School of Natural Sciences

Innovative Research Secures Coveted Fellowships for Ph.D. Students

January 14, 2026

graphic with five individuals higlighted; three females and two males with UC Merced and ARCS logos on blue background

The ARCS Foundation Northern California awarded five UC Merced graduate students with 2025-26 fellowships. ARCS advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to exceptional graduate-level scholars in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. In...

UC Merced Celebrates Largest Graduating Class

A joyous throng of 776 degree candidates of the University of California, Merced, today marched through the Beginnings Sculpture and onto the campus’ South Bowl to receive their prized degrees,...

Senior Earns Prestigious Study Opportunities

UC Merced senior Jesse Anaya answered his phone one day to hear an unfamiliar voice ask, “Are you ready to change the world?” “Yes,” he replied. “Now, who is this?” A representative from the Harvard...

Racing Team Puts Classroom Lessons to the Test

UC Merced’s Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team built its first racecar and exhibited it at a national competition last June. The student club has crafted a more advanced machine this...

Campus' Annual Celebration of Research Continues to Grow

From the campus’ own undergraduate and graduate students to distinguished faculty members from here and abroad, Research Week at the University of California, Merced, will offer a wide range of...

Physics Graduate Student Explores Nanoworld

When Andrea Rodarte began studying physics, she first wanted to look to the stars for answers. Instead, she’s finding them in nanoparticles. “The people I know who went into astrophysics only get to...

Marine Biologist Receives Fulbright Award

Mónica Medina, a professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research at the Observatoire Océanologique...

Continued Smoking Can Spread Cancer, Research Shows

Cigarette smoke cannot only cause cancer, but it’s also responsible for the spread of it, according to research by UC Merced biochemistry Professor Henry Jay Forman. Forman discovered tobacco smoke...

Researchers Discover Protein Critical for Tissue Regeneration

A flatworm known for its ability to regenerate cells is shedding more light on how cancer could be treated and how regenerative medicine could better target diseases, according to researchers at the...

Impact: Ecologist Simulates Climate Change with Infrared Heaters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06VNtISfSycClimate change is leading to higher temperatures around the world, forcing plants, trees and animals to adapt to new conditions or relocate, often to higher...