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...

Planning for emergency evacuations using electric vehicles is the subject of one of the grants awarded to UC Merced.

University Awards over $80 million in State-funded Grants to Spur Climate Action

Four UC Merced researchers will share in the new California Climate Action Seed Grants and Matching Grants, which are the result of an historic partnership between the University of California and...

Professor Eva de Alba, Eduardo A. Gaspar-Morales and Ayomide J. Adeoye display a hydrogel.

NIH Grant Funds Research into Reducing Inflammation

Bioengineering Professor Eva de Alba has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study a potential process to reduce inflammation. The $405,375 grant will fund de Alba...

Researcher Studies Effects of Dust on Climate Change

Being able to accurately predict how the climate will change in the future is one of the most important quests of our lifetimes. A key to better prediction is the fundamental understanding of how...

Ashlie Martini is the associate director for the Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry.

UC Merced Among Institutions Awarded $20 Million NSF Investment for Mechanical Chemistry

Understanding the atomic-scale mysteries of "crushing" chemistry is the goal of an expanding research center with a newly awarded $20 million investment from the U.S. National Science...

Paper on Online Object Tracking Earns Award 10 Years Later

UC Merced electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ming Hsuan-Yang recently won an award for a paper he co-authored 10 years ago. Yang was awarded the Longuet-Higgins Prize at the...

CogSci Undergraduate Students Can Now Earn Honors for Research

Starting this fall, the Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences is offering an honors program for undergraduate students. Each student who is majoring in cognitive science and enrolled...

Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz and Professor Teenie Matlock at the dedication of Toloma Grove.

Matlock Retires After Stellar UC Career

In the early days of building UC Merced, founding faculty member Teenie Matlock took on lots of tasks that were well outside her job description. Over the years, she expanded her service to the...

Data Science Challenge offers Students Learning and Growth Opportunities

About 20 UC Merced students spent the past two weeks working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to see if they can solve a problem that could have a significant impact on cardiology...

Participants from this year's physics workshop.

Students Learn from Experts in Electronic Structure at Physics Conference Hosted on Campus

Faculty members from the departments of Physics and Chemistry and Biochemistry recently co-hosted a conference that drew about 100 faculty members, researchers and students from around the country...