Research

UC Merced Scientists Among Global Elite Shaping AI, Climate and Health

January 26, 2026

UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage. Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years....

Cognitive Scientist Earns Early Career Impact Award

UC Merced Professor Rick Dale is a recipient of the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS) Early Career Impact Award from the Society for Computers in Psychology. Dale...

Study: Early High-Altitude Settlers Were Hunter-Gatherers, Not Farmers

A new paper by UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer begins to settle a longstanding debate over when people began permanently occupying higher elevations of the Tibetan Plateau, and shows communities...

Scientists Build Synthetic Cell-Sized Membranes Out of Paper

Scientists have been synthesizing lipid membranes from a variety of materials, making them as lifelike as possible to learn more about how cells work and how they can be manipulated. UC Merced...

Professor’s Himalayan Archaeological Finds Documented on ‘NOVA’

Join UC Merced Professor Mark Aldenderfer as he and his colleagues explore the world’s highest cave tombs, revealing new details about the lives of the people who settled the Himalaya, in the season...

Researchers to Discuss Strong Family Relationships in Symposium

UC Merced will host its fourth annual Symposium on the Child and Family from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 28, offering a day of talks by researchers on the theme of “Strong Families: Fostering Healthy...

Robots and People Working Together to Save Water and Enhance Agriculture

A nearly $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping University of California researchers refine collaborative robotic technology that could change the way crops are...

Researchers Enlist Hospital in Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

There are 1.7 million multidrug-resistant, hospital-acquired infections that extend hospital stays, increase medical expenses and decrease quality of life. The United States alone reports at least...

Picking Over the Past Provides Clues to the Future

UC Merced professors Jessica Blois and Justin Yeakel and their graduate students are sifting through time, picking out tiny clues that will give them a mouse’s eye view of the ecosystem that...

High-Altitude Archaeology Uncovers Earliest Evidence of Potato Consumption

Every French fry, gnocchi, tater tot and order of hash browns humans have eaten in the past 5,000 years can be traced back to one place in the world — northwestern Bolivia and southern Peru. A paper...