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Faculty

Faculty180 – Vita and Individual Profile Data Sheet

Francisco J Mercado, PhD

Fall 1980 - Fall 2120

Accelerated Sciences Division

FranciscoMercado@scuhs.edu

Current Position

Position: Adjunct Faculty

Biography

Francisco is an adjunct faculty member in the Accelerated Sceinces Division at SCU primarily teaching Physics.

Currently, Francisco is also a PhD Candidate at University of California (UCI), Irvine in the Department of Physics & Astronomy with an expected graduation date in June 2023. Francisco studies galaxy formation and evolution using high resolution simulations that are run using state-of-the-art  supercomputing resources. 

Francisco has experience teaching introductory level physics to students at both the high school and university levels. In particular, Francisco has served as a summer physics instructor at UCI, a highschool AP Physics instructor, and a personal physics tutor. 

Degrees

2019

M.S., Physics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, United StatesDissertation: N/A

2017

B.Sc., Physics, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Pomona, California, United StatesDissertation: N/A

In Progress

Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, United StatesDissertation: The role of baryon physics in shaping galaxy scaling relations

Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions

Journal Article

Completed/Published

Moreno, J.; Danieli, S.; Bullock, J. S.; Feldmann, R.; Hopkins, P. F.; {c{c}atmabacak}, O.; Gurvich, A.; Lazar, A.; Klein, C.; Hummels, C. B.; Hafen, Z.; Mercado, F. J.; Yu, S.; Jiang, F.; Wheeler, C.; Wetzel, A.; Angl{’es-Alc'azar}, D.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Quataert, E.; Faucher-Gigu{`ere}, C.-A. ’e; Kere{v{s}}, D. “Galaxies Lacking Dark Matter Produced by Close Encounters in a Cosmological Simulation.” Nature Astronomy 2022, 6, 496–502.
McKeown, D.; Bullock, J. S.; Mercado, F. J.; Hafen, Z.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Wetzel, A.; Necib, L.; Hopkins, P. F.; Yu, S. “Amplified J-Factors in the Galactic Centre for Velocity-Dependent Dark Matter Annihilation in FIRE Simulations.” mnras 2022, 513, 55–70.
Meskhidze, H.; Mercado, F. J.; Sameie, O.; Robles, V. H.; Bullock, J. S.; Kaplinghat, M.; Weatherall, J. O. “Comparing Implementations of Self-Interacting Dark Matter in the GIZMO and AREPO Codes.” mnras 2022, 513, 2600–2608.
Mercado, F. J.; Bullock, J. S.; Boylan-Kolchin, M.; Moreno, J.; Wetzel, A.; El-Badry, K.; Graus, A. S.; Fitts, A.; Hopkins, P. F.; Faucher-Gigu{`ere}, C.-A. ’e; Gurvich, A. B. “A Relationship between Stellar Metallicity Gradients and Galaxy Age in Dwarf Galaxies.” mnras 2021, 501, 5121–5134.
Flores, V. ’azquez}; Gurvich, A. B.; Faucher-Gigu{`ere}, C.-A. ’e; Bullock, J. S.; Starkenburg, T. K.; Moreno, J.; Lazar, A.; Mercado, F. J.; Stern, J.; Sparre, M.; Hayward, C. C.; Wetzel, A.; El-Badry, K. “The Time-Scales Probed by Star Formation Rate Indicators for Realistic, Bursty Star Formation Histories from the FIRE Simulations.” mnras 2021, 501, 4812–4824.

Hear from the Students Who’ve Been in Your Shoes

I chose SCU when looking for a PA program because of their Integrative Medicine approach. I am from Michigan, and not many programs focus on this Integrative, Holistic approach when it comes to patient care in the Midwest, and I felt that was very important for me to learn as a future provider. My transition to semi-virtual learning has been very smooth and quite enjoyable. [su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part about attending SCU is how tight-knit and diverse the community is. Coming from a large undergrad university and moving so far, it was very important for me to have a PA program that made me feel valued and invested in my success. At SCU, they do a great job of making you feel that.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

Brianna Hadley

MSPA Class of 2022

One of the great things about SCU is we do have a campus layout, so all your classes aren't in a single room. We have our cadaver lab. We have different specialty rooms for physical assessment classes vs. acupuncture classes. All our acupuncture-specific classes have all the herbs in the room. You can pull out the herbs and look at them, whether in class or in between classes to get that extra studying in.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]My favorite part of SCU is the collaboration from our beginning terms. We were working alongside chiropractor students, PA students, and ayurvedic students. It's a unique community where we get to learn about these different fields and sit in classrooms with them and work with them in the clinic. It allows you to get an understanding of all the different fields and how they can work together, and what is unique about your field. I think that is a wonderful aspect that I didn't think was going to be as prominent as it is here; even now, in my upper term classes and I am not in class with chiropractic students, I can still reach out to them about a certain aspect I may not understand or if I am working on a case. I want another perspective I know I have them to reach out to, so that has been a great networking community to have resources for.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

 

Dr. Jamie Kuljis

Graduate, Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine

"There are a lot of things that I love about the program at SCU. The first one is that the faculty come from a long line of Ayurvedic knowledge deeply rooted in ancient classical text. They studied Ayurveda, but they also lived it. When you learn from people who embody this wisdom, it's much easier to grasp this knowledge. The second thing I love is the camaraderie within the cohort. The combination of the training, supportive faculty, and the support of my peers and classmates has given me the confidence I need to start my own practice."

Portia Harris

Student, Ayurveda Program

Some of my favorite courses at SCU have to be the chiropractic procedure classes; those are the classes you get to hone in on your chiro skills, your palpation skills and ultimately work on the adjustments that make you a chiropractor. Those are the classes I feel enhance my knowledge the most and are some of the reasons I chose to become a chiropractor here are SCU.[su_accordion][su_spoiler title="Read More..." open="No"]On top of chiropractic procedures classes, my favorite is the cadaver lab experience. The cadaver classes opened up my perception of what the human body is made up of. It allowed me to get an in-person perspective of how the body works and looks on the inside. I am genuinely thankful for those experiences because they opened and broadened my horizons to the human body and anatomy in general.[/su_spoiler][/su_accordion]

 

Jordan Vega

Student, Doctor of Chiropractic

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