Materials & Matter

Graduate Student Earns Fellowship to Study Fusion at Livermore Lab

April 16, 2025

Sameen Yunus, left, and her faculty advisor, physics Professor David Strubbe

UC Merced physics graduate student Sameen Yunus has been awarded a prestigious fellowship allowing her to spend the next three years working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting experiments and simulations that could lead to faster fusion ignition. The UC-National Lab In-...

Professor Ajay Gopinathan and CCBM Executive Director Carrie Kouadio

New Summer Research Opportunities for Undergraduates from Across U.S.

The National Science Foundation awarded a team, led by principal investigators Professor Ajay Gopinathan and Carrie Kouadio, funding to establish a summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (...

Professor Claire Lukens, right, and recent graduate Kolleen Peyakov measure the geochemistry of a rock using an XRF spectrometer.

Lukens’ Latest Research Tracks Sediment’s Journey in the Eastern Sierra

Rocks, from ponderous boulders to tiny grains of sand, are subject to the whims of moisture, weather and time as they tumble from surrounding slopes into rivers, pools and lakes. UC Merced...

New Partnership Offers Ph.D. Students a Path to Pedagogical Excellence

Graduate student Samuel Leventini comes from a long line of educators, and the tribology researcher thinks he might want to follow in those footsteps. Thanks to a new supplemental grant from the...

Most of the Universe Composed of Dark Energy, Researchers Show

A UC Merced researcher and her teammates around the world have succeeded in measuring the total amount of matter in the universe for the second time. A new paper in the Astrophysical Journal,...

Department of Energy Awards $37 Million to Build Research Capacity

Five faculty members from the School of Natural Sciences received grants recently from the Department of Energy (DOE) under its Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative. To...

Mega-Interstellar Structure Fuels Undergraduate’s Winning Research

Big-wave surfing is a thing these days, but hardly anyone is riding a wave as big as the one Biviana Oseguera is on. The physics major is studying the 9,000-light-year long Radcliffe Wave, a...

The UC Merced astrophysicists with the Keck Observatory behind them

Astrophysics Researchers Present their Work at Hawaiian Observatory

A delegation of dignitaries from the University of California Office of the President, UC Merced and UCLA were recently treated to a presentation that included the astrophysicists from UC Merced at...

Participants from this year's physics workshop.

Students Learn from Experts in Electronic Structure at Physics Conference Hosted on Campus

Faculty members from the departments of Physics and Chemistry and Biochemistry recently co-hosted a conference that drew about 100 faculty members, researchers and students from around the country...

Professor Findlater visited the Royal Society of Chemistry headquarters in London.

Findlater Named Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Professor Michael Findlater has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), a U.K.-based learning society that began in 1841 with the formation of the Chemical Society of London...

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