Faculty

Professor Dives with Crocs, Displays Megalodon Expertise During Shark Week

July 17, 2025

Professor Sora Kim swam with a Nile crocodile for this year's Shark Week special, which focuses of sharks versus prehistoric reptiles. Photo courtesy of Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Shark Week starts Sunday and Professor Sora Kim will be featured again this year in a special airing at 9 p.m. Monday, titled “Jaws vs. Mega Croc,” and the filming allowed her to swim with a Nile crocodile. “I flew to Florida and learned about crocodiles – their evolution...

Winston’s Innovative Project Highlights UC Solar Symposium

UC Merced Professor Roland Winston will deliver details on a groundbreaking hybrid solar collector he’s working on that simultaneously generates electricity and very-high-temperature heat at the...

Computational Training Expanding at UC Merced Through New Grants

Graduate students at the University of California, Merced, will benefit from extensive new research, funding and training opportunities, thanks to two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants...

Run Raises $2,500 for Scholarship Funds

More than 300 participants, including students, alumni, faculty and staff members and friends of the campus, gathered for the second annual UC Merced Journey 5K Fund Run earlier this month. First-...

Mind and Body Join Robotics in New Research Project

Three UC Merced researchers are connecting eye-tracking hardware with a robotic exoskeletal arm to further understand the mind-body connection and, someday, to help people with disabilities have...

New Director Looks to Build on Sexual Violence Prevention Efforts

UC Merced was ahead of the curve in 2009, when it created the Violence Prevention Program to combat sexual violence, dating and domestic violence, and stalking on campus and in the community just...

Researcher’s Solar-Powered Water Heaters Could Save Energy and Money

UC Merced Professor Gerardo Diaz is developing solar-powered water heating technology that could reduce the demand for natural gas in businesses and homes and lower the costs for business and ...

Engineering Students Find Success, Passion and Possible Lifesaver in Research Lab

A team of UC Merced engineering students — plus one from a nearby state university and two from a local high school — made progress this summer on prototypes of portable machines for diagnosing...

To ‘Change the World,’ UC Researchers Start Writing

When UC San Francisco Professor Elizabeth Dzeng wrote about homelessness for the San Francisco Chronicle, she wasn’t just conveying her expertise on a critical social issue — she was working as part...

New Research Center to Leverage High-Performance Computing Hardware

Faculty members from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Mechanical Engineering groups are forming the newest research center at UC Merced, seeking the...