Patty Guerra

'It's Ours!' Merced Selected for UC's Newest Campus 30 Years Ago

May 19, 2025

A student holds a copy of the Merced Sun-Star, with a large headline proclaiming "It's Ours!"

On May 18, 1995, the University of California Board of Regents voted to select Merced as the site for its ninth undergraduate campus. To get to that point, Merced had to beat out what started as a list of 85 potential sites drawn up in 1989, after regents announced the year before they wanted to...

Andrea Ramos and Evelin Esteban enjoy pozole at The Pavilion at UC Merced.

Challenges Bring About Positive Change for UC Merced Food Services

After weathering a pandemic shutdown and some fairly withering criticism, UC Merced's food service programs have emerged better than ever. The shutdown that started in 2020 brought about...

UC Merced Professor Tom Harmon introduces a panel discussion of the university's Experimental Smart Farm at a symposium on the Future of Agriculture.

What's The Future of Agriculture? It's Everyone Working Together, Summit Speakers Say

While UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm is focused on technology and automation, it's also about machine-human collaboration. That was among the messages UC Merced's...

Professor Eric Walle discusses the importance of play with parents at the Kids Discovery Station.

UC Merced Researchers Offer Parents Help, Insight - At No Cost

Imagine having a group of parenting experts in your back yard - researchers who are constantly conducting projects that keep them on the cutting-edge of child development. And they are eager to share...

Erin Hestir, a professor in environmental engineering, is attending a global water conference.

UC Merced Researcher Taking Part in United Nations Water Conference

A UC Merced researcher has a prominent role at a worldwide conference on water taking place at the United Nations this week. Erin Hestir, a professor in environmental engineering and associate...

Research team members are, from left, Brad Barker, Nabaraj Pokhrel, Md Kamal Hossain and Beth Nowadnick

Grant Funds Research into Computational Materials Science, Collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

Materials Science and Engineering Professor Beth Nowadnick has earned a National Science Foundation (NSF) award to study materials that may provide new ways to store or process information....

The future of agriculture will be discussed at a summit March 30.

What's the Future of Agriculture? Summit Looks Ahead

UC Merced researchers will discuss the campus's Experimental Smart Farm, as well as pressing agricultural issues, at a one-day summit later this month at California State University, Fresno....

A team of researchers published a paper on the varying needs for storing renewable energy.

Research Paper Explores how the Type of Renewable Energy Affects the Needs for Energy Storage

As more renewable energy projects take hold in California, there is more need for effective ways to store that energy. A paper published by a UC Merced research team examines how the need for...

Tammy Johnson, Diane Caton and Carmen Middleton are among the women who have worked at UC Merced since the beginning.

Women Make History at UC Merced

Innumerable changes have come to UC Merced since ground was broken for the campus in 2002. Some of the women who helped found the campus and remain employed by UC Merced, reflected recently on the...

Students walk along Scholars Lane on campus.

Record Number of Students Apply to UC Merced

UC Merced once again broke a record for the number of first-year applications the university received, continuing to show impressive growth even as the national trend shows a decline in the number of...