Students

The University of California, Merced, begins its eighth academic year today with record enrollment of approximately 5,600 students, a 23 percent increase in graduate-student enrollment and 26 newly hired faculty members to teach and conduct advanced research that may someday change the world.

http://youtu.be/AVZS22SFLVgGraduate student Alexandra Paxton finds opinionated students, puts them in a room together and tells them to argue about a hot-button issue.

Then she records what happens.

Paxton, who is earning her doctoral degree in cognitive science, studies interpersonal synchrony — the phenomenon of how people in a conversation subconsciously synchronize their movements, such as nodding or gesturing. Specifically, she is seeking to understand what happens to that synchrony when people are at odds.

It’s no surprise UC Merced graduate student Siyu Wu’s research — rooted in mechanical engineering — has veered toward the environmental. Wu, who grew up in China, was raised by parents who felt strongly that the environment should be protected and all efforts should be made to reduce one’s footprint.

When Trevor Albertson (’09) started as the California deputy secretary for veterans services last summer, his longtime focus on higher education came in handy right away.

Considering his department’s goal to help veterans achieve stability, he quickly saw that higher education was the key to the jobs that would underpin that life.

From the campus’ own undergraduate and graduate students to distinguished faculty members from here and abroad, Research Week at the University of California, Merced, will offer a wide range of events and information from April 16 to 19.

The field is set for more success next year after UC Merced student-athletes earned top honors and played to impressive crowds during the debut season of varsity sports.