Patty Guerra

In the United States, 20 percent of the population is Latino. By 2050, it’s expected that one in three people will identify as Latino. But less than 7 percent of doctors come from a similar background.

Dr. Michael Galvez, a board-certified pediatric hand surgeon at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera County, is on a mission to change that number. In 2022, he cofounded National Latino Physician Day, which is aimed at raising awareness and is part of an effort to increase the minority health care workforce.

Fifteen years ago, UC Merced was designated as a Hispanic-serving institution. And though recent developments at the federal government have left what that designation means in limbo, the mission of serving the university’s largest demographic has remained unchanged.

More than 53 percent of undergraduate students are Hispanic, and 71 percent of enrolled students identify as first-generation (a student whose parents did not complete four-year college degrees).

Nearly half of the world’s worst wildfire disasters have occurred in just the past decade, new research from UC Merced’s Fire Resilience Center shows.

Storing carbon in forests is an essential, nature-based buffer against climate change. Yet forests packed with too many trees increase the threat of severe wildfires, which are becoming all too common in warmer, drier conditions.

A team of UC Merced and collaborating researchers evaluated the tradeoffs between two seemingly opposing scenarios:

• Trees are critical because they pull carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their trunks, preventing carbon from adding to greenhouse effects that trap heat and warm the atmosphere.

An almond orchard in Parlier provides a look into the future of farming.

Researchers at UC Merced and the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources installed an irrigation system powered by artificial intelligence to deliver the precise amount of water needed and measure the results.

A new partnership focused on a popular snack nut will offer exciting opportunities for students, research potential for faculty and the latest technology for farmers.

Representatives of the University of California and the Almond Board of California signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, at the UC Merced campus on Sept. 10. The MOU calls for the entities to work together over the next five years in such vital areas as automation, sustainability and new almond varieties.

Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square miles by Wednesday morning. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services recorded more than 9,000 lightning strikes in a single day.

Lightning is a major source of wildfire ignition in the western United States every summer.

Three professors are joining UC Merced’s Agricultural Experiment Station this fall, bringing more expertise and resources to the 3-year-old research center.

UC Merced’s smart farm is getting a smart barn.

The university will receive $3 million from the state of California, part of $80 million in funding to support 11 projects across California announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Jobs First Council.

The money will go to construct an agricultural technology barn at the site of UC Merced’s Agriculture Experimentation Station, known as the Smart Farm. The barn facility will be used for research and development, according to the governor’s office.

The National Society of Black Engineers, established at UC Merced in 2007, is one of the campus’s oldest and most active student organizations. It provides support, guidance and advocacy for its members through their college journeys and beyond.

All that hard work has been recognized by the national NSBE organization, which recently awarded UC Merced its Region VI Chapter of the Year award during its convention in Chicago.