Applied Mathematics

Ready, Set, Slam: 10 UC Merced Scholars Battle for Champion Title

March 9, 2026

Group of individuals attending event with grads student presenting on stage

Ten UC Merced graduate researchers are gearing up to deliver the most intense three minutes of their academic careers. Each spring, master’s and Ph.D. students across the campus’s three schools are invited to participate in Grad Slam — a fast‑paced competition that challenges...

New Algorithm Helps Machines Function More Like Brains

Every day, your brain completes millions of complicated functions without you even being aware of them, and it learns as it goes. Teaching a machine to do the same thing is extremely complicated, but...

UC Merced Wraps Another Record Year

Between record enrollment and research expenditures, a massive economic impact on the San Joaquin Valley, new buildings and a visit from the new UC president, the University of California, Merced,...

New Big Data Program Draws NSF Funding for UC Merced

As the world continues to amass more digital data everyday, thousands of skilled mathematicians will be needed to slice it into meaningful pieces that can help power the information economy. With the...

Research Explains Why Electric Fields Puncture Biological Cells

An exacting nanosecond jolt of electricity can briefly open a cell’s wall, allowing for the delivery of drugs or DNA. This procedure — called electroporation — is widely used in biology,...

Applied Math Professors Expanding Knowledge About Biology

Professor Suzanne Sindi found her calling in seventh grade, while reading “Jurassic Park.” “I liked the idea that math is a tool for understanding the whole world,” she said. Her School of Natural...

Applying Creative Solutions to ‘Impossible’ Problems

The tougher a problem, the more creative a solution it needs, from the increasing power in orbiting satellites and saving tigers to saving state parks and catching thieves. And when a problem seems...

Scholarship Supports Student Magician’s Visit to Help Chinese Earthquake Orphans

When a deadly earthquake shook the Sichuan province of his native China in May 2008, John Li watched from Los Angeles and immediately made a connection. He knew his passion for performing magic could...

Professor Awarded Collaborative Grant in Solar Energy Conversion

UC Merced applied math Professor Boaz Ilan is a major contributor to a national research team exploring a novel way to use fractal geometry to improve the production of electricity in solar panels...

Campus' Math Course Launches UC Online Program

A calculus course at UC Merced marks the first class to be offered through the University of California's online instruction project, with several more courses to be rolled out in early April. The...