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Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line

March 18, 2026

UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies.
On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City...
Entries into a logo contest for First-Generation Student Week are displayed

First-Generation Students Offer Advice for Those Who Come Next

Nearly 65 percent of UC Merced's undergraduate students are the first in their families to go to college. Being a college student of any kind can be a thrilling, confusing, challenging, exciting...

Black Excellence Symposium at UC Merced Aims to Advance Racial Justice

UC Merced hosted the annual Black Excellence Symposium on Nov. 3. Stemming from the Valuing Black Lives Initiative , the symposium has aimed to advance racial justice and Black liberation at UC...

UC Merced UpstART Presents Quinteto Latino

UC Merced's UpstART, a faculty-directed arts organization, presents Quinteto Latino, the San Francisco Bay Area wind quintet, expanding the boundaries of classical music by performing works...

An Exploration of Music's Role in Children's Brain Development

Music can be entertaining, moving and, when played too loud, infuriating. It also plays a vital role in the development of children's brains, one researchers are just beginning to understand....

Cognitive Science Professor’s First Book Released by Princeton University Press

Cognitive science Professor Paul Smaldino has astronomically high hopes for his first book. “I hope literally everyone reads this book,” Smaldino said. “Modeling Social...
A climate-action tabling event.

Labor, Community-based Groups Key to Addressing Climate Challenge, Study Shows

One of the major challenges of this century is democratically engaging institutions and large numbers of people with strategies to mitigate global warming by minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. A...

Ed and Jeanne Kashian Give $5 Million to Support Medical Education at UC Merced

Ed and Jeanne Kashian, longtime UC Merced donors who have supported the campus since its earliest days, have made a $5 million gift to advance the university's medical education efforts....

Annual Tradition Marks Start of Native American Heritage Month at UC Merced

The UC Merced Toloma 5K event was held over the weekend to mark the beginning of Native American Heritage Month. "Toloma" is Miwuk for "bobcat", and the annual event pays tribute...

UC Merced Named Fulbright HSI Leader by the U.S. Department of State

  UC Merced has been designated a Fulbright Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Leader for 2023 by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Each...

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