Faculty

Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost

November 12, 2025

three stages of cotton textile composting

UC Merced researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles. The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from clothing into compost to demonstrate efficient composting with the right recipe, and the compost’s...

Members of the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (F3) Coalition pose for a photo on Sept. 2, 2022.

F3 Coalition Awarded $65 Million in Build Back Better Funds

The White House announced today (Sept. 2) a $65.1 million award — the largest federal grant ever awarded to the Central Valley — to the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (...

Recent sociology Ph.D. alumnus Alejandro Zermeño is now an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Sociology Boasts 11 Tenure-Track Faculty Placements in Its Short History

Just seven years after it began offering graduate degrees, UC Merced’s Sociology Department has already begun shaping the future of the professoriate by placing 11 of its graduate alumni in...

Hrant P. Hratchian now leads UC Merced's Graduate Division.

Hratchian Takes the Helm as Graduate Dean, Shares Vision for Division

July was a transition month for UC Merced’s Graduate Division as interim Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Chris Kello passed the baton to Professor Hrant P. Hratchian — an Armenian name...

Applied Math Grad Student Awarded Prestigious NIH Fellowship

Doctoral student Ali Heydari recently received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, also known as the National Institute of Health F31 fellowship....

An image shows stills from the film "El Ojo Comienza En La Mano."

Professor's New Film Featuring Campesino Artist to Premiere in Merced

The new film by filmmaker Yehuda Sharim, "El Ojo Comienza En La Mano" ("The Eye Begins in the Hand"), features the life work of Central Valley artist and muralist Rubén A. Sánchez...

A new four-student cohort will be formed each spring, and each cohort spends two years in the program.

New Bioinformatics Training Opportunity Opening for Undergraduates

Starting this fall, undergraduates interested in the biomedical sciences will have an opportunity to take part in a new and innovative training program that will give them strong foundations in...

A photo shows the Tahoe National Forest.

Study Shows How Restoring California's Overstocked Forests Yields Multiple and Diverse Benefits

Mechanical thinning of overstocked forests, prescribed burning and managed wildfire now being carried out to enhance fire protection of California's forests provide many benefits, or ecosystem...

Professor Ashlie Martini has been awarded the Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering.

Martini Named to Excellence in Engineering Chair

Mechanical engineering Professor Ashlie Martini has been awarded the Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering. She is one of two women to be appointed to endowed...

UC Merced Professor Sarah Kurtz is seen in a photo.

Kurtz Appointed to Endowed Chair; Establishing New Electrical Engineering Major

Engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz has been awarded the Reno Ferrero Family Chair in Electrical Engineering, making her the second woman to hold an endowed chair in the School of Engineering....