News

Our First Campus Was a Castle

September 6, 2017

The University of California, Merced, was established in 2005 — or so the story goes. The main campus officially opened in September of that year, but that particular reading of history elides a more colorful backstory. UC Merced didn’t spring into existence when developers broke ground on the main...

PG&E Funds Critical SNRI Work on Sierra Forest Resiliency

September 6, 2017

A team of UC Merced researchers was recently awarded $100,000 from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to identify ways to improve drought resilience and reduce the risk of wildfire in Sierra Nevada forests. Professor Roger Bales, who also serves as director of the Sierra Nevada Research...

Artists Making Their Marks On and Off Campus

September 1, 2017

“Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.” — William S. Burroughs The economic and educational advantages of having a University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley are easy to measure — just look at the...

Researchers Take Cognitive Science to Buddhist Monks

August 30, 2017

Two UC Merced cognitive scientists spent part of their summer in India this year, teaching neuroscience to a group of exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks. Professors Ramesh Balasubramaniam and David Noelle each made their second trips to southern India, where they taught at two of three monasteries that...

Earth Scientist Targets Sexual Harassment With NSF Grant

August 29, 2017

Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a biogeochemist who studies the impact of climate change on Sierra Nevada soils. She’s also active in efforts to recruit and retain women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Those efforts were recently bolstered by funding from the National Science...

Massive Sensor Network Helps Scientists Monitor Mountain Water Resources

August 28, 2017

Scientists from the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, UC Merced, UC Berkeley and the USDA Agricultural Research Service have designed the first ever wireless sensor network (WSN) capable of accurately monitoring the hydrology of large mountain river basins. The new system is detailed in two papers...

Synthetic Nanotubes Beat Nature at Water Purification

August 25, 2017

A new study published in the journal Science may have major implications for the future of water purification. Professor Aleksandr Noy and his research team at Lawrence Livermore National Lab found that carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs) — hollow cylinders made of pure carbon that resemble microscopic...

New Academic Year Brings New Faces, Opportunities

August 23, 2017

More than 2,200 students — many entering their first year at UC Merced — arrived last weekend in cars, trucks and minivans packed to the gills with living essentials from clothing and toiletries to laptops and microwaves. Move-in weekend is always a bustling time on campus as parents, families and...

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies is Campus’s Newest Major

August 18, 2017

Starting this semester, students in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) will have a new major option: Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES). Led by professors Ma Vang and Kit Myers, the new major dovetails with UC Merced’s emphasis on inequality, power and social justice....

Professors Demystify Eclipse for Merced Skygazers

August 17, 2017

As the frenzy surrounding the Aug. 21 solar eclipse begins to peak, physics Professor Wil van Breugel is using the opportunity to give Merced stargazers a crash course in the science and history of these astronomical curiosities. “It’s important for people to fully appreciate the science,” van...