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...

New Supercomputer Can Advance Diverse Array of Research

A new supercomputer assembled on campus this summer is the first step toward making UC Merced a computational training ground for researchers throughout the Central Valley. “We can do extraordinarily...

Students Recognized for Important MESA Lab Projects

Professor YangQuan Chen has many reasons to be proud of his Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab. Besides being extremely popular — so popular the lab has to turn away applicants...

Student Examines Role of Gender in Perception of Political Scandals

With the 2016 presidential race already in full swing, political science graduate student Kayla Canelo’s research is particularly timely. This spring and summer, Canelo designed and carried out a...

Literature Professor Wins Latino Book Award

UC Merced Professor Manuel M. Martín-Rodríguez recently won a 2015 International Latino Book Award for “With a Book in Their Hands: Chicano/a Readers and Readerships,” which beat six other finalists...

SSHA Professors Conducting Summer Research Projects

Like their colleagues in science and engineering, researchers in UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts are keeping busy this summer with a wide variety of projects. Among them...

Science and Engineering Researchers Stay Busy in Summer

The summer might mean an extended break for some in the campus community, but UC Merced researchers are busier than ever. Whether here or abroad, many professors and students are taking advantage of...

Climate Scientist Aims to Change National Dialogue, One Story at a Time

Climate scientist Emmanuel Vincent noticed climate change discussions in Europe had become somewhat politically polarized before he left France a few years ago, and found the same situation on a...

Researcher to Study Nuances of Neurons in the Brain

Neurobiologists have identified different types of neurons in the brain, but have struggled to put that knowledge into a useful context because they don't yet fully understand what makes one neuron...

Scientists Decipher the Tick-Tock of Biological Clocks

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, have taken another step toward unlocking the mysteries of the biological clock. In a study published online today (June 25) in Science Express —...