Faculty

Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line

March 18, 2026

UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies.

On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City...

Innovate to Grow Competition Highlights Student Creativity

MERCED, Calif. — From disposable drones mapping wildfire perimeters to increasing the number of young students interested in science, technology, engineering and math studies, this year’s...

NSF Early Career Award Honors Professor’s Research and Potential

The National Science Foundation is honoring UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe with a Faculty Early Career Development Award to support her examination of how soil helps regulate the climate....

Students Work to Spark Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurial mindset is as much an inherent part of the atmosphere at UC Merced as it is at any start-up. But now two students, Eduardo Rojas-Flores and Nick Fong, are on a mission to help...

Capstone Team’s Designs Could Win DARPA Competition

Improvements for a ubiquitous device that cools high-powered electronics aboard military aircraft could do more than just earn a group of engineering students their senior capstone design credits. It...

Professor’s Passion for Monkey Flower Leads to Genetic Discoveries

The environment affects the way genetic populations move, and similar environments likely play a bigger role in how a species develops than does geographic distance. Those are just two of the...

Researchers Melt Snow to See Climate Change Impacts

In a megadrought like the one California is experiencing, people tend to look at how much rainfall has come along. But it also matters when the snowmelt releases its cache, because the snowpack is...

Walking, Talking in Infants Connected

Infants show a sharp increase in understanding and using language shortly after they begin walking, according to research by a UC Merced developmental psychology professor. “What is it about walking...

Annual Bobcat Art Show Roars into Ninth Year

UC Merced artists will showcase their talent during the campus’s annual Bobcat Art Show, which starts its month-long run Monday in the UC Merced Art Gallery and Kolligian Library. The show, now in...

Humanities Center Turns World Upside Down

The UC Merced Center for the Humanities has turned the world upside down. The center, which received a $2 million gift in 2012 to expand its activities, selected “The World Upside Down: Topsy-Turvy”...