Research

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...

Celebrate Black History Month by learning about the good work being done on campus.

Eight Stories to Read for Black History Month

Black History Month may feel different this February, after a year of the coronavirus and historic protests for social justice. While coming together couldn’t be more important, under current...

Bioengineer’s Infectious-Cells Research Earns an NSF CAREER Award

Bioengineering Professor Arvind Gopinath received a CAREER award for his research that seeks to understand how living biological materials such as bacterial swarms and fungal biofilms colonize...

Prestigious Biennial Grant Program Includes Funding for Ag-labor and Wildfire Research

Two new projects designed and led by UC Merced researchers will address challenges facing many Californians — wildfire recovery and agricultural labor — but will also have global reach...

Give to UC Merced 2020 draws 487 donors and raises $163,000 to support students and campus initiatives.

Month of Giving Surpasses Fundraising Goal

During December, the Give to UC Merced 2020 initiative tripled the campus’s goal of raising $50,000. The final tally: $163,000 raised for a variety of campus initiatives and programs. The...

2020 brought a wealth of challenges, but once again the Bobcat community proved its resilience, coming together to ensure the university’s mission of teaching, research and service would continue. Photo Credit: Dave Burk © SOM

UC Merced: Looking Back on 2020

There was an undeniable feeling of optimism and excitement in January 2020, as the calendar turned to a new year at the University of California, Merced. The university would be welcoming its fourth...

UC Merced is planning for a return to primarily in-person instruction starting in the fall.

UC Plans for Fall 2021 In-person Instruction Across Its 10 Campuses

The University of California announced today that it is planning for a return to primarily in-person instruction systemwide starting in fall 2021. The announcement is intended to provide prospective...

EECS Grad Student Awarded Google Ph.D. Fellowship

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ph.D. student Xueting Li is a recipient of the 13th annual Google Ph.D. Fellowship Program. Li works in Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang’s Vision and...

Chemistry Professor Tao Ye and his students gathered on campus.

Chemical Biology Lab Creating DNA-based Nanomachines that can Self Assemble

Professor Tao Ye and colleagues have received a $1.18 million grant from the Department of Energy to study how DNA molecules can arrange themselves into nanostructures that could form the basis of...

The scarcity of research on smoking rates among Arab Americans led Ph.D. student Sarah Alnahari to broaden her focus from minority and immigrant health to the social, historical and political contexts pertaining to tobacco control.

Fellowship Advances Student’s Research into Arab American Smoking Behaviors

Public Health doctoral student Sarah Alnahari was awarded a UC Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP) Predoctoral Fellowship to continue her community-driven research examining tobacco use...