Faculty

NIH Grant Enables Outstanding Investigator to Advance Knowledge of Microbial Infections

June 30, 2025

Professor Clarissa Nobile investigates the mechanisms of biofilm infections that affect human health.

The National Institutes of Health are backing Professor Clarissa Nobile ’s mission to understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms encased in protective matrices and are...

Physiological Society Recognizes Rudy Ortiz for Mentoring Underrepresented Students

Physiology Professor Rudy M. Ortiz has been named this year's winner of the A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award by the American Physiological Society. The UC Merced...

Professor Winston with his research team and a solar collector.

Founding Faculty Roland Winston Remembered for Pioneering Solar Energy

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Roland Winston, a pioneer in solar energy, engineering and physics, died Feb. 8 at the age of 88 at his home in Merced. A founding faculty member in the schools of...

A fluorescence microscope image of one kind of active matter being studied. Image courtesy of Amanda Tan, UC Merced

UC Awards Support Tackling Big Questions in Health, Physics, Agriculture and Climate

Faculty members at UC Merced are taking the lead on four Multicampus Research Program Initiatives (MRPI), working with colleagues around the University of California system to address challenges...

Members of the BioSCape team are pictured with NASA and South African aircraft.

Multinational Research Project Shows How Life on Earth can be Measured from Space

Measurements and data collected from space can be used to better understand life on Earth. An ambitious, multinational research project funded by NASA and co-led by UC Merced civil and...

COVID Lockdown Disrupted Preschoolers’ Social Skills, Trailblazing Research Shows

Lockdowns. Social distancing. Shuttered schools and businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic and its sweeping disruptions set off a stampede of “what it’s doing to us” research, focused...

Josiah Beharry Oﬀers Unique Perspective as 50th Student Regent

First-generation doctoral student Josiah Beharry made history in 2023 when he was chosen as the ﬁrst student regent from UC Merced. In addition to being the 50th student to serve on the Board...

Photo depicts Professor Debora Lyn Porter and a blue and gold background.

Grant Funds Research into Fungal Structures

Mushrooms are pretty amazing. They are light and porous yet have a high strength-to-weight ratio. They are absorbent. They can serve as filters. Manufacturing a material that mimics mushrooms and...

New faculty members pictured are Josué Medellìn-Azuara, Rebecca Ryals, Safeeq Khan and Reza Ehsani.

A Major Step Forward for UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station

The first four faculty members named to UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station look to make a big impact on farming in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond. Mechanical engineering Professor...

Study of Sugar Pines Reveals Urgent Issue in Protecting Forests from Climate Change

Sugar pines are the tallest pine species in the world, and they only grow along the West Coast of North America. They are a valued source of timber with cones as large as an adult’s forearm....