Social Sciences

Hellman Fellowships Welcome Three New Members from UC Merced

September 4, 2025

This year's Hellman Fellows: Adeyemi Adebiyi, Qian Wang and Meredith Van Natta

As the Hellman Fellowships celebrate their 30th year, three more researchers, one from each of UC Merced’s schools, have joined the prestigious ranks of recipients. Electrical engineering Professor Qian Wang, sociology Professor Meredith Van Natta and Earth systems Professor Adeyemi...

Alumnus Takes Trailblazing Spirit to Washington

David Do sits in his office in Washington, D.C. — nearly 3,000 miles from UC Merced — reflecting on the path he’s cut for himself. Do, who now serves as director of the city’s Office of Asian and...

NIH Grant Charts Path to UC Merced Ph.D. for Fresno State Students

A new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will create a pipeline to doctoral degrees in biomedical and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Merced, for underrepresented...

SSHA Professors Conducting Summer Research Projects

Like their colleagues in science and engineering, researchers in UC Merced’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts are keeping busy this summer with a wide variety of projects. Among them...

Grad Student Examines Use of Social Media in Health Care

The use of images and direct questions by health communicators on Facebook tends to increase user engagement, though linking to external websites and videos does not. Posts conveying positive...

Study: Real-World Negotiators Bargain More Fairly

Experienced policymakers are more likely to make fair offers in bargaining than the average person, and less likely to accept low offers — even if it means both sides get nothing. Such were the...

Sociologist Earns Fulbright Scholar Award to Study in Honduras

Paul Almeida, a sociology professor at the University of California, Merced, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to study non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their role in community well...

Sociologist Earns Prestigious Award for 2014 Book

UC Merced Professor Paul Almeida has been selected by the Pacific Sociological Association (PSA) as the 2015 recipient of its Distinguished Scholarship Award for his book, “Mobilizing Democracy:...

Relax: Benefits of Leisure Go Beyond the Moment

Doing the things you enjoy can be good for your health, according to a new study by Professor Matthew Zawadzki, a health psychologist with the University of California, Merced. The study,...

Sociologist Awarded for Book on Inequality in Higher Education

The American Sociological Association (ASA) has honored Professor Laura Hamilton and her co-author with its Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award for their 2013 book, “Paying for the Party: How...