UC Merced Connect: Campus to open for Research Week

Campus and community members are invited to learn more about UC Merced research – including work on sustainability, psychology and antibiotic resistance – during the university’s eighth annual Research Week, presented by the Office of Research and Economic Development.

Events will run from March 2-6 and take place mainly on campus, including a student poster competition, the popular 90-Second Video Challenge, three formal research symposiums and more.

“Research Week is our annual celebration of the important investigations conducted at UC Merced,” Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Sam Traina said. “Everyone across the campus and across the region is invited to attend events, learn about our research, and meet our faculty and student researchers.”

Research conducted at UC Merced fosters student and faculty member development and has the potential to affect the region, the state and the world.

Research Week is an opportunity for the general public to see the many innovative projects underway in such fields as biotechnology; computer hardware and software; drug discovery; energy; environment; imaging; materials; medical; nanotechnology and optics.

The Research Week Fair kicks off the week from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 2, with a display of student, faculty and staff research along Scholars Lane. Participants can display their research in any form they choose.

The fair will be followed by a sustainability symposium presented by the Sierra Nevada Research Institute from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Kolligian Library, Room 232, featuring:

▪ An overview of UC President Janet Napolitano’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative by professor Roger Bales.

▪ A discussion of root water uptake by professor Teamrat Ghezzehei.

▪ A look at the ecological and evolutionary responses of forests to global change and implications for sustainability by professor Emily Moran.

▪ A section on alternative paths toward carbon neutrality, including biomass gasification and bio-methane generation, by professor Gerardo Diaz.

▪ A sustainability panel discussion.

The Fellowship and Undergraduate Research Symposium, hosted by the Associated Students of UC Merced, is Monday’s final event, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the California Room. All UC Merced students have been encouraged to participate and present the contents of their research to the broader university community.

Other Research Week events include:

▪ Professor Jitske Tiemensma leads the third annual Psychological Research Symposium, from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. March 3 in the Classroom and Office Building, Room 322. Graduate students from health psychology and quantitative psychology, as well as several faculty researchers, will present their work.

▪ The Translating Health Innovations event, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 3 in KL 232, is presented by the Health Sciences Research Institute and invites students at all levels to make presentations that encourage the flow of ideas. They do not need to present data or results, but they need to share creative ideas in the field of translational research. Prizes will be awarded for the most innovative presentations, both in idea and in execution.

▪ The Student Poster Competition is held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 3 in Hostetler Gymnasium.

▪ Sigma Xi’s symposium, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 5 in the Crescent Arch conference room in the Half Dome residence hall, is titled “Antibiotics Resistance and the Stakeholders in this Problem.”

The week will wrap up with the Resource Center for Community Engaged Scholarship Community Research reception from 4 to 6 p.m. March 6 at the Merced Civic Center, where people can explore research partnerships between community members and faculty members.

Visit research.ucmerced.edu for more information and for details about these and other Research Week events.

This story was originally published February 24, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "UC Merced Connect: Campus to open for Research Week."