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Research

UC Merced Leads National Effort to Unlock Quantum Secrets of Twisty Molecules

October 27, 2025

An example showing a chiral molecule and 'handedness.'
A team of scientists led by UC Merced is embarking on a project to understand how the twisted shapes of specific molecules can influence the spin of electrons — a phenomenon that could revolutionize solar energy, electronics and quantum computing. The research, funded by the U.S....
Professor Sora Kim

New Project Focuses on Women of Color in the Geosciences Throughout the UC

Although there has been a lot of talk this summer about paleoecology Professor Sora Kim’s research on the now-extinct megalodon shark, there is another focus to her work: BAJEDI, or belonging,...
Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez

Martín-Rodríguez Recognized for Eminent Scholarship

Founding faculty member and distinguished literature Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez is being honored for his contributions to Chicano/Latino studies with the Don Luis Leal award, considered...

How to Tap Into Your Hispanic/Latinx Heritage at UC Merced

  More than half of UC Merced's population is made up of Hispanic/Latinx students. There is no shortage of ways for Bobcats to get in touch with their roots on campus, in the community...
The annual Shakespeare in Yosemite production is just one avenue for environmental humanities students to get involved.

New Major Trains Students to Tell the Planet’s Urgent Stories

Compelling storytelling is vital to ensuring the action needed to secure a habitable planet for future generations, according to an increasing amount of research. UC Merced is recruiting students...
UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm is shown.

Grants Fund Wide Variety of Climate Change Research Projects

UC Merced researchers will tackle climate changes in multiple ways through more than $4 million in grants recently awarded from within the university. The Office of Research and Economic...

Most of the Universe Composed of Dark Energy, Researchers Show

A UC Merced researcher and her teammates around the world have succeeded in measuring the total amount of matter in the universe for the second time. A new paper in the Astrophysical Journal,...

Department of Energy Awards $37 Million to Build Research Capacity

Five faculty members from the School of Natural Sciences received grants recently from the Department of Energy (DOE) under its Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative. To...
An aerial photograph of the UC Merced campus.

NIH Grant to Study Immigration Policy Impacts on Mental Health and Access to Health Care for Latinos in Rural Communities

UC Merced public health Professor Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $3 million grant will fund Young's ambitious...
UC Merced Computer Science and Engineering Professor Xiaoyi Lu and members of the Lu lab.

Department of Energy Grant will Fund EECS Professor Lu's Research into Improving Federated Machine Learning

UC Merced Computer Science and Engineering Professor Xiaoyi Lu is leading a collaboration that secured a $4.35 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to improve federated...

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