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THIS MONTH IN UC MERCED HISTORYAs a new feature in Panorama, we will provide a look back in time at some of UC Merced’s events and history. If you have a suggestion for “This Month in UC Merced History,” please e-mail bortiz@ucmerced.edu. Founding Celebration – Oct. 25, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis and Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin were among the featured speakers at a historic and exciting day for the Valley and state when ground broke for UC Merced. Davis, who served as president of the Board of Regents of the University of California, delivered the keynote address at UC Merced’s Founder’s Day Celebration on Oct. 25, 2002. UC Merced was welcomed by UC Regents and chancellors, government officials, children of the San Joaquin Valley and community supporters. |
MESSAGE FROM
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When Mia and I were visiting relatives in Boston, we saw Nancy Schon’s bronze sculpture of a tortoise and hare in Copley Square. Inspired by Aesop’s Fables, this sculpture portrays a timeless lesson that resonated with me: The race belongs to the steady and resilient. Speed alone does not guarantee success. Relying on speed may even lead to unwise decisions.
UC Merced has made great strides toward becoming the greenest campus in the United States. The fastest way to be green is to focus on reusing and recycling waste so that it doesn’t have to be shipped to landfills.
The semester has barely begun and hacker attacks already appear to be on the rise. This is especially the case with those related to identity theft or using compromised computers to spam secure computers. Our systems have been compromised at times, and we’ve been temporarily blacklisted by various sites and ISPs (e.g. Yahoo, Hotmail and others rejecting e-mails sent from UC Merced).
RESEARCH GRANT and AWARD PROGRESSTotal amount of awards from Aug. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2009: Total amount of awards from July 1, 2009 to the present: $5,738,062 |
HUMAN RESOURCES
NOTE: The Office of Human Resources has moved to the first floor of the downtown Mondo Building, 1715 Canal St. The phone and fax numbers remain the same.
New Employee Orientation
Oct. 2, Kolligian Library, Room KL 232
8:30 a.m. to noon
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment for 2010 begins Oct. 29, 2009, and ends at 5 p.m. on Nov. 24, 2009. Benefit changes made during the Open Enrollment period are effective Jan. 1, 2010. The ARAG legal plan may be added to your benefits during the open enrollment period.
Open Enrollment Fair – Nov. 10, 2009, California Room, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Choose Well Programs
Choose Well programs that assist in weight loss and overall healthy habits include Eat Well, a six week eating behavior modification program;
Bobcat Walkers, a campus walking program; and Iron Cat, a six week personal training program sponsored by the Recreation Center, Campus Dining and Human Resources.
Visit the Choose Well Web site to check out programs and earn awards for program participation and goal attainment.
For information: contact the Health Care Facilitator at (209) 228-2348.
About Panorama UC Merced
Panorama UC Merced is a faculty-staff publication for the University of California, Merced, that delivers news about the campus each month, during the academic year, with breaks for the holidays.
Written and edited by the UC Merced Office of Communications, the publication delivers news about campus issues and events, research highlights, UC-wide news, and people.
The deadline for submissions for each issue is noon on the 15th of each month prior to the month of publication. For more information or to submit ideas, email Brenda Ortiz or call 228-4203.
NEWS
$1.3M Grant Creates Center for the Study of Health Disparities
Maria Pallavicini, dean of the School of Natural Sciences, works with student researchers in her lab. |
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $1.3 million over two years to UC Merced to spur the creation of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Health Disparities in Rural and Ethnic Underserved Populations.
“UC Merced is the ideal location for research and education on health disparities,” said Chancellor Steve Kang. “Our region offers a natural laboratory for education, training and research in this area.”
Led by Maria Pallavicini and Jan Wallander, the center will develop a community of students who are nationally competitive candidates for medical school entrance and other health professions. The center will also foster expansion of the breadth and depth of health sciences research at UC Merced, which is critical to investigating the complex challenges posed by health disparities in the San Joaquin Valley region, and include a community engagement component that enables students to gain hands-on knowledge and experience.
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Anthropologist to Take Over as Dean in SSHA
Chancellor Steve Kang announced last week that a new dean for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) has been appointed.
Anthropological archaeologist Mark S. Aldenderfer of the University of Arizona will take over the position on Jan. 1, 2010. Aldenderfer’s appointment marks the end of an exhaustive administrative search since Founding Dean Kenji Hakuta left in 2006.
“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Aldenderfer to the UC Merced family,” Kang said. “It is my belief that he has both the skills and vision required to lead the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts as our university grows in the coming years.”Aldenderfer has administrative experience in mathematics and information technology, making him a prime pick to lead a school as diverse as SSHA. Aldenderfer is also no stranger to the UC system, spending 15 years in both faculty and administrative roles at UC Santa Barbara.
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Sun Shines on UC Merced’s New Solar Field
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UC Merced is a step closer to producing solar energy that will provide electricity to the growing campus.
Construction is well under way on an 8.5-acre, 1-megawatt solar photovoltaic array – also known as a solar field. Work on the project started in August. Last month crews began delivering and installing 4,800 solar panels that will collect sunlight and convert it into electricity.
The field is southeast of the Science and Engineering Building on campus-owned land. When the system is up and running, it will produce about two-thirds of the campus’ electricity on a summer afternoon and 20 percent of its annual electricity needs, according to UC Merced’s John Elliott, assistant director of energy and sustainability. Construction is expected to be completed this fall.
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ACCOLADES
NSF Grant Funds Human Gesturing Research
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Computer scientist Marcelo Kallman and cognitive scientist Teenie Matlock have received almost a half-million dollars from the National Science Foundation’s Human-Centered Computing Program to study human gesturing. This research award will fund two graduate students – David Huang (computer science) and Stephanie Huette (cognitive science) – for three years.
The goal of the duo’s research project is to develop new techniques for producing realistic and parameterized human-like gestures based on data collected from people in real life.
“The first step for us is to understand how people interact with each other when gesturing, which will then enable us to accurately demonstrate that interaction in the virtual world,” Kallman said.
Grant Funds Professor’s Study of Hawaiian Music
Kevin Fellezs, assistant professor in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, has received more than $9,000 from the Pacific Rim Research Program to fund his continuing research into ki ho’alu (Hawaiian slack key guitar).
In his research, Fellezs investigates the relationship between Hawaiian diasporic identity and ki ho’alu in California, Hawaii and Japan to see how Hawaiian identity travels along with Hawaiian music.
Staffer Appointed to Higher Education Planning Board
The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP), an international society of higher education planning professionals, has named John O. White, director of capital planning and space management, to its board of directors representing the Pacific Region. SCUP provides knowledge and resources on integrated planning for higher education, with a particular focus on academic, fiscal, resource, facilities and infrastructural planning.
As founding director of capital planning and space management for UC Merced, White has experienced the challenges and opportunities associated with launching the first new campus built in the 21st century. White has been an active member of SCUP since 1990 and was invited to join the SCUP Pacific Region Council in 2007.
Lecturer Honored by Photography Association
Photography lecturer Roger J. Wyan earned four honorable mentions recently from the International Photography Awards in New York. His work was chosen from a pool of 18,000 entries. One of his prizes was for “Transitions,” a portrait project he created for UC Merced’s inaugural class that showed how the students changed between their freshman and senior years.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Evolutionary and Conservation Biology Draws Grad Student to UC Merced
The lure of studying environmental and conservational biology drew graduate student Joseph Heras to UC Merced. |
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What do you do with a doctorate in Quantitative Systems Biology?
If everything goes his way, graduate student Joseph Heras will fulfill his post-doctoral research at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles or New York City or the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and then join the faculty at an institution with a strong teaching emphasis.
A native of Southern California, Heras is a first-generation student who was lured to UC Merced by his desire to study evolutionary and conservation biology under School of Natural Sciences assistant professor Andres Aguilar.“I enjoy being part of a small community of graduate students who are motivated to do research and collaborate on research projects that are interdisciplinary,” Heras said. “Our group has a great sense of humor and a strong passion for the field of ecology and evolution.”
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EVENTS
Arts UC Merced Presents … – Oct. 1
The 2009-10 season for Arts UC Merced Presents… officially begins tonight (Oct. 1) with a reception hosted by Chancellor Steve and Mia Kang at the University House. The event lasts from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and features special guest Tina Ramirez, founder of “Ballet Hispanico,” the leading Hispanic dance company in the U.S. Tickets are $50 for general admission and $25 for UC Merced students.
For information on both events: arts.ucmerced.edu.
First Fridays Coffee Hour – Oct. 2
Come enjoy coffee and pastries with colleagues the first Friday of every month. Drop by the Bobcat Lair (adjacent to the Lantern in the Leo & Dottie Kolligian Library) from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Friday, October 2 and mix, mingle and meet co-workers and friends from across campus.
First Fridays Coffee Hour, which is sponsored by the UCM Cares Committee and coordinated by Staff Assembly, will be a monthly event on the first Friday of each month. Mark your calendar!
For information: Annette Garcia at (209) 228-2999.
MTS Lecture Series
The theme for this semester’s Mind, Technology, and Society (MTS) lecture series is “computational thinking.” Sponsored by the Glushko-Samuelson Foundation, the talks are free and open to students, staff, faculty and the general public. The following presentations will be held Mondays at 2:30 p.m. in KL 232:
Oct. 5 – David Ardell, UC Merced
Oct. 12 – Dan Russell, Google
Oct. 19 – Tony Westerling, UC Merced
Oct. 26 – Vinod Menon, Stanford
For information: ckello@ucmerced.edu or cogsci.ucmerced.edu.
University Friends Circle Lunch – Oct. 6
“Student Life: Capturing the Excitement of a New School Year”
Members of the University Friends Circle (UFC) will meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 6 at UC Merced for lunch and a VIP tour of campus. UFC president Jennifer West will give an update followed by a presentation on student life by Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Charles Nies and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Kevin Browne.
The UFC was formed to provide a forum for UC Merced staff and faculty and their families to engage in open discussion and interact with members of the surrounding communities. For information on joining the UFC or to RSVP for lunch: Christine Howe, (209) 228-4190. The cost is $25, including lunch.
Frontiers of Science and Engineering Lecture Series – Oct. 17
UC Merced School of Natural Sciences professor Andres Aguilar will be the featured speaker at the Frontiers of Science and Engineering Lecture Series on Oct. 17. Aguilar will discuss “Genetic Insights into the Conservation of California’s Biodiversity in a Changing Environment.” Lecture starts at 10 a.m. at the Castle Challenger Learning Center, 3460 Challenger Way, Atwater. The event is free and open to the public.
Library Exhibits Showcase Central Valley Culture
“From Hobos to Street People: Artists Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to Present" will be on display in the second floor of the library through Oct. 25. “Okie Poet Laureate: Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel" will be on display in the third floor through Dec. 19. Both exhibits are open and free to the public during regular library hours. For more information: (209) 658-7146.