Research

Research Week Marks UC Merced’s First Full Year as an R1 Institution

April 9, 2026

Two students and their professor in a UC Merced research lab.

UC Merced will host Research Week April 13-17, celebrating innovative work across campus and encouraging engagement in research among students, faculty and staff. The weeklong event allows the campus community to showcase research findings, participate in workshops, take tours and connect with...

Study: Dust Helps Regulate Sierra Nevada Ecosystems

“Collecting dust” isn’t usually considered a good thing. But dust from as near as the Central Valley and as far away as the Gobi Desert in Asia provides more nutrients — especially critical...

Paleorecord Critical to Future Conservation Efforts, Scientists Say

The rapid pace of global change has large impacts on nature, and on the work conservation biologists will have before them, too. From here on out, experts say, the fossil record is going to be...

New Classroom Building Earns Campus’ 17th LEED Certification

Ten years after receiving its first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), UC Merced has earned platinum certification for...

Renewable Power Project Could Help Cut Food Processing Costs, Feed People and Animals

Researchers at UC Solar have developed and tested an innovative solar thermal-powered process for turning the pomace, or byproduct, of vegetable and fruit processing into reusable products,...

Ancient Biological Clockwork Revealed Using ‘Secret Sauce’

In finding a way to see assemblies of the proteins that direct cyanobacterial circadian rhythms, or biological clocks, UC Merced biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang and his colleagues have done what...

Donation Encourages Grad Students to Share Their Research

The contest for top honors in UC Merced’s Grad Slam competition will be even more intense this year thanks to a generous donation from Jane Binger, Ed.D., and her husband, Robert Bernstein, M.D....

New Initiative Advances Agriculture Technology Education

As agriculture and food production achieve greater high-tech heights and resources such as water become more scarce, the country will increasingly depend on innovative solutions from its brightest ...

New UC Solar Project Produces Both Heat and Power

One of California’s greatest energy challenges is finding innovative ways to lower natural gas consumption to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. To help meet that...

Annual Research Week Celebrates UC Merced’s Innovation and Advances

It’s time for the annual celebration of one of the main missions of UC Merced, along with education and public service — research. From March 6-10, people on and off campus can...