From Wild Mushrooms to Punchlines, Bobcats Learn in Out-of-the-Box Ways

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.

Walk across UC Merced's campus on any weekday, and you might hear laughter spilling from a classroom, feel the thrum of a wind tunnel or spot students crouched in a field searching for mushrooms.

Not every college course follows a familiar script, and at UC Merced, some of the most talked-about classes are the ones that don't.

These courses - Aerodynamics, Standup Comedy and Mushrooms - move far beyond passive lectures. They invite students to learn by doing, to take creative risks and to immerse themselves in unexpected experiences.

Engineering Excitement for a New Generation

In Professor Venkattraman Ayyaswamy 's aerodynamics class, airflow isn't just something students calculate - it's something they watch, test and measure. Ayyaswamy has leaned into the growing cultural interest in his field, driven in part by the rise of drones and the development of flying cars, to make the material more engaging and relevant.

"There is historically high interest in the field, and there is a lot of excitement about what's in store over the next 10 to 20 years," he said. "It's a very exciting time, and I'm eager to see what's to come and how our students will contribute."

What began as an elective is now required for students in UC Merced's fast-growing aerospace engineering program. Over the semester, students progress from low-speed aircraft concepts to higher-speed design, comparing predictions with live data collected from large wind tunnel experiments.

Ayyaswamy brings props - foam airplanes, sports equipment and other real-world objects - to make the physics come alive.

"The class is like a movie we are directing, and so we want the audience to be engaged," he said. "We want them to keep having 'Aha!' moments rather than asking, 'When is this movie going to end?'"

A Classroom and a Stage

While aerodynamics students learn to navigate airflow, those enrolled in Teaching Professor Eileen Camfield's rhetoric-through-standup-comedy course learn to navigate something just as unpredictable: an audience.

Performing comedy in a college class may seem surprising, but Camfield's course uses standup as a vehicle for teaching communication.

"This is not about becoming a comedian," she said. "It's about learning to communicate effectively with real people." Students analyze professional comedians, then develop, workshop and perform original routines for a live audience. The classroom becomes both a laboratory and a stage.

Comedy, as it turns out, is precise work. A joke fails if the setup is unclear. Timing collapses if the structure is weak. Delivery matters as much as content. When something flops, students must pivot instantly. Camfield said this pressure fosters confidence, adaptability and an ability to read a room - skills that are indispensable far beyond the stage.

And sometimes, some demons are exorcised.

"There is no rule about what students incorporate in their performances, but sometimes they get very personal," Camfield said, noting that she receives thank-you letters from students who say the class helped them transform difficult experiences into something empowering.

The Hidden World at their Feet

Then there's Mushrooms, graduate student Christopher Bivins' mycology-based course that sends students outdoors with their eyes on the ground. Bivins reminds students that mycology is a largely uncharted field - less than 1% of fungi species worldwide have been scientifically categorized - a fact that initially drew him into the discipline.

"Fungi are definitely having a moment," Bivins said, noting their prominence in TV shows, videogames and cuisine. While mushrooms represent only a small fraction of the fungi kingdom, he jokes that students likely wouldn't enroll in a course called "Mycology," making the "Mushrooms" name far more approachable.

Enrollment numbers prove the point: His fall course drew 90 students, and spring enrollment is nearly as high. For Bivins, the interest validates years of work in a field that has historically been underfunded and overlooked.

Turning Curiosity into Confidence

Aerodynamics, Standup Comedy and Mushrooms sit in opposite directions on the academic spectrum. Still, together they exemplify a shared UC Merced philosophy: Students learn best when they are active participants, not passive observers.

These classes ask students to do the learning - to experiment, to perform, to explore - and to discover knowledge in unexpected ways. By pushing past the boundaries of a traditional classroom, they create experiences that resonate long after finals are done, turning curiosity into confidence and theory into lived understanding.