In Brief

Innovative Research Secures Coveted Fellowships for Ph.D. Students

January 14, 2026

graphic with five individuals higlighted; three females and two males with UC Merced and ARCS logos on blue background

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...

UC Merced's new Multicultural Center opened last month after years of searching for a permanent space on campus.

New Multicultural Center Captures Past, Present and Future of UC Merced

Diversity, equity and inclusion are pillars of UC Merced’s mission to serve, teach and conduct research. After years of working to find a permanent support space for students of all...

Faculty member and NCPC community research lead, Nancy Burke, listens to a presentation at the NCPC's workshop titled “Hook, Line & Sinker: Crafting Compelling Policy Messages.”

NCPC Workshop Empowers Stakeholders to Craft Compelling Anti-Smoking Policy Messages

The rate of smoking in the San Joaquin Valley is the highest in California — on par with tobacco-producing regions in Georgia and South Carolina — and UC Merced’s Nicotine and...

Seven ‘Outstanding Students’ Receive Medals

Hundreds of accomplished students walked in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) commencement earlier this month, proudly wearing their cap, gown and stole. Among them were a...

UC Merced Receives Collaborative Grant to Improve Equity in STEM Education

At UC Merced, research and education are inextricably intertwined – in the lab and in the classroom. Professors continually refine and advance their teaching methods and curriculum to convey...

Marisela Padilla Alcala (left) and Sarah Lee were recently recognized as recipients of the Carter Joseph Abrescy and Larry Kranich Library Award for Student Research Excellence. Arlene Kranich (center) presented the awards.

Two Students Honored for Excellence in Use of Library Resources

Long hours spent using the library’s print and digital resources are often a hallmark of a college student’s academic career. For Marisela Padilla Alcala and Sarah Lee, time spent in the...

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...

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 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...

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...