Life and Environmental Sciences

Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line

March 18, 2026

UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies.

On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City...

UC Merced's Experimental Smart Farm is shown.

Grants Fund Wide Variety of Climate Change Research Projects

UC Merced researchers will tackle climate changes in multiple ways through more than $4 million in grants recently awarded from within the university. The Office of Research and Economic...

Professors Briana Ballis, Shijia Pan and Xuan Zhang are pictured.

Three Hellman Fellows Awarded at UC Merced

Three UC Merced researchers have recently received the prestigious Hellman Fellowship. Computer science and engineering Professor Shijia Pan, economics Professor Briana Ballis and life...

Researcher Studies Effects of Dust on Climate Change

Being able to accurately predict how the climate will change in the future is one of the most important quests of our lifetimes. A key to better prediction is the fundamental understanding of how...

Professor Kim, left, stands between a model of a megalodon jaw and the jaw of a great white shark in a scene from "Jaws vs. The Meg," airing Sunday night.

Shark Week Highlights Researcher’s Megalodon Expertise

UC Merced 's resident expert on the nightmarishly massive megalodon will play a role in Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, a celebration of the toothy creatures at the top of the oceanic food...

Environmental Research, Working Toward Saving the Planet Among New Bobcat’s Plans

Incoming Bobcat Benji Thier already knows what he wants to do with his college degree: Save the planet. “I am planning to study Environmental Systems Science because I did some environmental...

An artist's rendering of megalodon. Image by Elena Regina, The Australian Museum.

Research Proves Megalodon was Warm-blooded, both an Advantage and an Extinction Factor

Megalodon was the biggest shark in the world — 50 feet long or more — and one of the largest fish ever to exist. It roamed most of the world’s oceans from 23 million to 3.6 million...

Campus Adds New Areas of Studies for Students to Choose From

New students or those who have not yet chosen their majors will have an array of options before them. Five new majors and several new emphases, ranging across all three schools, are all coming...

Fossil Shark Research Draws Prestigious NSF Award

Professor Sora Kim has received a CAREER award for her project that bridges concepts between modern and ancient marine ecosystems by integrating geochemical and modeling approaches with paleobiology...

UC Merced graduate programs in the natural sciences and engineering are included in the newest U.S. News rankings of 2023-2024 Best Graduate Schools.

UC Merced’s Graduate Programs Rank Among Best in the Nation

UC Merced continues to be recognized nationally, with some programs leaping forward, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 edition of Best Graduate Schools released on April 25...