Research Excellence

Hellman Fellowships Welcome Three New Members from UC Merced

September 4, 2025

This year's Hellman Fellows: Adeyemi Adebiyi, Qian Wang and Meredith Van Natta

As the Hellman Fellowships celebrate their 30th year, three more researchers, one from each of UC Merced’s schools, have joined the prestigious ranks of recipients. Electrical engineering Professor Qian Wang, sociology Professor Meredith Van Natta and Earth systems Professor Adeyemi...

Human Waste Treatment Helps Solve Climate-Change Puzzle, New Study Shows

About 4.5 billion people around the globe do not have access to adequate sanitation, and what they do have — typically pit latrines and lagoons — are responsible for widespread illnesses...

Internet of Things and Autonomous Retail Research Win Awards for Professor, Students

The number of everyday smart devices, such as Nest and Samsung SmartThings, is projected to grow to the billions in the coming decade. Professor Shijia Pan and her students work to quantify the...

Graduate student Boe Mendewala is UC Merced's 2020 Grad Slam champion.

Physics Ph.D. Student Named Grad Slam Campus Champion

UC Merced’s Graduate Division wrapped up its annual Grad Slam competition this week, announcing Physics doctoral candidate Boe Mendewala as its campus champion. The judges awarded two...

UC Merced Part of CITRIS’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants

UC Merced professors are leading or participating in four technology projects designed to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (...

Changing Snowmelt Threatens Valley Ag, Way of Life

The San Joaquin Valley — with all its agriculture and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it — is one of the places most at risk because of changing snowmelt patterns, a new...

How 'Bout Them Apples? Engineers Correlate Friction to Texture

Think about biting into a fresh apple. What do you perceive? Is it juicy? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Now remember how unpleasant it is to bite into mealy apple flesh. Vineland Research and Innovation...

UC Merced Professor Arias Wins Guggenheim Fellowship

Arturo Arias, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation professor in the Humanities at UC Merced, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his ground-breaking study of contemporary...

COVID-19 More Likely to Impact Smokers and People Exposed to Secondhand Smoke, Report Finds

Smokers and former smokers are not only more susceptible to COVID-19, they are far more likely to see their conditions worsen over time and to require intensive respiratory assistance, according to a...

Whiting Fellowship Will Help Build Refugee View into High School Curricula

The Whiting Public Engagement Program has awarded a $50,000 fellowship to Professor Ma Vang for her efforts to integrate the experiences of refugees into education for high school students in...

All News