School of Natural Sciences

Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost

November 12, 2025

three stages of cotton textile composting

UC Merced researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles. The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from clothing into compost to demonstrate efficient composting with the right recipe, and the compost’s...

Future of Humanity Linked to Soil Health in New 'Science' Article

Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the dirt under their feet. But a new article co-authored by UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and published this week in the prestigious...

Researchers Reverse Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics

The rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing problem in the United States and the world. New findings by researchers in evolutionary biology and mathematics could help doctors better...

Mentoring Program Empowers Student Leaders

For senior Jessica Nguyen, UC Merced has fueled more than academic preparedness — it has sparked her fervent interest in civic leadership. Nguyen has been involved in the Women’s Program’s Lift While...

Campus Celebrates 10th Annual Leadership Awards

The 2015 UC Merced Leadership Awards were held this evening (April 30) at the Wallace-Dutra Amphitheater. Presented by the Margo F. Souza Student Leadership Center, the awards recognize and celebrate...

Chemist to Lobby for NSF Funding at Washington Event

Chemistry Professor Hrant Hratchian is part of a delegation of academics at the Coalition for National Science Funding’s (CNSF) advocacy day in Washington, D.C., today. Hratchian will show his lab’s...

Mapping Genomes of Pine Bacteria Yields Unexpected Results

UC Merced Professor Carolin Frank is helping figure out how a certain bacteria helps promote healthy tree growth by studying the bacteria’s genome sequence. In the new paper, published in the open-...

Grad Student Uses Math to Study Deadly Diseases

Graduate student Jason Davis doesn’t use a traditional lab to study prion diseases. Instead, he relies on computer modeling and applied mathematics. Working with Suzanne Sindi, a professor of applied...

Campus Celebrates UC Natural Reserve System on Protected Lands

Research, teaching and public outreach were all on display today at UC Merced’s celebration of the University of California Natural Reserve System’s 50th anniversary. The inaugural celebration of the...

Two Grad Students Earn Prestigious NSF Fellowships

UC Merced graduate students Theo Crouch II and Lauren Edwards recently were awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Jessica Ross...