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...

Bioengineering Professor Eva de Alba Bastarrechea and postdoctoral scholar Meenakshi Sharma

New Bioengineering Study Aims to Understand the Mechanisms of Inflammation

When it functions correctly, inflammation protects the body from infection and injury. But when it becomes chronic, inflammation is linked to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer,...

Professor Jay Sharping, lower right, and the students in his lab will have enhanced research capabilities with refurbished dilution refrigerators.

DOD Grant Helps Upgrade Special Refrigerators for Quantum Physics Research

Researchers and students in the departments of Physics, Mechanical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering working on quantum physics will have upgraded equipment soon, thanks to a grant...

Environmental Systems Student Earns Prestigious Ford Fellowship

Lillie Pennington has been awarded a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for the 2022-2023 academic year. She is one of 38...

The 14th Dalai Lama is seen in a screenshot from a video recording on Sept. 18, 2022.

'Peace Doesn't Come from the Sky': Dalai Lama Advocates for Togetherness as He Receives Spendlove Prize

A special recognition over a decade in the making was celebrated this month as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was awarded the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and...

Undergrad Stem Cell Training Positions Students For Careers After Graduation

Rising juniors this fall will have an unprecedented opportunity for stem cell research training that could lead directly to careers in stem cell science after graduation. School of Engineering...

Event Focuses on Artificial Intelligence History, Debates

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become part of people's daily lives. From facial recognition to smart assistants and self-driving cars, it's difficult to not be impacted by AI at work,...

Nobile Named Pew Innovation Fund Investigator

UC Merced Professor Clarissa J. Nobile has been named a 2022 Innovation Fund investigator by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Nobile and University of Missouri Professor David G. Mendoza-Cózatl have...

A multi-disciplinary team from UC Merced, Michigan State University and Resilient Oceans will look at how climate change will impact ecosystems through a symbiotic lens.

UC Merced Lands $12.5M NSF Grant to Predict the Impact of Climate Change on Symbiotic Systems

UC Merced has received a $12.5 million grant funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop the Biology Integration Institute (BII): INSITE — the INstitute for Symbiotic...

Researchers Take New Approach to Quantify Water Use

Like many other researchers, environmental engineering professors Erin Hestir and Joshua Viers are trying to quantify water use in California’s Central Valley. The difference is, they are...