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May 13, 2026

A graduate student eagerly anticipates her hooding ceremony.
UC Merced is abuzz with celebration as students, families, friends, staff and faculty finish last-minute preparations for the largest commencement in university history. Across three outdoor ceremonies, 1,649 students will walk the stage at Spring Commencement 2026, marking a record-setting...
Bioengineering Professor and biofluid dynamicist Arian Aghilinejad is pictured in his lab at UC Merced
Left ventricular devices, or LVADs, are life saving for patients with advanced heart failure, a condition that affects more than 6 million Americans each year. A UC Merced researcher has earned an...
Students from UC Merced writing class gather at table at Merced Multicultural Arts Center
Students in a UC Merced course stepped off campus and into the real world, developing flyers, website pages and even a TikTok account for a downtown arts center. Staff at the center became clients...
Leah Stokes, a political scientist, energy expert and climate communicator from UC Santa Barbara, speaks from the stage at UC Merced.
It's time to think bigger about mitigating climate change. Measures such as recycling, turning off lights and reducing energy use are great, but making a real impact is going to take systemic...
Elementary school students get a lesson in engineering and physics from undergraduates in the CalTeach program.
Students who arrive at UC Merced planning on specific careers often discover along the way that their interests — and strengths — are broader than they first imagined. A new initiative...
Depicted is a poster describing solar-over-canal Project Nexus in front of the actual structure.
What started as a premise in a UC Merced lab culminated with a commemoration of Project Nexus, California's first solar canal project. On Wednesday, state leaders gathered at the Project Nexus...
Avinav Biswas has been named a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar.
Avinav Biswas, a third‑year undergraduate majoring in biological sciences at UC Merced, has been named a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, becoming the university’s first recipient of one of the...
Pictured are Professor Eva de Alba and members of her lab standing outside the Biomedical Sciences & Physics building at UC Merced.
Inflammation can be a good thing. When the human body is exposed to injury or infection, inflammation - which can result in redness, heat, swelling and pain as white blood cells fight threats - is...
UC Merced lecturer Jenni Samuelson works with her performative storytelling students
Jenni Samuelson watched intently as a handful of students rehearsed a final scene. The lines were brief, bouncing from actor to actor, several voices working as one. Samuelson leaned forward, smiling...
Depicted are postdoctoral researcher Sourabh Kumar and Professor Ashlie Martini in their lab.
Mechanical force can do more than just push things around - it can also trigger chemical reactions. A new review by researchers at UC Merced and Penn State brings together decades of work to explain...

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