Science

UC Merced Chemist Wins DOE Award to Simulate Electron Motion at Quantum Speeds

November 5, 2025

Chemistry Professor Henrik Larsson has received a prestigious Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, becoming the first faculty member from UC Merced’s School of Natural Sciences to earn the honor. The award includes more than $878,000 in funding over five years to support...

Applied Math Conference Highlights Student Research

The UC Merced student chapter of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) hosted the second annual Central Valley Regional SIAM Student Chapter Conference on April 7. In only...

Study Identifies Effects of EU Expansion on Labor, Research

Rather than a brain-drain, the 13-country European Union (EU) expansion initiated more than a decade ago triggered a brain-reconfiguration — the rising circulation of knowledge through the increased...

NASA Astronaut to Share Space Flight and Science Experience with Campus

Astronaut Tammy Jernigan, who completed five missions aboard U.S. space shuttles, will speak to students, faculty and staff in a special presentation during the annual open house for the Merced...

Meza Elected to AAAS Executive Committee

School of Natural Sciences Dean Juan Meza was recently elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Committee on Council Affairs. His selection became official during...

Research Shows Global Photosynthesis on the Rise

Plant photosynthesis was stable for hundreds of years before the industrial revolution, but grew rapidly in the 20th century, according to new research published today in Nature. “Virtually all life...

Study: Dust Helps Regulate Sierra Nevada Ecosystems

“Collecting dust” isn’t usually considered a good thing. But dust from as near as the Central Valley and as far away as the Gobi Desert in Asia provides more nutrients — especially critical...

Paleorecord Critical to Future Conservation Efforts, Scientists Say

The rapid pace of global change has large impacts on nature, and on the work conservation biologists will have before them, too. From here on out, experts say, the fossil record is going to be...

Renewable Power Project Could Help Cut Food Processing Costs, Feed People and Animals

Researchers at UC Solar have developed and tested an innovative solar thermal-powered process for turning the pomace, or byproduct, of vegetable and fruit processing into reusable products,...

Ancient Biological Clockwork Revealed Using ‘Secret Sauce’

In finding a way to see assemblies of the proteins that direct cyanobacterial circadian rhythms, or biological clocks, UC Merced biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang and his colleagues have done what...