Faculty

CalTeach and Local Schools Team Up to Energize Learning across Merced County

March 23, 2026

An undergraduate students works on a science experiment with two middle school students during a CalTeach Bobcat Summer STEM Academy camp.

UC Merced’s CalTeach program is opening new pathways for younger students to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, academic support and early exposure to a college environment. The CalTeach program, present at every UC campus that offers...

Humanities Project Launching Community Collaborative for Graduate Training and Research

A new two-year project at UC Merced aims to bring academic and non-academic researchers together to recast the role of the humanities in public policy and, ultimately, improve the lives of San...

UC Merced Gets Into the ‘Act’

Shakespeare wrote “the play’s the thing.” Of course, he was referring to using a play to catch a murderer, but in Shakespeare’s day, people believed the theater had the power...

News and Notes: UC Launches Million Light Bulb Challenge, Upcoming Ally Trainings Offered

Let There Be Energy-Efficient Light The University of California is spearheading a statewide effort to advance the purchase of 1 million high-quality, energy-efficient light bulbs for campus...

Students in white lab coats working at a lab bench with scientific equipment.

Campus Lands $1M Howard Hughes Grant to Make STEM More Inclusive

UC Merced’s efforts to make science education more inclusive were recently given a huge boost after the campus was awarded its first Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant, an...

Merced River Helps Explain How Soils Capture and Store Planet-Warming Carbon

Soils are carbon sinks, storing more planet-warming carbon than the atmosphere and all animal and plant life combined. But they can also release massive amounts of stored carbon into the...

Sifuentez Appointed to Head Center for Humanities

As new director of the Center for the Humanities, Professor Mario Sifuentez ’ sights are set on a fuller understanding of rural communities and how best to help them. He’s got a...

Drawing Graphic Lessons: Comics Teach, Evaluate Difficult Concepts

Though illustrations have been used to convey ideas and information since before language existed, after Benjamin Franklin published the world’s first editorial cartoon in 1754, comics emerged...

Following a Devastating Pandemic, California’s Sea Stars are Evolving

In 2012, Environmental Systems graduate student Lauren Schiebelhut was collecting DNA from ochre sea stars living along the Northern California coast — part of an effort to study genetic...

Engaging with Spiritual Allies Increases Confidence in Conflict, Studies Show

A new Pew Research survey shows that one-third of Americans have trust in a higher power or spiritual force, whether they call it “god” or not, and two new studies show that people who...