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Research

Damaging Lightning-Caused Wildfires Likely to Increase in a Few Years, Researchers Find

September 3, 2025

Photo depicts a silhouette of California firefighters battling a lightning-caused fire in 2020.
Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square miles by Wednesday morning. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services recorded...
Professor Michele Nishiguchi talks to a group of Plainsburg Elementary School students at a science outreach event.

Research Team Focuses on the Next Generations of Scientists

The Biology Integration Institute (BII): The Institute for Symbiotic Interactions, Training and Education in the Face of a Changing Climate, or INSITE, stands out because it is supported by $12.5...
The Milky Way over California

Stargazing and Lecture Offer Unique Perspectives on Stars and Exoplanets

The night sky is filled with countless mysteries and worlds yet to be explored but that someday might be visited by spacecraft. In a free event titled “Celestial Tales: Stars, Exoplanets and...
Two female standing in front of a poster

Center Engages Campus, Community with Africa and its Diaspora

This story is part of a series for Black History Month. Read more stories highlighting Black excellence at UC Merced. The brutal deaths of African Americans George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and others...
Art for Hmong model curriculum

New Hmong School Curriculum in Spotlight at UC Merced Conference

Educators from across California will gather at UC Merced for an up-close look at a curriculum that teaches schoolchildren about Hmong Americans — their history in Southeast Asia, their...
Todo Cambia film festival illustration

Todo Cambia Festival Takes New Artistic Directions

Todo Cambia, UC Merced’s annual Human Rights Film Festival, is about more than film this year. The seven-day festival kicks off Saturday, March 1 with a talk and readings by a former...
Professor Rudy Ortiz

Physiological Society Recognizes Rudy Ortiz for Mentoring Underrepresented Students

Physiology Professor Rudy M. Ortiz has been named this year's winner of the A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award by the American Physiological Society. The UC Merced...
Professor Winston with his research team and a solar collector.

Founding Faculty Roland Winston Remembered for Pioneering Solar Energy

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Roland Winston, a pioneer in solar energy, engineering and physics, died Feb. 8 at the age of 88 at his home in Merced. A founding faculty member in the schools of...
Deborah Taffa

5 Questions for Indigenous Author of Acclaimed Memoir Coming to UC Merced

Deborah Taffa, an Indigenous author and educator whose book about growing up in a mixed-race home and struggling with social acceptance was hailed as one the best memoirs of 2024, will make a...
Illustration of burning cigarette in test tubes

Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center Enlists Wastewater Tests in Fight Against Smoking

UC Merced's Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center has embarked on an innovative partnership with university researchers who can track an entire community’s health and habits with...

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