In Brief

State Delivers $3 Million for Ag Technology Center at UC Merced

August 29, 2025

Photo depicts hay and a tractor at UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm.

UC Merced’s smart farm is getting a smart barn. The university will receive $3 million from the state of California, part of $80 million in funding to support 11 projects across California announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Jobs First Council. The money will go to...

Physics Professor’s Work in Liquid Crystals Earns Prestigious Medal

Physics Professor Linda Hirst has been named this year’s recipient of the British Liquid Crystal Society’s C. Hilsum Medal for her contributions to liquid crystal science and technology...

UC Merced Shows Sustainability Matters in Cool Campus Challenge

The Cool Campus Challenge called for UC campuses to spend the month of April pledging to reduce their carbon footprints, and UC Merced didn’t disappoint. The university finished fourth overall...

Ennis Receives Prestigious NIH Fellowship for Research of Biofilms

The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) awarded Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate student Craig Ennis the Ruth L. Kirschstein...

UC Merced MESA Lab Wins Big Ideas Contest

Now ubiquitous, machine learning has made its way into farming, thanks to an affordable, unmanned ground vehicle that recognizes and spatially maps agricultural pest infestations, treating them with...

Professor Im stands before a mathematical equation.

Scheduling Algorithms Earn Computer Science Researcher an NSF CAREER Award

Professor Sungjin Im, with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER award, making him the 21st recipient...

GAMWS Spring Showcase to Exhibit Student Art

Where do Shakespeare and swing dancing collide? At UC Merced’s Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies (GAMWS) Spring Showcase. For the second time this academic year, students, faculty and...

Graduating seniors receive their Alpha Kappa Delta cords for graduation at the symposium. From left to right: Valezka Murillo, Karen Gomez, Lesly Castro, Keila Luna, Rocío Murillo, Anne Oyales, Ellie Robledo, and Professor Sharla Alegria

Sociology Honors Society Hosts First Annual Research Symposium

Finals are a busy time for students, but that didn’t stop UC Merced’s sociology undergraduates from kicking off their first annual Alpha Kappa Delta Research Symposium on April 19....

Professor Subramaniam works with students on a bioengineering application.

Bioengineering Professor’s NSF Award Supports Synthetic Cell Research

Professor Anand Bala Subramaniam with the School of Engineering has been named UC Merced’s 23rd CAREER award recipient, and the first in the Department of Bioengineering . This is...

UFC Honors Outstanding Students and Organizations

UC Merced’s University Friends Circle (UFC) continues to be a generous supporter of the campus, and at this week’s culminating program for the academic year, UFC members will honor...