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Student Finds Community and Purpose Through Culture and Literature

March 12, 2026

Student stands outdoors on the UC Merced campus holding a notebook and pen, looking off into the distance near a campus walkway lined with leafless trees.
Between classes at UC Merced, you will often find Padme James under the trees outside the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. What she studies there isn’t directly correlated to her classwork, but it connects her roots to where she hopes her future is headed. Instead of reviewing notes for a...
UC Merced is on the rise in the latest U.S. News and World Report national rankings.

UC Merced Rises Nearly 30 Spots in U.S. News Rankings

If the University of California, Merced, is indeed the future of the UC, that future is looking brighter than ever. In the midst of an unprecedented campus expansion, UC Merced continues to...

$2.5M Grant Will Help Professor to Build a Powerful Molecular Imaging Scanner

Bioengineering Professor Changqing Li was recently awarded a four-year, $2.5 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help develop a focused X-ray luminescence tomography (...
Donna Riley, the Kamyar Haghighi Head of Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education

Lecture Will Examine How to Increase Equity, Inclusion in STEM

Despite efforts to increase diversity among science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines, inclusion continues to be a struggle, said Donna Riley, professor of engineering education at...
Two students in white lab coats work in a chemistry lab.

$1.5M Grant Will Transform Chemistry Curriculum, Improve Access to STEM Careers

It’s a startling statistic: Nearly 30 percent of UC Merced students who start their college careers in the School of Natural Sciences (SNS) switch to majors outside the science, technology,...

Understanding Why Designs Work — or Don’t — is Important

Just because a design works once doesn’t mean that the research and development is done. That’s why, Professor Sarah Kurtz argues in a new commentary in the prestigious journal...
A long table holds a display of crystal awards.

Campus Celebrates Faculty for Teaching, Research

UC Merced faculty members wear multiple hats as teachers, mentors, curriculum creators and researchers who seek innovative solutions to complex problems. During UC Merced’s recent Faculty...

Staff Excellence Award Winners Honored for Exceptional Service

UC Merced staff members play an important role in supporting the campus’s mission. Many go above and beyond the call of duty to support students, faculty, academic programs and the community at...

News and Notes: Speaker to Discuss HSI, STEM; Intern Project Proposals Due Sept. 7

On Sept. 5, educational studies Professor Anne-Marie Nuñez from Ohio State University will talk about UC Merced as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and how HSIs contribute to the STEM workforce...

Founding Faculty Member Leading Campus in New Role

Cognitive science Professor Teenie Matlock, the McClatchy Chair in Communications , has been appointed interim vice provost for the faculty at UC Merced. This is her first high-level...

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