Graduate Students

UC Merced Leads National Effort to Unlock Quantum Secrets of Twisty Molecules

October 27, 2025

An example showing a chiral molecule and 'handedness.'

A team of scientists led by UC Merced is embarking on a project to understand how the twisted shapes of specific molecules can influence the spin of electrons — a phenomenon that could revolutionize solar energy, electronics and quantum computing. The research, funded by the U.S....

Applied Math Grad Student Awarded Prestigious NIH Fellowship

Doctoral student Ali Heydari recently received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, also known as the National Institute of Health F31 fellowship....

State Budget Allocates Over $100 Million to UC Merced

The state budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom promises tens of millions of dollars for UC Merced to build the next generation of world-class programs and facilities....

UC Merced announced the expansion of the Merced Automatic Admission Program (MAAP) for students at Dinuba Unified School District (DUSD).

UC Merced Expands Opportunity for Students in Dinuba to Attend College

The University of California, Merced, continues to pave the way to success for local high school students. The campus announced the expansion of the Merced Automatic Admission Program (MAAP) for...

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development at the Fore of Chuang’s International Research

Green energy solutions are critical to meet current and future power demands, and while solar and wind power are great, they are also site-specific and intermittent. That’s why researchers...

Adjunct Professor Among Department of Energy Award Winners

Jennifer Pett-Ridge, an adjunct professor with the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has been honored by the Department of...

Grad Student Awarded Prestigious Department of Energy Fellowship

Environmental Systems Ph.D. student Leila Wahab is one of 80 graduate students to receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) highly competitive Office of Science Graduate Student Research (...

Professor Roland Winston and some of his student researchers with a solar collector

In Retiring, Winston Looks Forward to His Busy, Bright Future

Distinguished Professor Roland Winston was among the first eight faculty members at UC Merced in 2003, two years before the campus opened. When he retires July 1, at age 86, he will be the first of...

Applied Mathematics Ph.D. student Sarah Downs

DOD Fellowship Helps Grad Student Advance Machine Learning Research

Ph.D. student Sarah Downs was awarded the prestigious Department of Defense (DOD) Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship. The Department of Defense is committed...

Symposium to Open Doors on Education Research in the Valley

For the first time, UC Merced has partnered with local higher education institutions for a two-day symposium dedicated to education research findings from the Central Valley. The Central Valley...