Faculty

Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line

March 18, 2026

UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies.

On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City...

Shakespeare, Muir Come Alive in Yosemite for Earth Day

The works of Shakespeare, perhaps more so than any in the western canon, have been subject to reinterpretation and reappraisal by generations of artists, scholars and laypeople. Some, like Verdi’s...

Applied Math Conference Highlights Student Research

The UC Merced student chapter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) hosted the second annual Central Valley Regional SIAM Student Chapter Conference on April 7. In only...

Pesquisador do Programa Fulbright em Busca de 'Ciência Perdida' no Brasil

Por James Leonard, Comunicações Universitárias Traduzido por Gracy Durães Mantoan Chris Fradkin, professor e ex-aluno da Universidade da Califórnia em Merced, está indo para o Brasil em busca de “...

Fulbright Scholar in Search of ‘Lost Science’ in Brazil

Chris Fradkin, a UC Merced lecturer and alumnus, is heading to Brazil in search of “lost science.” The term, first coined in 1995 in a Scientific American article by W. Wayt Gibbs, refers to the...

Study Identifies Effects of EU Expansion on Labor, Research

Rather than a brain-drain, the 13-country European Union (EU) expansion initiated more than a decade ago triggered a brain-reconfiguration — the rising circulation of knowledge through the increased...

UC Merced, National Park Service to Present Shakespeare in Yosemite

In partnership with the National Park Service and the University of Warwick (U.K.), the University of California, Merced, will produce “Shakespeare in Yosemite,” featuring local and student actors...

Meza Elected to AAAS Executive Committee

School of Natural Sciences Dean Juan Meza was recently elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Committee on Council Affairs. His selection became official during...

Research Shows Global Photosynthesis on the Rise

Plant photosynthesis was stable for hundreds of years before the industrial revolution, but grew rapidly in the 20th century, according to new research published today in Nature. “Virtually all life...

Researcher Tracking Teens Who Attempted Suicide

More than 120,000 young people ages 10 to 18 attempt suicide each year, and about 4,500 of those attempts are fatal. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among children ages 10-14 and the...