Materials & Matter

Astronomers Reveal Hidden Activity in the Early Universe’s Most Massive Galaxies

January 5, 2026

Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory.

An international team of astronomers has studied ultramassive galaxies - galaxies containing more than 100 billion stars - as they existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old. The results show that while some of these ultramassive galaxies, or UMGs, had already shut down star...

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...

CREST Center-led Workshops Teach Local Girls About STEM and Careers

Merced-area mothers and their daughters participated in engaging hands-on chemistry projects recently, in two sessions hosted by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded CREST Center for...

Field researcher at California's tidal pools.

Research Week Highlights Solutions to Urgent Environmental Issues

It's time for the campus and the community to celebrate UC Merced’s high-level research during Research Week, March 6 through 10. The annual research showcase, hosted by the Office of...

Professor Elizabeth Nowadnick with a computer visualization of a ferroelectric crystal structure.

UC Merced-led Research to Focus on Reducing Power Needed for Computing

Computer technology has exploded in recent years and is only going to keep growing, with ever more use of artificial intelligence and connected devices that communicate, or the Internet of Things...

UC Awards $16.4 Million in Grants to Address Climate, Energy and Health

For the first time, UC Merced faculty members from each of the campus’s three schools have been chosen as principal investigators on some of the 21 exciting new projects that are being funded...

Professor Jay Sharping, lower right, and the students in his lab will have enhanced research capabilities with refurbished dilution refrigerators.

DOD Grant Helps Upgrade Special Refrigerators for Quantum Physics Research

Researchers and students in the departments of Physics, Mechanical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering working on quantum physics will have upgraded equipment soon, thanks to a grant...

Undergrad Stem Cell Training Positions Students For Careers After Graduation

Rising juniors this fall will have an unprecedented opportunity for stem cell research training that could lead directly to careers in stem cell science after graduation. School of Engineering...

Professor Ashlie Martini has been awarded the Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering.

Martini Named to Excellence in Engineering Chair

Mechanical engineering Professor Ashlie Martini has been awarded the Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering. She is one of two women to be appointed to endowed...

UC Merced Professor Sarah Kurtz is seen in a photo.

Kurtz Appointed to Endowed Chair; Establishing New Electrical Engineering Major

Engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz has been awarded the Reno Ferrero Family Chair in Electrical Engineering, making her the second woman to hold an endowed chair in the School of Engineering....

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