More than two dozen educators from kindergarten through college converged at UC Merced to discuss the challenges they're facing and the opportunities ahead.
Between 70% and 80% of students who start classes at community colleges plan to transfer to four-year universities. But only between 20% and 30% do.
In California, that number is closer to the lower end of that spectrum, a University of Wisconsin researcher told a room full of higher education representatives.
"I like research on the Internet of Things because it solves problems in people's lives," said Shijia Pan , a professor of computer science and engineering at UC Merced and a principal investigator at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS). "You can ask - 'What do I wish to have to make our lives easier?' - and you can build one yourself."
Sometimes public service at UC Merced looks like finding ways to grow crops with a changing water supply. Or delving into how children translate for their non-English-speaking parents.
And sometimes it looks like picking up a paintbrush and refurbishing park benches and curbs at Lake Yosemite.
Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, the UC Merced newsroom is highlighting some of the organizations, services and people who serve or represent the Black community on campus.
An organization that was created in a time of tragedy and crisis has been a force for good for UC Merced's Black community.
Using magnetic resource imaging, or MRI, to harmlessly detect seeds in Mandarin oranges. Identification of pathogens in an image library with artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose plant disease. Creating a robot to more efficiently manufacture a robot. Building a user-friendly database to organize information for a global tech organization. Production-grade employee coaching and training applications for a large cold chain industry and a multinational computer storage company.
The new feature film "A Million Miles Away" is a universally relatable story of resilience and achievement, depicting Jose Hernández's journey from working the fields of the San Joaquin Valley to fulfilling his life-long dream of being a NASA astronaut.
But it's also a story with a very personal tie to UC Merced. Hernández, who went on to head an aerospace company and operate a vineyard, is a graduate of the University of California system and serves on the UC Board of Regents, and his son Antonio is a student at UC Merced.
Three UC Merced researchers have recently received the prestigious Hellman Fellowship.
Computer science and engineering Professor Shijia Pan, economics Professor Briana Ballis and life and environmental sciences Professor Xuan Zhang have all been named Hellman Fellows.
Merced, California, and Kyoto, Japan, are nearly 5,500 miles apart, but their research universities' shared goals to improve society is bringing them together. A new agreement between institutions of higher education in both cities will foster collaboration among researchers and an exchange of students.
Professor Ahmed Sabbir Arif has received a CAREER award for his research into non-acoustic, image-based speech input on mobile devices.
He is the 35th researcher from UC Merced to earn a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
