Faculty

Astronomers Reveal Hidden Activity in the Early Universe’s Most Massive Galaxies

January 5, 2026

Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory.

An international team of astronomers has studied ultramassive galaxies - galaxies containing more than 100 billion stars - as they existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old. The results show that while some of these ultramassive galaxies, or UMGs, had already shut down star...

Scientists Decipher the Tick-Tock of Biological Clocks

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, have taken another step toward unlocking the mysteries of the biological clock. In a study published online today (June 25) in Science Express —...

Researchers Align Atomic Friction Experiments

Working together to study friction on the atomic scale, researchers at UC Merced and the University of Pennsylvania have conducted the first atomic-scale experiments and simulations of friction at...

Study: In Any Language, Learning to Walk and Talk Are Linked

UC Merced developmental psychologist Eric Walle recently discovered a link between walking and talking in infants. This development, however, brought up additional questions. Was the link specific to...

New NASA-Affiliated Center Opening at UC Merced

MERCED, Calif. — NASA has awarded a group of researchers at the University of California, Merced, $5 million to establish the campus’s largest extramurally funded research and education center to...

Biomedical Researcher Named Campus's First Pew Scholar

Professor Clarissa J. Nobile of the University of California, Merced, is one of 22 researchers named today as a Pew Biomedical Scholar for her work exploring how communities of microbes conspire to...

Researcher Wins Fulbright Award to Study Himalayan Hydropower

UC Merced researcher David Rheinheimer has seen the Himalayas from many angles — from his home on the Yangtze River, from the foothills as a student in India and from the Nu River in Yunnan’s Three...

Most Americans Could Eat Locally, Research Shows

MERCED, Calif. — New farmland-mapping research published today shows that up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by food grown or raised within 100 miles of their homes. Professor...

Professor Joins Major New Robotics Initiative

UC Merced Professor Stefano Carpin will serve on the executive board of a new multidisciplinary research enterprise called the People and Robots Initiative, by the Center for Information Technology...

Campus Community Aids in Voting Push for Area Bike Trail

Merced is conveniently located in the middle of everything. Whether one seeks the beach, the mountains or the city, the destination lies little more than two hours away. Thanks to a committed group...