Staff & Faculty News

Amazon Funds Research into Making AI More Efficient

March 1, 2026

Depicted are the letters "Ai" on a green graphic background

Two UC Merced computer science and engineering professors will delve deep into artificial intelligence in projects with Amazon. Dong Li and Xiaoyi Lu earned Amazon Research Awards, the technology giant announced recently. Amazon Research Awards provide unrestricted funds and Amazon Web...

Professor lectures in front of class of college students

New Teaching Professor Title Recognizes Work, Expertise of Faculty Group

Roughly 20 faculty members at UC Merced have new titles this semester that more accurately reflects their work: Teaching professor. The working title change involves the group of faculty in the L(...

Engineering Professor Working to Improve Strawberry Harvesting

Harvesting is said to be one of the most costly and labor-intensive operations in strawberry production. But a UC Merced engineering researcher is looking for ways to make it easier and cheaper....

Applied Math — an ‘Oddity’ in its Field — Continues to Evolve at UC Merced

Math at UC Merced isn’t exactly like math at most other universities. Sure, there are parabolas and equations, orders of operations and cosines, but at this campus, those lead into topics...

Hellman Family Recognizes Young UC Merced Faculty Projects and Careers

Six faculty members have been named this year’s Hellman Fellows — two from each of UC Merced’s schools. The 2019-20 winners are: • Professor Anna E. Beaudin, Department...

UC Merced Cultivates More Ag-Food-Tech Expertise with New CITRIS Hire

Leigh Bernacchi, Ph.D., has officially joined UC Merced’s Center for Information Technology in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and Banatao Institute as the program director. “Leigh...

UC Merced's Beginnings sculpture in the middle of a grassy quad

Advisory Committee Named for UC Merced Chancellor Search

University of California President Janet Napolitano today (July 29) announced the formation of an advisory committee of university faculty, staff, students, alumni and foundation representatives to...

Founding Professor Named Associate Dean of Natural Sciences

The School of Natural Sciences has a new associate dean for Academic Programs, founding faculty member Professor Michael Colvin. “With his experience as a researcher and administrator,...

Auxiliary Services Restructured to Better Serve Students

UC Merced leadership met with more than 50 university staff members this month to discuss organizational changes to housing, dining and other auxiliary services on campus. The goal is to improve...

Zanzucchi Appointed Associate Dean for Student Services and Academics

Anne Zanzucchi has worn many different hats in her 14 years at UC Merced and now she is preparing to enter her newest role as associate dean for Student Services and Academics for the School of...