student in chemistry and chemical biology, can usually be found running experiments in the laboratory of his advisor, Professor Tao Ye. But this summer, he did something different — he went to NASA.

Petrek was one of seven UC Merced students to intern at NASA over the summer, an opportunity provided through MACES, the Merced nAnomaterials Center for Energy and Sensing.

Launched in August 2015 with substantial NASA support, MACES has a mission that encompasses cutting-edge research, community outreach, and training students for tomorrow’s NASA careers. As part of its mission, MACES provides students with a direct pipeline to NASA internships.

Petrek interned at NASA Ames Research Center in the lab of Jing Li, where he worked on developing chemical nanosensors to detect proteins and DNA. According to Petrek, comparable nanosensors that detect biomolecules in gas have been around for 10 years. It was Petrek’s job to make the technology work in different contexts.

“The goal was to figure out how to make the biosensors work in liquid,” Petrek said. “We want to adapt it for self-diagnostics for astronauts and to detect life elsewhere in the solar system.”

Though his research aims were clear, Petrek was given significant leeway to pursue the project on his own terms.

“Working with Jing was really great,” Petrek said. “I’d come up with a plan and run it by her. I had a handful of ideas, and she gave me guidance and let me try them.”

Outside the lab, Petrek attended the NASA Ames 2017 Summer Series, biweekly seminars that brought scientists and engineers to Ames to discuss topics as wide-ranging as planetary science, aerospace engineering and astrobiology.