First. Further. Forward

UC Merced's Smart Farm Abuzz with Activity

June 25, 2025

Photo depicts UC Merced student Jesse Martinez operating a robot on the Experimental Smart Farm.

At UC Merced's biggest lab, students work from before sunrise to well after dusk. They are operating the university's Experimental Smart Farm, 40 acres of dirt and plants, research and experiments. They study everything from pollinators to hydroponics, but there are more than just...

UC Merced students participate in a waste sorting line that recycles and composts landfill waste.

UC Merced Makes Princeton Review Green Honor Roll

UC Merced's reputation for environmental stewardship remains strong following the campus's most recent recognition by The Princeton Review 2024 Green Honor Roll. UC Merced was one of...

A meeting of the UC Merced Battery Challenge team.

UC Merced Team Picked for Federal EV Battery Competition

A team from UC Merced has been selected to participate in the Department of Energy (DOE) "BattChallenge," a three-year competition to develop a battery for an electric vehicle....

Students work at computers at UC Merced.

UC Merced Classes Score High Marks in Global Ranking

UC Merced had several subjects in social science, natural science and engineering placed in the top tiers of the annual Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) released by ShanghaiRanking...

First-Generation Students Offer Advice for Those Who Come Next

Nearly 65 percent of UC Merced's undergraduate students are the first in their families to go to college. Being a college student of any kind can be a thrilling, confusing, challenging, exciting...

An Exploration of Music's Role in Children's Brain Development

Music can be entertaining, moving and, when played too loud, infuriating. It also plays a vital role in the development of children's brains, one researchers are just beginning to understand....

Christopher L. Adams served as the campus’s lead architect and master planner.

Remembering UC Merced’s Founding Planner and Chief Architect Christopher L. Adams (1937-2023)

Christopher L. Adams, who left an indelible mark on UC Merced through his significant contributions as the campus’s lead architect and master planner, passed away on August 11, 2023, in...

Free Discussion, Reception at UC Merced Centers on Climate Change Messaging

Climate change is a very real - and very scary - threat. Climate change and its underlying primary cause - burning fossil fuels - are arguably the world's leading causes of preventable death...

Scientists collect vegetation data from the Cape Of Good Hope, Western Cape, South Africa. Photo by Adam M. Wilson

NASA-funded Biodiversity Research Project Launches in South Africa

Understanding and conserving biodiversity, or the variety of life in ecosystems, is key to sustaining life on Earth. A research project funded by NASA that is launching this week in South Africa,...

Mark Arax and Ellen Hank discuss water at UC Merced.

Future of Water in California - Bleak or Promising? A Discussion

Water is the most valuable resource in the world. And it's a particularly important commodity in the Central Valley, historically a desert but also home to some of the richest agricultural soil...