CAMPUS NEWS

Campus Buzzing with Events

The weather is starting to warm up and there’s a lot going on around the UC Merced campus. The month of April will highlight the university’s research, its commitment to sharing new knowledge and its role in recognizing those who have made a difference in the world.

Research Week — April 18-22

Dan Hirleman

The campus’ annual Research Week is set for April 18 to 22. This year’s Research Week will feature a Sierra Nevada Research Institute symposium on April 18, organized by Professor Roger Bales, as well as the annual Sigma Xi Symposium on April 21. The topic for the Sigma Xi event will be “The Language of Dynamics.”

The poster competition will be held April 19, as will the annual Vital and Alice Pellissier Distinguished Speaker Series, featuring Dean of Engineering Dan Hirleman. [Contact the Office of Research for more information.]

Cruz Reynoso to Receive Spendlove Prize— April 21

Former California Supreme Court Justice and civil rights lawyer Cruz Reynoso has been named the 2011 recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance.

UC Merced will award the prize to Reynoso during a 5:30 p.m. ceremony Thursday, April 21, in the Kolligian Library, Room 355. Guests must RSVP by calling 209-228-7787 or by emailing specialevents@ucmerced.edu. The following day, Reynoso will give an oral history at 3:30 p.m. in COB 105.
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Chancellor’s Associates Spring Reception — April 28

Chancellor's Associates are invited to attend the Chancellor's Associates spring reception April 28 at the Chancellor’s residence. This event will prove to be truly special, as this will be Chancellor Steve Kang and Mia Kang’s farewell Chancellor’s Associates event. For information, contact specialevents@ucmerced.edu or 209-228-RSVP.

For information on joining the Chancellor’s Associates, contact Lisa McMullen at 209-228-4202.

This is only a handful of the events happening on campus in the coming weeks. Go to events.ucmerced.edu to find out more.

DONOR HIGHLIGHTS

Alumni-Founded GiveVote Foundation Makes First Grant

The GiveVote Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit started by a group of UC Merced alumni who were inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2009 commencement address, is making strides forward, having awarded its first grant and obtained 501(c)(3) federal nonprofit status in the past year.

GiveVote’s nonprofit standing means it’s officially registered as a charitable organization with the federal government, and contributions to the foundation are tax deductible. Also last year, GiveVote awarded its first grant to the campus' emergency fund for students.

More than half of the UC Merced student population consists of low-income, first-generation students, and those students sometimes find themselves in emergency situations with no assistance available. The UC Merced Student Emergency Grant Program offers them the means to stay in school when a crisis arises.
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FACULTY NEWS

Medina Awarded Prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship

Marine biologist Mónica Medina was awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship earlier this month, joining a diverse group of 180 scholars, artists and scientists to receive the fellowship this year out of nearly 3,000 applicants.

Medina, a professor in the UC Merced School of Natural Sciences, is one of just three in the field of organismic biology and ecology to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011, the 87th year of the competition for the United States and Canada. The fellows were chosen based on prior achievement and exceptional promise."I am deeply touched by the recognition," said Medina, the first UC Merced professor to receive the fellowship. "The Guggenheim is a fellowship of long tradition, and many of its fellows have moved on to do really great things. I feel extremely fortunate to have been invited to be one of them."
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Diverse Physics Group Lands Major Awards

Linda Hirst

UC Merced’s physics group is defying the odds while also earning major research grants.

Women make up 14 percent of physics faculty at U.S. degree-granting institutions, according to a 2010 survey by the American Institute of Physics. At UC Merced, three of the eight professors are women, or more than a third. Also, one of the two lecturers is a woman.

Rachel Ivie, who tracks hiring trends in physics departments for the institute, said UC Merced is doing better than a lot other campuses in terms of hiring a diverse physics faculty. She noted 10 percent of university physics departments in the United States don’t have any women.
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STUDENT NEWS

Volleyball Team Proves it’s Ready for NAIA

If there was any question whether UC Merced was ready to take its sports teams to a higher competitive level, the women’s volleyball club team has proved it this year.

When senior Kayla Taylor first joined the team as a freshman, in the club’s second year, the Bobcats struggled to win even a single game of any of their matches. In this season’s opening game, though, UC Merced beat UC Davis’ club team in convincing fashion.

“From then on, we realized what a serious team we’d turned out to be,” said Taylor, now the club’s president. “It was a little shocking to us. It used to be a struggle to win any games, and now we’re taking some matches easily.”
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Two Students Honored for Research Posters by UC LEADS

Two UC Merced students were among eight Outstanding Poster winners at the University of California Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS) Research and Leadership Symposium 2011.

Juan Lopez Arriaza, an undergraduate student in applied mathematics, was one winner. His academic mentor at UC Merced was Professor Teamrat Ghezzehi. His summer mentor at UC Santa Cruz was Marc Mangel.

Biology student Desiree Sigala, also an undergraduate, was UC Merced’s other winner. Her mentor was Maria Pallavicini, and her summer mentor at UC Davis was Kimber Stanhope.
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