Faculty members from the University of California, Merced, and California State University, Fresno, gathered Friday morning, March 4, in Atwater to forge relationships and discuss the future of collaborations in scientific research and other areas between the two institutions.
Both Fresno State and UC Merced aim to solve problems for the San Joaquin Valley, said Dean K.P. Wong of the Fresno State College of Sciences and Mathematics. We're close enough geographically that collaborations should be encouraged, so Dean Maria Pallavicini and I coordinated this meeting to introduce our faculty members to their colleagues' research and help them find their common interests.
Faculty members from both institutions indicated that they saw the meeting as useful.
It's clear that Fresno State has faculty members in the broad area of environmental research with experience and expertise complementary to our faculty, said Sam Traina, director of UC Merced's Sierra Nevada Research Institute. I'm positive that research collaborations will develop over time in areas like water resources, climate and ecology.
Associate Dean Bob Levine, who oversees psychology at Fresno State, agreed. UC Merced and Fresno State have a shared commitment to psychology and social sciences that is not only scientifically sound, but relates to the way real people live their lives, he explained. Today we discovered that we have both concurrent and complementary interests and expertise. Levine talked extensively Friday with UC Merced social science faculty members like Will Shadish and Teenie Matlock at the March 4 meeting.
Fresno State atmospheric chemist Alam Hasson said he's glad the two schools are pursuing open communications. We're serving the same community, he explained. We should be working together to help the population rather than seeing ourselves as competing institutions.
