UC ANR’s Program Council toured Merced County on June 3-4, visiting the UC Cooperative Extension office and UC Merced to gain a better understanding of UCCE programs and projects and network with UCCE colleagues from Merced, Madera, Mariposa and Stanislaus counties. They also met with UC ANR partners at Merced College.
On the first day, Karl Lund, UCCE viticulture advisor; Alison Deak, UCCE fire advisor; and Russ Hill, 4-H youth development advisor; gave presentations to the group at the UCCE office.
On the second day, they visited Merced College and toured the Ag Tech Facility. Cody Jacobsen, dean of agriculture and industrial technology at Merced College, gave an overview of the Farms, Food, Future Initiative, or F3, highlighting the UC ANR, UC Merced and Merced College partnership. F3 supports California’s Central Valley by developing new agricultural technology, helping farmers grow food sustainably and offering training for quality jobs.
At UC Merced, the group was welcomed by Gillian Wilson, vice chancellor for research, innovation and economic development, and Rakesh Goel, dean of the School of Engineering.
Emily Lin, director of Strategic Initiatives, Archives & Special Collections, gave a presentation preserving university history. She has overseen the archiving and digitizing of UC Cooperative Extension’s historical photos and documents.
Josh Viers, associate vice chancellor for interdisciplinary research and strategic initiatives and executive associate dean for the Agricultural Experiment Station, led a research discussion with Josue Medellin-Azura, associate professor of environmental engineering; Karina Diaz Rios, associate professor of Cooperative Extension in nutrition; Rebecca Ryals, associate professor and Presidential Chair in Climate Change; and Tapan Pathak, associate professor of Cooperative Extension and Presidential Chair in Climate Change, all presenting.
Program Council also toured UC Merced’s Experimental Smart Farm, where Sarah Kurtz, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Graduate Program chair, talked about a new agrivoltaics research project. Ryals described a new composting research project using biochar. Doctoral student Humberto Flores Landeros talked about his micro groundwater recharge research project. Professor Safeeq Khan discussed using data from two types of weather stations for research.
Program Council advises the vice president on statewide planning and delivery of programs and develops recommendations for allocation of UC ANR resources. It is chaired by Brent Hales, associate vice president for research and Cooperative Extension, and composed of executive associate deans, UCCE and research and extension center leaders, Strategic Initiative leaders and at-large representatives.