University of California, Merced - Patty Guerra

Is Growing Agave a Good Fit for California? ��Ƶ��APP Aims to Find Out

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:02:46 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

April 16, 2026

Agave has multiple uses ranging from nutritional supplements to fabrics.

As crops go, agave holds a lot of promise for the northern San Joaquin Valley. The succulents thrive in hot sun, don't require much water and can be grown in the region's sandy soils. And though agave, mainly grown in Mexico, is best known as the source of tequila and mezcal, it has other uses that range from nutritional supplements to fabrics.

��Ƶ��APP researchers and area growers have been delving agave's potential for the past few years. Those efforts recently included signing an agreement with Madera Community College District to collaborate on a 10- to 20-acre test plot, as well as a visit from experts to discuss the idea with campus partners and community members.

"From a scientific point of view, we know that agave has a lot of benefits," César Armando Puente Garza of Tecnológico de Monterrey told attendees during a public educational event at ��Ƶ��APP on Main hosted by the Valley Institute for Sustainability, Technology & Agriculture (VISTA) at ��Ƶ��APP, in collaboration with Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) and the NSF-CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM).

The event brought together those with an interest in agriculture, sustainability and biotechnology and reached growers, scientists and community members from the Merced area and beyond. And it's just the beginning: The university's department of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) will soon offer classes in agriculture technology.

��Ƶ��APP has developed a partnership with Tecnológico de Monterrey, one of Mexico's top research universities, to facilitate student and faculty exchanges in bioengineering and ag tech.

"Partnerships with leading institutions like Tecnológico de Monterrey, combined with Mexico's millennia-old agave heritage, are critical to advancing research on climate-resilient cultivation and processing across diverse landscapes and production systems," said civil and environmental engineering Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara .

As part of that partnership, Puente Garza also spoke to students, staff and faculty about research collaborations and scientific uses for agave at a workshop on campus.

One popular use of agave is to create pulque, a fermented beverage that Puente Garcia said contains roughly 70 percent of the daily recommended vitamins and minerals per serving. Agave piñas — or the heart of the plant — and leaves are nutritious food with a sweet, fibrous taste. And agave fibers are used to make durable ropes, textiles and paper products.

Stuart Woolf, grower and executive chairman of Woolf Farming and Processing in Fresno and president of an agave council formed five years ago, said challenges obtaining water for his crops led him to look at other options.

"We have 6,000 to 7,000 acres we won't have enough water for," he said. Some of that land will be used for a solar panel installation. But the rest of it was likely to lay unused.

"About six years ago, we started a test plot to see how it would do," Woolf said. He was intrigued by the possibility of using the agave plant as a biofuel and its syrup as a sweetener.

"One thing about us being in California, we're innovators, we're adaptors, we're resilient," he said. "We look at agave as probably one of the solutions for us to continue to farm land and employ people in our area."

Joshua Viers, associate vice chancellor for interdisciplinary research and strategic initiatives at ��Ƶ��APP, identified emerging research opportunities and highlighted recent federal and state funding supporting the Farms Food Future (F3) Initiative, along with investments in the university's Experimental Smart Farm, where several acres of agave will be planted to demonstrate drought-tolerant agricultural systems for the region.

Though tequila is strictly regulated — and right now only legally produced in Mexico — Puente Garza said it makes sense to grow agave in California.

Added his colleague, Daylan Tzompa Sosa, "We share more than a border. We share the need of being efficient with water resources and expertise. We also share the love for agave."

Project Aims to Put AI to Work Reducing its Own Energy Needs

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:05:29 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

April 8, 2026

��Ƶ��APP's team is looking into topological materials.

It's no secret that artificial intelligence uses a lot of electricity.

A standard ChatGPT query consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours - roughly 10 times more than a Google search. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024 - more than 4% of the country's total electricity consumption - roughly equivalent to the annual electricity demand of the entire nation of Pakistan.

Researchers at ��Ƶ��APP are taking part in a systemwide effort to develop more efficient computing. The multidisciplinary project involves principal investigators from five UCs (Santa Barbara, Merced, San Diego, Irvine and Berkeley) as well as scientists from Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories.

The UC Office of the President issued a $6 million grant for the project; of that, $810,000 will come to ��Ƶ��APP.

"The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is accelerating both the opportunities for, and threats to, the United States' longstanding economic leadership," Theresa Maldonado, UC vice president of Research & Innovation, said in announcing the grant. "To help keep America in the lead, the University of California is scaling up its commitments in critical emerging areas of scientific research, such as AI, and moving forward with unprecedented speed to fund targeted research that fosters innovation."

Chemical and materials engineering Professor Elizabeth Nowadnick is leading ��Ƶ��APP's team, which is looking into topological materials. These materials, in which electrons move in unusual ways, might provide more efficient platforms for next-generation computers.

Nowadnick said the ��Ƶ��APP team has two goals:

Use AI to advance the discovery of topographical materials, developing a framework for the rapid advancement of other functional materials, such as magnets, superconductors and related quantum materials.
Employ AI to develop new modalities of switching, or turning electronic devices on and off, advancing possible next-generation rapid, low-power electronic computing devices. That could reduce the computational cost of AI operations.

"We are investigating topological materials whose electronic structures can be rapidly switched with minor disturbances, meaning that the cost of each switching operation is minimized," Nowadnick said. "Because the changes are electronic and do not involve large structural changes to the material in question, such switching may be extremely rapid."

By identifying the most promising candidates before laboratory testing, this AI approach could dramatically accelerate the discovery of new chip materials that switch faster while consuming less energy.

Nowadnick has one postdoctoral researcher, Kuntal Talit, and two physics Ph.D. students, Haseeb Ahmad and Tharushi Ekanayake, working on the project. They are using a powerful computational tool called density functional theory (DFT) to simulate the properties of the topological materials and determine how they might behave in a computer system.

They are also collaborating with computer scientists at UC San Diego to build an AI system that automates DFT calculations, so users can interact with the DFT code using natural language, similar to how people interact with ChatGPT. This agentic, or autonomous, system, which the team has named TritonDFT, can orchestrate the entire DFT workflow, which spans distinct areas of expertise, including physics, DFT details and high-performance computing. This has the potential to increase the speed at which users can perform DFT calculations and makes performing such calculations more accessible to non-experts.

"This special initiative brings together the unmatched academic expertise of UC faculty, world-class scientific talent and capabilities at our national labs, and the strategic leadership within our system to accelerate the scale, reach and impact of AI-powered scientific discovery research that benefits the nation," said June Yu, vice president of UC National Laboratories.

��Ƶ��APP's Study Abroad Program Among the Country's Best

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:04:55 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

April 1, 2026

Students from ��Ƶ��APP study around the world.

Frida Quinto Ruiz went to Sweden with a curious mind. She came home with a plan.

"Studying abroad completely reshaped the direction of my college career in ways I never expected," she said. "I went to Sweden already curious about the world, but I came back with a much clearer sense of where I want to go."

During a tour of the European Union in Brussels, Quinto Ruiz learned about the Fulbright Binational Business Program. The fourth-year economics major applied to the program and recently interviewed to join it after she graduates in May.

"Studying abroad gave me direction I did not know I was looking for," said Quinto Ruiz, who grew up in Livingston and attended Turlock High School. "��Ƶ��APP has incredible support for students who want to go abroad."

That support is so strong the university has been recognized by the U.S. Department of State's Gilman Program as a 25th Anniversary Top Producing Institution in the Medium Colleges and Universities category. The Gilman Program supports undergraduate students looking to develop essential career skills through study and intern abroad experiences.

Sociology major Gabriela Lopez Garcia spent the spring semester of 2023 in Barcelona.

"I knew that studying abroad and being away from my friends and family for a semester was going to be tough, but I felt like this was something that I really needed to experience in order to grow," she said in a story she wrote about her adventure. "I will forever be grateful for my decision because I learned so much not only about myself but also about Catalonia's history, cultural activities and the beautiful city of Barcelona."

Lopez Garcia said she chose Spain because she has been fascinated with Barcelona as far back as she can remember, calling it "the most magical city in the world."

"I am happy to say it did not disappoint."

Quinto Ruiz said studying abroad was just part of what made her experience at ��Ƶ��APP special.

"My path here was not straightforward," she said. She joined the military after graduating from high school at 17.

"When I eventually made my way to higher education and then to ��Ƶ��APP, I came in as an applied mathematics student before switching to economics after my first semester in spring 2024," she said. "Every step has built on the last, and ��Ƶ��APP has been a place where I felt like I could truly explore that."

She credited the Transfer, Returning and Veteran Services center with easing her transition back to school.

"Working with the TRV center has also opened my eyes to the incredible diversity of students here at ��Ƶ��APP," she said. "Getting to know transfer students, veterans and returning students has shown me just how many different journeys lead people to this campus, and how many resources exist to help them succeed."

For those considering taking part in studying abroad, Quinto Ruiz said she wholeheartedly recommends jumping in, even if they aren't sure about it.

"This program is not just for students who have it all figured out," she said. "It is for students like me, who at some point felt like they were just drifting through life. … ��Ƶ��APP has incredible support for students who want to go abroad, and I encourage anyone who is considering it to go to the Study Abroad office and just ask."

After her year in Sweden, Quinto Ruiz said, she returned a different person.

"Studying abroad did not just change my resume, it changed me," she said. "I came back more confident, more culturally aware and more connected to the kind of work I want to do in the world."

She joined the Kappa Delta Chi sorority and became involved in more campus activities.

"I wanted to be part of something bigger than my coursework, and that community has meant so much to me," she said. "I think that is what ��Ƶ��APP does well: It gives you room to grow in all directions at once."

For more information on the program, go to the Study Abroad website .

��Ƶ��APP Climate Experts Explain Why March Heat Wave is Dangerous

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:04:38 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

March 17, 2026

Forecasters predict record-breaking early season heat this week.

Temperatures in the 90s are nothing new to the northern San Joaquin Valley. But having them in March, as expected this week, is unusual and potentially dangerous.

An exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure will bring record-breaking heat to the entire region, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley are likely to reach 90 degrees by Tuesday and 95 by Friday. That's 20 to 25 degrees above normal.

��Ƶ��APP experts explained why such heat now, when it's still technically winter, is more hazardous than the same temperatures later in the year.

"If the forecasts come to fruition, we will be in for a March heat wave with temperatures 20-30 degrees above normal - an event without precedent in the modern era," said climatologist Professor John Abatzoglou. "This comes on the heels of the warmest or second-warmest winter since at least 1895 for a huge portion of the western U.S."

While these temperatures are not near the triple digits the area routinely sees in July and August, early-season heat waves can have outsize impacts.

"First, people are not acclimated to the heat yet, as they would be in mid-summer, which increases the risk of heat impacts on human health," Abatzoglou said. People who are sensitive to heat are advised to avoid being outside during the warmest hours of the day. Everyone should use sunscreen and stay hydrated.

Unusually hot temperatures may also impact the agricultural sector, affecting both outdoor workers and crops that are flowering or fruiting, Abatzoglou said.

Lauren Parker, managing director of Secure Water Future at ��Ƶ��APP, has extensively studied how heat can affect agriculture.

"In orchard crops that might still be blooming, heat exposure can reduce fruit set as a function of effects on pollen quality and pollinator activity," she said. "Fruit set" is the process in which a flower is successfully pollenated before becoming a fruit. "Crops also need more water when it is hot. Water stress during early or young fruit stages can cause trees to reallocate resources away from young fruit, aborting some fruit development and ultimately lowering yields."

Growers could use more water to irrigate early in the season, leaving the sources depleted in the summer months.

"That has real dollar implications for their energy and water consumption - especially if this is a harbinger of heat waves to come," Parker said.

Early heat waves like this one could exacerbate and lengthen wildfire seasons, which already are overlapping globally, new research co-authored by Abatzoglou and postdoctoral researcher Cong Yin shows.

Early heat will deplete the snowpack much of California relies on for its water. According to the state Department of Water Resources, the statewide snowpack has been melting an average of 1 % a day since early March. Generally, the snowpack lasts well into the spring.

"While fuels are not yet widely available to carry fire, this heat wave will accelerate the drying of vegetation and the melt-off of the remaining Sierra snowpack, pushing us closer to fire season," Abatzoglou said.

For Turlock High Grad, ��Ƶ��APP is Just Far Enough from Home

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:05:35 +0000

March 6, 2026

Breyenne Pierce, a utility player on the water polo team, found ��Ƶ��APP to be a place where she can grow as a player and a person.

Breyenne Pierce wasn't sure ��Ƶ��APP was for her.

The Turlock High graduate had followed her passion for water polo to Sierra College in Rocklin. As she was concluding her community college experience, she started looking for a four-year university to complete her degree.

"Honestly, I didn't want to go back home," she said. "I enjoyed being at Sierra. Even though it was two hours away, it was far enough to really spread my wings."

She also wanted to continue playing water polo and wasn't sure she wanted to end her college career with a team in transition. ��Ƶ��APP was admitted to NCAA Division II in 2024, and the team is in its first year of competition at that level.

"But just talking to the coach and the girls on the team, I realized I had the opportunity to grow more as a water polo player," she said. "Because we are in such a transition period, the coaching staff is open to trying new things."

Pierce, a utility player, found the environment at ��Ƶ��APP to be a great fit.

"I was in FFA and 4H growing up," she said. "A lot of my childhood was ag-centered, and it was great to be able to be around land again.

"Our campus is off the beaten path. I like that I can look past the parking lot and see cows and the lake."

And the proximity to home turned out to be an asset for the management and business economics major.

"When I get homesick, I can go home, and when I get sick of home, I can come back," said Pierce, who lives off campus in Merced. "And my parents can come to my games."

Because her family lives in Denair, "it's a straight shot down Santa Fe Avenue."

"I liked the idea of being able to be close to family but far enough that I could still do my own thing," Pierce said.

For Pierce, doing her own thing after graduation in the spring will hopefully include working in a coffee shop with an eye toward opening her own one day, and continuing her involvement in water polo, possibly moving into coaching or officiating.

While she isn't against the idea of one day moving out of the area, for now, she wants to stay local.

"I really want to help grow water polo in the Central Valley."

For students from the northern San Joaquin Valley considering ��Ƶ��APP, she advised, "Just don't write it off because it's close to home. I think a lot of people want to go to school far from home. But I've met so many new people, and there are a lot of clubs and things to do here."

When she initially arrived on campus as a transfer student, she said she struggled a bit.

"I didn't know when I got here all the things available to me," she said. "I do wish I'd gotten a little more involved right away."

And that's her biggest piece of advice for incoming Bobcats: See what opportunities are out there.

"Get involved in anything that sounds fun. It doesn't hurt to go to a meeting and decide that maybe that club isn't for you," Pierce said. "Go to things - sporting events, karaoke nights, movie nights. Go and meet people."

Amazon Funds Research into Making AI More Efficient

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 04:02:00 +0000

March 1, 2026

Li and Lu are among 63 award recipients representing 41 universities.

Two ��Ƶ��APP computer science and engineering professors will delve deep into artificial intelligence in projects with Amazon.

Dong Li and Xiaoyi Lu earned Amazon Research Awards, the technology giant announced recently.

Amazon Research Awards provide unrestricted funds and Amazon Web Services Promotional Credits to academic researchers investigating research topics in multiple disciplines. Li and Lu are among 63 award recipients who represent 41 universities in eight countries for this grant cycle.

Both projects work with AWS Trainium, a chip purpose-built for high-performance deep learning training of generative AI models.

Li's awarded proposal, "Efficient Sparse Training with Adaptive Expert Parallelism on AWS Trainium," is aimed at finding ways for different computers to learn more quickly and use less power.

Lu's project, "Accelerating Large Language and Reasoning Model Workloads with AWS Trainium," is aimed at speeding up computer processes. He will study how to train state-of-the-art AI models, such as those used in OpenAI GPT and Google Gemini, on Trainium. His project will study memory system and communication efficiency to enable high-performance AI model training.

According to Amazon, proposals were reviewed for the quality of their scientific content and their potential to impact the research community and society. Additionally, Amazon encourages the publication of research results, presentations of research at Amazon offices worldwide, and the release of related code under open-source licenses.

Recipients have access to more than 700 Amazon public datasets and can use AWS AI/ML services and tools through their AWS Promotional Credits. Recipients are each assigned an Amazon research contact who offers consultation and advice, along with opportunities to participate in Amazon events and training sessions.

"Academic AI researchers face a fundamental challenge: Advancing machine learning research and educating the next generation requires access to cutting-edge infrastructure that's both powerful and affordable," said Yida Wang, AWS AI principal applied scientist.

"The Build on Trainium program directly addresses this barrier. … Build on Trainium represents AWS's commitment to democratizing AI research through collaborative partnership with academia - fostering an environment where researchers experiment freely, students learn on production-scale infrastructure and academic innovations shape the future of machine learning for everyone."

Both researchers said they are excited about the possibilities the grants provide.

"By accelerating large language and reasoning model workloads on AWS Trainium, this project seeks to push the performance boundaries of modern AI systems and make advanced AI capabilities more efficient and accessible," Lu said.

Li said the awards recognize the quality of high-performance computing research at ��Ƶ��APP.

"This award will allow our students to gain access to the state-of-the-art hardware at AWS for AI research, and provide our students with interesting research projects, internships and much more," he said. "It will also connect AWS and ��Ƶ��APP for collaborations on techniques, education and business."

New Approaches Coming to ��Ƶ��APP Electrical Engineering Department

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:07:56 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

February 24, 2026

The $1 million grant will allow the department to adapt to changing needs.

As technology advances and new problems present themselves, electrical engineers who can meet the needs of the modern world are in high demand, and adapting to electrical engineering education has become increasingly important. ��Ƶ��APP's electrical engineering program, one of the university's newest, focuses on equipping students with the skills to solve complex engineering problems.

The National Science Foundation, through its Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program, has awarded the department a $1 million grant to adapt proven curriculum redesign approaches developed at other institutions.

This project aims to expand ��Ƶ��APP's electrical engineering program by introducing new approaches that strengthen the connection between coursework, engineering practice and the communities from which the university's students come.

Most students at ��Ƶ��APP are in-state, with many from the Central Valley. Course content that focuses on solving real problems in the Central Valley will allow students to see the importance of their work, increasing student engagement. As a result, the program aims to reframe the electrical engineering curriculum for the Central Valley and focus on issues relevant to the region.

The team will work to redesign classes to meet market needs.

A team of faculty, staff, educational and career experts and previous students will redesign classes that will bring a stronger understanding across these courses. By rethinking how these courses are taught, the program seeks to build a more cohesive and effective learning pathway.

The team will implement "design thinking," a management sciences concept that guides people to engage and work together better and in a structured manner. Electrical engineering faculty will work together along with experts from other areas, such as career specialists, LatinX experts, education researchers and industry professionals in a structured process to redesign courses.

In addition to internal partners, the research team is collaborating with the University of San Diego and Iowa State University, two institutions whose earlier RED projects in the program offer crucial evidence.

"We are hoping to adapt prior successful strategies to revolutionize this culture in our department and then share this process with other departments and institutions," said Professor Ayush Pandey. "We anticipate that electrical engineering faculty will work as a stronger collective group toward the department's pedagogical efforts, and students who graduate from our program will have stronger professional preparation and a better sense of what real-world engineering is like in the field."

Rising Simultaneous Fire Weather Threatens International Firefighting Efforts

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:06:03 +0000

February 18, 2026

Synchronized extreme fire weather is increasing, researchers found.

High-risk conditions for fires are increasingly happening across countries at the same time, making wildfires even more challenging to tackle, new research reveals.

Scientists from ��Ƶ��APP and the University of East Anglia found this synchronized extreme fire weather — characterized by exceptionally warm, dry and often windy conditions — has increased strongly worldwide since 1979, becoming more widespread throughout regions, not just in single locations.

When these widespread high-risk days occur, there is also more fire activity and worse air quality in several regions, not just locally. These days also narrow the window for firefighting coordination, potentially straining existing international firefighting cooperation between, for example, the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and South Africa.

In many areas, the number of high-risk days occurring simultaneously has more than doubled, with extreme fire weather increasing fire danger by enhancing vegetation's susceptibility to ignition and promoting spread.

“This ultimately makes wildfires more difficult to deal with at the times when they are most threatening,” said Matthew Jones of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA. “Addressing these challenges requires coordinated international efforts, including the implementation of early warning systems, enhanced wildfire management strategies and clear communication between agencies.”

Publishing its findings today in Science Advances, the team estimates that more than half of the observed increase is driven by human-caused climate change, while natural climate variability can strongly amplify synchronicity in some regions. The researchers warn there is an urgent need for “more robust and adaptive” strategies in global fire management.

Previous work mainly examined synchronous fire weather in a few regions, such as the western United States, Europe or Australia. This study is the first to measure and visualize the phenomenon globally, and to distinguish two types: synchronicity within a region, where many places in the same region experience extreme fire weather on the same day; and synchronicity between regions, where two or more regions experience it on the same day.

“Currently, regions such as Europe and Southeast Asia, and fire-prone countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia, have established bilateral and multilateral firefighting cooperation systems, which have been effective in managing recent major wildfires,” said Cong Yin, a postdoctoral researcher at ��Ƶ��APP and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “However, when extreme fire weather happens in many places at once, it increases the likelihood of widespread fire outbreaks and strains firefighting capacity, because crews, aircraft, and equipment can’t be easily shared when everyone needs help at the same time.

“A key takeaway is that the growing overlap in fire-danger seasons can shrink the ‘window’ when countries or regions can effectively support each other,” said Yin, who is affiliated with ��Ƶ��APP’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute . “For example, the United States and South Africa average four same-day extreme fire weather days per year, increasing by 1.2 days per decade.”

These findings help in understanding concurrent extreme fire weather and preparing for an increasingly fire-prone future, Yin said. They also emphasize the compounding effects on air quality, public health, and fire management.

In one example of international cooperation during the 2023 Canadian fire season, firefighters from South Africa and other countries across the world helped tackle hundreds of devastating wildfires that destroyed homes and land.

The researchers found clear hotspots where the strain on cooperation networks that share firefighting resources is set to grow most rapidly. For example, in Portugal and Spain, same-day extreme fire weather days per year have increased by more than 12 since 1979.

In addition, natural climate variability can increase synchrony in specific regions, such as Equatorial Asia, which sees many more of these fire-weather days during El Niño years.

The analysis found North America, Europe, Boreal Asia, the Middle East and South America experience the highest levels of simultaneous inter-regional fire weather, occurring on the same day in at least one other region for an average of more than 30 days per year.

In lower- to mid-latitude regions, including South America, Central and East Asia, Africa and the mainland United States, the annual average number of these days during 2001–2024 was three to seven times higher than during 1979–2000.

Simultaneous fire weather tends to be more strongly associated with poorer air quality in boreal regions, Equatorial Asia, Africa and South America. In Europe, during the top 25% of years with the most synchronous fire weather days, population exposure to fire-sourced air pollution is almost 200% higher than in other years.

The team, which also included researchers from the University of Washington and Boise State University, used global weather data to calculate daily Fire Weather Index values worldwide from 1979–2024, and identified when extreme fire‑risk days occurred simultaneously across large or multiple regions. They examined how human‑driven climate change and natural climate patterns such as El Niño influenced these events, and then compared them with actual burned area and smoke pollution to assess real‑world impacts.

The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Joint Fire Science Program and by a public grant via the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

Creative, Problem-Solving Projects Win at I2G

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:04:35 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

January 28, 2026

Teams of students work to solve real-world problems for partner organizations.

A semi-automated washing system for bins at a tomato-processing facility and a mobile app for hikers earned big wins at the Fall 2025 I2G, or Innovate to Grow, event at ��Ƶ��APP.

I2G is a unique "experiential learning" program that engages external partner organizations with teams of students who design systems to solve real-world engineering and computer science problems.

The team "Let's Get Saucy" won the F3 Innovate Engineering Award for its project with Kagome, a Los Banos-based tomato processing and food manufacturing company.

Currently, Kagome manually washes the 300-gallon bins of tomato paste. Team members said they designed a programmable system to streamline Kagome's operations by reducing cleaning time, improving consistency and freeing staff to support higher-value tasks. The expected outcome is a safer, more efficient and more sustainable cleaning process that supports the facility's long-term operational goals.

"Trailblazers" won the F3 Innovate Computer Science and Engineering Award for their project with the nonprofit organization Mariposa Trails, which preserves and encourages outdoor recreation in the Sierra foothills. The team created a mobile application that combines text information, audio snippets, maps and images for various locations along the trails, while operating entirely offline.

Other projects featured at the event included a medical screw that expands after placement in the body, a computer vision system that uses artificial intelligence to spot and track foreign objects in carrot production, and a replacement for an underground basin for wastewater treatment for the East Bay Municipal District.

East Bay's existing wastewater facility, a 5.4-million-gallon concrete reservoir in a residential area, is falling apart, said team member Nayerli Carbajal. Refurbishing it would cost $50 million.

"Our design uses steel," Carbajal said. "It is $27 million, so they would be saving $23 million."

It's also above ground, making it easier to inspect and make repairs, said Eduardo Perez.

Working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, "The Wayfinders" won the Software Engineering Capstone award for their track.

The team built a navigation system without using GPS or wifi, said team member Joe Rosh.

"It's an app that works indoors." The team used phone sensor technology to give travelers a point-to-point route in a building.

"We did implement this in a ��Ƶ��APP building, since we didn't have a train station," Rosh said. "It could be used for students who are lost."

The winning teams are:

F3 Innovate Engineering Award: "Let's Get Saucy," team members Matthew Mendoza, Oliver Htway, Nicholas Panyanouvong and Salvador Maciel Rodriguez
F3 Innovate Software Award: "Trailblazers," team members Ajay Grewal, Diego Sandoval, Kyle Gossage, Max De Ornelas
Software Engineering Capstone (Track 5): "The Wayfinders," team members Avash Adhikari, JunZheng Lyu, Joe Samuel Rosh, Lauren Hur, Sarai Roman
Software Engineering Capstone (Track 4): "QuoteX," team members Alex Aguilar-Miramontes, Addison Chen, Liz Ramos, Parthib Roy, Rachana Ajjarapu. The team built on the work of an earlier team that developed a web application for Rapid Prototyping Services at ��Ƶ��APP's School of Engineering. "QuoteX" designed and implemented an interface that supports billing, reporting and enhanced quote management.
Engineering Capstone Food Tech (Track 1): "Sterilite Busters," team members Jose Ramirez Enriquez, Miguel Vazquez Aguayo, Joshua Riley and Jobanpreet Singh. Working for the Morning Star Company, "Sterilight Busters" designed a vibrating delivery system that provides precise, steady control of tomato pomace as it moves into a UV sterilization chamber. This redesign ensures that the UV light effectively penetrates the pomace, achieving uniform sterilization.
Engineering Capstone Precision (Track 2): "ωSST - Sustainable Savonius Turbines," team members Vishruth Adoni, Yael Andujar and Alexander Perez. Working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, the team designed, modeled and tested a system to turn the airflow in BART tunnels into a clean energy generator. The system comprises a Savonius (drag type) wind turbine, a power generation, storage and distribution system that leverages the high-speed wind in the station tunnels.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Capstone Environment (Track3): "Solar Salt," team members Xavier Barajas, James Flores, AJ Heard, Ximena Martinez, Sera Riley. The team designed a process that uses solar energy to desalinate water and deliver up to 3.5 million gallons of potable water per day.

High School Students Invited to Apply for Free Computer Science Internship

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 21:05:51 +0000

By Patty Guerra, ��Ƶ��APP

January 22, 2026

The program runs for 12 weeks.

High school students have an extraordinary opportunity to explore software development through a summer internship program at ��Ƶ��APP.

Computer science and engineering Professor Ahmed Arif started the High School Internship program in the Inclusive Interaction Lab in 2018 to give young minds early exposure to research.

"Each year, I personally mentor four high school interns, teaching them how to conduct research responsibly, uphold strong ethical standards and gain hands-on experience in building real-world software systems," Arif said.

After a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has returned and is now mostly virtual, which makes it more accessible to a wider group of students throughout Northern California.

Arif receives numerous applications each year, mainly from students in the Bay Area. He said he would like to see more applicants from the northern San Joaquin Valley.

Last year's cohort worked on a range of innovative projects involving gestural interaction, stress detection, personal assistants and emotion recognition.

"Their curiosity, creativity and dedication continue to inspire me every summer," Arif said. He designed the internship to help set students up for success, wherever their academic careers take them.

Anna-Maria Gueorguieva was one of the early participants. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2023 with degrees in data science and legal studies, and is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Washington.

Gueorguieva took part in the internship its first year, the summer before her senior year at Merced's El Capitan High School.

She worked on a project to design and build an interface on smartwatches that would understand Morse code.

"These tools were being used to test if Morse code could improve accessibility in touchscreen devices for people with impaired mobility," she said. "This was my first experience with research and working in a lab, and I was inspired by the idea that I could work with others to improve technology and society in ways that were previously unexplored.

"Participation in the Inclusive Interaction Lab helped shape my academic and professional experience up to today."

Advay Bajpai, a computer science and math major at UCLA, called his experience in the program "awesome."

"I learned a lot directly from Professor Arif and graduate students both in person and online," he said. "We had a small cohort, so it was possible to have one-on-one discussions with the mentors, which was great. I learned a lot about how research works at the collegiate level."

Hasini Manda, a junior at American High School in Fremont, took part in the internship last summer. Her research project involved interviewing people to explore how different populations perceive humanoid robots.

"Hearing their perspectives opened my eyes to the varied ways people think about emerging robotic technologies," she said. "Some participants approached humanoid robots with excitement, while others expressed caution or curiosity, which helped me see the broader social impact of robotics."

Manda said the program enabled her to explore research.

"Before this internship, I thought research was a straightforward process with clear, fixed steps," she said. "While structure is important, I quickly learned that real research requires flexibility and the ability to see both your subject and the people involved from multiple perspectives. … This experience inspired me to explore hardware-focused projects and think more deeply about how engineering and human interaction intersect."

She is now working on a haptics project with a graduate student mentor.

"The whole experience gave me invaluable knowledge about research and helped me grow as both a student and a collaborator," she said.
Jasamarbir Singh Arora, a senior at American High School in Fremont, said the program allowed him to create and design a research project from scratch.

"It's a great way to explore areas of research that the participants are interested in learning while exploring areas of computer science and human-computer interaction," he said.

Arora said it's a lot of work - the program runs for 12 weeks and requires roughly 20 hours per week - but by the end of it, he had learned how to structure a project, think critically from multiple perspectives and move from an idea to a complete, working solution.

"Professor Arif provided guidance throughout the process by explaining key concepts, giving valuable feedback, and helping me organize my research into a clear, actionable plan," he said.

Arif said while demanding, the internship is flexible and can be worked around a family vacation or other obligations.

"In research, you cannot schedule productivity," he said. "Sometimes you're in the mood to do it, and sometimes you're not in the mood. This is being human."

In addition to learning valuable research skills, the internship provides students the opportunity to see where their interests lie. Though it's a computer science program, multiple disciplines are involved.

"The processes are the same, regardless of the field you go into," Arif said. "This kind of gives them a clearer sense of where they want to go."

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