First. Further. Forward

Damaging Lightning-Caused Wildfires Likely to Increase in a Few Years, Researchers Find

September 3, 2025

Photo depicts a silhouette of California firefighters battling a lightning-caused fire in 2020.

Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square miles by Wednesday morning. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services recorded...

UC Merced researchers will use drones donated by SeekOps Inc. to gather data.

Drones Donated to UC Merced by Start-Up SeekOps Will Monitor Environmental Conditions

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipment donated by Texas-based start-up SeekOps Inc will support UC Merced's research efforts in environmental monitoring and conservation. The gift includes...

NASA mounted samples of solar films developed at UC Merced on a cube outside the International Space Station for 10 months.

First Test of Perovskite Films in Space Indicates More Resilience than Researchers Expected

Solar films developed by a graduate student in the Department of Physics at UC Merced while on an internship at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) not only survived 10 months in space with minimal...

Sarif Morningstar earned money by doing research in the Learning Aligned Employment Program.

Students Gain Experience (and Money) Doing Career-Oriented Work in New Program

Sarif Morningstar wondered something: "What happens if I grow plants using fog?" The UC Merced student's efforts to find an answer to that question led to a research project they got...

UC Merced alumni and campus leaders pose for a photo at M!X Downtown in Sacramento.

Alumni Come Together at Mixer Event in Sacramento

Dozens of UC Merced alumni — from the classes of 2009 to 2022 — gathered in downtown Sacramento on April 2 for an exclusive networking mixer hosted by the Office of Alumni...

Pop-up markets provide donated food that otherwise would go to waste.

Events at UC Merced Aimed at Reducing Food Waste

Roughly a third of all food worldwide goes to waste. Outside of the obvious direct costs, that waste has numerous other repercussions: much of it goes to landfills, where it generates methane, a...

Isabella Mitchell poses for a photo with the Beginnings sculpture in the background.

'Listen to Your Gut': First-Year Student Offers Tips for Success to Incoming Bobcats

Bobcat Day turned out to be one of the most important days in Isabella Mitchell's life. Her experience at UC Merced's open house event in April 2022 assured her that she belonged at the...

UC Merced Professor Tom Harmon introduces a panel discussion of the university's Experimental Smart Farm at a symposium on the Future of Agriculture.

What's The Future of Agriculture? It's Everyone Working Together, Summit Speakers Say

While UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm is focused on technology and automation, it's also about machine-human collaboration. That was among the messages UC Merced's...

Professor Eric Walle discusses the importance of play with parents at the Kids Discovery Station.

UC Merced Researchers Offer Parents Help, Insight - At No Cost

Imagine having a group of parenting experts in your back yard - researchers who are constantly conducting projects that keep them on the cutting-edge of child development. And they are eager to share...

One of the 2020 Black Lives Matter marches.

Group Conflict Inspires People to Feel Morally Elevated — for Their Side — Study Shows

You know that warm, uplifting feeling you get when you see someone going out of their way to help other people? You might get goosebumps or even a tear in your eye, and something inside you might...