News

Happy Birthday to Undergrad Journals that Spark Students’ Aspirations

May 1, 2024

It’s a pair of special birthdays for UC Merced’s two student-run journals for undergraduates. The Vernal Pool , which publishes creative stories, poems and images, turned 10 this academic year. Meanwhile, it’s the sweet 16th for the Undergraduate Research Journal , which provides an early taste...

Author Jorge Cham Simplifies Science in an Entertaining Way

May 1, 2024

“Raise your hands if you want to know a secret,” acclaimed author and cartoonist Jorge Cham instructed a crowd of young children. Hundreds of tiny arms shot up in unison toward the cafeteria ceiling. “Butterflies drink with a straw,” he said. Bustling with excitement, the students expressed their...

UC Merced Adds Several New Engineering Majors

April 30, 2024

UC Merced's School of Engineering is expanding its offerings into some exciting areas. Most recently, the university added a major in aerospace engineering, one of the fastest-growing industries in California, with the number of jobs projected to grow 8.5 percent in the next decade, according to...

Campus Grad Slam Winner Examines ‘Gut Viruses: Friends or Foes?’

April 29, 2024

Earlier this month, Ambarish Varadan competed in UC Merced’s Grad Slam finals and seized the title of Campus Champion. This was the second time the Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) Ph.D. candidate from Fremont vied for the top prize. Last year, he placed second among the top 10 contenders....

Preparing Ph.D. Students for the Qualifying Exam

April 29, 2024

Navigating Ph.D. programs is notoriously challenging, and the qualifying exam stands as a major milestone all students must achieve. To support Ph.D. students in this critical checkpoint, the Graduate Division recently hosted the Qualifying Exam Discourse (QED) workshop, focused on preparing for...

Researchers Find Unexpected Cellular Residence for Protein Vital in Neurodevelopment

April 25, 2024

In Professor Xuecai Ge ’s lab, where UC Merced researchers study how cells talk to each other to develop and differentiate, a recent surprise discovery is lending insight as to how erroneous cell signals lead to disease and birth defects. Ge and her colleagues zeroed in on a slice of the...

Students Create Games to Teach About Safe Water

April 23, 2024

Ensuring people have access to reliable, clean water is no game. Except when it is. UC Merced's Secure Water Future interns, administrative assistant and coordinator joined the university's Game Development Club to host the "Aqua Arcade Game Jam" in early April. Dozens of students from UC Merced...

New Summer Research Opportunities for Undergraduates from Across U.S.

April 23, 2024

The National Science Foundation awarded a team, led by principal investigators Professor Ajay Gopinathan and Carrie Kouadio, funding to establish a summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at UC Merced. This new program seeks to increase the diversity of the science,...

Thousands Enjoy a Big ‘Welcome’ at Bobcat Day

April 22, 2024

Fernando Malagon and his mom stood at the head of a line for guided tours of the university he plans to attend this fall. The informational stroll around UC Merced would be more for her than for him; he visited the campus five years ago on a seventh-grade field trip from Modesto. Of course, the...

Shakespeare in Yosemite Goes Big for Magical ‘Midsummer’

April 15, 2024

There’s nothing small about this year’s Shakespeare in Yosemite production. It boasts the largest cast in the program’s seven-year history and, for the first time, features a full band to deliver the score and propel the musical numbers. The headcount for park staff in the cast is an all-time...