Lorena Anderson

Astronomers Reveal Hidden Activity in the Early Universe’s Most Massive Galaxies

January 5, 2026

Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory.

An international team of astronomers has studied ultramassive galaxies - galaxies containing more than 100 billion stars - as they existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old. The results show that while some of these ultramassive galaxies, or UMGs, had already shut down star...

Professor's Article Published in Journal Science

Climate change alters the way in which species interact with one another- and not just today or in the future, but also in the past, according to a review article by UC Merced Professor Jessica Blois...

Summer Research Takes UC Merced Around the Globe

Just because it’s summertime doesn’t mean research at UC Merced comes to a halt. Just the opposite. This summer, professors and students at all levels are conducting a variety of research projects on...

Professor Continues to Focus on Efficient Solvent Usage

In a move that will save the campus money, improve campus safety and help save the environment, Professor Jason Hein set up a new solvent purification system. This project is similar to his previous...

Professor’s Fellowship Takes Her Into the Halls of Power

Like many faculty members, Professor Katrina Hoyer is busy running a lab, teaching and researching. This year, she adds another item to her to-do list – learning how public policy is implemented and...

Founding Faculty Member Honored with NSF Grant for Excellence

A five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation is helping Professor Alberto Cerpa develop the next big breakthrough in wireless sensor networks – an autonomous, self-learning system...

Grad Student’s Farmland Mapping Project Gets Prestigious Publisher

Working to map every square inch, UC Merced master’s student Andrew Zumkehr found there are 111 million acres of abandoned farmland in the United States. That’s a lot of space for growing biofuels...

Professor’s Work Earns Her a Spot in Prestigious Journal

Using some of the tiniest fossils in the world to help clarify how climate change is modeled has earned Professor Jessica Blois a big honor – publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Generous Gift to Support College Dreams for Generations

Longtime UC Merced supporters Frederick R. and Mitzie Ruiz have made a generous gift to help generations of students through an endowed scholarship, named in honor of the woman who had a major impact...

Senior’s Post-Graduation Plans Include Developing Web Business

Tyler Shaddix’s house looks like most of the other houses on his block in a subdivision not far from the UC Merced campus. It’s what’s inside that’s different – the home office of a startup company...