News

Innovative Research Secures Coveted Fellowships for Ph.D. Students

January 14, 2026

The ARCS Foundation Northern California awarded five UC Merced graduate students with 2025-26 fellowships. ARCS advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to exceptional graduate-level scholars in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. In...

The American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation Recognize UC Merced's Leadership in Community Engagement

January 12, 2026

UC Merced has once again been recognized as a national leader in community-engaged scholarship. The 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement affirms the university’s deep and expanding commitment to serving the public. The designation from the American Council on...

New Major Teaches How to Tackle Questions of Ethics in Science, Tech

January 8, 2026

Should a scientist who sees signs of global catastrophe sound an early alarm or wait until more conclusive evidence is in? Does going public lead to swifter action or give naysayers more time to discredit the message? Students in Professor Dan Hicks’ course in science, technology and...

UC Merced Alum, Now a Robotics Expert for Amazon, Advises Students to Get Their Hands Dirty

January 6, 2026

Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble. Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at his Compton high school after the teacher who ran it gave him an ultimatum. "I had gotten in with the wrong crowd," he said. "I had a physics teacher who told me, '...

Trinidad Quiroz Signs Professional Contract with Necaxa Femenil

January 6, 2026

UC Merced women's soccer star Trinidad Quiroz has signed with Necaxa Femenil of Liga BBVA MX Femenil. Quiroz is the first Bobcat to sign a contract with the highest level of women's football in Mexico. The forward from San Jose, Calif., is a two-time NAIA All-American and...

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

January 5, 2026

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...

Fall Commencement Graduates Urged to Write Their Own Story

December 22, 2025

A beaming Jesus Cevon-Gonzalez stood on Merced’s Main Street, surrounded by his mom and dad, grandparents, sister and other loved ones. He clutched the proof of a freshly bestowed bachelor’s degree in computer science. “I’m just trying to make my parents proud,...

Ph.D. Student Awarded Fellowship to Advance Environmental Health and Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation

December 18, 2025

Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship. The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health. Opoku...

Hundreds of UC Merced Graduates to Cross the Stage at Fall Commencement

December 17, 2025

Hundreds of UC Merced students will be celebrated this weekend at the university’s fall commencement ceremonies in downtown Merced. Nearly 400 undergraduate students and 40 Graduate Division students are set to cross the stage in the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre during three...

Recipe for L.A.’s fire disaster: Intense rains followed by unprecedented heat and dry conditions