past Meets Future

Outside of a committed faculty, it would take a group of students who could look at a vast field of dirt in 2005 and say,

“This is where I belong, and I want to help build this university.”

Those students shouldered the burden of not just working for their college degrees, but knowing that the future of the university rode on their success.

That courage is embodied by the Class of 2009, UC Merced’s first full graduating class. They possessed the key elements of UC Merced’s philosophy: a vision of the future, a pioneering spirit, and a desire to succeed not only for themselves, but also for the generations who would follow them. They proved that a university in the San Joaquin Valley could thrive as a representation of the future of higher education in California.

This is a story about the students, faculty and staff who weren’t afraid to floor the gas pedal and leave their doubts behind. This is a story about the spirit of UC Merced.

“I’m much more resolute that the future of robotics in agriculture will be about data collection. … We currently leave it to farmers managing thousands of acres to keep it all (the information about a field’s water needs) in their heads as they are driving around in a pickup. But they can’t be everywhere at once, and memory can lapse.”

None of this is to say AI software and rolling robots will replace farmers and field jobs. Instead, the RAPID team is excited by how collaborative robotics could create new jobs for the new age of agriculture.

“I see a big opportunity for higher education, at UC and its partners in community colleges, vocational programs and at high schools,”

[UC Merced Professor] Viers said. “There is going to be a whole new generation of machines in agricultural settings that will need mechanics — a different kind of mechanic who will use 3-D printers, have skills with operating systems, know how to troubleshoot algorithms, and can do the types of maintenance necessary for this whole new class of machines that we haven’t yet developed.”

Thirty years ago, a BBC program called Tomorrow’s World captivated viewers with a seemingly simple demonstration: A blowtorch pointed directly at an egg. Its shell slowly blackens, but it neither cracks nor erupts in flames. “This is no ordinary egg,” warns presenter Peter Macann with a smile.

Macann explains that the egg has been coated in “a remarkable new plastic,” something that looks akin to a white, putty-like paste.

Many scientists believe the material itself a flat-out hoax...[b]ut Thomas Peev of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory argues those theories no longer matter. “Looking at this problem is real engineering,” says Peev.

“It is actual science that is being done right now, and it’s not just a fairy tale.”

Now, students at UC Merced are joining the ranks of enthusiasts around the world trying to recreate it.

“I’m much more resolute that the future of robotics in agriculture will be about data collection. … We currently leave it to farmers managing thousands of acres to keep it all (the information about a field’s water needs) in their heads as they are driving around in a pickup. But they can’t be everywhere at once, and memory can lapse.”

None of this is to say AI software and rolling robots will replace farmers and field jobs. Instead, the RAPID team is excited by how collaborative robotics could create new jobs for the new age of agriculture.

“I see a big opportunity for higher education, at UC and its partners in community colleges, vocational programs and at high schools,”

[UC Merced Professor] Viers said. “There is going to be a whole new generation of machines in agricultural settings that will need mechanics — a different kind of mechanic who will use 3-D printers, have skills with operating systems, know how to troubleshoot algorithms, and can do the types of maintenance necessary for this whole new class of machines that we haven’t yet developed.”

Thirty years ago, a BBC program called Tomorrow’s World captivated viewers with a seemingly simple demonstration: A blowtorch pointed directly at an egg. Its shell slowly blackens, but it neither cracks nor erupts in flames. “This is no ordinary egg,” warns presenter Peter Macann with a smile.

Macann explains that the egg has been coated in “a remarkable new plastic,” something that looks akin to a white, putty-like paste.

Many scientists believe the material itself a flat-out hoax...[b]ut Thomas Peev of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory argues those theories no longer matter. “Looking at this problem is real engineering,” says Peev.

"It is actual science that is being done right now, and it’s not just a fairy tale.”

Now, students at UC Merced are joining the ranks of enthusiasts around the world trying to recreate it.