Famous!

I teach a little class of 7-year-olds at church. There's one funny girl who, whenever she's called on, pops off with, "I'm famous!" Yep, it's cute.

Well, making people a little bit famous is actually my job. But there should be payoff beyond just the attention we are trying to get you. Publicizing what everyone is doing at REU and YLP is important for a lot of reasons.

- When today's high school students learn about your work (on Facebook or on this blog or on the UC Merced Web site) they gain a little more interest in UC Merced. Maintaining our enrollment growth is one of our most important goals at the university. More students allow us to create more majors and programs and hire more faculty, which in turn draws even more students. Publicity for your work is an important piece of building the UC Merced of the future.

- When UC Merced students or other university students learn about your work, they gain interest in the REU and YLP programs. As the programs draw more interest, they become stronger and stronger.

- When we can show these programs offering you great learning opportunities and wonderful experiences, we justify the funding we have been given for them, and we hope that will help us retain that funding for the future - maybe even gain more funding so that more students can participate.

- When members of the community see that you are working to make a difference in Yosemite to improve the public's experience and preserve resources for future generations, they see the good that UC Merced can do. This increases important support for the university - we hope members of the general public will be more likely to vote for representatives who strongly support higher education and even donate to UC Merced if they can.

Everybody has been really sporting (i.e. patient) about all the photography and interviews and everything so far. I know it takes up your valuable time, but I think we can make it worth your while.

Present

I am here on the deck of the Wawona field station director's residence, which pretty much qualifies as the most serene outdoor spot I have been in for a long time, maybe ever.

The view is incredible with pine-covered mountains all around, the barest pink blush still on the sky, a little smoke rising from a wildfire over the mountain to the southeast.

The silence is profound, even healing. True, I can still hear a jet engine somewhere very distant, and some other very far-off, unidentifiable rushing sound, and a few echoes of human voices, and the occasional buzz of a mosquito. And the click of my keyboard. But that is all.

It occurs to me here that one reason we sometimes have a hard time staying in the moment in our everyday lives, is because those moments are too crowded. There's no room for us to be present.

Here, it is wide open. I'm here.

I'll be back

Hey, I wanted to give a quick heads up that I will be back up with the YLP and REU students this Thursday and Friday. So far I am planning a field expedition with a reporter from the Fresno Bee to shadow Dannique for the morning on Thursday. We'll see what else we can set up! I am really looking forward to talking to some more of you and learning about all the cool things you are working on.

You can contribute

Remember, if you are an REU or YLP student, faculty or staff member, you can contribute to this blog. E-mail Ana to get set up.

First podcast!

Our first podcast about the Yosemite programs this summer is an interview with YLP intern Orion Agnew. Check it out at http://www.ucmerced.edu/podcasts.

First Science Friday

So the second day of my visit last week was the first Science Friday for the REU and YLP students. This is a day when all the students are together in the classroom of the Wawona Field Station, listening to guest lecturers on science topics. It forms the for-credit class portion of their Yosemite experience this summer.

The classroom is next door to the main building of the field station, and looks like an antique garage on the outside, but don't be deceived. The interior has just been remodeled and it's very nice with wood floors, white walls and a wood beamed ceiling. It was quite satisfactorily functional with the laptop/projector setup the speakers needed and even had wireless Internet. Not too shabby!

I got there a bit late, just as Eric Berlow, the director of the field station, was sharing information about using UC Library resources in research. All the students are involved in research - REU students are doing mentored research with UC Merced professors and grad students, and YLP students are required to do research in the primary literature on any topic of their choice. Most of them are working on projects related to their Yosemite internships. I listened in as the YLP students described their plans, and although they're all in the very stages, they sound fascinating and fun!

During a short break I took the chance to talk with YLP student Orion about his work on Yosemite soundscapes. Naturally this makes a great fit for a podcast - so listen in soon. I'm putting the finishing touches on it right now. UC Merced podcasts are on the UC Merced site and also available on iTunes.

Then it was Glenn's turn to be the star for a little while. He talked to the assembled students about his dissertation research on groundwater/streamwater interactions in Yosemite Valley and the upper Merced River. I thought I knew this research pretty well, having been married to the scientist for coming up on 15 years, but I definitely learned some things. I think some students were more tuned in or prepared than others, but everyone benefited from the chance to think about how hydrology impacts some of the most important sustainability questions the world has to think about.

At lunch I did some more talking - I don't want to give it all away because I will be writing about all of this for the UC Merced Web site coming up. But I will tell you I talked to the two UC Merced students who are participating in REU program.

After lunch, we heard from Professor Andres Aguilar about his work in evolutionary and conservation biology with two groups of fish - first, roach and hitch (I didn't even know about those fish), and second, California steelhead and rainbow trout. I was really interested in the connections he made between ancient geological events and evolutionary branching. The fish illustrations were beautiful, to boot.

After the lectures I had the chance to talk with a few of the seasonal rangers - three truly remarkable young women who went to high school together in Atwater, California. One is now a UC Merced student in mechanical engineering, and another is planning to transfer to UC Merced. The third is still planning her path but I'm sure she'll be successful wherever she goes!



We were graciously invited to join the students and program faculty and staff for a barbecue in the evening. There wasn't much time as we had to hurry home and give grandma a break (remember I said we had 4 kids?) but we enjoyed yummy burgers and a very amazing tortellini salad with asparagus and fresh basil, courtesy of UC Merced REU student Sunny. Glenn and I contributed a watermelon to the feast but honestly it would have been just fine without us ...

More blogging from me to come when I visit Yosemite again, probably July 17-18. In the meantime, I'll also post the stories and podcasts I gleaned from this last visit, and I'm hoping (hint, hint!) some of the students will hop on board with this blog. Let me know if you would like to participate. It's a great way to document your experiences and share them with the world!

Sampling with the macroinvertebrate team

I'm pretty sure it's not everybody who gets to go hang out in Yosemite for a couple of days for work. Believe me, I do feel lucky. I have to say, though, the smoke in the air in the Wawona and Yosemite Valley areas where I went last week was pretty nasty. Four days after returning I am finally starting to feel normal again. Of course, the smoke has been awful down here in the Central Valley, too, so I can't really blame Yosemite.

And my interactions with the students and leaders of the YLP and REU programs definitely transcended the woodsmoke. It was so exciting and fun to meet those I met, and I can't wait to go back and talk with some more people.

Thursday, my husband Glenn (a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Systems at UC Merced) and I drove up to Wawona together in an SNRI truck. He had some field work to do in Yosemite Valley, and he was scheduled to talk for the YLP and REU students on Friday. We had a nice drive listening to Abbey Road and eating Cheez-Its. (We have 4 kids, so our snacks are usually kid snacks.)

We finally got to the Wawona Field Station, and for all the times I have written about this facility this was the first time I have been there in person. Kind of a shame I have not made it up there before! It is a charming little white clapboard house with green trim and a beautiful big porch. Inside, the living areas have been converted to office space. There's also some lab/staging area and a kitchen.

I met up with Benoit Dayrat from the UC Merced School of Natural Sciences and the two students on his REU team - Alejandro from the University of Puerto Rico and Cymphonee from UC Riverside. They were just about to go out sampling near Happy Isle in Yosemite Valley. I invited myself to go along, and they were really nice about cramming me in their little natural gas powered car and letting me ask lots of questions.

Of course I made myself carsick taking notes as we drove along the winding highway. (If this happens to you on the winding mountain roads, try closing your eyes for a few minutes and focusing on your breathing. I once heard that carsickness is related to an overload of sensory input and the inability to process it all. A little meditation-style technique seems to help.)

I think we were all glad to get out of the car near Happy Isle. It was very weird to see the valley through so much smoke. It seemed to take the dimension out of everything and made the whole panorama look like a painted backdrop in a movie from the 1940s or so - the exact opposite of the clarity you expect if you've seen the best images of the park. We felt terrible on behalf of those who had traveled across the world to spend a few days in Yosemite and ended up with this hazy experience.

Alejandro, Cymphonee and Benoit all donned their hip waders and we tromped a short distance to a still spot in the river. The team (can I call them ABC?) proceeded to manually clean off a couple of armfuls of dead wood that had been submerged in the river, making sure everything they took off landed in a plastic bin of river water. Then they sorted through this bin using sieves and forceps to look for aquatic macroinvertebrates. I was mostly taking pictures and notes, because to my chagrin, there were no fresh batteries available for my digital audio recorder. I had a great time learning about stonefly larvae, water pennies, flatworms, and other invertebrate species. Later we went to another location and sampled from underneath rocks and from submerged mosses.

It was amazing for me to see this very small scale perspective on Yosemite, and especially the Merced River. I have always visited the park with Glenn, who is a hydrologist. Because he studies the big picture of the watershed and the chemistry of the river, I have always seen the park through his eyes, so to speak, as a very large scale water system . It was a fascinating and refreshing change to get acquainted with these tiny creatures who depend on that water.

Benoit told me there are a few motivations for his broad survey of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the park. First, there is simply very little known right now about what is there. A baseline survey is needed so that we can track how biodiversity among this group of species may change in the future. Changes may give us information about water quality or climate change.

I found it a little amusing - ironic, maybe - that a greater diversity of bugs in the water actually means it's healthy, high-quality water. Nature knows where the good stuff is!

I'll post more tomorrow about my time in the park last week!

Yosemite Connection Draws Students to UC Merced Summer Programs

Two innovative programs offer park opportunities for students from UC Merced and other universities

MERCED – Many college students gravitate to jobs and opportunities that take them to the great outdoors for the summer. The University of California, Merced, offers two programs that give students the chance to spend the summer in one of the greatest outdoor destinations in the world, Yosemite National Park.

UC Merced’s Yosemite Leadership Program (YLP) is already underway, and the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates program (REU) began June 16. The students are in the park through mid-August.

“UC Merced’s physical proximity to Yosemite and Sequoia/King’s Canyon National Parks has helped us develop working relationships and programs that are unique to our campus and extremely beneficial to students and researchers,” said Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies Samuel J. Traina.

Ten students from YLP are interns this summer at the Wawona Field Station operated by the UC Merced Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) in Yosemite. They work with park rangers and scientists in resources management, wilderness, and public education in positions that include leading guided walks, giving campfire programs, assisting the bear team, assisting archeologists, helping with restoration projects, and working with the wilderness search and rescue team.

A returning advanced intern from last year, Alvaro Luna, will expand on his "Yosemite en Español" interpretation program and will add an interpretation program in French. Other students participating are Orion Agnew, Jeannette Barron, Marie Armstrong, Zander Kurnizki, Chris Hubach, Gesha Uminskiy, Raj Bolla, Money Hothi, Yesi Medina and Renee Smith. Three former YLP interns, Janet Melgoza, Carla Saldana, and P.J. Solomon have returned to Yosemite this summer as paid seasonal rangers.

The YLP internship is a partnership among the UC Merced, the National Park Service, the Yosemite Association, the Yosemite Fund, and the Delaware North Companies. The program has also received generous support from the Toyota Foundation, the Doherty Family Fund and Morgan Stanley. It is overseen by Branch Chief for Education Kathy Dimont of Yosemite National Park.

Two additional UC Merced students, Sunny Grunloh (formerly a YLP intern) and Dannique Aalbu, participate in the REU program funded by the National Science Foundation. Grunloh and Aalbu, along with six other REU students recruited in a highly selective process from universities all over the United States, are paired with science mentors (UC Merced professors and park scientists) to conduct independent research projects in the park. The REU program is led by Professor Benoit Dayrat of the UC Merced School of Natural Sciences.

“From 160 applications, we were able to select only eight students, so you can imagine those participating all have outstanding academic records and motivation,” said Dayrat. “REU is a lifetime unique chance for the students who are participating.”

The YLP and REU students participate together in a new, for-credit, summer seminar called “Science Fridays,” led by the Wawona Field Station director, Eric Berlow, and Dayrat. Science Fridays focus on the process of scientific inquiry, the role of science in natural resource managements, and the communication of science to the public. Weekly lectures and discussions during the seminar expose students to current scientific research being conducted in Yosemite and throughout the Sierra Nevada, give them the tools to think critically about how scientific information is acquired, and expose them to the technological tools that allow scientists to answer large scale questions about critical issues such as climate change. A credentialed English teacher will work with the students to improve their writing and public speaking skills.

The 2008 Sierra Nevada Research Institute Scientific Visualization Fellow (Lauren Benson, UC Santa Cruz) will be in residence at the field station working on a visual display to communicate scientific research to the public. She will also work with students on visual forms of science communication.

The 2008 Sierra Nevada Research Institute Graduate Research Fellow (Sarah Martin, UC Merced) will also be in residence this summer and will work on her dissertation, which examines the impacts of fire control practices on watershed-scale hydrologic processes.

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UC Merced opened Sept. 5, 2005, as the 10^th campus in the University of California system and the first American research university of the 21^st century. The campus significantly expands access to the UC system for students throughout the state, with a special mission to increase college-going rates among students in the San Joaquin Valley. It also serves as a major base of advanced research and as a stimulus to economic growth and diversification throughout the region. Situated near Yosemite National Park, the university is expected to grow rapidly, topping out at approximately 25,000 students within 30 years.