School of Natural Sciences

Fall Commencement Graduates Urged to Write Their Own Story

December 22, 2025

Student speaker at 2024 UC Merced Fall Commencement

A beaming Jesus Cevon-Gonzalez stood on Merced’s Main Street, surrounded by his mom and dad, grandparents, sister and other loved ones. He clutched the proof of a freshly bestowed bachelor’s degree in computer science. “I’m just trying to make my parents proud,...

Students in white lab coats working at a lab bench with scientific equipment.

Campus Lands $1M Howard Hughes Grant to Make STEM More Inclusive

UC Merced’s efforts to make science education more inclusive were recently given a huge boost after the campus was awarded its first Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant, an...

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...

Misbehaving “Killer” Cells Accelerate Progress of Autoimmune Disease

In 1998, scientists studying rheumatoid arthritis observed a population of immune cells that weren’t behaving the way they were supposed to. Immunologists noted the strange phenomenon, but...

Following a Devastating Pandemic, California’s Sea Stars are Evolving

In 2012, Environmental Systems graduate student Lauren Schiebelhut was collecting DNA from ochre sea stars living along the Northern California coast — part of an effort to study genetic...

Outstanding Student Awards Celebrate the Cream of the Crop

Verenize Arceo of Winton has represented UC Merced at the state Capitol, but her most recent achievement is closer to home. The history major is among the 20 graduates in the Class of 2018 honored...

Woman in olive shirt rests on railing in front of concrete wall.

Beaudin Named Campus’ Second Winner of Prestigious Pew Award

Biology Professor Anna Beaudin was named a member of the 2018 class of Pew Biomedical Scholars today, one of 22 early-career researchers nationwide to receive this year’s prestigious award...

Berhe Selected by National Academies to Serve as “New Voice” for Science

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) just announced that they’ve selected Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe to serve as an inaugural member of the Academies’...

Study Finds That Gene Transcription Can Serve as Brain’s Timekeeper

Neurons keep time. These brain cells – which are responsible for the brain’s “heavy lifting,” from information processing to memory formation – seem to "know"...

Children’s Museum Pop-Up Arrives Friday

A team of educators, policy makers and community members are working to bring a children’s museum to Merced. To celebrate the museum’s first pop-up exhibit, Merced For Kids, museum...