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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....
Jose Zamora

Five Years in, CCBM Looking to Expand Research and Student Opportunities

From graduate student Jose Zamora’s perspective, the CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) has been a spectacular success. “There is so much value to being part...
Two make graduate students sitting in residence hall

Graduate Student Association Provides Collective Voice for Grad Students

Graduate school is tough, but graduate students have a place to turn to for advocacy and support on campus. Since it was established in 2005, UC Merced’s Graduate Student Association (GSA)...
A view of the Milky Way.

Two New Faculty Members Expand Physics Department and Bring the Cosmos to Campus

UC Merced occupies just one small corner of the world. But through the research, teaching, experience, and connections of two new Department of Physics faculty members, students can access and begin...
Engineering Professor Marie-Odile Fortier stands among the solar array that helps power the campus.

CAREER Award will Support Enhanced Renewable Energy Assessments

Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Marie-Odile Fortier’s plan to make more accurate assessments of renewable energy systems’ carbon footprints has made her the fifth UC Merced...
Computer science Professor Ahmed Arif stands with two of his female graduate students in the Science and Engineering 2 Building.

Lip-reading Software Helps Users of All Abilities to Send Secure Messages

A computer science lab focused on making human-computer interaction easier for people of all abilities has developed a digital lip-reader complete with its own repair system so the software can...
Physics Professor Dustin Kleckner studies structure in fluid and soft matter systems.

With Kleckner’s Award, Physics Department Nabs its Third CAREER Grant This Year

Physics Professor Dustin Kleckner has received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award for his research — the third in his department this year. He studies how optical and...

Graduate Student’s Immune-system Research Attracts NIH Award

Graduate student Betsabel Chicana ’s research into understanding how the immune system works when there’s a problem inside the bones has earned her a prestigious fellowship from the...
Selina Brinkmann, who will graduate in May with a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, is UC Merced’s first student to earn a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Mechanical Engineering Student Named the Campus’s First Rhodes Scholar

UC Merced master’s student Selina Brinkmann has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University — a first for the campus. “A Rhodes Scholarship being awarded to...
Physics Professor Daniel Beller is investigating how biological matter is able to self-organize.

Active Matter Organization Earns Beller a CAREER Award

Physics Professor Daniel Beller has received a CAREER award for his research into how complex organization arises from simple physical interactions for biological cells or polymers assembled in...

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