Biological Sciences

Research into Hidden Chemistry Shaping Future Air Quality Earns Zhang an NSF Award

September 8, 2025

As nations cut emissions that once fueled urban smog, scientists are discovering unexpected chemistry taking place in the atmosphere. UC Merced Professor Xuan Zhang is leading a project to uncover how these chemical shifts could affect the air we breathe and the climate. The project is supported...

Professor Clarissa Nobile wearing a blue lab coat, teal-colored gloves, and safety goggles leans against a bench in her laboratory.

Another First for Nobile: NIH Outstanding Investigator Award

Professor Clarissa Nobile is changing the way we look at microbes. She wants to understand them as they’re found in nature, not as they exist in the laboratory. And she was just awarded a five-...

Interdisciplinary Collaborations Broaden Archaeology Research

Archaeologists have been asking where high-elevation populations came from for decades; how they are going about answering the question, however, is new. “Fifty years ago, I would have...

Professor Michael Dawson (seated) with graduate student Karly Higgins (left) and postdoctoral researchers Dannise Ruiz-Ramos (center) and Lauren Schiebelhut.

NSF Grants Will Help Unravel Mysteries of Sea Stars, Jellyfish

The National Science Foundation recently awarded Professor Michael Dawson $900,000 to study some rather mysterious marine phenomena. Dawson received $700,000 — part of a three-year, $1.2...

A man holds a bright purple instrument in his hands while talking into a microphone headset.

‘Genius’ Award Winner and TED Lecturer to Speak at UC Merced

On Sept. 22, MacArthur "Genius" Award winner and Stanford University bioengineering Professor Manu Prakash will deliver the keynote lecture at the first annual open house for UC Merced...

Annual 5K Run Raises $6,000 for Scholarships

The third annual UC Merced Journey 5K Fund Run drew a record 475 participants Saturday and raised more than $6,000, exceeding the event’s stated goal. Proceeds and donations from this...

Students and teachers are seated on the floor and bleachers in a high school gymnasium while attending a pep rally in Merced.

Genetic Diversity in High Schools a Predictor of Economic Success

Does diversity have a positive effect on economic outcomes? According to a new study co-authored by UC Merced economics Professor Justin Cook, the answer is yes, even when the diversity is...

Four female middle school students in summer robotics academy are gathered around a desk. All four students are sitting in front of laptops and writing code for their robots.

Summer STEM Academy Aims to Prepare Valley Students for College

The leap from high school to college is an enormous intellectual hurdle. But UC Merced engineering Professor Yanbao Ma wants to ease the transition by better preparing Central Valley students for the...

Biologists Attend Prestigious Summer Teaching Institutes

UC Merced Professor Marcos Garcia-Ojeda and lecturer Kamal Dulai have received Macmillan Travel Awards to learn how to bring more effective teaching into the STEM classroom. The $500 awards cover...

Researcher Continues Progress Toward Effective HIV Inhibitor

Patricia LiWang was at an impasse. It was 2011 and the UC Merced professor’s research group had figured out how to make some of the most potent HIV inhibitors even more powerful. LiWang was thrilled...