Faculty

Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost

November 12, 2025

three stages of cotton textile composting

UC Merced researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles. The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from clothing into compost to demonstrate efficient composting with the right recipe, and the compost’s...

Project Aims to Fight Breast Cancer One Message at a Time

Research indicates that obesity can increase a woman’s risk of developing and dying from breast cancer. But while communication about healthy eating has proven to be effective, a growing and...

Costume Designer’s Career Captured in Digital Collection

In a decades-long career, UC Merced Professor Dunya Ramicova has designed thousands of memorable costumes for stage and screen. Soon, her renderings of those costumes will be available in the digital...

Event Connects High School Girls with Female Scientists

While many young women her age are thinking about their favorite shoes or who they’ll go with to the winter formal, Callie Nance, 15, is thinking about her favorite science organizations and her...

Standout Sociology Program Earns Approval for Grad Degrees

Current and prospective graduate students have new degree options at UC Merced, which recently received approval from the UC system and the WASC Senior College and University Commission for both...

UC Solar Symposium Focuses on Innovations and Policy

California Public Utilities Commission Commissioner Liane Randolph will offer the opening remarks at this year's UC Solar Research Symposium in San Francisco, scheduled for Oct. 16. UC Solar, based...

UC President’s Whirlwind Visit Covers Many Bases

University of California President Janet Napolitano learned about UC Merced’s outreach to local high school students and efforts to support the UC system’s Global Food and Carbon Neutrality...

Get Involved With Sustainability This Fall

After such a hot summer, a cool campus will be a welcome change this fall. UC Merced is aiming to be the coolest by participating in the University of California’s inaugural systemwide Cool Campus...

New Nanomaterials Taking Research to Mexico, Possibly into Space

Professors Linda Hirst and Sayantani Ghosh are combining liquid crystals with nanoparticles such as gold and quantum dots to come up with a new platform that could have applications in fields such...

UC Merced Researchers Gathering Data to Tackle California’s Water Crisis on Multiple Fronts

Note: This story originally ran in the Fall 2015 issue of UC Merced Magazine. By Joel Patenaude California, long envied by the rest of the country for its climate, beauty and natural resources, is...