San Joaquin Valley

Study Indicates Human-caused Dust Events are Linked to Fallow Farmland

June 2, 2025

The Central Valley is a major contributor to a growing dust problem, in large part because of agriculture, researchers say.

An average of more than 1 million acres of idled farmland a year is a significant contributor to a growing dust problem in California that has implications for millions of residents’ health and the state’s climate. A new study published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment...

Rose Scott engages with a child to gauge his reactions as part of her research.

Grant Enables Researcher to Focus on Valley Families and Children’s Development

Certain aspects of children's social cognition ripple throughout their lives, including whether small children can understand that other people’s minds are different than their own. That...

Researcher Takes First Step Toward Improved Diagnosis for Valley Fever

Clinicians searching for a new way to identify Valley fever patients who will develop the disease’s worst symptoms will find hope in a new paper by UC Merced Professor Katrina Hoyer . A...

Extension Training Future Teachers and Child-Care Workers

The California Teachers Association (CTA) indicates the state faces a massive shortage of highly qualified teachers – especially those who can teach math, science and special education —...

From left: Interim SSHA Dean Jeff Gilger, alumnus Michael Pierick ('16), Chancellor Dorothy Leland and Merced Mayor Mike Murphy at Wednesday's UC Board of Regents meeting.

UC Regents Learn of UC Merced's Community Impact

Michael Pierick’s road to presenting as part of the UC Merced delegation at this week’s UC Board of Regents meeting started in 2012, with a pit stop on the way to a basketball tryout at...

Distinguished guests joined the chancellor for a campus tour

UC Merced, Bay Area Council Eye Potential 'Megaregion'

UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland and Merced Mayor Mike Murphy welcomed the Bay Area Council to Merced on Thursday for a robust discussion on potential future connections between Merced and ...

Hundreds gathered to celebrate the opening of the first three buildings of the Merced 2020 Project.

Moving In: First Buildings of Massive Expansion Open to Students

Less than two years after breaking ground on its unprecedented campus expansion, the University of California, Merced, last week celebrated the opening of the first three buildings of the Merced 2020...

A young boy and a woman play with educational toys.

Free Children’s Pop-Up Exhibit Returns to Merced

Kids Discovery Station, this year’s second installment of the children’s pop-up exhibit, opened Aug. 1 at the Merced County Library after the resounding success of the city’s first...

A woman holds a broken cigarette in her hands

Multimillion-Dollar Grant Brings Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center to Campus

UC Merced has been awarded a $3.8 million grant to establish the UC Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC), positioning UC Merced and the San Joaquin Valley region as a leading center for the...

Merced River Helps Explain How Soils Capture and Store Planet-Warming Carbon

Soils are carbon sinks, storing more planet-warming carbon than the atmosphere and all animal and plant life combined. But they can also release massive amounts of stored carbon into the...