Research Excellence

New Technology, New Opportunities, New Varieties: UC, Almond Board Sign Agreement

September 10, 2025

UC Merced and Almond Board officials are pictured underneath letters that spell out "University of California Merced"

A new partnership focused on a popular snack nut will offer exciting opportunities for students, research potential for faculty and the latest technology for farmers. Representatives of the University of California and the Almond Board of California signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU,...

Leaf-cutter ants in the tropical rain forest of Costa Rica carry cut leaves back to their colony.

Study: Tiny ‘Ecosystem Engineers’ Are an Overlooked Source of Carbon Dioxide Emissions

It’s estimated that a leaf-cutter ant colony can strip an average tree of its foliage in a day, and that more than 17 percent of leaf production by plants surrounding a colony goes straight...

Research Week Offers Events, Education, Tours and More

This year’s Research Week, March 4-8, promises more community connections than ever before. Research Week , sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, focuses on the...

Scientists Simulate Forest, Fire Dynamics to Understand Area Burn of Future Wildfires

Climate change and wildfire make a combustible mix with deadly and costly consequences. Scientists have been trying to understand that link for many years, studying the effects of climate and...

A women in a blue lab coat wearing a blue latex glove holds a microscope slide up to the camera.

Grad Student Discovers, Patents Process to Create “Nanofoams” in Liquid Crystals

It sounds like an easy-to-follow recipe from the world of molecular gastronomy: Dissolve nanoparticles in liquid crystals and cool to form frothy nanofoams, tiny tubes and hollow microspheres. But...

Several UC Merced professors will research how biochar can help reduce methane emissions from manure on dairies.

Researchers Hope to Tackle Methane Emissions in Manure Through Use of Biochar

You can smell them a mile away; there’s no mistaking the smell of cows and their methane emissions. The odor, of course, comes from tons of methane-spewing manure. Thanks to a multimillion-...

From left: UC Merced senior Fisher Dietz, Professor Jeff Jenkins and Director of Cyberinfrastructure and Research Computing Jeff Weekley observe Jenkins’ repeat photography research using the WAVE.

The Future of Heritage and Cultures

Technological advancements and a shift to interdisciplinary research have changed the way researchers can look at the past to help inform the future. Find out how UC Merced is helping to lead the...

Next Generations Building Next-Level Electronics

Imagine a cell phone you can fold up and carry in your wallet. When you drop it, nothing cracks or breaks, or if it does, it repairs itself. And when it’s time for an upgrade, the old phone...

Innovative Partnership Aims to Restore Sierra Nevada Forest Health

The French Meadows Forest Restoration Project, an innovative collaboration approved this week, aligns the expertise of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced, the U.S. Forest Service, the...

Computer Science Professor Named Fellow of Prestigious Institute

In recognition of his contributions to object tracking and face recognition research, Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang has been elevated to the status of Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and...

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