- UC Merced Sees Strong Gains in U.S. News Grad School Rankings/news/2026/uc-merced-sees-strong-gains-us-news-grad-school-rankings2026-04-07 00:00:00The university's School of Engineering earns top 100 national ranking 11 years after debut.Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, First. Further. Forward, Rankings, Campus, Engineering, Computer Science, Environmental Engineering, Materials Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Research, Graduate Division, Research, School of Engineering, Bioengineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Physics, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Political Science, Psychological Sciences, Sociology, Science, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Physics, Quantitative and Systems Biology, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Graduate StudentsBy Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucm_usnews_engineering_hero.jpg" width="1740" height="900" alt="Top 100 Best Graduate Schools ranking, two students in a lab" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced gprograms across a range of disciplines received national recognition in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings.<p>UC Merced saw broad gains in the U.S. News and World Report <a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools">2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings</a> with graduate programs rising in national standing, reflecting the campus’s growing academic and research profile.</p>
<p>UC Merced’s <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/">School of Engineering</a> broke into the top 100 in the rankings, securing No. 99 in the Best Engineering Schools and ranked in the top 12 among California universities. Engineering rose seven spots since last year and is up 41 positions since debuting in the U.S. News rankings in 2015, alongside institutions such as the University of Oklahoma, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), University of Missouri and University of Nebraska (Lincoln).</p>
<p>“Earning a top 100 spot 11 years after first entering the U.S. News rankings, and 20 years after the campus opened, is a significant milestone for UC Merced’s School of Engineering,” Dean Rakesh Goel said. “It reflects the extraordinary dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and indicates the strong upward momentum of our programs as we continue to expand our impact and reputation nationwide.”</p>
<p>Six of Engineering's seven graduate programs made the rankings list again this year. <a href="https://es.ucmerced.edu/">Environmental Engineering </a>climbed four spots to No. 82, earning a shared ranking with New Mexico State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and University of New Mexico.</p>
<p>Other ranked programs include the <a href="https://mbse.ucmerced.edu/">Materials and Biomaterials Engineering Graduate Group</a> (Best Materials Engineering Programs) at No. 101; the <a href="https://bioengineering.ucmerced.edu/">Bioengineering Graduate Program</a> (Best Biomedical/Bioengineering Programs) at No. 126; computer engineering (<a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/">part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Graduate Group</a>) and the <a href="https://me.ucmerced.edu/">Mechanical Engineering Graduate Group</a>, both positioned at No. 103; and <a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/">electrical engineering</a> (part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Group) at No. 125.</p>
<p>Recent highlights for the School of Engineering include:</p>
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<p>Computer science and engineering professors <a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/content/dong-li">Dong Li</a> and <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/xiaoyi-lu">Xiaoyi Lu</a> earned <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/amazon-funds-research-making-ai-more-efficient">Amazon Research Awards</a> to delve deep into artificial intelligence using AWS Trainium, a chip purpose-built for high-performance deep learning training of generative AI models.</p>
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<p>Electrical engineering and computer science Professor <a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/content/pengfei-su" target="_blank">Pengfei Su</a> received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his research on cross-layer performance tuning to enhance deep learning model efficiency.</p>
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<p>Electrical engineering and computer science Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/two-uc-merced-researchers-among-year%E2%80%99s-aaas-fellows">Ming-Hsuan Yang</a> was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his distinguished contributions to the field of computer vision, particularly for visual tracking, low-level vision and visual learning. Yang appeared on Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited list of the world’s most‑cited researchers.</p>
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<p>Climate experts <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou">John Abatzoglou</a>, a professor in management of complex systems, and Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/crystal-kolden">Crystal Kolden</a>, director of the campus’s Fire Resilience Center, also appeared on the <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/uc-merced-scientists-among-global-elite-shaping-ai-climate-and-health">Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited</a> list. </p>
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<p><a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/research-hidden-chemistry-shaping-future-air-quality-earns-zhang-nsf-award">Professor Xuan Zhang</a> received an NSF CAREER Award to support her project to uncover how chemical shifts in the atmosphere could affect the air we breathe and the climate.</p>
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<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/baxter_lab_101008-10.jpg" width="700" height="450" alt="scientist performing chemistry research in a UC Merced lab" />Chemistry and Biochemistry led the School of Natural Sciences with an 18‑spot jump to No. 118 in the latest U.S. News Best Graduate School rankings.https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Graduate programs in the <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/">School of Natural Sciences</a> posted some of the largest gains in this year’s U.S. News rankings. <a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu/">The Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Group</a> made the largest jump, up 18 spots to No. 118. The <a href="https://qsb.ucmerced.edu/">Quantitative and Systems Biology Graduate Group</a> (Best Biological Sciences Programs) ranked No. 131, up 13 spots from last year, and the <a href="https://physics.ucmerced.edu/">Physics Graduate Program</a> rose nine spots to No. 104.</p>
<p>"These rankings reflect the strength and momentum of graduate education across UC Merced. In the School of Natural Sciences, we’re especially proud to see significant gains across chemistry, biology and physics,” Dean Michael Findlater said. “These areas are central to the university’s research mission and represent the School’s unofficial motto that we do research ‘From the Valley to the Stars.’ Together with our colleagues in engineering and the social sciences, this progress highlights the depth and breadth of scholarship being built across the campus."</p>
<p>Highlights for the School of Natural Sciences include:</p>
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<p>Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/two-uc-merced-researchers-among-year%E2%80%99s-aaas-fellows">Asmeret Asefaw Berhe</a> was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her distinguished contributions to soil sciences and for her exemplary leadership in scientific organizations, leading to a more equitable and innovative scientific culture. Chemistry Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/uc-merced-chemist-wins-doe-award-simulate-electron-motion-quantum-speeds">Henrik Larsson</a> received a prestigious Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, becoming the first faculty member from UC Merced to earn the honor.</p>
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<p>Biochemistry Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/unlocking-secrets-tiny-living-clocks-could-revolutionize-science">Andy LiWang</a> received a $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation to support his work to explain how bacteria, and potentially many other organisms, adapt to changes in temperature.</p>
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<p>Cosmology Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/nsf-award-supports-young-faculty-member%E2%80%99s-research-building-blocks-universe">Anna Nierenberg</a> received an NSF CAREER award for a project that will vastly improve the study of the nature of dark matter in the universe.</p>
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<p>The National Institutes of Health renewed Professor <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/nih-grant-enables-outstanding-investigator-advance-knowledge-microbial-infections">Clarissa Nobile</a>’s Maximizing Investigators' Research Award grant for an additional five years and $2.5 million to help her understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health.</p>
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</ul>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>U.S. News ranks business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine graduate programs annually, while other disciplines and specialties in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and other areas are ranked periodically. More information about how U.S. News rankings are weighted is available <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings" target="_blank">on its website</a>.</p>
<p>Three Ph.D. programs in the <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/">School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts</a> earned spots in last year’s U.S. News rankings. The <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/" target="_blank">Sociology Graduate Program</a> made a strong debut in the rankings at No. 64 in the nation, tied with UC Riverside, Temple University, the University of Florida and Washington State University. The <a href="https://graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu/content/political-science-ma-phd#:~:text=UC%20Merced's%20Ph.,Economy%20and%20Political%20Cognition%20%26%20Behavior.">Political Science Graduate Program</a> ranked No. 52, up 11 positions from its debut in the 2022 rankings, and the <a href="https://psychology.ucmerced.edu/graduate-program" target="_blank">Psychological Sciences Graduate Program</a> ranked No. 95, up 63 spots since debuting in 2015.</p>
<p>The U.S. News rankings are designed to help prospective students research more than 2,000 graduate programs, weighing factors such as reputation, research activity and student selectivity.</p>
<p>“These rankings reflect the progress we are making and the future we are building as a leading public research institution,” Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Hrant Hratchian said. “They highlight academic strength, research excellence and our unwavering commitment to graduate education.”</p>
Brenda Ortiz - Fire season fears grow amid western heat wave/news/2026/fire-season-fears-grow-amid-western-heat-wave2026-03-27 00:00:00In The News“A whole bunch of warning signs that are flashing at us,” agreed John Abatzoglou, who studies wildfires at the University of California at Merced.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/27/weather/wildfire-season-west-heat-wave-snowmelt-c...https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/27/weather/wildfire-season-west-heat-wave-snowmelt-climate- How a Sapling and a Viral Candy Made California the World’s Pistachio King /news/2026/how-sapling-and-viral-candy-made-california-world%E2%80%99s-pistachio-king2026-04-02 00:00:00In The NewsStill, there may be benefits to pistachios emerging as a major nut crop of the state, according to Josué Medellín-Azuara, a water resources researcher and professor of environmental engineering at University of California, Merced. They are more tolerant to drought and water salinity compared to walnuts and almonds, and they are consistently a high value crop, he said.
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/02/business/california-pistachios-ir...https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/02/business/california-pistachios-iran-war-dubai-chocolate.html- Sparse Snowpack In California Fuels Concern Over Fast-Approaching Fire Season/news/2026/sparse-snowpack-california-fuels-concern-over-fast-approaching-fire-season2026-04-01 00:00:00In The NewsBut John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/calmatters-sparse-snowpack-in-califo...https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/calmatters-sparse-snowpack-in-california-fuels-22184989.php- UC Merced's Study Abroad Program Among the Country's Best/news/2026/uc-merceds-study-abroad-program-among-countrys-best2026-04-01 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Student & Alumni Success, First. Further. Forward, Study Abroad, Students, Undergraduate StudentsBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced_oia_hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted is a collage of UC Merced students taking part in study abroad programs in various locations around the world." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Students from UC Merced study around the world.<p>Frida Quinto Ruiz went to Sweden with a curious mind. She came home with a plan.</p>
<p>"Studying abroad completely reshaped the direction of my college career in ways I never expected," she said. "I went to Sweden already curious about the world, but I came back with a much clearer sense of where I want to go."</p>
<p>During a tour of the European Union in Brussels, Quinto Ruiz learned about the Fulbright Binational Business Program. The fourth-year economics major applied to the program and recently interviewed to join it after she graduates in May.</p>
<p>"Studying abroad gave me direction I did not know I was looking for," said Quinto Ruiz, who grew up in Livingston and attended Turlock High School. "UC Merced has incredible support for students who want to go abroad."</p>
<p>That support is so strong the university has been recognized by the U.S. Department of State's Gilman Program as a 25th Anniversary Top Producing Institution in the Medium Colleges and Universities category. The Gilman Program supports undergraduate students looking to develop essential career skills through study and intern abroad experiences.</p>
<p>Sociology major Gabriela Lopez Garcia spent the spring semester of 2023 in Barcelona.</p>
<p>"I knew that studying abroad and being away from my friends and family for a semester was going to be tough, but I felt like this was something that I really needed to experience in order to grow," she said in a story she wrote about her adventure. "I will forever be grateful for my decision because I learned so much not only about myself but also about Catalonia's history, cultural activities and the beautiful city of Barcelona."</p>
<p>Lopez Garcia said she chose Spain because she has been fascinated with Barcelona as far back as she can remember, calling it "the most magical city in the world."</p>
<p>"I am happy to say it did not disappoint."</p>
<p>Quinto Ruiz said studying abroad was just part of what made her experience at UC Merced special.</p>
<p>"My path here was not straightforward," she said. She joined the military after graduating from high school at 17.</p>
<p>"When I eventually made my way to higher education and then to UC Merced, I came in as an applied mathematics student before switching to economics after my first semester in spring 2024," she said. "Every step has built on the last, and UC Merced has been a place where I felt like I could truly explore that."</p>
<p>She credited the <a href="https://trv.ucmerced.edu/"> Transfer, Returning and Veteran Services </a> center with easing her transition back to school.</p>
<p>"Working with the TRV center has also opened my eyes to the incredible diversity of students here at UC Merced," she said. "Getting to know transfer students, veterans and returning students has shown me just how many different journeys lead people to this campus, and how many resources exist to help them succeed."</p>
<p>For those considering taking part in studying abroad, Quinto Ruiz said she wholeheartedly recommends jumping in, even if they aren't sure about it.</p>
<p>"This program is not just for students who have it all figured out," she said. "It is for students like me, who at some point felt like they were just drifting through life. … UC Merced has incredible support for students who want to go abroad, and I encourage anyone who is considering it to go to the Study Abroad office and just ask."</p>
<p>After her year in Sweden, Quinto Ruiz said, she returned a different person.</p>
<p>"Studying abroad did not just change my resume, it changed me," she said. "I came back more confident, more culturally aware and more connected to the kind of work I want to do in the world."</p>
<p>She joined the Kappa Delta Chi sorority and became involved in more campus activities.</p>
<p>"I wanted to be part of something bigger than my coursework, and that community has meant so much to me," she said. "I think that is what UC Merced does well: It gives you room to grow in all directions at once."</p>
<p>For more information on the program, go to the <a href="https://mystudyabroad.ucmerced.edu/?utm_source=StudyAbroadWebTopMenu&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=Main2Studio"> Study Abroad website </a> .</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Bioengineering Professor Among Senate District’s ‘Women Who Inspire’/news/2026/bioengineering-professor-among-senate-district%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98women-who-inspire%E2%80%992026-03-31 00:00:00AccoladesStaff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Bioengineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_anna_caballero_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted are Sen. Anna Caballero and the women recognized as "Distinguished Women" for State Senate District 14." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The women were honored at an event at Merced College.<p>State Sen. Anna Caballero recently honored UC Merced bioengineering Professor Sushma Shrinivasan among the “Women Who Inspire” in 2026 for District 14.</p>
<p>According to the senator’s office, Shrinivasan was honored for her continued contributions to education and for serving as an inspiration to girls aspiring to careers in STEM.</p>
<p>“Professor Shrinivasan actively mentors students, judges science fairs and engages local schools to inspire young women and underrepresented students to pursue STEM,” Caballero said. “Recognized for her dedication, innovation and transformative teaching, she has profoundly influenced both her students and the broader community through her commitment to equitable, real-world learning experiences.”</p>
<p>Shrinivasan joined UC Merced in 2017.</p>
<p>“I am deeply honored to be recognized among the Women of Distinction,” she said. “This recognition reflects the importance of giving back through education and continuing to create opportunities that uplift and empower our broader community.</p>
<p>“I hope to continue to make contributions to help more students to see themselves in STEM and pursue their ambitions with confidence.”</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - UC Merced Welcomes High Schoolers Studying Jobs that Support Families/news/2026/uc-merced-welcomes-high-schoolers-studying-jobs-support-families2026-03-30 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Community Engagement, Campus, OutreachBy Seth Allen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_2026-03-30t155056.971.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Early Childhood Education Center Director Danielle Waite speaks to a group of visiting students" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/A tour of the Early Childhood Education Center was conducted by the facility's director Danielle Waite.<p>Across the Valley, the need for professionals who support children and families continues to grow, spanning fields such as education, health care and social services. At UC Merced, new academic programs and hands-on learning opportunities are helping prepare the next generation to meet the demand.</p>
<p>More than 25 students from Merced high schools enrolled in the school district’s Education and Child Development program visited UC Merced on Feb. 27 with their teacher, Savina Sanchez. The students were enrolled in a course called Careers with Infants and Toddler Care.</p>
<p>The visit included a tour of the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) and descriptions of a liberal studies degree starting in fall 2026 and a child development minor degree projected to launch a couple of years later.</p>
<p>Director Danielle Waite led the ECEC tour. The center serves campus families and the Merced community, providing quality care and education for children from infancy through preschool. The center operates under a child-centered, play-based pedagogical framework that emphasizes individualized learning and developmental progress.</p>
<p>The ECEC also is a site for research and community engagement. UC Merced student organizations and volunteers contribute regularly to its programming. Initiatives have included health education activities led by the student Pre-Dental Club, as well as enrichment events hosted by fraternities, sororities and cultural organizations. The center also supports individual undergraduate volunteers pursuing careers related to early childhood development, and education.</p>
<p>The high school students then heard from Professor Catherine Koehler, who chairs UC Merced’s undergraduate program for liberal studies and is executive director of the Degree Completion Program. Koehler was joined by UC Merced student Cristina Carbajal, a psychology major with a minor in natural sciences education. Carbajal is an undergraduate researcher in the Interpersonal Development Lab.</p>
<p>Together, they sketched out the path for a liberal studies degree, which offers courses across the social sciences, humanities and arts, tailoring coursework to students’ interests and career goals.</p>
<p>Koehler said there is a strong support system built into the major, including academic advising, online course options, scholarship opportunities and paid internships. She said California’s statewide rollout of transitional kindergarten, offered to all four-year-olds, has increased the demand for early childhood educators. The coursework satisfies requirements for the state’s multiple subject teaching credential.</p>
<p>“We are thrilled to be able to offer this new academic program to students in our region,” Koehler said. “UC Merced is one of only two UC campuses to offer a liberal studies B.A. The degree strengthens pathways for future teachers in the San Joaquin Valley, while creating opportunities for paraprofessionals and returning students seeking economic mobility.”</p>
<p>The child development minor, led by Alexandra Main, professor of developmental psychology, is expected to begin in 2028; related coursework is already offered. The prospective degree already has generated strong interest from students and is supported by current programs such as the ECEC, the Department of Medical Education, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education.</p>
<p>The minor draws from psychology, public health, sociology, biology and cognitive science and is well-suited for students pursuing careers in education, pediatrics or social work. The pathway includes a practicum option that allows students to gain hands-on experience working with children at the ECEC.</p>
<p>"The broader regional impact of this minor is substantial. Over one-quarter of UC Merced undergraduates are from the San Joaquin Valley, and many remain in the region after graduation,” Main said. “By equipping students with specialized knowledge in child development, this program will strengthen the pipeline of highly trained professionals serving Merced County and the Central Valley.”</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Two UC Merced Researchers Among This Year’s AAAS Fellows/news/2026/two-uc-merced-researchers-among-year%E2%80%99s-aaas-fellows2026-03-26 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Diversity & Inclusion, Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Environment, Materials & Matter, AAPI, Awards, Engineering, Computer Science, Environmental Research, Climate Change, Faculty, Fellowships, Research, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Life and Environmental Sciences, Science, Earth Systems ScienceBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-entrance-sign-campus.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="The sign reads University of California, Merced" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Being named an AAAS Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. <p>Professors <a href="https://les.ucmerced.edu/content/asmeret-asefaw-berhe">Asmeret Asefaw Berhe</a> and <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/ming-hsuan-yang">Ming-Hsuan Yang</a> have been named 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.</p>
<p>They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized this year for their distinguished scientific and social achievements.</p>
<p>Being elected as an AAAS Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors awarded by the association. </p>
<p>Berhe is recognized for her distinguished contributions to soil sciences and for her exemplary leadership in scientific organizations, leading to a more equitable and innovative scientific culture.</p>
<p>"Being elected as a Fellow of AAAS is a deeply meaningful recognition, not just for the science I have worked on, but for the journey that brought me here, from growing up in Eritrea to studying how soil shapes our climate and our collective future,” Berhe said. “The work that I do, with my mentees and collaborators that I share this honor with, has always been rooted in the belief that improving our understanding of the soil system, through basic soil science research, is what equips us to address the most significant challenges humanity faces, from soil health to food security to climate change. I also hope it encourages young scientists who might not always see themselves reflected in spaces like this to keep going.”</p>
<div style="float: right; margin-left: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; width: 250px;"><img alt="Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/documents/asmeret-hero-5.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;" title="Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe" /></div>
<p>Among her many accomplishments, Berhe is a renowned professor of soil biogeochemistry in the <a href="https://les.ucmerced.edu/">Department of Life and Environmental Sciences </a>in the <a href="h8ttps://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/">School of Natural Sciences</a>; the <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2019/berhe-named-endowed-chair-recognition-her-work-soil-sciences">Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology</a>; a member of the <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/berhe-chosen-national-academy-membership-recognition-her-soil-research">National Academy of Engineering</a>; the director of the <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/berhe-chosen-national-academy-membership-recognition-her-soil-research">Sierra Nevada Research Institute</a>; and has served as interim associate dean for Graduate Education. She was also confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the federal director of the Office of Science for the Department of Energy during President Joseph R. Biden’s administration.</p>
<p>Berhe is known for her <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2017/earth-scientist-targets-sexual-harassment-nsf-grant">advocacy for inclusion, anti-harassment and anti-bullying</a>. She previously served as the chair of the U.S. National Committee on Soil Science at the National Academies; was a leadership board member for the Earth Science Women’s Network; and is a co-principal investigator in the ADVANCEGeo Partnership — a National Science Foundation-funded effort to empower geoscientists to respond to and prevent harassment, discrimination, bullying and other exclusionary behaviors in research environments.</p>
<p>Yang, who joined AAAS in 2021, is being recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of computer vision, particularly for visual tracking, low-level vision and visual learning. He has <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/uc-merced-scientists-among-global-elite-shaping-ai-climate-and-health">appeared on Clarivate’s list of highly cited researchers</a> for the past eight years, demonstrating the influence of his research.</p>
<div style="float: left; margin-right: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; width: 180px;"><img alt="Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/documents/ming-hsuan.jpg" style="width: 100%; height: auto; display: block;" title="Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang" /></div>
<p>“I am deeply honored to be named a Fellow of the AAAS and sincerely thank the AAAS for this recognition. My research focuses on vision and learning, aiming to develop robust and scalable methods for visual understanding and generation. This honor reflects the collective efforts of my students, collaborators and colleagues,” he said. “I am especially grateful to my students, whose creativity and dedication have led to impactful contributions, including impactful publications, open-source work, and advances in visual tracking, low-level vision and multimodal learning. I also thank my collaborators for their invaluable insights and continued support.”</p>
<p>Yang, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/">School of Engineering</a>, is known for his seminal work in face detection, object tracking and representation learning. Now, his group is pushing into vision‑language models — systems that connect images and text and increasingly power generative tools and reasoning engines. He was elected a <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/computer-vision-researcher-honored-work-ai">Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence</a> in 2025; and was previously named a <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2022/largest-computing-organization-elevates-computer-vision-researcher">Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery</a>; and a <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2018/computer-science-professor-named-fellow-prestigious-institute">Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers</a>.</p>
<p>A tradition dating back to 1874, election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor, and all Fellows are expected to meet the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity, the society said in a press release. Distinguished past honorees include Ellen Ochoa, Steven Chu, Grace Hopper, Alan Alda, Mae Jemison and Ayanna Howard.</p>
<p>The AAAS Fellows program recognizes individuals whose efforts to advance science or its applications have been deemed scientifically or socially distinguished by their peers. Fellows are selected from a broad range of disciplines — from biology and physics to engineering, education and public policy. The honor reflects a career of impactful contributions to research, leadership and service to the scientific community.</p>
<p>The 2025 class comprises engineers and innovators across 24 AAAS disciplinary sections.</p>
<p>“This year’s AAAS Fellows have demonstrated research excellence, made notable contributions to advance science, and delivered important services to their communities," said Sudip S. Parikh, Ph.D., AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “These Fellows and their accomplishments validate the importance of investing in science and technology for the benefit of all."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - UC Merced’s Center for Health Equity Convenes Partners to Address Patient Trust Gap in San Joaquin Valley/news/2026/uc-merced%E2%80%99s-center-health-equity-convenes-partners-address-patient-trust-gap-san-joaquin2026-03-26 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Community Engagement, Events, Health, Health Disparities, Research, Center of Excellence on Health Disparities, Health Sciences Research InstituteBy Francesca Dinglasan, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_2026-03-25t143724.797.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Dr. Rosa Manzo speaking from behind a podium" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Dr. Rosa Manzo, director of UC Merced's Center for Health Equity, welcomed attendees to the conference. <p>On March 20, UC Merced's Center for Health Equity brought together researchers, regional health partners and community members to share findings from a study on how community health workers are transforming patient care across the San Joaquin Valley.</p>
<p>"This has been a long-term vision for myself and many other individuals: to work community partners into the research process to address the needs of our region," said Dr. Rosa Manzo, principal investigator and center director. "Trust in Action: Community Health Workers, Providers and Communities Advancing Health Equity in San Joaquin Valley" event speakers shared metrics and qualitative data from the center's study on the role of community health workers, also known as promotoras, in building and sustaining trust between patients and providers.</p>
<p>Professor Deborah Wiebe, director of UC Merced's Health Sciences Research Institute, underscored why locally grounded research is needed in the Valley and how its absence has hampered efforts to address health disparities.</p>
<p>"It's very frustrating when you look at health survey data or health information and see an asterisk next to San Joaquin County and the San Joaquin Valley region because no data are available," Wiebe said. "Without that, you can't make evidence-based solutions. You can't make good policy decisions, and it really impairs your ability to advocate at a much broader level."</p>
<p>She added that deeper systematic changes need to be homegrown. "In order to have a good understanding and effective interventions that work in the San Joaquin Valley, it has to start in the San Joaquin Valley. And that's what this partnership is all about."</p>
<p><strong>Research Findings</strong></p>
<p>The study drew on interviews and focus groups conducted from March through July 2024 with 33 health professionals and 39 community health workers (CHW) across three health centers serving eight regional counties. A subsequent community health survey, conducted from July through October 2025, collected 403 responses from patients across partner sites, surpassing the original goal of 100 per site.</p>
<p>The three health partner sites — Camarena Health, Golden Valley Health Centers and Kaweah Health — shared their findings, offering a ground-level view of how trust play out across the Valley's diverse patient populations and care settings.</p>
<p>The patient population surveyed was predominantly Hispanic/Latino and Asian, including a significant Hmong-speaking community, with an average age of 43. Nearly a third of respondents had a high school education or less, and approximately 30% reported annual household income below $30,000. Nearly three-quarters of patients reported strong trust in their providers. Focus group data identified power dynamics in the exam room, communication and emotional safety and cultural respect and competence as the key factors shaping that trust.</p>
<p>One particularly notable finding was that nearly 75% of survey participants scored in the "inadequate" or "marginal" categories on health literacy assessments. Presenters said this directly affects trust, as the provider-patient relationship suffers when patients cannot easily understand the information they are given.</p>
<p>Digital access also emerged as a barrier. While about 77% of participants had access to a smartphone, reliable internet connectivity and comfort with health platforms, like MyChart, remained significant challenges, indicating a gap between device ownership and the ability to meaningfully engage with digital-health tools.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_2026-03-25t145959.215.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Panel session with the moderator standing and holding a mic and four panelists seated" />A panel discussion featured health experts from Camarena Health, Golden Valley Health Centers and Kaweah Health. https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p><strong>The Role of Community Health Workers</strong></p>
<p>One of the most actionable findings from the study involves the reach and impact of CHWs. Despite CHWs' demonstrated effectiveness as patient advocates and cultural liaisons, only about one in four survey participants reported having worked with one. Among those who had, trust scores were notably higher.</p>
<p>The research identified CHWs as uniquely positioned to build patient-provider trust by validating patients' emotions, clarifying medical information and guiding individuals through complex care pathways. Providers described CHWs as cultural bridges and educators capable of reinforcing clinical messages and helping normalize routine healthcare engagement in communities that have historically been weary or suspicious of the healthcare system.</p>
<p>One CHW shared, "Even though physicians usually have some sort of medical Spanish training, it can be difficult to accurately interpret symptoms and feelings being described. We bridge that gap."</p>
<p>Based on the findings, the Center for Health Equity put forward seven recommendations for health systems, policymakers and funders, including:</p>
<p>· Investing in CHW-led care navigation</p>
<p>· Expanding state-level CHW certification and reimbursement pathways,</p>
<p>· Improving access to interpreters</p>
<p>Building clinical environments that center emotional and cultural safety.</p>
<p>The conference featured a keynote address by UC Merced Continuing Spanish Lecturer Yolanda Pineda-Vargas, whose work at the university reflects a deep commitment to connecting academic learning with community engagement.</p>
<p>The conference also showcased the contributions of UC Merced undergraduate research assistants, who presented posters on their work supporting the study, highlighting the project's commitment to training the next generation of community-engaged researchers.</p>
<p>Funding provided by Genentech, a member of the Roche group, supported the Center for Health Equity’s research and the conference.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Her UC Merced Path Changed But Stockton Student Stays on Track/news/2026/her-uc-merced-path-changed-stockton-student-stays-track2026-03-25 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, History & Heritage, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, History and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, Anthropology & Heritage Studies, Students, Undergraduate StudentsBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-student-posing-taliyah-miller.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced student Taliyah Miller poses for photo" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/An obstacle led to personal and academic revelation for Taliyah Miller, who will graduate in four years with two majors.<p>Taliyah Miller would be the first to tell you she arrived at UC Merced with an unwavering, long-range goal: become an anesthesiologist. What she could not have predicted was that a difficult roommate, a therapist’s question and a job she forgot she applied for would upend that goal and leave her better for it.</p>
<p>Miller was raised in Stockton, the third-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley. As the youngest of three with siblings several years older, it was like being an only child. She developed an independent personality early on.</p>
<p>All the Miller children attended Stockton Collegiate, a K–12 charter school. By 11th grade she was deep in its International Baccalaureate diploma program. She credited one course, called Theory of Knowledge, for preparing her for the future.</p>
<p>“That class set me up for college so well,” Miller said. “It touched on every single subject you learn in school and why we study them. I felt almost over-prepared for college coming in.”</p>
<p>Miller applied to nearly every UC campus with the aim of majoring in biological sciences and starting down the path to anesthesiology. UC Merced’s growing medical education program caught her attention, as did the financial aid package, which settled a final choice between UC Merced and the University of San Francisco.</p>
<p><strong>Time for a Reset</strong></p>
<p>“It felt like I could get a fresh start,” she said of attending the Valley campus. “I wouldn’t be far from home, but it was far enough for me to gain independence. I was getting a reset, which I really needed.”</p>
<p>Her first year went generally as planned. Her second did not. A conflict with a roommate sent Miller into a tailspin. She began attending sessions with the university’s Counseling and Psychological Services. What started as a response to a difficult living situation evolved into something more: a guided examination of who she was and what she wanted.</p>
<p>Her therapist made a game-changing observation: Miller seemed more interested in the history and culture behind biology than in the science itself. Sit in on an anthropology course, the therapist said, and see what happens.</p>
<p>Miller found that biological anthropology wove together what she loved about science with the historical and human dimensions she was drawn to. She switched her major to anthropology. She later added a second major in critical race and ethnic studies (CRES). The two disciplines spoke to each other, she said, particularly around anthropology’s complicated historical relationship with eugenics and indigenous communities.</p>
<p>The pivot changed everything. Her new double major felt like a conversation she had been trying to have her whole life. The crisis that brought her to counseling had reset her purpose.</p>
<p><strong>Mentoring Other Students</strong></p>
<p>Around the same time, Miller applied to be a peer navigator with the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. It was one of many campus jobs she applied for, so when a callback came from SSHA she scrambled to research the role before an interview. She turned out to be an ideal fit.</p>
<p>“Taliyah brings a positive and collaborative energy that students and staff naturally gravitate toward,” said Destiny Dias, a SSHA academic advising support specialist. “She is willing to step in wherever needed, and she approaches her work with professionalism and genuine care for the students she serves.”</p>
<p>The job altered the trajectory of her academic career in a second, quieter way. Working alongside other students to map out their degree pathways, she turned the same skills on herself. She ran her own degree audit, identified the overlap between her former pre-med coursework and her new anthropology and CRES requirements, and learned that graduating in four years was still achievable.</p>
<p>“I feel like it’s one of the most educational jobs you can have on campus,” Miller said of the peer navigator role. “Without it, I don’t think I would have known that I could double major and still graduate on time.”</p>
<p>Miller will walk in spring commencement, then complete two courses this summer to close out her degrees.</p>
<p>After graduation, she plans to take a gap year before pursuing a master’s in library and information sciences, with her sights set on archival work. It is a destination she found through anthropology and CRES, through a therapist’s insight, and through years of letting herself be surprised by where curiosity leads.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Commuter Student Finds Belonging at UC Merced/news/2026/commuter-student-finds-belonging-uc-merced2026-03-31 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Women's History Month, Campus, Engineering, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Student Life, Clubs and Organizations, Students, Undergraduate StudentsBy Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced_jacqueline_garcia.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Headshot Jacqueline Garcia" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced student Jacqueline Garcia found her core sense of belonging from her civil engineering peers.<p>Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at UC Merced.</p>
<p>“The perk is being able to pursue my undergraduate degree while still having a tie to home. It's been great having the campus here in the Valley,” she said.</p>
<p>While she has enjoyed living at home while attending a UC campus, the third-year undergraduate student said commuting does pose some challenges. Early on, she often went home right after class, making it harder to join evening activities.</p>
<p>“I spent so much time on the campus, but I always had to make my drive home. So, it was hard to make plans,” Garcia said. “I didn't have a home in either place.”</p>
<p>That changed during her second year when she said she found her core sense of belonging from her <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/academics/CEE/civil-engineering">civil engineering</a> peers. Because the civil engineering major is relatively new and small, students “build your own community.”</p>
<p>In 2025, she joined the newly formed American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter at UC Merced and now serves as its marketing director.</p>
<p>“I want to build something more in these four years than just an education. I want to build a community,” Garcia said. “I want to build friendships, relationships that will last after I graduate. And I think that's what ASCE has created for me here.”</p>
<p>Her involvement with ASCE is just one part of her growing professional journey.</p>
<p>Garcia has also significantly benefited from a four-year summer internship with Gallo that has allowed her to rotate within several different sectors of the global wine leader, giving her professional exposure. She started in the program the summer before she began attending UC Merced. This summer will be her last and then she will be added to Gallo’s application process for a full-time engineering position.</p>
<p>Garcia has also performed outreach with Gallo’s college ambassador program for the past two years. During the company’s open application period between August and November, she works with the <a href="https://hire.ucmerced.edu/">Student Career Center</a> and other organizations to share her experience with students at career fairs, networking coffees and other recruitment events.</p>
<p>“I bring the perspective of ‘I've interned here and this is what I've taken away from it,’” she said. “I think it’s really cool to be able to connect with students and give them the same opportunities that I was able to have as well.”</p>
<p>Garcia’s advice for students, especially commuters, is to get involved with the resources at UC Merced. “There are so many organizations, so many projects, so many ways to get involved.”</p>
<p>After graduation in 2027, she plans to search for positions in structural engineering —possibly in energy or water systems. Garcia will finish this academic year commuting but plans to move to Merced for her senior year so she can be more immersed in campus life.</p>
<p>“I think being on a college campus you're growing intellectually every single day. Building community here and building these connections, whether it's with faculty or with organizations has taught me the value of professionalism and learning how to stay persistent,” she said.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - CalTeach and Local Schools Team Up to Energize Learning across Merced County/news/2026/calteach-and-local-schools-team-energize-learning-across-merced-county2026-03-23 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Staff & Faculty News, Student & Alumni Success, Yosemite, In The Community, Faculty, Outreach, School of Natural Sciences, Staff, Professional Development, Students, Undergraduate Students, Community Service, Yosemite National ParkBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-calteach-science-bobcat-summer-stem-camp-4.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="An undergraduate students works on a science experiment with two middle school students during a CalTeach Bobcat Summer STEM Academy camp." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Undergraduate students serve as leaders and work with younger students during CalTeach's Bobcat Summer STEM Academy camps.<p>UC Merced’s <a href="https://calteach.ucmerced.edu/">CalTeach</a> program is opening new pathways for younger students to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, academic support and early exposure to a college environment.</p>
<p>The CalTeach program, present at every UC campus that offers undergraduate education, primarily focuses on preparing highly qualified STEM teachers for the California education system. Over the program's 20 years of existence, however, the academic portion of CalTeach has been supplemented by a large outreach component that directly impacts K-12 students.</p>
<p>Through major summer and after-school initiatives — including fully funded STEM camps, increased tutoring capacity and immersive learning opportunities — UC Merced’s CalTeach program and the Merced City School District are working together to strengthen the community’s educational pipeline.</p>
<p>For Chelsea Arnold, director of CalTeach at UC Merced, the mission is simple: Get students excited about learning.</p>
<p>“Our goal is to show them what's possible,” she said. “If you can get a kid excited about something, that switch gets turned on, and they want to continue learning more.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://calteach.ucmerced.edu/bobcat-summer-stem-academy">Bobcat Summer STEM Academy</a>, running since 2016, now serves about 950 students each summer, a dramatic increase from its original 100 participants. Camps range from one-day workshops to weeklong sessions, all designed to immerse K-12 students in creative, hands-on STEM activities led by UC Merced undergraduates, graduate students and faculty partners as well as community college students.</p>
<p>This summer, a new Merced City School District grant will transform access: 600 students — 100 per week for six weeks — will attend the STEM academy free of charge, lifting a major financial barrier for local families. A successful pilot last year brought 100 middle schoolers to campus at no cost; the new commitment expands participation sixfold.</p>
<p>“We want the whole county to know that this is a resource,” Arnold said. “Kids can come to campus and have a blast doing different STEM camps all summer.”</p>
<p>CalTeach staff see early engagement as essential. Younger students experience exploratory academies such as nature studies or engineering play, while upper elementary students begin experimenting with programming and electronics. Middle schoolers engage in activities designed to keep them invested in math and science, and high school students dive into applied skill-building, including data science for conservation using tools such as Python and R.</p>
<p>The academies have already changed academic trajectories — including one student who, after discovering a passion for physics at a CalTeach camp, moved from a non-college-prep track into AP Physics, earned an A and eventually transferred to UC Merced, said Melissa Amarillas, student services advisor for CalTeach.</p>
<p>Arnold said the experience opens doors for students early.</p>
<p>“It’s an amazing opportunity to connect their kids to a world-class research university,” she said. “It’s our job to show them that this is their university and their place.”</p>
<p>Beyond summer learning, the program is also widening its year-round academic impact. CalTeach recently finalized an agreement with Merced City School District to supply 32 after-school tutors for K-8 students starting this fall, in addition to its current 45 in-school tutors.</p>
<p>Amarillas said the additional support will benefit students, schools and parents.</p>
<p>“Right now in Merced, there’s a waitlist of 400 to 500 kids who could be in after-school programming, but the schools don’t have enough staffing,” she said. “This expansion of tutoring services is a win all the way around. Our students get work-based learning experiences with stipends, parents get a safe learning environment for their children after school and it takes a little bit of the burden off the schools, too.”</p>
<p>About 140 more students can receive after-school assistance because of the new agreement, said Isabella Jaurique-Pouncey, communications specialist for the Merced City School District.</p>
<p>Amarillas said the presence of college students has a powerful influence on younger learners.</p>
<p>“Younger students see college students who look like them and want to know more,” she said. “They start to see themselves as college students, too.”</p>
<p>The district shares that enthusiasm for the expanded partnership. Jaurique-Pouncey said the collaboration will help reduce the strain on after-school programs.</p>
<p>She said this is the first time CalTeach tutors have joined the district’s after-school program.</p>
<p>“They’re shadowing members from the ASSETS (After School Student Education: Teamwork for Success) team using the same curriculum, so they can get an understanding of their role, and then they’ll begin doing it on their own,” she said.</p>
<p>The benefits extend both ways. Younger students work with role models who look like them and demonstrate what college can do for them, while UC Merced students receive paid, work-based learning opportunities, classroom experience and resume-building credentials.</p>
<p>The CalTeach program gives students majoring in STEM fields, as well as other subjects, the ability to explore teaching as a career option and to earn their teaching credentials if they choose. Students who enroll in the program attend <a href="https://calteach.ucmerced.edu/minor-options">Natural Sciences Education</a> (NSED) classes that equip them with knowledge of best teaching practices and innovative learning strategies. These students are also paired with mentor teachers in area school districts. Each year, UC Merced students spend a combined 6,000 hours observing and teaching lessons in local schools.</p>
<p>Tutors don’t have to be in the Natural Sciences Education minor, but they often are because students seeking teaching credentials must demonstrate classroom experience.</p>
<p>“Currently, almost a third of all newly credentialed math and science teachers statewide are alumni of UC CalTeach program,” said Professor Mayya Tokman, a faculty director of UC Merced CalTeach and an executive chair of the system-wide CalTeach program, “and the outreach component of CalTeach is a win-win collaboration between the UC and school districts, providing undergraduates with early opportunities to explore careers in education as well as directly benefiting K-12 students.”</p>
<p>CalTeach leaders call the tutoring expansion a critical step in strengthening the region’s college-going culture and developing future math and science teachers.</p>
<p>The third program enhancing learning opportunities for area children this summer is CalTeach’s residential Yosemite camp for middle schoolers, offering three days of environmental science exploration in partnership with NatureBridge and Merced City School District at the National Environmental Science Center in Yosemite National Park in late August. Students live in the new dorms, learning about forestry, fire ecology and environmental science, and spend a day in Yosemite Valley. The program is free of charge to participants and includes transportation and meals</p>
<p>Across all initiatives, CalTeach leaders say all these exposure experiences build confidence, curiosity and academic momentum.</p>
<p>As Arnold put it: “Our goal is not just to fill their buckets of knowledge, but to get them to ask questions, to think deeper and to have fun while doing it.”</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Toloma 5K to Celebrate Native Heritage, Community at UC Merced/news/2026/toloma-5k-celebrate-native-heritage-community-uc-merced2026-03-19 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Community, Diversity & Inclusion, Arts & Culture, In The Community, Campus, Campus Community, Clubs and Organizations, StudentsAlyssa Flores Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/toloma_5k_uc_merced_hero.jpg" width="1740" height="900" alt="Alt text: A runner wearing a race bib crosses beneath a blue finish arch with arms outstretched as spectators on both sides hold military and California flags and cheer at the finish line of an outdoor 5K event." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The Toloma 5K will take place March 21 at 8 a.m., bringing together campus and community participants for a morning of running or walking in support of Native and Indigenous programming at UC Merced.<p>UC Merced’s Division of Equity, Justice, and Inclusive Excellence will bring campus and community together Saturday, March 21 for the annual Toloma 5K, a morning run and walk that celebrates Native heritage, community connection and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the land.</p>
<p>The run/walk begins at 8 a.m. at the UC Merced practice field next to the soccer field. Check-in, bib pickup and race-day registration will run from 7 to 8 a.m. at the same location. Free parking will be available in the Bellevue Lot, and strollers are welcome.</p>
<p>The idea to hold such a race at UC Merced came from founding faculty member and Professor Emerita <a href="mailto:cynthiamcleod@ucmerced.edu">Teenie Matlock</a> and Assistant Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/spencer-castro">Spencer Castro </a>— both members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk tribe. “Toloma” means bobcat in the Miwuk language, a name organizers say reflects both campus identity and recognition of the Indigenous communities whose stewardship of the land predates the university.</p>
<p>Delia Saenz, vice chancellor and chief diversity officer, said the name was chosen to honor Native heritage and strengthen awareness of Native American programming on campus.</p>
<p>“The name of the race reflects our recognition and appreciation for the Miwuk people who have long inhabited and been stewards of the area, including the land on which our campus is situated,” Saenz said. “Centering the 5K run around Native culture and heritage creates space to appreciate the Indigenous people of this region and brings visibility to programming intended to benefit Native American students.”</p>
<p>The event also highlights long-standing Indigenous running traditions in California. Organizers note that tribes throughout the Sierra Nevada foothills historically relied on runners to carry messages between communities. The course will take participants alongside the campus’s “Beginnings” sculpture, across Scholars Bridge and past the Toloma Grove Native acknowledgment and reflection area.</p>
<p>Alongside the race, a vendor fair will feature local businesses, artists and community organizations, including Native craft, jewelry and art vendors. Organizers say the event is designed not only as a community gathering but also as a visible expression of belonging for Native students, employees and the community.</p>
<p>“We want to ensure that we build awareness for all the diversity comprising our campus and promote a sense of belonging for Native students, staff, and community members. We believe that the race is significant for Native Americans because it demonstrates a visible commitment to promoting Native American culture and support,” Saenz said.</p>
<p>She hopes participants carry that reflection beyond race day.</p>
<p>“I hope people take the time to reflect on the contributions and continuing impact of Native peoples on our society. I would also hope they feel empowered to support Native American programming on campus and in the community.”</p>
<p>The Toloma 5K is open to students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members of all experience levels. Participants may run, jog or walk at their own pace.</p>
<p>Registration costs $25 in advance and $30 on race day. Children 5 and younger may participate for free. Registration includes a Toloma 5K T-shirt, access to the vendor fair and participation in the event. Advance registration is encouraged to secure a T-shirt, though same-day registration will be available. More information is available on the <a href="https://nativematters.ucmerced.edu/toloma-5k">Toloma 5K webpage</a>.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/ - Ants, Endurance and a Ph.D. at the Finish Line/news/2026/ants-endurance-and-phd-finish-line2026-03-18 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Mind & Body, Faculty, Fellowships, School of Natural Sciences, Life and Environmental Sciences, Science, Biological Sciences, Students, Graduate StudentsBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-reo-maynard-ant-research3-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced graduate student Reo Maynard studies a carpenter ant from one of his many ant colonies.<p>On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains.</p>
<p>The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City College faculty member is in his eighth year at UC Merced, earning his Ph.D. in Quantitative Systems Biology.</p>
<p>“I’ll be defending in May. The end is here,” he said, with the equal parts relief and wonder of someone who kept moving when the ground shifted beneath him.</p>
<p>Maynard’s work with Professor <a href="https://les.ucmerced.edu/content/gordon-bennett">Gordon Bennett</a> explores host-symbiont interactions, the intimate partnerships between animals and the bacteria that live inside their cells. His specialty is carpenter ants — “about as long as a penny,” he said — whose digestive tract houses endosymbionts that help process nutrients. Some of them are only found at higher elevations.</p>
<p>Fieldwork took him to Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks — until COVID-19 shut the gates.</p>
<p>“I was twiddling my thumbs for two years and lost so much time,” he said. But the parks eventually reopened, and his projects evolved. Bennett said Maynard’s resilience helped him rebuild a dissertation in real time.</p>
<p>“He had to completely revise his dissertation after COVID. Ants were the only centerpiece that stayed,” Bennett said. “But he brought back cool projects and ideas and distilled nature to mechanisms — and he did it with a sunny disposition.”</p>
<h2>From Virginia Beach to the Central Valley</h2>
<p>Maynard’s path to science began far from the Sierras. He attended two years of college in Virginia right after high school, which he said was too soon for him.</p>
<p>“I just kind of screwed around and I ended up basically flunking out. They disinvited me to register for the next semester,” he said. He worked in the family insurance business for a while and then joined the Navy, determined to earn a degree the second time around.</p>
<p>He trained as a hospital corpsman, went to the School of Surgical Technology at the Naval School of Health Sciences, worked at the VA hospital in Chicago, picked up obstetrics and gynecology and trauma skills at Camp Pendleton and San Diego clinics, and specialized as a surgical assistant in obstetrics and gynecology at the Naval Air Station in Lemoore.</p>
<p>“That’s where I found my love for biology,” he said of his time in the Navy.</p>
<p>Before he went back to college, he worked for Kaiser Permanente for several years in surgical operations management, giving in to the lure of a six-figure salary.</p>
<p>He used his GI Bill to carry him through a bachelor’s in human anatomy and physiology and a master’s at Fresno State, where he worked with carpenter ants in a neuroscience lab. He interned for a summer in UC Merced Professor <a href="https://mcb.ucmerced.edu/content/fred-wolf">Fred Wolf</a>'s lab, working with fruit flies. He met Bennett through Wolf.</p>
<p>Bennett said that as a student, Maynard “has got a really wide-open mind about science, particularly the things we're interested in, like natural history and organismal biology.” He’s motivated, loves to be part of all kinds of discussions, brings new insights because of his diverse background and always wants to learn more, the professor said.</p>
<p>During his time in Bennett’s lab, Maynard earned the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s coveted three-year Gilliam Fellowship, which supported his research and connected him with a national network of scientists.</p>
<p>“It was a good time — seminars, training, presenting our work in D.C. I really miss those days,” he said.</p>
<p>In Bennett’s lab, Maynard broadened his focus beyond ants to the bigger story of insect-microbe partnerships. He recently published his first paper on the genome of a carpenter ant endosymbiont he sequenced from high-altitude Sierra populations, above 7,000 feet. The finding: Even bacteria that should be near-clones, passed from ant mothers to daughters and sealed inside cells, accumulate tiny differences over time — differences that can change which nutrients and other services they provide their hosts.</p>
<p>“We think of mountaintops as islands,” Maynard said. “These ant populations are isolated, but their symbionts diverge in little ways that matter.”</p>
<p>If ants are Maynard’s muse, their microbes are the story. Endosymbionts — bacteria that live inside host cells — can shrink their genomes over time because life inside a cell is cushy. They shed genes they no longer need, becoming specialists that supply key nutrients their hosts can’t make or get from food. In isolated populations, those bacterial toolkits can diverge just enough to change an ant’s biology.</p>
<p>“Population A’s symbiont might provide a vitamin; population B’s might have lost that function and does something else,” Maynard said. “They should be clones, but random mutations add up. Our analyses are detailed enough to pick out those differences.”</p>
<h2>Commuter, Caretaker, Closer</h2>
<p>Through it all, Maynard lived and raised a family in Fresno — and commuted to Merced. When the parks closed, his kids were in grade school.</p>
<p>He and his wife, Deborah Bernal, Fresno County’s literacy coordinator, have two sons, Abram and Isaac, now teens juggling decisions about their futures: law or finance for Abram; engineering or acting for Isaac.</p>
<p>Perhaps a little envious of all the time they have ahead of them to make those decisions, Maynard is also considering law school.</p>
<p>Maynard laughs at his own willingness to give up free time.</p>
<p>“I’m a glutton for punishment, but it’s a challenge,” he said. “I can’t let them down. I want them to see I don’t give up.”</p>
<p>That commitment shows up in his classroom, too. Hired last fall to teach human anatomy, physiology and human biology at Fresno City College, he tells freshmen he started where they sit.</p>
<p>“We have Transfer Wednesdays,” he said. “Faculty wear their alma mater shirts so students can see there’s something beyond. I like pulling students aside, asking their goals, then holding them to it.”</p>
<p>Bennett said the match fits.</p>
<p>“He delivered one of UC Merced’s core courses — evolution — as instructor of record over the summer,” he said. “He modernized it, connected content to contemporary examples. The students really liked it.”</p>
<h2>Next Chapters, Plural</h2>
<p>The son of two teachers, Maynard’s life resists a single lane, though education, whether formal or self-taught, is a throughline.</p>
<p>He took four years of Latin in school and taught himself to speak fluent Spanish so he could communicate better with his in-laws. He is conversational in German, Italian, Japanese, French and even some Hebrew. His love for languages started when a middle-school friend from Israel wrote out the Hebrew alphabet for him. He later translated the entire Old Testament from the original Hebrew to English.</p>
<p>He also loves to scuba dive, a hobby he picked up while trying to get past a childhood phobia of open spaces.</p>
<p>He, Deborah and the boys travel widely and dream about Maynard taking a summer stint teaching at the American University in Berlin, where courses are in English and the city is a family favorite. They’ve been to Mexico, Hawaii, Germany, Italy, France, England and Japan, and as soon as this semester is over, they are going to Georgia and Armenia.</p>
<p>There’s also that potential next career as an attorney. The idea of building a practice with his son is attractive, and Maynard is considering San Joaquin College of Law’s evening program.</p>
<p>“When I was leaving my hometown, I flipped a coin between law and medicine,” he said. “I still wonder how life would be different if I chose law.”</p>
<p>And then there are the screenplays he has written — six or seven full drafts and a stack of fragments, from a rom-com presidency-reveal to historical drama and a “Star Wars” story. Once the dissertation is done, he plans to finally produce and direct a 30-minute short he’s scoped and budgeted.</p>
<p>Through it all, the ants keep marching. In his office at FCC, Maynard maintains 13 colonies and a single queen who has yet to lay eggs.</p>
<p>He keeps writing, teaching and parenting on a schedule that would flatten most.</p>
<p>When asked what drives him, Maynard said he thinks he has some anxiety about not getting things done, plus a love for personal challenges.</p>
<p>“I have to make sure that I don't fail myself. I don't fail my sons. I don't fail my family, you know?” he said. “Plus, if I can do this, what else can I do, you know? Why ever stop? I just want to keep going. What else can I do?</p>
<p>How Maynard does it all, Bennett said he does not know, but he is inspired to try and do as well with his own two boys.</p>
<p>“They are always his first priority,” Bennett said.</p>
<p>Bennett counts Maynard as one of his friends, and said he is actively looking for projects to keep the two of them collaborating.</p>
<p>One thing he knows for sure is that Maynard will be missed in the lab when he graduates in May. Bennett has no doubt his student will succeed.</p>
<p>“His resilience is really an inspiration for other students in the lab community,” Bennett said. “He is hungry for knowledge about everything. <em>Everything</em>. That kind of curiosity is rare.”</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - UC Merced Climate Experts Explain Why March Heat Wave is Dangerous/news/2026/uc-merced-climate-experts-explain-why-march-heat-wave-dangerous2026-03-17 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Environment, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Research, Climate Change, San Joaquin Valley, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_heatwave_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted is the sun in an orange sky framed by palm leaves." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Forecasters predict record-breaking early season heat this week.<p>Temperatures in the 90s are nothing new to the northern San Joaquin Valley. But having them in March, as expected this week, is unusual and potentially dangerous.</p>
<p>An exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure will bring record-breaking heat to the entire region, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley are likely to reach 90 degrees by Tuesday and 95 by Friday. That's 20 to 25 degrees above normal.</p>
<p>UC Merced experts explained why such heat now, when it's still technically winter, is more hazardous than the same temperatures later in the year.</p>
<p>"If the forecasts come to fruition, we will be in for a March heat wave with temperatures 20-30 degrees above normal - an event without precedent in the modern era," said climatologist Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou"> John Abatzoglou</a>. "This comes on the heels of the warmest or second-warmest winter since at least 1895 for a huge portion of the western U.S."</p>
<p>While these temperatures are not near the triple digits the area routinely sees in July and August, early-season heat waves can have outsize impacts.</p>
<p>"First, people are not acclimated to the heat yet, as they would be in mid-summer, which increases the risk of heat impacts on human health," Abatzoglou said. People who are sensitive to heat are advised to avoid being outside during the warmest hours of the day. Everyone should use sunscreen and stay hydrated.</p>
<p>Unusually hot temperatures may also impact the agricultural sector, affecting both outdoor workers and crops that are flowering or fruiting, Abatzoglou said.</p>
<p><a href="https://securewaterfuture.net/leadership/" target="_blank">Lauren Parker</a>, managing director of Secure Water Future at UC Merced, has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168945219315705" target="_blank"> extensively studied</a> how heat can affect agriculture.</p>
<p>"In orchard crops that might still be blooming, heat exposure can reduce fruit set as a function of effects on pollen quality and pollinator activity," she said. "Fruit set" is the process in which a flower is successfully pollenated before becoming a fruit. "Crops also need more water when it is hot. Water stress during early or young fruit stages can cause trees to reallocate resources away from young fruit, aborting some fruit development and ultimately lowering yields."</p>
<p>Growers could use more water to irrigate early in the season, leaving the sources depleted in the summer months.</p>
<p>"That has real dollar implications for their energy and water consumption - especially if this is a harbinger of heat waves to come," Parker said.</p>
<p>Early heat waves like this one could exacerbate and lengthen wildfire seasons, which already are overlapping globally, <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/rising-simultaneous-fire-weather-threatens-international-firefighting-efforts" target="_blank"> new research</a> co-authored by Abatzoglou and postdoctoral researcher Cong Yin shows.</p>
<p>Early heat will deplete the snowpack much of California relies on for its water. According to the state Department of Water Resources, the statewide snowpack has been melting an average of 1 % a day since early March. Generally, the snowpack lasts well into the spring.</p>
<p>"While fuels are not yet widely available to carry fire, this heat wave will accelerate the drying of vegetation and the melt-off of the remaining Sierra snowpack, pushing us closer to fire season," Abatzoglou said.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Ripon Student Turning Heart and Heritage into a Path of Healing/news/2026/ripon-student-turning-heart-and-heritage-path-healing2026-03-19 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Mind & Body, Medical Education Building, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Public Health, Public Health, Students, Undergraduate StudentsBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-grace-grinder-student-profile.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced student Grace Grinder in the university library." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Grace Grinder carries lessons learned in her Central Valley hometown of Ripon and through her membership in an Indigenous tribe.<p>As a child of the Central Valley and a member of a Native tribe, Grace Grinder developed an early awareness of health care disparities affecting rural regions and underserved communities.</p>
<p>While in third grade, Grinder lost her grandmother to what she described as too few physicians nearby to provide timely, quality care. That loss planted a seed.</p>
<p>Today, Grinder is a third-year biological sciences major with an emphasis in human biology at UC Merced. She aims to be a physician. Grinder carries with her the lessons learned in Ripon, a small city about 12 miles north of Modesto, and through her roots as Karuk, an Indigenous people from the mountains and rivers of Northern California.</p>
<p>Childhood dreams about becoming a doctor were sharpened at Ripon High School, thanks to an anatomy and physiology class taught by a teacher named Ann Pendleton.</p>
<p>"Learning all about the human body and all of the different fields you can go into helped solidify that this is something I want to do, and that I can make a difference," Grinder said.</p>
<p>Conversations with Pendleton, along with stories from classmates whose families also experienced inadequate medical care, made clear to Grinder that the Valley needs more physicians — and that she could be one of them.</p>
<p>Her Karuk heritage added another dimension to that calling. Though the tribe's homeland is hundreds of miles north of Ripon, Grinder engaged with her roots through advocacy for Indigenous life and by recognizing that tribal communities face the same medical shortfalls as the Valley. Being a voice for underserved communities, she said, has always felt natural to her.</p>
<p>When the time came to choose a university, Grinder had options — many of them. The Native American Opportunities Program, which covers tuition for students with Indigenous roots, opened doors at schools across the state. She was accepted at six UC campuses, along with the University of Nevada, Reno. She chose UC Merced.</p>
<p>"I wanted to be a part of something where I could lead change for my community," she said, referring both to her hometown and to the relatively young UC Merced campus.</p>
<p>The university’s smaller scale, the approachability of the faculty, a sense that students could do far more than just attend classes — all of it resonated. She accepted her admission offer on March 1, the same day it arrived.</p>
<p>That instinct has paid off. Grinder said she is now on a first-name basis with most of her professors and has taken advantage of several opportunities.</p>
<p>During her second year, Grinder used a writing course to research the prevalence of human trafficking in the San Joaquin Valley. Her paper examined the shortage of resources available to health care providers and public health workers confronting trafficking in rural areas, and pushed back against the widespread tendency to underestimate the problem.</p>
<p>Today, she is vice president of Fashion Forward, a new student-run program built around clothing and community; a member of the crochet club; and an active participant in the American Medical Student Association. She serves as a mentor in the university’s medical education program, organizing Zoom calls and helping keep students on track.</p>
<p>She recently started working as a scribe at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto and will shadow a neurologist there — a connection she made through UC Merced's medical education mentoring program.</p>
<p>Statistics estimate that less than 1% of U.S. physicians identify as Indigenous Americans. Grinder wants to do what she can to move the needle, with UC Merced playing a big role in that effort.</p>
<p>"Every day I step onto this campus,” she said, “I know that I made the right choice."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - UC Merced Launches California Government and Policy Certificate Program/news/2026/uc-merced-launches-california-government-and-policy-certificate-program2026-03-16 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Politics & Society, In The Community, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Political Science, Political ScienceBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-govt-policy-certificate-graduates_0.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Several people, including graduates of UC Merced Professional Certificate in California Government and Policy program, plus faculty, staff and friends." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Graduates of the program's first cohort celebrated with faculty, staff and friends.<p>The inner machinery of democracy in California – from bills and lobbying to courts and elections – is revealed in a professional certification program launched at the University of California, Merced.</p>
<p>UC Merced’s <a href="https://pace.ucmerced.edu/">Division of Professional and Continuing Education</a> (PACE) offers the <a href="https://pace.ucmerced.edu/content/professional-certificate-california-government-policy">Professional Certificate in California Government and Policy</a>. The program is presented in partnership with the university’s <a href="https://cape.ucmerced.edu/">Center for Analytic Political Engagement</a> (CAPE).</p>
<p>The 24-week Government and Policy certification consists of four courses:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>California State Government Overview</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lobbying & Budget</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Elections, Direct Democracy & Rulemaking</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>California Legislature, Process & Drafting</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Program graduate Brandon Souza said the certification was exactly what he needed for a career pivot into Sacramento’s political landscape.</p>
<p>“The instruction, along with an impressive lineup of guest lecturers, delivered a wealth of insight,” said Souza, now a senior strategy consultant at Change Craft. “I now have a strong understanding of the inner workings of California politics.”</p>
<p>Another graduate, Brock Cavett, said the knowledge gained from the certification program helped him secure a job as Director of Advocacy and Programs at San Diego Pride.</p>
<p>“As a full-time working professional, the program was structured in a way that allowed me to maximize my participation through discussion posts and other assignments while having the flexibility to engage with class content in a way that worked with my schedule,” Cavett said.</p>
<p>“I highly recommend this certificate to anyone who is considering entering the world of politics but may not have the time or ability to complete a full master’s program.”</p>
<p>The program instructor is Chris Micheli, an attorney and lobbyist with the government relations firm Snodgrass & Micheli LLC. Micheli is an adjunct professor at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific.</p>
<p>“The goal of the professional certificate is to provide a solid foundation for students interested in working in local or state government in California,” Micheli said. “While the courses are asynchronous, I provide several live lectures, and we have high-caliber guest lecturers scheduled for each course.”</p>
<p>PACE collaborates with subject experts to provide lifelong learners with in-demand career skills. Courses and programs promote social mobility and develop a knowledgeable and agile workforce. CAPE, part of UC Merced’s political science program, leverages experiential learning to equip students with the knowledge and skills to navigate politics, policy and governance.</p>
<p>PACE Dean Annette Roberts Webb said: “The professional certificate reflects our commitment to expanding access to high‑quality, practice‑focused education that empowers today’s workforce. We’re proud to offer a pathway that supports civic leadership, career mobility, and informed participation in California’s future.”</p>
<p>For more about the Professional Certificate in California Government and Policy, <a href="https://pace.ucmerced.edu/content/professional-certificate-california-government-policy">visit this information and enrollment page</a> or email <a href="mailto:pace@ucmerced.edu">pace@ucmerced.edu</a>.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Ocean Chemistry Now Substantially Shaped by Humans/news/2026/ocean-chemistry-now-substantially-shaped-humans2026-03-16 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Environment, Environmental Research, Water, Faculty, Research, School of Natural Sciences, Life and Environmental Sciences, Science, Earth Systems ScienceBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_research_chemical_contamination_ocean_chemistry.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="A sign on a southern California beach indicates it is unsafe to swim because of human-caused contamination." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Human-caused contamination has reached every part of the world's oceans, researchers have found. Image courtesy of KPBS.<p>Although the oceans are the least explored places on the planet, even their depths are not untouched by humans.</p>
<p>Drawing on more than 2,300 seawater samples collected across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, researchers found that hundreds of synthetic chemicals — many of them rarely monitored and originating from everyday products — are now woven into the fabric of marine organic matter.</p>
<p>The findings, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-01928-z">published in Nature Geoscience</a>, suggest that industrial and consumer compounds are far more pervasive and persistent than scientists realized, raising urgent questions about their role in carbon cycling, ecosystem health and the true extent of humanity’s chemical footprint on the sea.</p>
<p>“The ocean does not contain just a handful of these artificial compounds — marine organisms could be swimming through a mix of dozens or hundreds of human-made compounds in any given location,” said UC Merced environmental sciences Professor <a href="https://les.ucmerced.edu/content/j-michael-beman">Michael Beman</a>, a collaborator on the study.</p>
<p>The international analysis, led by biochemists at UC Riverside, allowed the researchers to capture a global perspective. The findings reveal an important insight: Industrial chemicals, many of which are rarely monitored, are far more abundant and widespread than previously recognized.</p>
<p>“For decades, scientists have tracked plastic debris floating on the ocean’s surface and measured rising temperatures that signal climate change,” said Daniel Petras, the biochemistry professor at UC Riverside who led the study. “But another, largely invisible human footprint has been quietly accumulating in the sea: thousands of synthetic chemicals. Even in places we consider relatively pristine, we found clear chemical fingerprints of human activity. The extent of this influence was surprising.”</p>
<p>Even remote coral reef systems, often viewed as among the least-touched marine environments, showed clear chemical signatures of nearby human activity — from agricultural and coastal development to tourism, the researchers said.</p>
<p>Beman said he was surprised because many of the samples were collected well out into the open ocean, in seawater that seemed pristine. He and UC San Diego researchers Irina Koester and Professor Lihini Aluwihare were interested in natural carbon compounds and didn’t intend to find artificial contaminants.</p>
<p>“But the chemical imprint was evident in essentially every sample,” Beman said.</p>
<p>The researchers found that in coastal waters, human-made organic chemicals account for 20% of the total measured signal in their datasets. In the most extreme cases — such as river mouths impacted by untreated or poorly treated wastewater — that figure exceeded 50%. Even open-ocean samples consistently contained a few percent of artificial compounds. Overall, across all the samples analyzed, 248 human‑related compounds together accounted for about 2% of the total detected signal.</p>
<p>While pesticides and pharmaceuticals were expected to be most concentrated near shorelines, the study found that industrial compounds — including substances used in plastics, lubricants and consumer products — make up the bulk of the human-caused chemical signal in the ocean.</p>
<p>Petras said some human-made compounds sit at the boundary between traditional organic molecules and nanoplastics, blurring the line between chemical and plastic pollution.</p>
<p>“These chemicals contribute substantially to the ocean’s organic matter pool. That means they may play an unrecognized role in marine carbon cycling and ecosystem function,” he said.</p>
<p>The researchers also found that anthropogenic chemicals persist well beyond the coastline. Even more than 20 kilometers offshore, human-derived compounds accounted for roughly 1% of detected organic matter.</p>
<p>“At a global scale, that’s a huge amount of material,” Petras said.</p>
<p>The study represents one of the most comprehensive chemical meta-analyses of coastal oceans to date, drawing on samples collected for various research purposes, including coral reef health, algal blooms and carbon cycling.</p>
<p>A key innovation used by the research team was the combination of consistent, high-resolution mass spectrometry methods across multiple laboratories, along with scalable computational tools developed at UC Riverside. These technological advances allowed the group to combine and analyze thousands of samples from unrelated studies as a single, unified dataset.</p>
<p>“The technique that was used is new and powerful, so it detects a wide range of natural and artificial compounds,” Beman explained. “Although some human-made compounds may have no effect at all or may break down, a major concern is whether they negatively affect marine life.”</p>
<p>Despite the dataset's size, the researchers note that large parts of the world remain understudied. Data were heavily concentrated in North America and Europe, with limited coverage in the Southern Hemisphere and almost no representation from regions such as Southeast Asia, India and Australia.</p>
<p>The absence of data doesn’t mean the problem isn’t there; it means scientists have not looked closely enough yet, the team said.</p>
<p>The authors acknowledged that this analysis serves as a first overview, and detailed analyses with precise quantification are still needed. Further, the effects of the cumulative chemical concentrations and their long-term ecological impacts remain largely unknown.</p>
<p>“The fact that hundreds of compounds are found around the world in varying amounts means that this isn't an easy problem to study and solve,” Beman said.</p>
<p>By making the data public, the researchers hope to accelerate research and enable a more complete understanding of human chemical impacts on the ocean.</p>
<p>All data from the study are publicly available, allowing other researchers to reanalyze the results or integrate new datasets as they emerge.</p>
<p>The findings also highlight a broader, often overlooked reality: everyday activities — driving, cleaning, food packaging and personal care — contribute chemicals. Washed down drains or carried by rainwater, they move through rivers and wastewater systems and eventually reach the ocean.</p>
<p>“Some of the artificial compounds detected in the ocean are household names,” Beman said. "Although it can take extra effort, reducing plastic use and properly disposing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals can only help."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Student Finds Community and Purpose Through Culture and Literature/news/2026/student-finds-community-and-purpose-through-culture-and-literature2026-03-12 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Student Life, Students, Undergraduate StudentsAlyssa Flores Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/padme_james_uc_merced_student_hero.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Student stands outdoors on the UC Merced campus holding a notebook and pen, looking off into the distance near a campus walkway lined with leafless trees." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced student Padme James is reclaiming her heritage by studying her Native language — a personal journey that connects her family history, culture and academic goals.<p>Between classes at UC Merced, you will often find Padme James under the trees outside the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. What she studies there isn’t directly correlated to her classwork, but it connects her roots to where she hopes her future is headed.</p>
<p>Instead of reviewing notes for a lecture, the first-year student opens her laptop for a different kind of lesson — one she pursues on her own time.</p>
<p>She’s studying her Native language.</p>
<p>James, whose family is from the Cote First Nation, has been taking the language classes for almost three years. Now she can speak conversationally — a milestone that represents far more than vocabulary and grammar. For her, learning the language is part of reclaiming something her family once lost.</p>
<p>“It is important for me to connect with my Indigenous heritage because my family was part of something called the Sixties Scoop in Canada, where Native children were taken from their parents and placed with white families,” she said.</p>
<p>Historians estimate that more than 20,000 children were displaced from the 1950s through the mid-1980s. The program was justified by Eurocentric biases that framed Indigenous child-rearing as neglectful. Government policies claimed to "save" children by erasing their cultural identity, culture and religion.</p>
<p>The Sixties Scoop had a lasting effect on James’ family.</p>
<p>“As a result, we were separated from our band, and this is an attempt I’m making to reconnect with my people, my history and my ancestors, as they are listening,” she said.</p>
<p>Her family’s band is Cote First Nation in Treaty 4. The language she is learning is commonly known as Saulteaux — a French name used to describe her people’s language.</p>
<p>The journey to reconnect with language has also helped shape her future. James is majoring in literature in English with an environmental emphasis — a combination that allows her to explore how storytelling and ecology intersect.</p>
<p>“With my environmental emphasis, it’s a lot more about ecology and environmentalism and how that plays out in modern literature. I have always found that interesting as a Native person,” she said. “I am really interested in that relationship.”</p>
<p>Her passion for storytelling runs deep. James grew up surrounded by stories in different forms.</p>
<p>“The environment is something I value and I love storytelling. My mom is a librarian and my dad is a filmmaker. I grew up with that,” she said.</p>
<p>Those influences have helped guide her studies, though she is still exploring where the path will lead. “Right now, my degree is really about my passions. I eventually want to use it to help people and inspire. It’s something I am still thinking about.”</p>
<p>Coming from her hometown of Mountain House, UC Merced’s proximity made it an appealing choice, but James said the university also stood out for the academic and personal opportunities it offered.</p>
<p>“I really set a bar for myself that I wanted to attend a UC,” she said. “I was drawn to the quality education, opportunities and reputation in the academic world.”</p>
<p>Her early impressions of the campus helped confirm she had made the right decision. During Bobcat Day — UC Merced’s open house for admitted students — she met faculty members, explored campus resources such as the Writing Center, and began to imagine what her future could look like.</p>
<p>Since arriving at UC Mered, she has found community inside and outside the classroom, including through the Native Indigenous Student Coalition, a student-run organization known as NISC.</p>
<p>The group, which includes members from different tribes, organizes events and encourages Native and non-Native students to participate and learn, creating a space where James said she feels understood and supported.</p>
<p>“One thing I have always personally struggled with is socializing and finding friends,” she said. “In NISC, I find a lot of community.”</p>
<p> </p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Student Philanthropy Month Returns to UC Merced with Focus on Service and Giving/news/2026/student-philanthropy-month-returns-uc-merced-focus-service-and-giving2026-03-11 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Alumni, Community Engagement, In The Community, Campus Community, Student Life, Clubs and Organizations, Students, Community ServiceAlyssa Flores Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/student_philanthropy_month_hero.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Six UC Merced students pose in front of a University of California, Merced backdrop, smiling and holding blue-and-gold pennants that read “UC Merced Alumni” and “UC Merced.”" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced alumni kick off Student Philanthropy Month at Dinner for Champvocates. <p>Student Philanthropy Month, now in its fifth consecutive year, gives students opportunities throughout March to better understand philanthropy and its impact on the university, the community and beyond.</p>
<p>UC Merced <a href="https://alumni.ucmerced.edu/">Alumni Relations</a>, in partnership with the UC Merced Student Alumni Association, is spearheading the campuswide initiative. The monthlong program introduces students to ways philanthropy extends beyond financial giving by highlighting leadership, service, gratitude and engagement. Each week centers on one of those themes through events and opportunities intended to encourage participation and connection across campus.</p>
<p>“Student Philanthropy Month is about redefining what philanthropy means for our students,” said Gabrielle Orduna (’17), alumni relations and events specialist and Student Alumni Association adviser. “It’s not just about financial contributions but about showing up for your community in meaningful ways. We want students to understand that philanthropy can take many forms, such as leading with purpose, serving others, sharing their talents and expressing gratitude.”</p>
<p>The month kicked off with Dinner for Champvocates, an evening of dialogue, networking and a Q&A with alumni who work in the nonprofit sector. Students gained insights into how philanthropy can align with their personal and professional goals.</p>
<p>Mileidi Castillo, who graduated from UC Merced in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in Spanish, was one of the panelists. She now works as a case manager and outreach coordinator for Project Sentinel, an organization focused on housing education and homelessness prevention. She said returning to campus to speak with students is important because it allows her to share her perspective and help others navigate life after graduation.</p>
<p>“Once I started college and I got more involved with internships and extracurricular activities, I learned that it was a passion I had to help others,” Castillo said. “It feels very rewarding to be able to help people in need and to have the answers for somebody seeking solutions to their problems.”</p>
<p>Organizers said the evening was intended to help students recognize how alumni support, volunteerism and campus involvement contribute to sustaining programs and opportunities at UC Merced.</p>
<p>“When students connect with alumni who were once in their shoes, they begin to see the ripple effect of involvement,” Orduna said. “They learn how organizations sustain meaningful work, and they discover how their own skills and passions can create impact.”</p>
<p>There are several other opportunities to participate in Student Philanthropy Month:</p>
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<p><strong>Bobcats Give Back: Day of Service</strong></p>
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<p>March 14 | Lake Yosemite | 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. | Check-in begins at 9 a.m.</p>
<p><em>Students, alumni, faculty and staff are invited to volunteer their time to clean and maintain Lake Yosemite, a place often enjoyed by the campus community. </em></p>
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<p><strong>Game Night </strong></p>
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<p>March 19 | California Room | 6 to 7:30 p.m.</p>
<p><em>Student organizations will compete for the chance to earn bonus support for their projects during Game Night. Teams will face off in a series of challenges designed to test a range of skills, all for the opportunity to secure additional funding and claim the top prize for their organization.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Student-led Fundraising</strong></p>
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<p>March 1-31| <a href="https://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaMerced/student-philanthropy-month-2026">Giving Campaign</a></p>
<p><em>All featured student organization projects highlighted during Student Philanthropy Month will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500 each, through support from the UC Merced Alumni Association Journey Fund</em>.</p>
<p>Third-year biological sciences major Carylli Agrabio said Student Philanthropy Month reflects the role student organizations play in shaping campus life.</p>
<p>“Clubs and organizations make up the strong sense of community that we have here on campus,” Agrabio said. “Student Philanthropy Month promotes a culture of inclusivity to get involved and continue building a sense of belonging.”</p>
<p>Agrabio said she values events that help students connect with one another and strengthen campus relationships.</p>
<p>“I love to see organizations on campus put on events that bring students in who may not have otherwise felt a connection to their peers on campus,” she said. “It’s a cycle of support.”</p>
<p>To participate in the Day of Service, visit the event <a href="https://engage.ucmerced.edu/s/1650/20/interior.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3124&cid=7145&ecid=7145">registration page</a>.</p>
<p>To support featured student projects, visit the <a href="http://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaMerced/student-philanthropy-month-2026">Student Philanthropy Month giving </a><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/schools/UniversityofCaliforniaMerced/student-philanthropy-month-2026">page</a>.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/ - UC Merced Receives $1 Million Award to Support Postdoctoral Fellows /news/2026/uc-merced-receives-1-million-award-support-postdoctoral-fellows2026-03-11 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Campus, Faculty, Fellowships, Gifts, Research, Mechanical Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Physics, Molecular and Cell Biology, Science, Chemical Sciences, Physics, Quantitative and Systems Biology, Graduate StudentsBy Francesca Dinglasan, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced_moore_fellowship.jpg" width="1740" height="900" alt="Headshots of five postdoctoral scholars" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/A new grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will fund postdoctoral fellows in the natural sciences.<div>
<p paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{32}" paraid="942859761">UC Merced has received a $1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to strengthen postdoctoral fellowships and expand research in the natural sciences. Awarded through the foundation’s <a href="https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=strengthening-the-u.s.-scientific-talent-pipeline-through-postdoctoral-fellowships" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Postdoctoral Fellowship Commitment</a>, this distinction places UC Merced among just 30 leading research universities nationwide to receive the grant. </p>
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<p paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{54}" paraid="2046005113">The funding will support postdoctoral fellows, advancing UC Merced’s commitment to scientists in the early stages of their professional development. The Moore Foundation’s investment reflects the critical role postdoctoral researchers play in driving scientific discovery and shaping the next generation of scientific leaders, while enabling UC Merced to broaden its impact on research and innovation. </p>
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<p paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{64}" paraid="104442735">“We’re grateful to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for their fervent dedication to postdoctoral research,” Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education Hrant Hratchian said. “Their generous gift will help UC Merced attract and retain outstanding early-career scientists, strengthen the mentoring culture across our research community, and advance the boundaries of discovery in key disciplines.” </p>
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<p paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{74}" paraid="1089569693">The selected postdoctoral fellows are: </p>
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<li paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{90}" paraid="206759608">
<p>Sobroney Heng, Ph.D., conducts research under the mentorship of Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/ruben-michael-ceballos" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ruben Michael Ceballos</a> in the Host-Virus Evolutionary Dynamics Institute (HVEDI). She investigates virus-host interactions in photosynthetic microbes, focusing on cyanophages that infect cyanobacteria and phycodnaviruses that infect microalgae. Heng earned her doctorate from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand. </p>
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<p>Derek Hollenbeck, Ph.D. ’23, earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering at UC Merced and now conducts research with the Center for Methane Emission Research and Innovation (CMERI) and the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab under Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/yangquan-chen" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">YangQuan Chen</a>. His work advances smart sensing technologies for environmental challenges, spanning digital twins, fluid mechanics, controls and fractional calculus. He applies these approaches to unmanned aerial systems for methane emission detection, localization and quantification. </p>
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<li paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{138}" paraid="1864159945">
<p>Sourabh Kumar, Ph.D., received his doctorate in computational chemistry from the University of Bremen in Germany, and works with Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/ashlie-martini" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ashlie Martini</a>. His research centers on mechanochemistry and multiscale modeling of force- and pressure-driven chemical processes using quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics simulations. Kumar seeks to advance understanding of how mechanical forces influence chemical transformations. </p>
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<p>Vivian K. Rojas, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral scholar in Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/e-maggie-sogin" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Maggie Sogin’s</a> laboratory. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Rojas uses untargeted metabolomics to identify chemical signals exchanged between bacteria and seagrass hosts, providing insight into ecosystem function, resilience and biogeochemical cycling in coastal environments. She aims to establish an independent research program focused on cross-kingdom metabolite signaling. </p>
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<p>Monika Sanoria, Ph.D., completed her doctorate at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Working with Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/ajay-gopinathan-0" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ajay Gopinathan</a>, her research examines how cellular groups make decisions through local interactions that drive collective migration and chemotactic instabilities. Using computational and theoretical modeling, she studies the structural and dynamical properties of active swimmers and explores the physical principles underlying self-organization across physics and biology. </p>
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<p paraeid="{35daa89d-a6e0-444a-b7d6-a0931f4b0a34}{206}" paraid="361944865">Support from this grant lays the groundwork for a more robust postdoctoral community, enabling UC Merced to enhance professional development programming for postdocs, with workshops, mentoring resources and career readiness activities available to current fellows and the broader postdoctoral population. The funding also allows UC Merced to increase the number of postdocs on campus by between five to eight scholars, beyond the five fellows above. </p>
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<p paraeid="{d5c3a60e-1722-443b-a9b7-fb4c6f94e42c}{31}" paraid="538406589">Together, these efforts will deepen UC Merced’s visibility as a recently designated R1 institution and further establish the campus as a hub for cutting-edge scientific inquiry and mentorship excellence. </p>
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<p paraeid="{d5c3a60e-1722-443b-a9b7-fb4c6f94e42c}{45}" paraid="1935465936">Founded by Gordon and Betty Moore, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation works to create positive outcomes for future generations by advancing scientific discovery, environmental conservation and the special character of the San Francisco Bay Area. </p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - Delhi Student Made the Leap to UC Merced and Hasn’t Looked Back/news/2026/delhi-student-made-leap-uc-merced-and-hasn%E2%80%99t-looked-back2026-03-17 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Cheer, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Public HealthBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-studentprofile-nayelyisalazsr.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced student Nayelyi Salazar on campus" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Nayelyi Salazar has made her mark at UC Merced as a peer navigator, Honors Program student and cheer team member.<p>Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. A few more taps and Nayelyi Salazar would be a community college student — a big step for the high-schooler from Delhi, a town of 10,000 that hugs California’s Highway 99.</p>
<p>She hesitated. Days earlier, she received an acceptance letter from a University of California campus. Awesome news, but she couldn’t shake doubts about being UC-worthy. What to do? She leaned back from the laptop. It was a Friday. She would take the weekend to think it over.</p>
<p>Should she go straight to UC Merced?</p>
<p>“In the end, I thought, ‘Let’s do this,’” Salazar said.</p>
<p>Today, evidence supports Salazar being UC-worthy, and then some. The second-year public health major is in the University Honors Program. She helps fellow students navigate the twists and turns of academics. She’s on the UC Merced cheer team.</p>
<p>Salazar wants a career in medicine but insists on the university experience being more than a pre-med grind. She enjoys the rich mix of cultures and backgrounds that make up the student body. She gives herself the OK to have fun (she was also a cheerleader at Delhi High School). She likes the idea of taking a year off between her bachelor’s degree and medical school.</p>
<p>Last August, she began working as a peer navigator for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. From a desk in the school’s advising office, she counsels students on decisions about major or minor degrees, or double majors. She answers questions about courses and about the school’s culture. She works behind the scenes to ensure workshops for students run smoothly.</p>
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<p>"Nayelyi demonstrates exceptional dedication to supporting students," Student Services Director Brenda Maldonado-Rosas said. "Her strong attention to detail contributes to a smooth and positive experience for them."</p>
<p>"She always goes above and beyond," added Carolyn Barranco, academic advisor and student engagement coordinator.</p>
<p>Salazar said she was inspired by Jonathan Mesa Marquez, a peer mentor who supported her in her first year. “He really understood what we first-years were feeling,” she said of Marquez, who mentored in the NextGen Health Professionals Living Learning Community. “He would go out of his way to make sure we had opportunities.”</p>
<p>Salazar grew up in Delhi, a tightly knit, largely Latino Central Valley town located 20 miles north of Merced and 20 miles south of Modesto. She’s the youngest child of a large family that spoke Spanish at home. Her elementary and middle schools used a dual-language program that taught her core subjects, such as math and history, in Spanish to increase comprehension.</p>
<p>Dual-language programs don’t extend to high schools, so Salazar had to sharpen her language skills as a Delhi Hawk. An already challenging transition was made tougher by the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone attended classes from home as freshmen. She could have rejoined her classmates as a sophomore, but stayed home for half the school year to protect her grandparents, who lived with her family.</p>
<p>“When I was finally able to be a high school student in person, it was like, ‘Ready or not, here I come,’” Salazar said. People she knew from elementary and middle school, along with other students, became fast friends. She added college-credit courses to her class load and joined Future Business Leaders of America.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, she still felt that community college was her next destination. “I just didn’t feel prepared for the UC system yet,” she said. Teachers and friends urged her to take the bigger leap. Her older brother, who attended California State University, Stanislaus, chimed in. “He said, ‘If you have the opportunity to go straight to a UC, why not try it?’”</p>
<p>And, of course, she did. Salazar encourages others to follow her lead.</p>
<p>“UC Merced is all about diversity and respect,” she said. “It has done so many great things for me. If you are a high school student or a transfer, I say, ‘Go for it.’”</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Turner Construction Foundation Gifts Future Engineers/news/2026/turner-construction-foundation-gifts-future-engineers2026-03-10 00:00:00In BriefCampus Life, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_turner_donation_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted are students holding an oversized check against a blue UC Merced background." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The money will go toward paying for club members to attend and participate in conferences.<p>A company UC Merced has invested in to help build out its campus in turn is investing in the university's students. The foundation run by Turner Construction this week gave a $5,000 donation to the university's American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter.<br />
Clint Williams, business manager for Turner's Central Valley office, said the company likes to "stay committed to the communities where we are building, particularly when we are building on a campus."<br />
"We want to be your contractor of choice to show that commitment through financial support and also volunteering at events like this."<br />
Turner has overseen several construction projects on campus, including the Medical Education Building scheduled for completion later this year.<br />
Williams said in addition to being a customer, UC Merced is a solid resource. Turner currently has three alums working for the company, and one intern.<br />
One of those is alumnus Rahim Moulanazada of Modesto, who earned his degree in civil engineering in 2024. Moulanazada is based in Sacramento and working on a project to rebuild and restore the Capitol Annex. He came back to campus to take part in the donation, given at the UC Merced Engineering Expo Feb. 23. The expo, the first one of its kind, included panels from alumni and industry representatives and tabling and displays from clubs and organizations as well as potential employers including TRC California, Caltrans, Kiewit and Tesla.<br />
The money from Turner will go toward paying for club members to attend and participate in conferences, said the club's advisor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/siddaiah-yarra" target="_blank">Professor Siddaiah Yarra</a>.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Wildfire Seasons Are Starting to Overlap. That Spells Trouble for Firefighting./news/2026/wildfire-seasons-are-starting-overlap-spells-trouble-firefighting2026-03-10 00:00:00In The News“If a fire season is increasing and eventually overlapping, it will shrink the window of opportunity to help each other in terms of firefighting,” said Cong Yin, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced, who led the new study.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/climate/global-fire-weather.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/climate/global-fire-weather.html- Together We Will Summit Inspires, Empowers Girls in Sports/news/2026/together-we-will-summit-inspires-empowers-girls-sports2026-03-09 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Community Engagement, In The Community, AthleticsBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/tww-hero-3.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="A smiling girl in a Together We Will T-shirt at the UC Mered summit for young athletes." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Nearly 150 girls from about 30 Central Valley high schools attended the conference.<p>Victoria Garrick Browne, a nationwide advocate for mental health and self-care, had a simple message for a big room full of high school girls gathered for the Together We Will Sports Leadership Summit at UC Merced.</p>
<p>“Be where your feet are,” said Browne, a former NCAA Division I volleyball player whose messages of empowerment have attracted more than 2 million social media followers. “Many times, our feet are here while our head is thinking about tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Tamp down spiraling thoughts by focusing on the moment, Browne told the girls. Zero in on the referee’s whistle, the rumble of the crowd, your toes wiggling in your cleats.</p>
<p>“These sensory things can help bring you back into the moment,” Browne said.</p>
<p>Nearly 150 young women from about 30 Central Valley high schools attended the conference, which brought together speakers, mentors and health experts to help participants build skills for success in competition and life.</p>
<p>The conference provided a safe and supportive space for young athletes to talk openly about resilience, performance, and mental and physical health.</p>
<p>Resilience is the ability to bounce back when things get tough. For girls in athletics, it plays a huge role. According to research, 55% of young females in sports experience depression and 35% feel mentally exhausted. They are three to five times more likely to suffer from eating disorders or struggle with body image.</p>
<p>“Today is about community, it’s about confidence, it’s about connection,” said conference co-chair Lesley Slaton Brown, a former chief diversity officer for the National Basketball Association. Brown grew up in Merced and played basketball through college.</p>
<p>“Sports helped shape who I am today,” Brown said. “It taught me resilience, leadership and heart.”</p>
<p><strong>A Confidence Boost from a Superstar</strong></p>
<p>Danielle Slaton, a silver medalist in soccer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and co-founder of the Bay FC, a National Women’s Soccer League team, was the conference’s keynote speaker.</p>
<p>Words have power, she told her young audience, so use them with intention. She remembered U.S. team captain Carla Overbeck calming Slaton, a newcomer to the national team, by saying Slaton earned her roster spot and “you’re going to make us better someday.”</p>
<p>She also described a side trip in Sydney with superstar Mia Hamm to get their eyebrows waxed.</p>
<p>“I’d never done this before, but I didn’t flinch. ‘Wow, you’re tough,’ the lady said. And Mia, without missing a beat, said, ‘I could have told you she was tough.’</p>
<p>“That changed my Olympics,” she said. “I’m telling you I will never forget that. Mia Hamm thinks I’m tough.”</p>
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<iframe allow="fullscreen" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" aria-label="photos of high school girl athletes, along with speakers and presenters, during the Together We Will conference at UC Merced" loading="lazy" src="https://www.canva.com/design/DAHDfGpDaH0/ALp1d5_1Wq8O32zrM5cq1Q/watch?embed" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0; border: none; padding: 0;margin: 0;"></iframe></div>
<p>Slaton’s words resonated with Daniela Melgoza, who plays basketball and flag football at Pitman High School in Turlock.</p>
<p>“She said words go a long way. They’re like putting money in a bank,” Melgoza said. “That stood out to me as a way to bond with your teammates and build trust.”</p>
<p>Together We Will was made possible by the support of generous sponsors. Attendees received special swag donated by <a href="https://www.customink.com/">Custom Ink</a> along with giveaways from the WNBA, Title Nine and the Golden State Warriors.</p>
<p>Breakout sessions at the conference focused on crucial elements of girls in athletics: developing leadership skills, building physical and mental foundations for performance, healthy diets, and developing confidence and self-advocacy.</p>
<p><strong>Putting Mistakes in Perspective</strong></p>
<p>Casey Watkins, a research associate at Auckland University of Technology, said the road to self-confidence includes avoiding perfectionism. She noted that tennis great Roger Federer won 54 percent of his career points played but won 80 percent of his games. Watkins cited figure skater Alysa Liu, who walked away from her sport at age 13 but returned on her own terms and won an Olympic gold medal.</p>
<p>“So many times, when we see others, we compare their successes to our mistakes,” she said. “The way we talk to ourselves … can dictate how much we feel like we are worthy in a situation and how we then change our behavior.”</p>
<p>Jessie Anderson, a 2010 graduate of UC Merced and a production and engineering manager for SpaceX, said zeroing in on fundamentals is equally important in playing sports and launching rockets.</p>
<p>“I bring everybody on my team back to fundamentals every day,” said Anderson, who co-founded UC Merced’s first women’s basketball club. “Let’s get back to the basics and then go execute.”</p>
<p>Good leaders help teammates focus on shared goals instead of disparate personalities. Look for connections, she said, that foster empathy and reduce friction.</p>
<p>“I work with some of the smartest people in the universe,” Anderson said. “The single best thing I contribute that lets us do these complex, crazy things is to keep it as simple as possible.”</p>
<p>Reagan Morrison of Oakdale High School, a cheer squad member and flag football player, said Anderson inspired her.</p>
<p>“The way she learned how to guide others and help them succeed, I can use that for my team and for myself,” she said.</p>
<p><strong>Busting Barriers to Healthy Eating</strong></p>
<p>Heidi Strickler, a registered sports dietitian, broke down a number of myths, including that all sugar is bad and carbs are unnecessary. Strickler asked attendees about the barriers they face to eating healthy. The girls cited time, availability of good food, peer pressure and simply not knowing what to eat.</p>
<p>The first step, Strickler said, is to redefine “healthy” and to realize there are no intrinsically good or bad foods.</p>
<p>“All foods fit and something is better than nothing,” they said. “When I think about my own journey, the times when I thought I was eating the healthiest ... I was injured all the time, sick all the time, clinically depressed. I was not eating healthy for my body.”</p>
<p>Competition days can be particularly rough for athletes, who have to navigate travel, lack of time and nerves. Strickler advocated what they called “drippy faucet eating” — a slow, steady consumption of snacks.</p>
<p>“It’s easier to eat small things more frequently,” they said.</p>
<p>A regimen of neuromuscular training that targets the legs, hips and glutes is essential for female athletes, said Amy Sekhon, a sports medicine physician and associate vice chancellor for health and well-being at UC Merced. The training, which requires only 10 minutes per body part twice a week, is “an absolute must” to build strength and ward off knee injuries, she said.</p>
<p>Sekhon also framed sleep — at least eight hours a night — as a physical and mental performance tool. Young athletes who cut those hours short are 1.7 times more likely to sustain an injury, she said.</p>
<p>However, when injuries do occur, it is crucial to treat healing as a structured journey and rehabilitation as a different kind of sport.</p>
<p>“Having a growth mindset that uses recovery not as a dead end but as a training phase encourages you to view rehab as a challenge to be conquered,” she said.</p>
<p>Jenna Zuniga took Sekhon’s words to heart. Zuniga, a STUNT and cheer athlete at Summerville High School, recovered recently from a months-long injury.</p>
<p>“A lot of what she said about staying connected with your team and preventing injuries — about having a good mindset — made sense to me.”</p>
<p><strong>'The Energy and Connection Were Palpable'</strong></p>
<p>Together We Will co-organizer Lisa Pollard Carlson, the mother of two teenage athletes, has seen the pressures young women face balancing school, sports and life.</p>
<p>“These girls juggle so much,” said Pollard Carlson, UC Merced associate vice chancellor for philanthrophy and strategic partnerships. “Our goal was to create a space where they feel celebrated, supported and surrounded by people who believe in them. Sunday’s event achieved that and more — the energy and connection were palpable.</p>
<p>“Creating safe spaces where young women can speak openly with others who have faced similar challenges doesn’t just change lives; it can make a lasting difference.”</p>
<p>Keynote speaker Slaton urged the young athletes to create change by walking through doors of opportunity when they appear — or pushing doors open when necessary. As that journey evolves, Slaton said, remember the girls rising behind them.</p>
<p>“The elevator to the top is broken,” she said. “The only way to go is to take the stairs, one step at a time. And when you reach a floor, throw a hand back down for the girls coming up after you, because we're all in this together.”</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Ready, Set, Slam: 10 UC Merced Scholars Battle for Champion Title/news/2026/ready-set-slam-10-uc-merced-scholars-battle-champion-title2026-03-09 00:00:00Research Highlights (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Campus, Events, Graduate Division, Research, School of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Applied Mathematics, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Applied Mathematics, Quantitative and Systems Biology, Management, Graduate Students, UCOP<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_grad_slam.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Group of individuals attending event with grads student presenting on stage" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/On March 11, participants will take to the stage to vie for the Grad Slam 2026 campus champion title.<p>Ten UC Merced graduate researchers are gearing up to deliver the most intense three minutes of their academic careers.</p>
<p>Each spring, master’s and Ph.D. students across the campus’s three schools are invited to participate in <a href="https://graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu/gradslam">Grad Slam</a> — a fast‑paced competition that challenges scholars to distill their cutting‑edge research into a crisp, engaging presentation for a general audience.</p>
<p>In February, participants submitted their prequalification video presentations. Faculty and staff judges narrowed it down to <a href="https://graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu/Grad-Slam-2026-Finalists">10 finalists</a> for this year’s showdown, listed in alphabetical order:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Zahra Alitaneh, Quantitative and Systems Biology</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Alberto Alves, Mechanical Engineering</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Alex Hartzler, Mechanical Engineering</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Harleen Kaur, Chemistry and Biochemistry</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Zoe Loh, Management of Complex Systems</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Sarah Malone, Applied Mathematics</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Zachary Malone, Environmental Systems</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Emmanuel Rabago Moreno, Mechanical Engineering</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Andrew Silverstein, Environmental Systems</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Tahirah Williams, Quantitative and Systems Biology</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>This year’s competition will take place at 3 p.m. March 11 in the Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom inside the Conference Center and all are welcome. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Those who can’t attend in person may watch live via <a href="https://ucmerced.zoom.us/j/88225367138">Zoom</a>. There is no need to pre-register.</p>
<p>The annual competition offers some great prizes. The campus champion will receive $5,000 and compete at the <a href="https://gradslam.universityofcalifornia.edu/">UC systemwide Grad Slam</a> event April 22 in Sacramento. The second-place winner will receive $2,000 and third place receives $1,000. The remaining seven finalists will each receive $250.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - For Turlock High Grad, UC Merced is Just Far Enough from Home/news/2026/turlock-high-grad-uc-merced-just-far-enough-home2026-03-06 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, First. Further. Forward, San Joaquin Valley<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced-99n-corridor-bpierce-action_94.jpg.jpeg" width="1740" height="900" alt="Breyenne Pierce, a utility player on the water polo team, demonstrates her skills." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Breyenne Pierce, a utility player on the water polo team, found UC Merced to be a place where she can grow as a player and a person.<p>Breyenne Pierce wasn't sure UC Merced was for her.</p>
<p>The Turlock High graduate had followed her passion for water polo to Sierra College in Rocklin. As she was concluding her community college experience, she started looking for a four-year university to complete her degree.</p>
<p>"Honestly, I didn't want to go back home," she said. "I enjoyed being at Sierra. Even though it was two hours away, it was far enough to really spread my wings."</p>
<p>She also wanted to continue playing water polo and wasn't sure she wanted to end her college career with a team in transition. UC Merced was admitted to NCAA Division II in 2024, and the team is in its first year of competition at that level.</p>
<p>"But just talking to the coach and the girls on the team, I realized I had the opportunity to grow more as a water polo player," she said. "Because we are in such a transition period, the coaching staff is open to trying new things."</p>
<p>Pierce, a utility player, found the environment at UC Merced to be a great fit.</p>
<p>"I was in FFA and 4H growing up," she said. "A lot of my childhood was ag-centered, and it was great to be able to be around land again.</p>
<p>"Our campus is off the beaten path. I like that I can look past the parking lot and see cows and the lake."</p>
<p>And the proximity to home turned out to be an asset for the management and business economics major.</p>
<p>"When I get homesick, I can go home, and when I get sick of home, I can come back," said Pierce, who lives off campus in Merced. "And my parents can come to my games."</p>
<p>Because her family lives in Denair, "it's a straight shot down Santa Fe Avenue."</p>
<p>"I liked the idea of being able to be close to family but far enough that I could still do my own thing," Pierce said.</p>
<p>For Pierce, doing her own thing after graduation in the spring will hopefully include working in a coffee shop with an eye toward opening her own one day, and continuing her involvement in water polo, possibly moving into coaching or officiating.</p>
<p>While she isn't against the idea of one day moving out of the area, for now, she wants to stay local.</p>
<p>"I really want to help grow water polo in the Central Valley."</p>
<p>For students from the northern San Joaquin Valley considering UC Merced, she advised, "Just don't write it off because it's close to home. I think a lot of people want to go to school far from home. But I've met so many new people, and there are a lot of clubs and things to do here."</p>
<p>When she initially arrived on campus as a transfer student, she said she struggled a bit.</p>
<p>"I didn't know when I got here all the things available to me," she said. "I do wish I'd gotten a little more involved right away."</p>
<p>And that's her biggest piece of advice for incoming Bobcats: See what opportunities are out there.</p>
<p>"Get involved in anything that sounds fun. It doesn't hurt to go to a meeting and decide that maybe that club isn't for you," Pierce said. "Go to things - sporting events, karaoke nights, movie nights. Go and meet people."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Amazon Funds Research into Making AI More Efficient/news/2026/amazon-funds-research-making-ai-more-efficient2026-03-01 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Management & Technology, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Computer Science, Faculty, School of Engineering, Computer Science Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucm_ai_hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted are the letters "Ai" on a green graphic background" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Li and Lu are among 63 award recipients representing 41 universities.<p>Two UC Merced computer science and engineering professors will delve deep into artificial intelligence in projects with Amazon.</p>
<p><a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/content/dong-li">Dong Li</a> and <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/xiaoyi-lu"> Xiaoyi Lu </a> earned Amazon Research Awards, the technology giant <a href="https://www.amazon.science/research-areas/latest-news/63-amazon-research-award-recipients-announced-spring-2025?utm_campaign=63-amazon-research-award-recipients-announced-spring-2025&utm_medium=organic-asw&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=2025-11-25-63-amazon-research-award-recipients-announced-spring-2025&utm_term=2025-november"> announced </a> recently.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/documents/li_dong_150223-2.jpg.jpeg" style="margin: 2px; float: left; width: 100px; height: 150px;" /><img alt="" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/documents/lu_xiaoyi_20220914-1.jpg.jpeg" style="margin: 2px; float: left; width: 100px; height: 150px;" />Amazon Research Awards provide unrestricted funds and Amazon Web Services Promotional Credits to academic researchers investigating research topics in multiple disciplines. Li and Lu are among 63 award recipients who represent 41 universities in eight countries for this grant cycle.</p>
<p>Both projects work with AWS Trainium, a chip purpose-built for high-performance deep learning training of generative AI models.</p>
<p>Li's awarded proposal, "Efficient Sparse Training with Adaptive Expert Parallelism on AWS Trainium," is aimed at finding ways for different computers to learn more quickly and use less power.</p>
<p>Lu's project, "Accelerating Large Language and Reasoning Model Workloads with AWS Trainium," is aimed at speeding up computer processes. He will study how to train state-of-the-art AI models, such as those used in OpenAI GPT and Google Gemini, on Trainium. His project will study memory system and communication efficiency to enable high-performance AI model training.</p>
<p>According to Amazon, proposals were reviewed for the quality of their scientific content and their potential to impact the research community and society. Additionally, Amazon encourages the publication of research results, presentations of research at Amazon offices worldwide, and the release of related code under open-source licenses.</p>
<p>Recipients have access to more than 700 <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/opendata/?wwps-cards.sort-by=item.additionalFields.sortDate&wwps-cards.sort-order=desc" target="_blank"> Amazon public datasets </a> and can use AWS AI/ML services and tools through their AWS Promotional Credits. Recipients are each assigned an Amazon research contact who offers consultation and advice, along with opportunities to participate in Amazon events and training sessions.</p>
<p>"Academic AI researchers face a fundamental challenge: Advancing machine learning research and educating the next generation requires access to cutting-edge infrastructure that's both powerful and affordable," said Yida Wang, AWS AI principal applied scientist.</p>
<p>"The Build on Trainium program directly addresses this barrier. … Build on Trainium represents AWS's commitment to democratizing AI research through collaborative partnership with academia - fostering an environment where researchers experiment freely, students learn on production-scale infrastructure and academic innovations shape the future of machine learning for everyone."</p>
<p>Both researchers said they are excited about the possibilities the grants provide.</p>
<p>"By accelerating large language and reasoning model workloads on AWS Trainium, this project seeks to push the performance boundaries of modern AI systems and make advanced AI capabilities more efficient and accessible," Lu said.</p>
<p>Li said the awards recognize the quality of high-performance computing research at UC Merced.</p>
<p>"This award will allow our students to gain access to the state-of-the-art hardware at AWS for AI research, and provide our students with interesting research projects, internships and much more," he said. "It will also connect AWS and UC Merced for collaborations on techniques, education and business."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Avalanche survivors would have had only minutes to help save others/news/2026/avalanche-survivors-would-have-had-only-minutes-help-save-others2026-02-25 00:00:00In The News“This is all (in) seconds,” said Robert Rice, a UC Merced associate professor and former avalanche forecaster.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/25/avalanche-tahoe-victims-california-lake-r...https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/25/avalanche-tahoe-victims-california-lake-rescue/- Empathy is the Central Theme of Todo Cambia Film Festival/news/2026/empathy-central-theme-todo-cambia-film-festival2026-02-25 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Diversity & Inclusion, Arts & Culture, Arts and Culture, Diversity, Humanities, History, Center for the Humanities, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Global Arts, Media & Writing StudiesBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-miriam-ohan-multimedia.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Brightly colored photo of Assyrian women from Miram Ohan multimedia project" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/An image from UC graduate student Miriam Ohan's multimedia story about Assyrian women in the Central Valley.<p><em>em·pa·thy</em> (noun): the ability to recognize, understand and share the thoughts, emotions and perspectives of another person.</p>
<p>It is a means of connection, a path to understanding. Can you see where I’m coming from? Walk a mile in my shoes.</p>
<p>Empathy is the keyword for the <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/events">2026 Todo Cambia Human Rights Film Festival,</a> scheduled for March 2-6. Through moving pictures, multimedia creations and the words of UC Merced academics and special guests, the festival, as its flyer states, will remind us “that seeing one another can transform the world within and around us.”</p>
<p>“In a world where media and cinema are dominated by crisis, we can easily lose sight of one another, of our shared humanity, of art and culture, of our potentialities and vulnerabilities,” said festival organizer and filmmaker Yehuda Sharim, a UC Merced professor of media and performance studies. “Todo Cambia invites us to look into that mirror of self, our personal and collective crossroads, where cinema and art offer an antidote that invites us to reflect, heal and act.”</p>
<p>Here is <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/events">Todo Cambia’s full schedule</a>; attendees are encouraged to <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFnezz8cl7JZyOcpVaOZ8p55AWGuuYqwrzeoiiLfTF-t7gcA/viewform">register in advance</a>. There is no cost to attend.</p>
<p>The festival’s first two days include three Merced premieres: </p>
<h2>Monday, March 2</h2>
<p>Filmmaker and UC Merced global arts studies lecturer <a href="https://gasp.ucmerced.edu/content/shammi-samano-0">Shammi Samano</a> will present her short film, “Doorways,” which portrays the Pakistani immigrant experience in Lisbon, Portugal. In addition, artist and UC Merced graduate student Mariam Ohan will present a <a href="https://uchri.org/foundry/hamrahi-photographing-the-assyrian-of-iran-community-in-californias-central-valley/">multimedia work</a> that documents challenges faced by Assyrian women who migrated to Turlock.</p>
<h2>Tuesday, March 3</h2>
<p>Writer and activist George Lipsitz, a UC Santa Barbara sociology professor emeritus, will discuss issues raised in his upcoming book “Ethnic Studies at the Crossroads” with UC Merced critical race and ethnic studies professors <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/nicosia-shakes">Nicosia Shakes</a> and <a href="https://cres.ucmerced.edu/content/christina-baker">Christina Baker</a>.</p>
<h2>Wednesday, March 4 </h2>
<p>Two films will be screened. With footage filmed by incarcerated men, “The Alabama Solution” documents evidence of violence, corruption and humanitarian crises in Alabama’s prison system. “All That’s Left of You” tells the story of a young woman who returns to the Middle East after her father’s death and faces grief, identity issues and cross-cultural family ties.</p>
<h2>Thursday, March 5</h2>
<p>Two films by Hungarian director Béla Tarr, “Werckmeister Harmonies” and “The Turin Horse,” will be shown. Tarr, who died in January at age 90, had a signature style that included black-and-white cinematography, dark themes and exceptionally long, choreographed single shots.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-todo-cambia-festival-coronas-negras.jpg" width="600" height="404" alt="Still image of boy from film "Coronas Negras"" />An image from the documentary "Coronas Negras."https://news.ucmerced.edu/<h2>Friday, March 6</h2>
<p>The day will revolve around the experiences of Black people in Latin cultures. The first presentation, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Classroom and Office Building 2, Room 290, will demonstrate a publicly searchable online database called <a href="https://trayectoriasafro.org/">TrayectoriasAfro.org</a>. Users can learn about the lives, movements and relationships of African-descended people, both enslaved and free, in what historians call New Spain — a colony that encompassed today’s Mexico, Central America and the southwest United States. New Spain existed for 300 years, from the 16<sup>th</sup> to the 19<sup>th</sup> centuries.</p>
<p>The conversation about African and Black populations in Latin America will continue at 6 p.m. at The Mainzer, 655 W. Main St., Merced. A short documentary, “Coronas Negras,” will be shown. Directed by André Lô Sánchez, it explores the lives of four people from Senegalese families in Mexico. Their “Black Crown” hairstyles affect their experiences in Mexican society. After the screening, Sánchez and Diana Pinacho-Lopez, a filmmaker and activist, will converse with attendees.</p>
<p>Hosts and speakers for the all-day event will be UC Merced Latin American history Professor <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/sabrina-smith">Sabrina Smith</a>, UC Irvine history Professor Alex Borucki, UC Riverside ,anthropology Professor Anthony Jerry and UC Santa Barbara art history Professor Brisa Smith Flores. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdKgvJKXfPw9uEL8t28IXVUOsDzzaDs8PWbSX9ryQ8mVhC9Fw/viewform">Register </a>to attend the March 6 events.</p>
<p>Co-sponsors of Todo Cambia include UC Merced’s <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/">School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts</a>, the UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives project <a href="https://www.humanities.uci.edu/routes-enslavement-americas">“Routes of Enslavement in the Americas,”</a> and <a href="https://alianzamx.universityofcalifornia.edu/">Alianza MX</a>, which attracts talent and funding for research teams from the UC and Mexico across disciplines ranging from STEM to the arts.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Former Gov. Gray Davis Awarded Chancellor’s Medal for Transformative Leadership in Bringing UC Merced to the Central Valley/news/2026/former-gov-gray-davis-awarded-chancellor%E2%80%99s-medal-transformative-leadership-bringing-uc2026-02-24 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Awards, Campus, Leadership, Chancellor, Chancellor’s Office, Events, LegislationBy Sam Yniguez, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced-governor-davis-receives-chancellor-medal.png" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz and Governor Gray Davis pose with the Chancellor's Medal" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Former Governor Gray Davis was presented with the Chancellor's Medal.<p>At an intimate gathering of supporters, UC Merced awarded former Gov. Gray Davis the Chancellor’s Medal — the university’s highest honor — in recognition of his instrumental role in bringing the 10th University of California campus to Merced.</p>
<p>The medal was presented recently during a special evening marking UC Merced’s 20th anniversary year, celebrating two decades since the campus opened its doors to undergraduate students.</p>
<p>“Gov. Davis understood something fundamental: The strength of this state has always rested on its willingness to invest in public education, and to do so boldly,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “He understood that the Central Valley deserved not just access, but excellence.”</p>
<p>Davis played a pivotal role in advancing the vision for a research university in the Central Valley at a critical moment in the campus’s development. His leadership helped ensure the campus would be established not simply as an access point, but as a fully realized research university worthy of the UC name.</p>
<p>“One of my proudest accomplishments as governor was opening UC Merced's doors. UC Merced gives thousands of students the opportunity to not only to improve their own lives but also to improve those lives in their community,” Davis said. “I want to thank Chancellor Muñoz for this incredible honor and for his strong leadership. As the son of a farmworker and a former United States Marine, Chancellor Muñoz is uniquely qualified to provide the empathy, discipline and motivation to take UC Merced to even greater heights.”</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced-chancellors-medal.png" width="870" height="450" alt="The Chancellor's Medal displayed on a table " />The Chancellor's Medal is the university’s highest honor.https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>The Chancellor’s Medal recognizes individuals whose leadership has had an enduring and transformative impact on UC Merced. During his remarks, Muñoz emphasized that Davis’ contributions were not symbolic but foundational.</p>
<p>“This medal represents our gratitude,” Muñoz said. “But more importantly, it represents the generations of students whose lives are changed because Gov. Davis believed that excellence belongs everywhere in California.”</p>
<p>Former First Lady Sharon Davis was also recognized at the event for her longstanding support and commitment to public service. University leaders presented her with a commemorative gift in appreciation of her engagement and partnership over the years.</p>
<p>The gathering was hosted by Aileen Adams, who played a key role in the campus’s early development. Appointed by Davis in 1999 to lead a state task force coordinating construction and environmental efforts for the new campus, Adams co-chaired the so-called Red Team alongside UC Merced founding Chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, helping bring together more than 20 state agencies to streamline the process.</p>
<p>"Gov. Davis' highly coordinated building process enabled the campus to open a year early,” Adams said. “Our commitment to energy efficiency ensured a campus that was and remains the most sustainable in the world."</p>
<p>The evening served as both a celebration and a reflection, honoring the leadership that made UC Merced possible while recognizing the extraordinary progress the campus has made in just two decades.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced-governor-davis-event.png" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sanchez Munoz, Governor Gray Davis pose with guests" />Chancellor Muñoz and Governor Davis joined by ASUCM President Manar Ahmed and Alum Jessie Anderson https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - New Approaches Coming to UC Merced Electrical Engineering Department/news/2026/new-approaches-coming-uc-merced-electrical-engineering-department2026-02-24 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Staff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucm_electricalengineering_hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts two students working on a circuit board at UC Merced." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The $1 million grant will allow the department to adapt to changing needs.<p>As technology advances and new problems present themselves, electrical engineers who can meet the needs of the modern world are in high demand, and adapting to electrical engineering education has become increasingly important. UC Merced's <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/academics/EE/electrical-engineering"> electrical engineering</a> program, one of the university's newest, focuses on equipping students with the skills to solve complex engineering problems.</p>
<p>The National Science Foundation, through its Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) program, has awarded the department a $1 million <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2449875"> grant </a> to adapt proven curriculum redesign approaches developed at other institutions.</p>
<p>This project aims to expand UC Merced's electrical engineering program by introducing new approaches that strengthen the connection between coursework, engineering practice and the communities from which the university's students come.</p>
<p>Most students at UC Merced are in-state, with many from the Central Valley. Course content that focuses on solving real problems in the Central Valley will allow students to see the importance of their work, increasing student engagement. As a result, the program aims to reframe the electrical engineering curriculum for the Central Valley and focus on issues relevant to the region.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/nsf_red_team_1740x900-edit.jpg.jpeg" width="869" height="450" alt="The team of Ayush Pandey, Linda Sheehan, Raul Vargas, Eileen Camfield, Susan Lord, Sarah Kurtz, Ashfaq Khokhar, Eric Cheng, Qian Wang and Changqing Li is pictures." />The team will work to redesign classes to meet market needs.https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>A <a href="https://ee-ucmerced.github.io/RED/">team</a> of faculty, staff, educational and career experts and previous students will redesign classes that will bring a stronger understanding across these courses. By rethinking how these courses are taught, the program seeks to build a more cohesive and effective learning pathway.</p>
<p>The team will implement "design thinking," a management sciences concept that guides people to engage and work together better and in a structured manner. Electrical engineering faculty will work together along with experts from other areas, such as career specialists, LatinX experts, education researchers and industry professionals in a structured process to redesign courses.</p>
<p>In addition to internal partners, the research team is collaborating with the University of San Diego and Iowa State University, two institutions whose earlier RED projects in the program offer crucial evidence.</p>
<p>"We are hoping to adapt prior successful strategies to revolutionize this culture in our department and then share this process with other departments and institutions," said Professor <a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/content/ayush-pandey"> Ayush Pandey</a>. "We anticipate that electrical engineering faculty will work as a stronger collective group toward the department's pedagogical efforts, and students who graduate from our program will have stronger professional preparation and a better sense of what real-world engineering is like in the field."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Weeks in the making: How a brittle snowpack primed the Sierra for disaster/news/2026/weeks-making-how-brittle-snowpack-primed-sierra-disaster2026-02-23 00:00:00In The NewsAfter modest storms over the holidays, the central Sierra turned bone dry in January. Daytime warmth softened the thin snowpack; nighttime freezes hardened it again. That cycle created so-called facets in the snow — “like shards of glass” with “no cohesion or strength whatsoever,” said Robert Rice, a UC Merced associate teaching professor who previously forecasted avalanches for Utah’s transportation agency.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/20/weeks-in-the-making-how-a-brittle-snowpac...https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/02/20/weeks-in-the-making-how-a-brittle-snowpack-primed-the-sierra-for-disaster/- UC Merced Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program/news/2026/uc-merced-students-invited-tackle-real-world-ai-challenges-2026-data-science-program2026-02-23 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Student & Alumni Success, Campus Community, Engineering, Faculty, DOE, Research, Science, Applied Mathematics<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_llnl_data_science_challenge_poster.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Four student standing in front of their poster at the Data Science Challenge" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The Data Science Challenge is an intensive two-week summer program where they collaborate on complex scientific and computational problems.<p>Applications are open for the 2026 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory <a href="https://data-science.llnl.gov/dsc">Data Science Challenge</a>, a two-week summer internship that gives students a firsthand look at national lab research through high‑impact, data‑driven problem solving.</p>
<p>“I want our students to see themselves in these different career pathways. When you spend time there, you learn about the culture and you learn about this type of career path,” applied mathematics Professor <a href="https://appliedmath.ucmerced.edu/content/suzanne-fernandes-sindi">Suzanne Fernandes-Sindi</a> said. “You solve some problems and you learn a lot — you learn about internships in areas that you didn't even know the national labs have.”</p>
<p>Past challenges have addressed diverse topics such as cancer therapeutics and computer vision. The 2026 challenge focuses on building AI-driven workflows for additive manufacturing.</p>
<p>Established in 2019, the DSC is open to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in mathematics, computer science, engineering, science or other fields. The challenge brings about 40 participants — half from UC Merced — to the UC Livermore Collaboration Center, or UCLCC, where they work closely with LLNL mentors, interact with lab researchers and present their findings at the program’s close. </p>
<p>Participants receive a stipend, meals and funding for travel and lodging.</p>
<p><a href="https://data-science.llnl.gov/dsc">Applications</a> for this summer’s DSC, set for July 20-31, are open through March 6.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - Engineers Week Events Set at UC Merced/news/2026/engineers-week-events-set-uc-merced2026-02-20 00:00:00In BriefFirst. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced_engineeringweek_hero15.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted are five people looking at a robotic model car. " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The week has been celebrated since 1951.<p>A research panel, project demonstrations and career advice are all part of activities set for Engineers Week at UC Merced Feb. 23-27. And it all kicks off with the university's first networking expo aimed at the engineering industry.</p>
<p>Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, Engineers Week unites engineers, students and communities across the nation to celebrate how engineering shapes the world. According to the NSPE website, the event is more than a week of recognition; it's also a movement to inspire the next generation of innovators, spotlight the impact of the profession and strengthen connections across the engineering community.</p>
<p>Activities get underway Monday with the Engineering Industry Networking Expo, which will feature major-specific industry panels and open networking opportunities with UC Merced engineering alumni as well as industry partners.</p>
<p>Students are invited to make valuable connections to help steer their professional paths, hear directly from sources about how to stand out in the current job market, and connect with campus clubs and organizations that can help them achieve their goals.</p>
<p>The expo is set from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom in the Conference Center. More information is available <a href="https://hire.ucmerced.edu/content/engineering-industry-networking-expo-monday-february-23rd-2026-300-pm-600-pm-pst"> here </a> .</p>
<p>Throughout the week, the <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/"> School of Engineering </a> will host receptions and major-specific information sessions.</p>
<p>Other events:</p>
<p><strong>Engineering RCO Mass Tabling Event</strong></p>
<p>Monday, 7 to 9 p.m. in Classroom and Office Building 1, room 105.</p>
<p>Meet leadership from organizations such as SHPE, SWE, NSBE and the Robotics Society. See cool hardware and find out how to get involved.</p>
<p><strong>Technical Project Walkthroughs</strong></p>
<p>Tuesday, 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Granite Pass, room135.</p>
<p>See the "amazing hardware and software" from student projects and learn how to get hands-on experience right now.</p>
<p><strong>Conferences 101</strong></p>
<p>Wednesday, 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Granite Pass, room135</p>
<p>Learn how to navigate career conferences - the No. 1 way to secure an engineering internship or job.</p>
<p><strong>Faculty Research Panel</strong></p>
<p>Thursday, 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Student Services Building, room 160</p>
<p>Hear from faculty about cutting-edge research. Did you know UC Merced beats out nearly all other UCs in undergraduate research participation? Includes a 30-minute one-on-one networking window.</p>
<p><strong>School of Engineering Leadership Roundtable</strong></p>
<p>Friday, 4 to 6 p.m. in Arts and Computational Sciences Building, room 120</p>
<p>The roundtable will feature remarks from Dean of the School of Engineering <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/rakesh-goel"> Rakesh Goel </a> and updates from student organization presidents.</p>
<p>For more information, go to the Vanguard Society's Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ucm_vanguard/"> page </a> .</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Together We Will Conference to Empower Female High School Athletes at UC Merced/news/2026/together-we-will-conference-empower-female-high-school-athletes-uc-merced2026-02-18 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, AthleticsAlyssa Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/20260120_social_sizes-tww_1920x1080-landscape_1.jpg" width="1600" height="900" alt="Promotional graphic for ‘Together We Will: A Leadership Summit for Girls in Sports,’ featuring an athlete in a volleyball uniform and event details, including messaging about connection and leadership, the date 03/08, registration information, and the UC Merced logo." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Together We Will takes place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the UC Merced campus. The conference is free to attend, though registration is required. <p>Female high school student-athletes are invited to the UC Merced campus on March 8 for <a href="https://engage.ucmerced.edu/s/1650/20/event.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3092">Together We Will</a>, a first-of-its-kind conference designed to inspire connection, confidence and leadership.</p>
<p>The one-day event will bring together speakers, mentors and health experts to provide a platform for young women to build skills for success in both competition and life.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://engage.ucmerced.edu/s/1650/20/interior.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3100">conference</a> is focused on creating a safe and supportive space for teen girls to talk openly about leadership, confidence, body image and mental health — topics organizers say are critical to the long-term well-being of student-athletes.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://engage.ucmerced.edu/s/1650/20/event.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3092">speaker lineup</a> includes:</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Victoria Garrick Browne, founder of The Hidden Opponent, speaker and mental health advocate</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Danielle Slaton, Olympic medalist, broadcaster and co-founder of Bay Football Club</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Heidi Strickler, sports dietitian and wellness advocate</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Casey Watkins, educator and researcher in human performance</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Amy Sekhon Atwal, physician leader and campus health strategist</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">-Jessie Anderson, Falcon senior structures production and engineering manager at SpaceX and a UC Merced alumna</p>
<p>“I hope participants leave with greater confidence in themselves, a stronger sense of belonging and relationships that can last a lifetime,” said Lesley Slaton Brown, a UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees member, Merced High School graduate and former senior vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for the NBA. “More than anything, I want them to believe their dreams in sports — and in life — are possible, and that the Valley needs their leadership.”</p>
<p>Slaton Brown said her involvement is a way to give back to the Valley that raised her and to help create the kind of opportunities she wishes she had when she was young.</p>
<p>“Growing up in Merced, sports weren’t just something I did — it shaped who I am. It taught me discipline, resilience, teamwork and how to lead with heart,” she said. “I’ve carried those lessons with me into every space I’ve entered. I want the girls who attend this summit to feel seen, valued and capable, because I know how transformative it can be when someone believes in you.”</p>
<p>Nancye Rahn, assistant director of athletics and senior woman administrator at UC Merced and co-chair of the conference, said the event is designed to help girls invest in themselves.</p>
<p>“To the girls who are thinking about attending: This day is for you,” Rahn said. “It’s an opportunity to build confidence, learn new strategies for performance and well-being and connect with other athletes who share your passion. From leadership development to mental wellness and performance strategies, everything is designed to help you grow.”</p>
<p>The idea for Together We Will grew from conversations about the unique pressures facing teen girls in sports and the need for more intentional support systems.</p>
<p>Lisa Pollard Carlson, UC Merced’s associate vice chancellor of philanthropy and strategic partnerships and one of the event’s organizers, said she sees the conference as more than a single day of programming. As a parent of a teenage athlete who will attend the event, she brings both a professional and personal perspective to the effort.</p>
<p>“We see the ripple effect of a program like Together We Will,” Pollard Carlson said. “The girl who attends will go back into her community, her school and her team with resources that will not only help her but those around her. It’s not only a starting point — it is a launching point. It’s about the power of connection, the power of being together. Together, we will thrive. Together, we will lift each other up. Together, we will create change.”</p>
<p>Organizers hope the conference will become an annual tradition at UC Merced, reinforcing the university’s commitment to leadership development, student well-being and community engagement throughout the Central Valley.</p>
<p>The conference is free to attend, though <a href="https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1650/20/interior.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3087&cid=7050">registration</a> is required. Together We Will takes place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the UC Merced campus. Lunch will be provided for participants. For more information, visit <a href="https://engage.ucmerced.edu/s/1650/20/event.aspx?sid=1650&gid=1&pgid=3092">together.ucmerced.edu</a><strong>.</strong></p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Rising Simultaneous Fire Weather Threatens International Firefighting Efforts/news/2026/rising-simultaneous-fire-weather-threatens-international-firefighting-efforts2026-02-18 00:00:00Research Highlights (gateway)Research Excellence, Environment, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Research, Research, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of Engineering, Management of Complex Systems<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/caldor_fire_by_uc_merced_postdoctoral_researcher_cong_yin.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted is a scene of burned-out trees and ash in the wake of the Caldor Fire. " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Synchronized extreme fire weather is increasing, researchers found.<p>High-risk conditions for fires are increasingly happening across countries at the same time, making wildfires even more challenging to tackle, new research reveals.</p>
<p>Scientists from UC Merced and the University of East Anglia found this synchronized extreme fire weather — characterized by exceptionally warm, dry and often windy conditions — has increased strongly worldwide since 1979, becoming more widespread throughout regions, not just in single locations.</p>
<p>When these widespread high-risk days occur, there is also more fire activity and worse air quality in several regions, not just locally. These days also narrow the window for firefighting coordination, potentially straining existing international firefighting cooperation between, for example, the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and South Africa.</p>
<p>In many areas, the number of high-risk days occurring simultaneously has more than doubled, with extreme fire weather increasing fire danger by enhancing vegetation's susceptibility to ignition and promoting spread.</p>
<p>“This ultimately makes wildfires more difficult to deal with at the times when they are most threatening,” said Matthew Jones of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA. “Addressing these challenges requires coordinated international efforts, including the implementation of early warning systems, enhanced wildfire management strategies and clear communication between agencies.”</p>
<p>Publishing its findings today in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx8813">Science Advances</a>, the team estimates that more than half of the observed increase is driven by human-caused climate change, while natural climate variability can strongly amplify synchronicity in some regions. The researchers warn there is an urgent need for “more robust and adaptive” strategies in global fire management.</p>
<p>Previous work mainly examined synchronous fire weather in a few regions, such as the western United States, Europe or Australia. This study is the first to measure and visualize the phenomenon globally, and to distinguish two types: synchronicity within a region, where many places in the same region experience extreme fire weather on the same day; and synchronicity between regions, where two or more regions experience it on the same day.</p>
<p>“Currently, regions such as Europe and Southeast Asia, and fire-prone countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia, have established bilateral and multilateral firefighting cooperation systems, which have been effective in managing recent major wildfires,” said Cong Yin, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Merced and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “However, when extreme fire weather happens in many places at once, it increases the likelihood of widespread fire outbreaks and strains firefighting capacity, because crews, aircraft, and equipment can’t be easily shared when everyone needs help at the same time.</p>
<p>“A key takeaway is that the growing overlap in fire-danger seasons can shrink the ‘window’ when countries or regions can effectively support each other,” said Yin, who is affiliated with UC Merced’s <a href="https://snri.ucmerced.edu/"> Sierra Nevada Research Institute </a> . “For example, the United States and South Africa average four same-day extreme fire weather days per year, increasing by 1.2 days per decade.”</p>
<p>These findings help in understanding concurrent extreme fire weather and preparing for an increasingly fire-prone future, Yin said. They also emphasize the compounding effects on air quality, public health, and fire management.</p>
<p>In one example of international cooperation during the 2023 Canadian fire season, firefighters from South Africa and other countries across the world helped tackle hundreds of devastating wildfires that destroyed homes and land.</p>
<p>The researchers found clear hotspots where the strain on cooperation networks that share firefighting resources is set to grow most rapidly. For example, in Portugal and Spain, same-day extreme fire weather days per year have increased by more than 12 since 1979.</p>
<p>In addition, natural climate variability can increase synchrony in specific regions, such as Equatorial Asia, which sees many more of these fire-weather days during El Niño years.</p>
<p>The analysis found North America, Europe, Boreal Asia, the Middle East and South America experience the highest levels of simultaneous inter-regional fire weather, occurring on the same day in at least one other region for an average of more than 30 days per year.</p>
<p>In lower- to mid-latitude regions, including South America, Central and East Asia, Africa and the mainland United States, the annual average number of these days during 2001–2024 was three to seven times higher than during 1979–2000.</p>
<p>Simultaneous fire weather tends to be more strongly associated with poorer air quality in boreal regions, Equatorial Asia, Africa and South America. In Europe, during the top 25% of years with the most synchronous fire weather days, population exposure to fire-sourced air pollution is almost 200% higher than in other years.</p>
<p>The team, which also included researchers from the University of Washington and Boise State University, used global weather data to calculate daily Fire Weather Index values worldwide from 1979–2024, and identified when extreme fire‑risk days occurred simultaneously across large or multiple regions. They examined how human‑driven climate change and natural climate patterns such as El Niño influenced these events, and then compared them with actual burned area and smoke pollution to assess real‑world impacts.</p>
<p>The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Joint Fire Science Program and by a public grant via the UK Natural Environment Research Council.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Trump immigration sweeps upended L.A.’s economy, with some businesses losing big/news/2026/trump-immigration-sweeps-upended-la%E2%80%99s-economy-some-businesses-losing-big2026-02-12 00:00:00In The NewsCounty report echoes findings by UC Merced researchers based on U.S. census survey data that found that the week after the raids began in June, the number of people reporting private sector employment in California decreased by 3.1% — an employment downtown only matched in modern history by the COVID.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-13/dhs-sweeps-county-businesses...https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-02-13/dhs-sweeps-county-businesses-report-losses- Exclusive: HISD has lost nearly 4,000 immigrant students amid ICE crackdown: 'We fear coming to school'/news/2026/exclusive-hisd-has-lost-nearly-4000-immigrant-students-amid-ice-crackdown-we-fear-coming2026-02-10 00:00:00In The NewsWhen children see immigration raids in their community — regardless of citizenship status — they also face psychological distress and poorer mental health outcomes, said Maria-Elena Young, an associate professor of public health at the University of California-Merced. <img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/hisd/article/hisd-...https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/hisd/article/hisd-loses-immigrant-students-21307427.php- UC Berkeley Exhibit Marks 20 Years of UC Merced’s Design Vision/news/2026/uc-berkeley-exhibit-marks-20-years-uc-merced%E2%80%99s-design-vision2026-02-10 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Community Engagement, Campus, Campus Planning, Planning and Budget, Events, San Francisco Bay AreaBy Francesca Dinglasan, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_berkeley_20th_symposium.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Several UC Merced building models and displays" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/“From the Ground Up: Building UC Merced” is on display at UC Berkeley’s Bauer Wurster Hall through February 20.<p>From open farmland in California’s Central Valley to a global model for sustainable design, UC Merced’s architectural story is currently on view as part of a special exhibit at UC Berkeley’s Bauer Wurster Hall.</p>
<p>Located in one of Berkeley’s most iconic Brutalist buildings and the home of the College of Environmental Design, “From the Ground Up: Building UC Merced” features oversized photographs, architectural models and sketches that trace Merced’s ambitious growth while creating a visual and conceptual bridge between the University of California’s first and newest campuses.</p>
<p>The exhibition coincides with UC Merced’s 20th anniversary and launched with an opening-night symposium on Jan. 29. Moderated by Brian Harrington, director of physical and environmental planning at the UC Office of the President, the event brought together several of the campus’s original architects and planners alongside academic leaders. The conversation explored UC Merced’s rapid evolution over the past two decades, examining how the ideals that shaped the university’s earliest days continue to influence its trajectory.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_berkeley_20th_panel.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Panel of UC Merced's original architects and planners alongside academic leaders" />A panel of UC Merced's original architects and planners alongside academic leadershttps://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor and Campus Architect Wendy Hillis placed UC Merced within the broader history of UC campus design, emphasizing how architecture reflects shifting ideas about place, identity and purpose.</p>
<p>“The original campus architect was Frenchman Emile Bernard,” Hillis said, recalling early debates surrounding UC Berkeley’s master plan. “There was a lot of angst around the fact that it was a Frenchman who won. There were concerns about what it meant to build this great university using a model that wasn’t American.”</p>
<p>Hillis contrasted Berkeley’s vision with other UC campuses that followed their own architectural philosophies.</p>
<p>“For as much as UC Berkeley is about monumentality, about this white city on a hill imposing order on the landscape, you see Santa Cruz embracing landscape,” she said. “That contrast raises a really interesting question: What is the University of California, and what imagery do we use to represent it?”</p>
<p>UC Merced, Hillis said, reflects a later shift toward architecture rooted in place and vernacular. The challenge ahead lies in balancing growth with stewardship, she said.</p>
<p>“Looking at the axes and open spaces, our challenge now is about the amount of land we have and how we continue to grow students and faculty,” Hillis said. “What are the special places and landscapes that need to be saved, and where can we take increased density?”</p>
<p>Michael Duncan, a design partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, described UC Merced’s character as the product of an iterative process.</p>
<p>“We’re here to give our impressions of the campus. We all worked there before, and we all had a hand in these things,” Duncan said.</p>
<p>“This idea of evolution is really important,” he added. “Master plans can start one way and evolve over time. Buildings define a campus incrementally, and ideas or ideals set 25 years ago can still shape the campus today.”</p>
<p>Duncan pointed to the campus library, today known as the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library, as a formative project in establishing UC Merced’s architectural identity.</p>
<p>“The library was one of the critical first buildings,” he said. “It was also student services, administration and many of the initial classrooms. The architectural guidelines for the campus were developed at the same time as these buildings.”</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_berkeley_20th_model.png" width="870" height="450" alt="One of the models on display as part of the exhibit" />An early model shows how campus builders incorporated the existing environment. https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Rather than prescribing rigid rules, Duncan explained, architects established shared principles as construction progressed. This approach allowed sustainability concepts to become embedded in the campus’s culture from the start.</p>
<p>“There’s another really powerful story here about the creation of one of the most sustainable universities in the country,” he said.</p>
<p>Tim Stevens, a principal at SCB Architects and a member of the firm’s campus environments leadership team, said UC Merced’s design was guided by a search for authenticity.</p>
<p>“One of the most compelling questions in designing a new UC campus from scratch is: What is the character of the place?” Stevens said. “For UC Merced, that meant rooting the campus in the Central Valley’s agricultural landscape.</p>
<p>“Most UC campuses were once fairly barren and remote pieces of land,” he added. “The initial buildings at Merced used honest material expression and a shared architectural vocabulary. They gave the university an immediate sense of stability and permanence.”</p>
<p>Those early choices, Stevens said, shaped later phases of development, including the Merced 2020 expansion, which emphasized a mixed-use campus model.</p>
<p>“The library wasn’t just a library,” he said. “It was the student center and the campus store. That mixing of uses became inspirational for future buildings.”</p>
<p>Lilian Asperin, a partner at WRNS Studio, described the years between 2015 and 2020 as a pivotal moment for the campus.</p>
<p>“The public-private partnership, or P3, pulled together broad expertise with deep financial backgrounds and allowed the campus to move at speed,” Asperin said. “It was an incredible solution to the challenge of first funding.”</p>
<p>“What often gets lost is how much courage it took to make it real,” she added. “It was teamwork in the truest sense: public and private partners aligning around a shared mission.”</p>
<p>Asperin emphasized the importance of that mission, which was doubling the size of the campus to serve a region and student population with significant unmet need.</p>
<p>“There was a shared understanding that we were serving first-generation students,” she said. “That sense of purpose was powerful.”</p>
<p>UC Merced Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Okoli concluded the symposium by noting that the campus’s physical form cannot be separated from its founding mission.</p>
<p>“The founding vision talked about expanding access to the University of California in the Central Valley and advancing social and economic mobility,” Okoli said. “It also talked about sustainability. That set the tone.”</p>
<p>For Okoli, the campus’s most lasting impact is cultural. He pointed to how students responded during campus protests in 2024.</p>
<p>“Our students behaved differently,” he said. “They took care of the campus. When the encampment ended, they cleaned the grounds and left it better than they found it.”</p>
<p>“That says something about the kind of students who come from this place,” Okoli added. “They go into the world and begin to change it.”</p>
<p><a href="https://ced.berkeley.edu/events/from-the-ground-up-building-uc-merced-exhibition-symposium">From the Ground Up: Building UC Merced runs until February 20 at Bauer Wurster Hall Gallery in UC Berkeley.</a></p>
Alyssa Johansen - How Writing Rewires Your Brain to Face Everyday Challenges/news/2026/how-writing-rewires-your-brain-face-everyday-challenges2026-02-11 00:00:00Featured News (gateway), Research Highlights (gateway)Research Excellence, Mind & Body, Writing, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Global Arts, Media & Writing StudiesBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-writing-resilience-qa.jpg" width="1740" height="900" alt="AI-rendered of hand emerging from a box, holding a pen pressed against paper" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Professor Emily Johnston redefines writing as a practice of thinking on the page that continuously shapes and reshapes who we are.<p>Written words can do more than communicate. They can also unlock the writer’s ability to process distress, identify hurtful feelings and take control of personal conflict.</p>
<p><a href="https://writingstudies.ucmerced.edu/node/281">Emily Johnston</a>, a writing studies professor at UC Merced, has researched how the act of writing rewires the brain to build resilience — the ability to bounce back and remain strong when facing difficult challenges. She shared her findings about writing’s superpower in <a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-builds-resilience-by-changing-your-brain-helping-you-face-everyday-challenges-265188">a recent online essay</a> and is preparing a book on the subject.</p>
<p>The writing doesn’t have to be as formal as a journal or diary, Johnston said. “Maybe the feelings are too fresh and you don’t have the words yet. So write a to-do list. Write about the cup of coffee on your desk. You’re still exercising that writing muscle. ‘What are the words I’m looking for?’”</p>
<p>We asked Johnston some questions about writing, resilience and her own academic journey:</p>
<p><strong>You describe writing as a way to build a healthy distance from a difficult experience. How does seeing our problems on paper or a screen help us handle them better? </strong></p>
<p>Writing is a tool we use to communicate, but also to process. It helps us sort out and even change our thinking.</p>
<p>Writing creates an interruption between something that’s happening and our thoughts about it. This interruption can regulate our nervous system and clarify how we want to respond. I think of writing as a disaster preventionist: It ever-so-subtly closes the emotional floodgates and keeps us from reacting.</p>
<p>To write, our brain has to switch gears. Our motor systems and language network fire up. How do my hands need to move? Which words will capture what I want to say?</p>
<p>Let’s say I’m in the middle of a disagreement with my partner or just remembering a heated exchange we had last week. I could keep arguing or ruminating. Either is likely to lead me to say things I’ll regret or tumble into an anxiety spiral.</p>
<p>If, instead, I pick up my journal, open my phone’s Notes app, or create a Google doc and start putting my experience into written words, I’m giving my brain something new, yet adjacent, to focus on. I’m directing my attention toward witnessing the experience. I’m not running away from the problem. I’m creating a record of it that I can return to and perhaps share with my partner after we’ve cooled off. Writing is a way to soothe the activation I’m experiencing (heart beating faster, palms sweating, brow furrowed, etc.), allowing me to think through how I want to move through it.</p>
<p><strong>You say that labeling an emotion, even with an emoji or a colorful phrase, can calm the brain. Why is this so effective at reducing a fight-or-flight response? </strong></p>
<p>From a brain perspective, with a difficult experience such as arguing with a loved one or crashing a bicycle, pain isn’t the only damaging agent. It’s also our concepts of what that experience means.</p>
<p>But when we label emotions, like pain, with a grimacing emoji or a colorful phrase, we give them physical form. Our brains can shift from threat-detection mode to making meaning. </p>
<p><img alt="quote by UC Merced Professor Emily Johnson" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/uc-merced-emily-johnston-writing-quote.png" style="width: 100%; max-width: 700px; height: auto; display: block; margin: 0 auto;" /></p>
<p>For instance, in selecting a grimacing emoji to label our feelings, we not only proclaim something like “I feel frustrated,” we shape a playful relationship with that frustration. Threat is dialed down. </p>
<p>Let’s say that we include a four-letter word in a text message to a friend because we’re flummoxed by a chemistry lecture. Or maybe we press hard with a pen to scrawl the word next to our lecture notes. In either case, we’re refusing to be swallowed whole by the confusion we feel. Threat is still present, but we have reclaimed a sense of agency.</p>
<p><strong>Some see resilience as an ingrained trait — you have it or you don’t. Explain how you see it as something to be developed, with writing as a learning tool. </strong></p>
<p>Yes, I see resilience as something we practice every time we write. Whether it’s a postcard, a dissertation or a tenure file, we take risks and enact change. </p>
<p>In writing a grocery list, I might forget to include something. But I still transform my family from a hungry household into satiated humans. In writing a dissertation, I went from “graduate student” to “doctor.”</p>
<p>I talk to my students about the material effects of their writing — from social media posts to essays they write when applying for internships, grad school or jobs. What you write might miss the mark, I explain, but you’re putting yourself out there. You’re communicating, “this matters to me enough that I’ll risk rejection to be heard.”</p>
<p>When we write, we exercise agency and open the door to change. We cultivate our resilience. </p>
<p><strong>Sometimes you ask students to set aside their laptops and write on paper. Why? </strong></p>
<p>Writing by hand activates a different cognitive process than typing does. We engage our motor systems more intensely, modulating the pressure of our hand on our pen and the pressure of the pen on the paper. Our visual systems have to work harder to ensure what we’re writing aligns with our mental models of the letters we’re producing.</p>
<p>This heightened brain activation means we’re more apt to remember what we’ve written down and to make connections between ideas. (See <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain">this NPR article</a>.)</p>
<p>I ask my students to write by hand when they take notes. Because most people can’t handwrite as quickly as they can type, students have to make choices about what to write in full, what to abbreviate, and what to let go of. That’s processing in real time. That’s critical thinking. </p>
<p><strong>In a world where traditional writing is a fading art, you describe it as a builder of well-being. How can we broaden our definition of writing to take advantage of its benefits? </strong></p>
<p>Actually, writing isn’t disappearing so much as it is changing forms. We write all the time — social media, email, chatting with a chatbot, texting. Global literacy rates have skyrocketed.</p>
<p>We also need to embrace a broader understanding of what writing does. Yes, it communicates. But it also helps us regulate, think and create meaning. Writing a to-do list, for example, can turn down the noise from the demands on our time and help us prioritize. It sends a “slow down” signal to our brain.</p>
<p><img alt="Illustration of swirls and stars from the point of a pencil" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/uc-merced-writing-resilience-qa1.jpg" style="width: 100%; max-width: 700px; height: auto; display: block; margin: 0 auto;" /></p>
<p>More formal forms of writing, such as keeping a journal or composing a memo or dossier, work similarly by making concrete the things we value and signaling to our brain that we’re taking action on those values. </p>
<p>Try this broadened definition of writing on for size: an everyday practice of thinking on the page that continuously shapes and reshapes who we are. </p>
<p><strong>You have said that students in STEM fields, who may not see themselves as writers, can find value in this process. How? </strong></p>
<p>Writing is at the core of every discipline. It’s how knowledge circulates.</p>
<p>Without writing, there would be no STEM disciplines. Lab reports and lecture notes are forms of writing as much as literary analysis essays and research proposals are. Every field produces journal articles and books. </p>
<p>In the professional worlds students will enter, writing is everywhere. Marketing campaigns for new products, patient charts, internship applications — all involve writing. Even with the rise of artificial intelligence, it’s important to remember that large language models are trained on literature and that humans type chatbot prompts.</p>
<p>I talk to STEM students about forms of writing in their work. We discuss thought leaders and innovators they admire in their fields. More often than not, those people share their knowledge through writing. </p>
<p>Writing is part of deciding how they want to participate in their fields. They write things that people in their disciplines will read. They write to get their writing out there, to stakeholders beyond our course. </p>
<p><strong>You initially didn't see yourself graduating from college, let alone becoming a professor. What was the turning point?</strong></p>
<p>I struggled in college with addiction and surviving domestic and sexual violence. I stopped going to classes, my grades dropped, and I was put on academic probation. I eventually left school altogether. </p>
<p>When I found my way back and the dean told me this was my last shot, I enrolled in a Native American women’s poetry course. There, I encountered the work of Menominee poet Chrystos. They write in raw, unflinching terms about the violence and addiction they experienced as a lesbian who is Two-Spirit (a term used by Indigenous people that encompasses sexual, gender and spiritual identities). The very existence of their writing was evidence that Chrystos wasn’t consumed by trauma. They were doing what writing does for people: bearing witness, refusing silence, transforming pain, regulating. </p>
<p>It occurred to me that I could support other survivors — not by becoming a therapist or psychologist but by putting my story on paper. I made it possible for someone else to see me and perhaps see themselves. </p>
<p>The professor of that class encouraged me to apply for the University of California, Washington, D.C., program, where I interned for the Feminist Majority Foundation and researched law enforcement responses to domestic violence. My project won the Outstanding Research Award. I graduated. A couple of years later, I went to graduate school, where I also started teaching first-year writing. The rest, as they say, is history.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Sea star murder mystery: What’s killing a key ocean species?/news/2026/sea-star-murder-mystery-what%E2%80%99s-killing-key-ocean-species2026-02-09 00:00:00In The News“I think the evidence they have is pretty compelling,” says Lauren Schiebelhut, an evolutionary ecologist affiliated with the University of California, Merced, who was not involved with the study.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/09/news/sea-star-wasting-disease-scienc...https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/09/news/sea-star-wasting-disease-science- Researchers Rebuild Microscopic Circadian Clock That Can Control Genes/news/2026/researchers-rebuild-microscopic-circadian-clock-can-control-genes2026-02-10 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Mind & Body, Faculty, Health, Research, CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines, Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Natural Sciences, Molecular and Cell Biology, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Science, Biological Sciences, Chemical SciencesBy Mario Aguilera, UC San Diego, and Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc-merced-blue-green-algae-cyanobacteria-circadian-clocks-liwang.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Blue-green algae in flasks are used by researchers at UC Merced and UC San Diego to further the understanding of circadian clocks. Image courtesy of UC San Diego." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Blue-green algae in flasks are used by researchers at UC Merced and UC San Diego to further the understanding of circadian clocks. Image courtesy of UC San Diego.<p>Our circadian clocks play a crucial role in our health and well-being, keeping our 24-hour biological cycles in sync with light and dark exposure. Disruptions in the rhythms of these clocks, as with jet lag and daylight saving time, can throw our daily rhythms out of whack.</p>
<p>But a group of researchers is getting closer to understanding how these clocks operate.</p>
<p>UC Merced biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang and his colleagues have solved how the circadian clocks in microscopic bacteria precisely control when different genes are turned on and off during the 24-hour cycle.</p>
<p>In the new study, the researchers identified the minimal elements needed to control circadian gene transcription, the first phase of gene expression, in cyanobacteria.</p>
<p>“Circadian biology is often framed in terms of sleep, jet lag and human health, yet the same principles govern the lives of tiny photosynthetic bacteria,” LiWang said. “By reconstituting the clock with its transcriptional machinery in a test tube, we can see the design rules that allow biological clocks to generate an internal representation of time and use it to control metabolic processes in anticipation of sunrise and sunset.”</p>
<p>The researchers made their discovery in cyanobacteria, tiny aquatic organisms also known as blue-green algae. They uncovered the links between core components of cyanobacteria’s 24-hour clock that direct the rhythmic expression of genes.</p>
<p>By understanding how circadian clocks control genes at the molecular level, researchers can develop biological tools to biosynthesize target molecules at specific times of day.</p>
<p>“We were able to show how a single signal from the clock can turn one set of genes on and another set off, generating opposite phases of gene expression. In that cell, that means some cellular processes are peaking at dusk and others at dawn,” said UC San Diego biological sciences Distinguished Professor Susan Golden, senior author of the study.</p>
<p>Circadian clocks have drawn increased interest in recent years because of their central role in health and medicine. Medications and vaccinations are more effective when taken at specific times to align with our circadian rhythms.</p>
<p>The research team’s cyanobacterial clock discovery is notable because it is distinct from the clocks found in humans and other organisms known as eukaryotes. The study is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41594-025-01740-0">detailed in a new paper</a> in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.</p>
<p>LiWang, a member of the <a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu/">Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry</a>, the NSF-funded <a href="https://ccbm.ucmerced.edu/">CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines</a> and the <a href="https://hsri.ucmerced.edu/">Health Sciences Research Institute</a>, has worked with cyanobacteria for years to delve into the puzzles of circadian clocks. He and his fellow researchers have now built a clock that times transcription using purified components. They also developed a synthetic gene expression system that may be portable to other bacteria, such as the workhorse of biotechnology, <em>Escherichia coli</em> (<em>E</em>. <em>coli)</em>, and showed that it can turn on a test gene rhythmically with a predictable phase of expression.</p>
<p>“These are practical biological tools that can be expanded to control the synthesis of desirable biological products in cyanobacteria or in other kinds of microbes used in biotechnology,” Golden said.</p>
<p>The research was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Merced Trio to Share Knowledge, Visions as UC Merced Artists-in-Residence/news/2026/merced-trio-share-knowledge-visions-uc-merced-artists-residence2026-02-05 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Diversity & Inclusion, Arts & Culture, Arts and Culture, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Global Arts, Media & Writing StudiesBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/dostres-residence-hero2.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced artists in residence Ruben Aguilera Sanchez, Frank Ayala and Abel Corchado " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced artists in residence (from left) Ruben Aguilera Sanchez, Abel Corchado and Frank Ayala.<p>Three Merced painters, united in friendship and in their steadfast determination not to compromise their creative values, are serving as UC Merced’s first locally based artists-in-residence.</p>
<p>The brushes of Ruben Aguilera Sanchez, Frank Ayala and Abel Corchado create surreal scenes of fieldhands and crops coalescing in blues and reds, of a rural street splashed in watercolor, of shark fins cutting through a beach as a sandcastle rises from the surf.</p>
<p>The three, who are <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/old-friends-and-bold-art-inspire-uc-merced-professor%E2%80%99s-latest-film">subjects of “Los Tres," a documentary</a> by filmmaker and UC Merced Professor Yehuda Sharim, will host a community listening session on Feb. 17. Later, on March 10, they will join a screening of the film and a question-and-answer session after the documentary.</p>
<p>The university artist-in-residence designation is another milestone in the shared journey of Sanchez, Ayala and Corchado, who have known each other for more than four decades. Over the years, the men have supported each other’s work, mentored others and pushed back against public expectations.</p>
<p>“I’m an artist who is Latino, not a Latino artist,” Ayala said.</p>
<p>“They trailblazed their own vision, and that’s what we are honoring,” said Sharim, a professor of media and performance studies.</p>
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<p>'We are flattered and honored to do this, to work with UC Merced and the community. We didn’t expect this.'</p>
Ruben Aguilera Sanchezhttps://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>The Feb. 17 community listening session is scheduled for 5 – 7:30 p.m. in Room 116A of the Social Sciences and Management Building. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sgqHD0IvrQlpPqgcTKpHwWZEsgXyWd-QWDeKYlXB2OU/viewform?edit_requested=true">Registration is recommended.</a></p>
<p>The March 10 screening of “Los Tres” will be held in the Lakireddy Auditorium (Room 102) of Classroom and Office Building 1. The documentary is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., followed by a one-hour Q&A session at 7:30 p.m. and a reception at 8:30 p.m. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1F90mBjuBLIk-hnnTJxrUIZUyLp9QxfQzjqEctRcBZL4/viewform?edit_requested=true">Please register.</a></p>
<p>“We are flattered and honored to do this, to work with UC Merced and the community,” Sanchez said. “We didn’t expect this.”</p>
<p>For more information about the documentary, go to <a href="https://www.centralvalleyart.com/">centralvalleyart.com</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to these events, the artists will visit UC Merced classes (including Sharim’s Cinema for the People course) to inspire students about the creative process. The three also will collaborate on the painting of a mural at a campus location to be determined. Sharim said the artists want to gather ideas about what the mural might contain and communicate. The Feb.17 listening session is a big step toward that goal.</p>
<p>The artists-in-residence program is sponsored by the <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/">School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts</a> and by the <a href="https://ejie.ucmerced.edu/">Division of Equity, Justice & Inclusive Excellence</a>.</p>
<p>“EJIE is excited to support the campus visits by these prominent and legendary Central Valley artists,” Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer Delia Saenz said. “They are committed to the advancement of the arts and to elevating diverse cultural representations. SSHA's collaboration with EJIE in sponsoring these giants is reflective of UC Merced's commitment to excellence and inclusion, and to community-campus collaboration.”</p>
Jody Murray - UC Merced Recognized on Newsweek’s Inaugural ‘America’s Best Colleges for Women’ List/news/2026/uc-merced-recognized-newsweek%E2%80%99s-inaugural-%E2%80%98america%E2%80%99s-best-colleges-women%E2%80%99-list2026-02-04 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Diversity & Inclusion, Student & Alumni Success, Rankings, Women's History Month, Campus, Student Life, StudentsUniversity Communications<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced_makes_best_colleges_for_women_list.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Recent female UC Merced graduates wave to the camera" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced was named one of the best colleges for women by Newsweek.<p>UC Merced has been recognized on Newsweek’s inaugural America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026 list, a national ranking designed to spotlight institutions that support, advance and elevate women across campus and beyond.</p>
<p>Newsweek developed the new report in partnership with <a href="https://genderfair.com/colleges-universities-ratings/">Gender Fair</a>, an organization that promotes gender equity and accountability. As part of the methodology, universities and colleges were evaluated on key measures that matter to women students and families weighing higher education choices. Criteria include leadership opportunities, pay and policies, campus safety, and overall opportunities for women.</p>
<p>According to Newsweek’s <a href="https://rankings.newsweek.com/americas-best-colleges-for-women-2026">website</a>, the goal of this list is to provide prospective students, families and educators with a comprehensive resource that centers women’s experiences in evaluating higher education options. Newsweek states that colleges and universities appearing on the list “place a strong emphasis on factors directly tied to women’s success and experience on campus,” including institutional policies that support equitable pay and advancement, robust safety records and opportunities for leadership.</p>
<p>For more details on America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026, and the full methodology, visit <a href="http://newsweek.com/americas-best-colleges-for-women-2026">newsweek.com/americas-best-colleges-for-women-2026</a>.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Leadership in STEM: Abigail Gyamfi Honored with 2025 ACS Leader Scholars Award/news/2026/leadership-stem-abigail-gyamfi-honored-2025-acs-leader-scholars-award2026-02-04 00:00:00In BriefStudent & Alumni Success, Women's History Month, Awards, Campus Community, Graduate Division, Research, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Chemical Sciences, Graduate Students<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/uc_merced-abigail-gyamfi-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Grad student Abigail Gyamfi" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Ph.D. student Abigail Gyamfi was honored for her leadership potential and commitment to advancing chemical sciences.<p>Chemistry and Biochemistry (CBC) Ph.D. candidate Abigail Gyamfi has earned the 2025 American Chemical Society Leader Scholars Award. The ACS Leader Scholars program recognizes outstanding undergraduate students, graduate students and early-career scientists.</p>
<p>“I am profoundly grateful to the American Chemical Society for their support in fostering my academic and professional growth,” Gyamfi said. “It was an incredible opportunity to learn from and connect with so many accomplished leaders in the chemical sciences. I am especially thankful to the Hratchian Group at UC Merced, including my fellow graduate student and 2024 ACS Leader Scholar, Brianna Aguilar-Solis, for their inspiration and support.”</p>
<p>This award reflects Gyamfi’s leadership potential and commitment to advancing the chemical sciences. In Fall 2025, with the support of CBC faculty, she collaborated with colleagues from the <a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu">Chemistry and Biochemistry</a>, <a href="https://qsb.ucmerced.edu">Quantitative and Systems Biology</a> and <a href="https://bioe.ucmerced.edu">Bioengineering</a> departments to establish the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) chapter at UC Merced. She currently serves as its president.</p>
<p>This competitive award provides scholars with year-long access to monthly professional development programs, leadership training, funding and networking opportunities led by professionals across STEM and social sciences in academia and industry. The program is designed to help scholars leverage their unique values, strengths and skills to flourish both personally and professionally.</p>
<p>As part of the program, Gyamfi was invited to participate in the ACS Student Experiences Meeting during the 2025 ACS National Conference in San Diego last March.</p>
<p>Gyamfi earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and master’s degree in occupational and environmental health and safety from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - Unlocking the Secrets of Tiny, Living Clocks Could Revolutionize Science/news/2026/unlocking-secrets-tiny-living-clocks-could-revolutionize-science2026-02-02 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Mind & Body, AAPI, Faculty, Grants, Health, Research, CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines, Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Natural Sciences, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Science, Biological Sciences, Chemical SciencesBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/andy-hero-1.gif" width="870" height="450" alt="Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang<p>Biochemistry Professor <a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu/content/andy-liwang">Andy LiWang</a> has spent much of his career studying how life keeps time. His work on the circadian clock of cyanobacteria — tiny, ancient organisms that share the planet with us — has shed light on one of biology’s most elegant systems.</p>
<p>But his newest research project, supported by a prestigious $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation, pushes that inquiry into bold, uncharted territory.</p>
<p>LiWang and his collaborators believe they may have uncovered a universal mechanism that explains how bacteria, and potentially many other organisms, adapt to changes in temperature. At the heart of this idea is a rare, mysterious category of proteins known as metamorphic proteins — shape‑shifters that can flip between two distinct structures, each with its own function.</p>
<p>If their hypothesis holds, the discovery could open the door to a new scientific field and help rewrite long‑standing assumptions about how proteins work.</p>
<p>The project began with a puzzle: Cyanobacteria, like all organisms with a circadian clock, must generate an accurate biochemical representation of time regardless of environmental conditions.</p>
<p>“Circadian clocks have to tell time at a constant pace,” LiWang explained. “They can’t run faster on warm days and slower on cold days.”</p>
<p>Mechanical clocks once struggled with this same problem. Before engineers learned to combine metals with different rates of thermal expansion, a clock’s ticking could drift significantly depending on the weather.</p>
<p>Nature’s solution, LiWang suspected, might be just as clever.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.andyliwang.info/">His lab</a> discovered that one of the core clock proteins in cyanobacteria, known as KaiB, behaves in an astonishing way: It switches between two folds — an active shape and an inactive one. At higher temperatures, the protein shifts toward its inactive form, counteracting the natural tendency of reactions to speed up. At lower temperatures, it leans toward its active form, helping the clock maintain steady function.</p>
<p>This temperature-dependent shape shifting, LiWang realized, might not be unique in helping organisms adapt to fluctuating environments.</p>
<p>Only a handful of metamorphic proteins have ever been identified, and nearly all were discovered by accident. Historically, researchers lacked a reliable method to determine whether a protein could adopt multiple folds. Each known metamorphic protein seemed to have a different trigger — a change in pH, salt concentration or binding partner.</p>
<p>But LiWang’s team noticed something all these proteins shared: One of their folds is inherently more stable at high temperatures, the other at low temperatures. That insight led to a provocative hypothesis — a single, universal trigger for all metamorphic proteins.</p>
<p>Temperature.</p>
<p>If true, this offers a way to detect shape‑shifting proteins at scale for the first time.</p>
<p>The Keck-funded project aims to put that idea to the test. Working with collaborators at Caltech and the University of Maryland, the team is exposing the <em>E. coli</em> proteome to different temperatures, partially digesting it with enzymes, and analyzing the cut patterns using mass spectrometry. Proteins that change shape at different temperatures will show different digestion profiles.</p>
<p>Those candidates will then undergo targeted structural analysis — particularly through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the gold standard for confirming metamorphosis.</p>
<p>Once the team identifies bona fide metamorphic proteins, it will genetically modify <em>E. coli</em> so that those proteins can no longer change shape. If the bacteria struggle to survive temperature swings compared to unmodified strains, that would strongly support the idea that those metamorphic proteins help <em>E. coli</em> adapt to thermally changing environments.</p>
<p>“It’s definitely high‑risk, high‑reward,” LiWang said. “It could open a whole new field — or we could find out we were wrong. But that’s science.”</p>
<p>If metamorphic proteins turn out to be widespread sensors of temperature in living systems, the implications ripple across biology.</p>
<p>Plants, for instance, cannot move to escape heat or cold. If metamorphic proteins help them survive fluctuating climates, researchers might someday design crops better suited for warming environments or for agriculture in new regions.</p>
<p>The same could apply to fungi, insects and other cold‑blooded organisms that rely on external temperatures.</p>
<p>Biotechnology, too, could benefit. Industrial microbes could be engineered for more efficient fermentation, pharmaceutical production or biofuel synthesis under changing conditions.</p>
<p>Even the search for new ways to counter invasive species or pathogenic bacteria could benefit.</p>
<p>“If temperature truly is the universal trigger, then metamorphic proteins could be far more common than we ever imagined,” LiWang said.</p>
<p>The project is also a story of scientific perseverance. LiWang first proposed the concept of a “metamorphome” — the complete set of metamorphic proteins in an organism — in a Keck proposal back in 2016. It was rejected. At the time, the idea lacked the evidence and clarity that now underpin the team’s strategy, he said.</p>
<p>The second time turned out to be the charm. Last year, LiWang, a member of the <a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu/">Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry</a>, the NSF-funded <a href="https://ccbm.ucmerced.edu/">CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines</a> and the <a href="https://hsri.ucmerced.edu/">Health Sciences Research Institute</a>, brought new data and a stronger vision: a way to systematically uncover an entire class of proteins long overlooked because their shape‑shifting nature was nearly impossible to detect.</p>
<p>“Now we have a targeted approach,” he said. “Before, it was like waiting for someone to stumble on one by accident.”</p>
<p>Whether the metamorphome proves to be vast or surprisingly sparse, the work promises to deepen scientific understanding of how life adapts, survives and keeps its internal rhythms steady against the changing world.</p>
<p>And if LiWang is right, a quiet revolution in protein science may already be taking shape.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Spotlighting Black Trailblazers Whose Stories Deserve to be Told/news/2026/spotlighting-black-trailblazers-whose-stories-deserve-be-told2026-02-12 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Diversity & Inclusion, History & Heritage, Black History Month, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, History and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies, Political Science, SociologyBy Patty Guerra and Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucmerced-blackhistorymonth26-hero.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Collage of historical Black figures: Lorraine Hansberry, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells, Oscar Michaeux, Granville Woods" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced academics reflect on Black pioneers (clockwise from top left) Lorraine Hansberry, Oscar Micheaux, Granville Woods, Ida B. Wells, and W.E.B. Du Bois.<p>Black History Month often honors familiar names, leaders whose courage and determination changed the course of a nation. But many others have made groundbreaking contributions that exposed injustice, advanced civil rights, reshaped American culture and revolutionized technology. Their achievements and efforts were met with threats, ignorance and suppression. Some had soaring potential cut short by mortal illness.</p>
<p>We asked members of UC Merced’s academic community to reflect on Black historical figures who made powerful contributions to their fields and to society. We believe shining a light on their lives and legacies can more strongly connect them to the work of students, researchers and creators at UC Merced and beyond.</p>
<h4>W.E.B. Du Bois</h4>
<p><em>Du Bois </em>(1868–1963) <em>was a sociologist, epidemiologist and co-founder of the NAACP. He authored seminal works that influenced the development of disciplines in the social and health sciences, such as “The Souls of Black Folk," which introduced the idea of "double consciousness." His use of census information, door-to-door interviews and data graphics helped establish American sociology as an evidence-based science.</em></p>
<p><strong><img alt="W.E.B. Du Bois head shot" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/26bhm_mugs/uc-merced-web-du-bois.png" style="margin: 3px 10px; width: 150px; float: right; height: 216px;" />Postdoctoral Fellow and medical sociologist </strong><a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/content/leia-belt"><strong>Leia Belt</strong></a><strong> on Du Bois: </strong>At a time when racist pseudoscience and white supremacy dominated academic discourse, Du Bois insisted on combining statistical analysis with qualitative data collection to document the lived realities of Black Americans and demonstrate that structural forces — not biological differences — produced racial inequality.</p>
<p>Through his academic work, Du Bois and his research team at Atlanta University helped establish one of the first schools of scientific sociology in the United States and pioneered innovative approaches to data visualization globally</p>
<p>Beyond academia, Du Bois was a father, spouse, public intellectual, activist and artist. In addition to co-founding the NAACP, he served as editor of The Crisis, using writing as a tool for education and mobilization. He also used art to share his social and political critiques and liberatory hopes, penning novels such as “The Quest of the Silver Fleece,” as well as essays, poetry and the historical pageant-play “The Star of Ethiopia.”</p>
<h4>Lorraine Hansberry</h4>
<p><em>A playwright and civil rights activist, Hansberry </em>(1930–1965) <em>was the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway with "A Raisin in the Sun." The play earned her the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award at age 29. An accomplished journalist, she wrote about racial and social justice. Her life was cut short by cancer at 34.</em></p>
<p><strong><img alt="Lorraine Hansberry headshot" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/26bhm_mugs/uc-merced-lorraine-hansberry.png" style="margin: 3px 10px; float: left; width: 150px; height: 211px;" />Critical race & ethnic studies and history Professor </strong><a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/nicosia-shakes"><strong>Nicosia Shakes</strong></a><strong> on Hansberry:</strong> When “A Raisin in the Sun” premiered on Broadway in 1959, Hansberry received international attention. Inspired by her family’s experience with housing segregation in Chicago, “A Raisin in the Sun” was nominated for several Tony awards. She earned the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play. “Raisin in the Sun” has become one of the most staged American plays globally, with several film adaptations.</p>
<p>Hansberry wrote other plays, including “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” which premiered on Broadway in 1964, and “Les Blancs.”</p>
<p>As a journalist, she was a prolific writer who authored articles about race and gender. She was committed to global anticolonial struggles as well as the U.S. struggle for civil rights, working alongside other famous activist artists such as James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne. She lived to see the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act but passed away a year later.</p>
<p>Hansberry left behind many unfinished writings, including an autobiography, “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” published in 1969.</p>
<p>Despite her short life, Lorraine Hansberry’s name remains etched in U.S. history for her contributions to theater and her commitment to racial justice.</p>
<h4>Oscar Micheaux</h4>
<p><em>A pioneering filmmaker, Micheaux </em>(1884–1951) <em>produced the first known Black-directed feature, "The Homesteader," in 1919. He directed more than 40 "race films" that countered Hollywood stereotypes. "Within Our Gates," in 1920, was a searing, direct response to D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." Micheaux faced heavy censorship, segregationist theater laws and resistance from white society.</em></p>
<p><strong><img alt="Oscar Micheaux headshot" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/26bhm_mugs/uc-merced-oscar_micheaux.png" style="margin: 3px 10px; float: left; width: 150px; height: 211px;" />Media and performance studies Professor </strong><a href="https://gasp.ucmerced.edu/content/yehuda-sharim"><strong>Yehuda Sharim</strong></a><strong> on Micheaux: </strong>Oscar Micheaux was not simply a filmmaker; he personified the start of a revolution in cinema and far beyond. In addition to his incredible legacy of 44 films and seven novels, Micheaux reminds us that cinema and creativity belong to all — ALL — of us. All of us who believe in equality. All of us who fight against the odds. All of us who fight to create a space for discipline and fire to teach ourselves to achieve new, often unprecedented levels of excellence.</p>
<p>All of us — from Haile Gerima, Bad Bunny, June Jordan and Charles Burnett to Ruben Sanchez, Cherien Dabis, Mohammed Bakri and Ava Duvernay — who insist our communities should be represented with care and profound artistry. And all — ALL — of us who are forced into cells, imaginary and real, but then demand liberation and dignity with unimagined determination.</p>
<h4>Ida B. Wells</h4>
<p><em>A pioneering investigative journalist and civil rights activist, Wells </em>(1862–1931) <em>led an anti-lynching crusade and debunked narratives used to justify racial violence. Born into slavery, Wells co-founded the NAACP and championed women's suffrage. Throughout her career, she faced systemic racism and exclusion.</em></p>
<p><strong><img alt="Ida Wells headshot" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/26bhm_mugs/uc-merced-ida-wells.png" style="margin: 3px 10px; float: right; width: 150px; height: 234px;" />African history Professor </strong><a href="https://history.ucmerced.edu/content/maria-martin-0"><strong>Maria Martin</strong></a><strong> on Wells:</strong> She was a courageous, intellectual and enterprising woman who fought against extrajudicial killings (lynchings) of Black people. Wells was born in Mississippi and later domiciled in Memphis, where she became a committed schoolteacher. When she wrote an editorial for The Evening Star newspaper that protested the conditions of Black schools, she lost her teaching position. </p>
<p>Afterward, Wells became a prolific and devoted journalist who co-owned and wrote for the Free Speech and Headlight newspaper in Memphis. She was known as Princess of the Press. Her activism grew exponentially after she gave a speech, “Lynch Law and All Its Phases,” in 1893. The speech chronicled the brutal lynching of three Black entrepreneurs who opened a grocery store that competed with a nearby white-owned grocery store. The Black men were friends of Wells.</p>
<p>She was moved by righteous indignation to speak out about the heinous murders of Black people by lynching in the South. In Free Speech, Wells wrote about the lynching of her friends<em>. </em>As a result, her office was stormed and destroyed. She was out of town, but a threat was made against her life and she was warned not to return. Nonetheless, Wells continued to speak about and report on the horrid details of Southern lynchings.</p>
<p>Ida B. Wells was a beacon of truth and accountability for the democratic notion of liberty that so many cite as foundationally American.*</p>
<p style="font-size: small;">* Shirley Wilson Logan, “With Pen and Voice” (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1995), pages 75-79.</p>
<h4>Granville Woods</h4>
<p><em>Woods (1856–1910), a prolific inventor, obtained 45 patents and revolutionized railroad and electrical technology. Often referred to as “Black Edison,” his innovations included a telegraph that allowed communication between moving trains. As a boy, he was transfixed by locomotives chugging across the prairie. By age 10, he was working in a railroad shop. Woods faced racism, patent disputes and financial struggles. He died at 53 of complications from smallpox.</em></p>
<p><strong><img alt="Granville Woods headshot" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/26bhm_mugs/uc-merced-granville-woods.png" style="margin: 3px 10px; float: left; width: 150px; height: 191px;" />Professor </strong><a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/sarah-kurtz"><strong>Sarah Kurtz</strong></a><strong>, Electrical Engineering program chair, on Woods: </strong>He is sometimes credited with inventing the roller coaster, though his contribution was how to bring electrical power to the roller coaster cars in a way that was safe to people who might be near the tracks. Woods also invented a “telegraphy” that enabled a telephone and telegraph connection on the same wire, as well as a safety dimmer that was used to dim lights in theaters safely and that reduced electricity use by 40 percent.</p>
<p>How many of us could name the inventor of the many devices that run our world? Granville Woods is an example of an inventor we may not know by name, but who contributed more than 50 inventions.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Creative, Problem-Solving Projects Win at I2G/news/2026/creative-problem-solving-projects-win-i2g2026-01-28 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Computer Science, Innovate to Grow, Mechanical Engineering, School of EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/i2g_fall_2025_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced students are depicted in front of a poster explaining their project for I2G." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Teams of students work to solve real-world problems for partner organizations.<p>A semi-automated washing system for bins at a tomato-processing facility and a mobile app for hikers earned big wins at the Fall 2025 <a href="https://i2g.ucmerced.edu/"> I2G</a>, or Innovate to Grow, event at UC Merced.</p>
<p>I2G is a unique "experiential learning" program that engages external partner organizations with teams of students who design systems to solve real-world engineering and computer science problems.</p>
<p>The team "Let's Get Saucy" won the F3 Innovate Engineering Award for its project with Kagome, a Los Banos-based tomato processing and food manufacturing company.</p>
<p>Currently, Kagome manually washes the 300-gallon bins of tomato paste. Team members said they designed a programmable system to streamline Kagome's operations by reducing cleaning time, improving consistency and freeing staff to support higher-value tasks. The expected outcome is a safer, more efficient and more sustainable cleaning process that supports the facility's long-term operational goals.</p>
<p>"Trailblazers" won the F3 Innovate Computer Science and Engineering Award for their project with the nonprofit organization Mariposa Trails, which preserves and encourages outdoor recreation in the Sierra foothills. The team created a mobile application that combines text information, audio snippets, maps and images for various locations along the trails, while operating entirely offline.</p>
<p>Other projects featured at the event included a medical screw that expands after placement in the body, a computer vision system that uses artificial intelligence to spot and track foreign objects in carrot production, and a replacement for an underground basin for wastewater treatment for the East Bay Municipal District.</p>
<p>East Bay's existing wastewater facility, a 5.4-million-gallon concrete reservoir in a residential area, is falling apart, said team member Nayerli Carbajal. Refurbishing it would cost $50 million.</p>
<p>"Our design uses steel," Carbajal said. "It is $27 million, so they would be saving $23 million."</p>
<p>It's also above ground, making it easier to inspect and make repairs, said Eduardo Perez.</p>
<p>Working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, "The Wayfinders" won the Software Engineering Capstone award for their track.</p>
<p>The team built a navigation system without using GPS or wifi, said team member Joe Rosh.</p>
<p>"It's an app that works indoors." The team used phone sensor technology to give travelers a point-to-point route in a building.</p>
<p>"We did implement this in a UC Merced building, since we didn't have a train station," Rosh said. "It could be used for students who are lost."</p>
<p><strong>The winning teams are:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>F3 Innovate Engineering Award: "Let's Get Saucy," team members Matthew Mendoza, Oliver Htway, Nicholas Panyanouvong and Salvador Maciel Rodriguez</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>F3 Innovate Software Award: "Trailblazers," team members Ajay Grewal, Diego Sandoval, Kyle Gossage, Max De Ornelas</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Software Engineering Capstone (Track 5): "The Wayfinders," team members Avash Adhikari, JunZheng Lyu, Joe Samuel Rosh, Lauren Hur, Sarai Roman</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Software Engineering Capstone (Track 4): "QuoteX," team members Alex Aguilar-Miramontes, Addison Chen, Liz Ramos, Parthib Roy, Rachana Ajjarapu. The team built on the work of an earlier team that developed a web application for Rapid Prototyping Services at UC Merced's School of Engineering. "QuoteX" designed and implemented an interface that supports billing, reporting and enhanced quote management.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Engineering Capstone Food Tech (Track 1): "Sterilite Busters," team members Jose Ramirez Enriquez, Miguel Vazquez Aguayo, Joshua Riley and Jobanpreet Singh. Working for the Morning Star Company, "Sterilight Busters" designed a vibrating delivery system that provides precise, steady control of tomato pomace as it moves into a UV sterilization chamber. This redesign ensures that the UV light effectively penetrates the pomace, achieving uniform sterilization.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Engineering Capstone Precision (Track 2): "ωSST - Sustainable Savonius Turbines," team members Vishruth Adoni, Yael Andujar and Alexander Perez. Working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, the team designed, modeled and tested a system to turn the airflow in BART tunnels into a clean energy generator. The system comprises a Savonius (drag type) wind turbine, a power generation, storage and distribution system that leverages the high-speed wind in the station tunnels.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Civil and Environmental Engineering Capstone Environment (Track3): "Solar Salt," team members Xavier Barajas, James Flores, AJ Heard, Ximena Martinez, Sera Riley. The team designed a process that uses solar energy to desalinate water and deliver up to 3.5 million gallons of potable water per day.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - UC Merced Scientists Among Global Elite Shaping AI, Climate and Health/news/2026/uc-merced-scientists-among-global-elite-shaping-ai-climate-and-health2026-01-26 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Environment, AAPI, Engineering, Computer Science, Environmental Research, Climate Change, Faculty, Research, School of Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Psychological Sciences, Science, Biological Sciences, Earth Systems Science, PsychologyBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero-2.gif" width="870" height="450" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Five UC Merced researchers were named among the most often cited by other researchers, demonstrating the importance of their work.<p>UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage.</p>
<p>Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years. Clarivate, which produces journal impact factors and other analytics, says the award identifies the world’s most influential researchers.</p>
<p>Researchers have always advanced scientific understanding by building upon the discoveries of those who came before them. Today, they publish in peer‑reviewed journals. Their work is evaluated by experts before it is shared with the wider community. In every new paper, authors show how their work fits into the larger scientific story by citing earlier research, then clearly laying out the fresh insights and contributions their latest study brings to the field.</p>
<p>For UC Merced, the Clarivate recognition reflects a mature and fast‑advancing research enterprise rooted in Central Valley priorities — water, wildfire, climate resilience and equitable innovation — and extending into frontier areas such as artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>Recognition on the Highly Cited list is a marker of UC Merced’s trajectory: a young campus now operating at top‑tier research intensity, producing scholarship that shapes its fields and its region.</p>
<p>As Clarivate’s President of Academia and Government Bar Veinstein put it in announcing the 2025 list, the honorees “advance innovation and inspire the global research community to tackle society’s greatest challenges with creativity and ingenuity.”</p>
<p>For the Valley, that means world‑class research rooted in local needs. Merced’s labs thrive on close student‑faculty collaboration, often with undergraduates contributing to published research — an opportunity that can be rarer at older, larger institutions.</p>
<p>Ming‑Hsuan Yang, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has appeared on the Highly Cited list annually since 2018, helped by seminal work in face detection, object tracking and representation learning. Now, his group is pushing into vision‑language models — systems that connect images and text and increasingly power generative tools and reasoning engines.</p>
<p>Making the list again, he said, shows he has not peaked.</p>
<p>“I’m still doing the work,” he said. “I’m still making a good impact. I’m glad people use my work and build on top of it. On the other hand, I also build on other people’s work, so it goes both ways.”</p>
<p>Yang maintains an active research role in industry while leading UC Merced students in cutting-edge computer vision.</p>
<p>Distinguished Professor Martin Hagger, the only recipient from the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, is recognized on the list for a sustained body of work in social and health psychology spanning self-control, determinants of health behavior, and theory integration. Hagger’s lab at UC Merced focuses on how beliefs, motivation and habits translate into real world behavior change.</p>
<p>Hagger made the list for the fourth consecutive year. In 2025, Hagger was promoted to distinguished professor, received UC Merced’s Senate Award for Distinction in Research and was elected a fellow of the American Psychological Association.</p>
<p>One of Hagger’s most cited papers examines ego depletion—the idea that people’s self-control is limited and depletes, leading to lapses in impulse control. His work challenged that idea and received widespread attention, including media coverage in 2016.</p>
<p>“Highly cited authors might contribute to a department’s research reputation — having authors whose research is highly cited is a hallmark of a research-intensive culture at a university and suggests that the department and the university conduct very high-impact research,” Hagger explained. “As the department and UC Merced more broadly have moved toward achieving very high research intensity status, including reaching R1 status last year, the reputation of the research produced by its faculty is important.”</p>
<p>UC Merced’s cross-field recognition also extends to biochemistry and public health through Emeritus Distinguished Professor Henry Jay Forman, a pioneering scholar in free radical biology and redox signaling. Forman, one of the campus’s founding faculty members, has served in national leadership roles and continues to contribute to research and publishing.</p>
<p>In a year when Los Angeles was devastated by wildfires, climate experts John Abatzoglou, a professor in management of complex systems, and Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the campus’s Fire Resilience Center, were sought after by media and highly cited by their peers.</p>
<p>Both appear on the 2025 Highly Cited list. Abatzoglou is listed in both environment and ecology and geosciences, reflecting the breadth of his climate science portfolio. His lab develops datasets and tools that help communities, agencies and land managers understand climate variability and anticipate impacts.</p>
<p>Kolden, a pyrogeographer, focuses on the human environment dimensions of wildfire, from prescribed fire and mitigation to recovery planning. She is a recognized expert in community-focused resilience strategies.</p>
<p>“We’re public servants to the people of California first and foremost, especially at a school like UC Merced,” Kolden said. “It’s always an honor when your peers cite your research, because it means your work has impact. But my goal is always to reduce the potential for the wildfire disasters that destroy peoples’ lives.”</p>
<p>Yang’s AI work positions UC Merced at the frontier of a field transforming health care, agriculture and education; his students and collaborators help fuel a growing California talent pipeline. Hagger’s research informs interventions tied to chronic disease and mental health — key concerns in the Central Valley — and his international collaboration in Finland brings global insights back to campus.</p>
<p>Clarivate emphasizes that citation activity is only the starting point. The list is refined using quantitative metrics, qualitative analysis and expert judgment, with explicit attention to research integrity. That approach reflects how UC Merced faculty describe their work — impact rooted in collaboration, mentorship and openness.</p>
<p>“I have had a lot of great graduate students, and I really have to thank them,” Yang said. “They’re doing well, and I hope that making this list and helping raise the university’s profile draws even more highly qualified graduate students to our labs.”</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - High School Students Invited to Apply for Free Computer Science Internship/news/2026/high-school-students-invited-apply-free-computer-science-internship2026-01-22 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Staff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Computer Science, School of Engineering, Computer Science EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/summer_internship_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts participants in the summer internship program in front of the Beginnings statue at UC Merced." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The program runs for 12 weeks.<p>High school students have an extraordinary opportunity to explore software development through a summer internship program at UC Merced.</p>
<p>Computer science and engineering Professor <a href="https://eecs.ucmerced.edu/content/ahmed-sabbir-arif" target="_blank"> Ahmed Arif</a> started <a href="https://www.theiilab.com/" target="_blank"> the High School Internship program</a> in the Inclusive Interaction Lab in 2018 to give young minds early exposure to research.</p>
<p>"Each year, I personally mentor four high school interns, teaching them how to conduct research responsibly, uphold strong ethical standards and gain hands-on experience in building real-world software systems," Arif said.</p>
<p>After a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program has returned and is now mostly virtual, which makes it more accessible to a wider group of students throughout Northern California.</p>
<p>Arif receives numerous applications each year, mainly from students in the Bay Area. He said he would like to see more applicants from the northern San Joaquin Valley.</p>
<p>Last year's cohort worked on a range of innovative projects involving gestural interaction, stress detection, personal assistants and emotion recognition.</p>
<p>"Their curiosity, creativity and dedication continue to inspire me every summer," Arif said. He designed the internship to help set students up for success, wherever their academic careers take them.</p>
<p>Anna-Maria Gueorguieva was one of the early participants. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2023 with degrees in data science and legal studies, and is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Washington.</p>
<p>Gueorguieva took part in the internship its first year, the summer before her senior year at Merced's El Capitan High School.</p>
<p>She worked on a project to design and build an interface on smartwatches that would understand Morse code.</p>
<p>"These tools were being used to test if Morse code could improve accessibility in touchscreen devices for people with impaired mobility," she said. "This was my first experience with research and working in a lab, and I was inspired by the idea that I could work with others to improve technology and society in ways that were previously unexplored.</p>
<p>"Participation in the Inclusive Interaction Lab helped shape my academic and professional experience up to today."</p>
<p>Advay Bajpai, a computer science and math major at UCLA, called his experience in the program "awesome."</p>
<p>"I learned a lot directly from Professor Arif and graduate students both in person and online," he said. "We had a small cohort, so it was possible to have one-on-one discussions with the mentors, which was great. I learned a lot about how research works at the collegiate level."</p>
<p>Hasini Manda, a junior at American High School in Fremont, took part in the internship last summer. Her research project involved interviewing people to explore how different populations perceive humanoid robots.</p>
<p>"Hearing their perspectives opened my eyes to the varied ways people think about emerging robotic technologies," she said. "Some participants approached humanoid robots with excitement, while others expressed caution or curiosity, which helped me see the broader social impact of robotics."</p>
<p>Manda said the program enabled her to explore research.</p>
<p>"Before this internship, I thought research was a straightforward process with clear, fixed steps," she said. "While structure is important, I quickly learned that real research requires flexibility and the ability to see both your subject and the people involved from multiple perspectives. … This experience inspired me to explore hardware-focused projects and think more deeply about how engineering and human interaction intersect."</p>
<p>She is now working on a haptics project with a graduate student mentor.</p>
<p>"The whole experience gave me invaluable knowledge about research and helped me grow as both a student and a collaborator," she said.<br />
Jasamarbir Singh Arora, a senior at American High School in Fremont, said the program allowed him to create and design a research project from scratch.</p>
<p>"It's a great way to explore areas of research that the participants are interested in learning while exploring areas of computer science and human-computer interaction," he said.</p>
<p>Arora said it's a lot of work - the program runs for 12 weeks and requires roughly 20 hours per week - but by the end of it, he had learned how to structure a project, think critically from multiple perspectives and move from an idea to a complete, working solution.</p>
<p>"Professor Arif provided guidance throughout the process by explaining key concepts, giving valuable feedback, and helping me organize my research into a clear, actionable plan," he said.</p>
<p>Arif said while demanding, the internship is flexible and can be worked around a family vacation or other obligations.</p>
<p>"In research, you cannot schedule productivity," he said. "Sometimes you're in the mood to do it, and sometimes you're not in the mood. This is being human."</p>
<p>In addition to learning valuable research skills, the internship provides students the opportunity to see where their interests lie. Though it's a computer science program, multiple disciplines are involved.</p>
<p>"The processes are the same, regardless of the field you go into," Arif said. "This kind of gives them a clearer sense of where they want to go."</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Innovative Solutions Turn Rural Energy Challenges Into Opportunities/news/2026/innovative-solutions-turn-rural-energy-challenges-opportunities2026-01-21 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Staff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Water, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/rural_energy_summit_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts an attendee speaking into a microphone to ask a question at the Rural Energy Summit at UC Merced." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The event brought together farming, industry and research innovators.<p>One of the biggest hurdles facing local farmers is the rising cost of doing business.</p>
<p>However, some innovative solutions are in the works, as highlighted at the Central Valley Rural Energy Systems Workshop at UC Merced in early December.</p>
<p>Hosted by the UC Merced <a href="https://research.ucmerced.edu/institutes-centers/climate-institute"> Energy Center</a> and the <a href="https://snri.ucmerced.edu/"> Sierra Nevada Research Institute</a>, the all-day event brought together farming, industry, agency and research innovators to make new connections and identify new research directions.</p>
<p>The morning session helped bring the problems into clearer focus.</p>
<p>"Electricity prices are high, water is scarce, tariffs have disrupted historical business patterns," said Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/sarah-kurtz" target="_blank"> Sarah Kurtz</a>, chair of the Electrical Engineering Department and director of the UC Merced Energy Center. "Electricity demand is increasing in a way we haven't been planning for, and interconnection queues are long."</p>
<p>"We're losing our rural communities and the way they used to pull together," said Cindy Lashbrook, owner of Riverdance Farms in Livingston. "Many small farmers are finding it too expensive to keep their operations going, with the costs of irrigation and electricity increasing and tariffs eating into profits.</p>
<p>"Irrigating costs us $24,000 per year," she said. "That wouldn't be so bad if farm prices weren't going down."</p>
<p>Water scarcity is also a major concern in California. As temperatures rise and the snowpack is depleted, more groundwater is being used. Civil and environmental engineering Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/thomas-harmon" target="_blank"> Thomas Harmon</a> likened it to a credit card - easy to overuse and difficult to repay.</p>
<p>Researchers in his laboratory are looking into ways to repurpose farmland that can lead to economic development, benefits for communities and wildlife, and ways to replenish groundwater systems.</p>
<p>"If we take the long view, we can take some of these challenges into major opportunities," Harmon said.</p>
<p>Several presentations focused on solutions to solar power's daytime and seasonal limitations. Hiro Iwanaga of the green energy company Talusag described how farmers could make fertilizer on-site at a lower cost by installing solar panels and Talusag's distributed ammonia system to produce green ammonia in sunny locations.</p>
<p>Some of the highest costs associated with both fertilizer and electricity come not from producing them, but from transporting them to where they need to go. So if there are ways to move production closer to where the products will be used, they can be more cost-effective.</p>
<p>Iwanaga said his company has lowered the cost of nitrogen fertilizer in western Kenya by more than 60 percent, and expects to increase deployments across the United States.</p>
<p>Though there are currently no plans to expand into California, it would make sense for farmers here, he said.</p>
<p>"You have a market with relatively expensive fertilizers and relatively cheap power if you can generate it," he said. "Those should fundamentally be the best markets for green ammonia."</p>
<p>Josh Bennett with Huwa Enterprises described a project that combines solar panels with cattle grazing. In addition to producing electricity, the system benefits the cows, providing shade relief from direct summer sun.</p>
<p>Huwa conducted a test of the system in Louisiana, and "the results were nothing short of phenomenal," Bennett said. "Shade is a benefit to cattle and farmers."</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/rural_energy_summit_second_photo.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts a poster describing a mobile agrivoltaic crop production system." />Several new and emerging projects were highlighted. https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Other presentations included mobile, floating, or vertical fence solar. Vertical fencing has generated interest from farmers for strategic placement between rows of crops, according to Helge Biernath, CEO of Sunstall.</p>
<p>"The vertical design effectively sheds snow and dust, minimizing maintenance," he said.</p>
<p>Attendees tackled big-picture planning and policy issues in a panel discussion moderated by the California Energy Commission's Raja Ramesh. UC Merced electrical engineering Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/eric-cheng" target="_blank"> Eric Cheng</a> also provoked a rethinking of the current alternating current (AC) based system, arguing for the cost savings, photovoltaic and grid integration capacity, and energy efficiency benefits of direct current (DC) based systems that can avoid AC/DC conversion inefficiencies and directly power today's DC-based devices.</p>
<p>"In the next 10 to 20 years, the market will be dominated by electric vehicles, robots and data centers," Cheng said. "It's a new era of power for the future."</p>
<p>UC Merced researchers look forward to being part of addressing the problems that farmers and rural communities are facing today. A summary of workshop presentations and information on how to engage can be found at <a href="https://bit.ly/4joYbKx" target="_blank"> https://bit.ly/4joYbKx</a>.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - UC Merced Injects Over $1 Billion in Economic Vitality into San Joaquin Valley, State/news/2026/uc-merced-injects-over-1-billion-economic-vitality-san-joaquin-valley-state2026-01-20 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Community Engagement, First. Further. Forward, In The Community, Campus, Campus Community, Research and Economic Development, Economic Development, Economic ImpactBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/econ-impact-26-hero.png" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced campus overhead view" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced's economic influence is strongest in Merced County, where it is the catalyst for one out of every 15 jobs.<p>UC Merced, a beacon of academic achievement in the San Joaquin Valley, is also a powerful driver of economic growth and prosperity in the region it was created to serve. </p>
<p>UC Merced generates $1.12 billion in economic production per year in the Valley, according to an <a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/3ef79994-1e98-4d5d-9c7d-18869f5a032d">independent analysis</a> commissioned by the university. Its influence is strongest in Merced County, where it is a catalyst for one out of every 15 jobs. Valley-wide, the university supports 7,737 full-time jobs and more than $490 million in labor income, according to the <a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/3ef79994-1e98-4d5d-9c7d-18869f5a032d">study by Beacon Economics</a></p>
<p>In Merced County, where the 10th campus in the world-renowned University of California system opened in 2005, UC Merced generates more than $1.02 billion in economic output annually, along with 7,332 jobs and $465.8 million in labor income.</p>
<p>Beyond the San Joaquin Valley, UC Merced’s economic impact is indirectly responsible for an additional 871 jobs across California, $77.8 million in labor income and $246.3 million in economic output, for a total statewide impact of approximately $1.36 billion.</p>
<p>“The Valley is our home,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “UC Merced, as this report confirms, is a powerful driver of economic vitality, population growth, and individual prosperity for Merced County, the Valley and the state, in addition to delivering the highest standard of student success and globally recognized research.”</p>
<p>Beacon Economics analyzed state, regional and university data from the 2023-24 fiscal year. Amounts are expressed in 2025 dollars. Beacon’s statistical model measured the direct impact of UC Merced operations, research activity, student spending and capital investments. It also analyzed indirect effects (i.e., increased demand on materials suppliers or service providers) and induced effects (i.e. students, employees and suppliers spending income throughout Merced County and the Valley).</p>
<p>More important takeaways from the report:</p>
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<p>UC Merced’s research activity generates 708 jobs in California, including 545 in Merced County. Research-related economic input totals $158 million statewide and $118 million in the county.</p>
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<p>Every dollar spent on research by UC Merced generates an additional $2.07 statewide, including $1.54 in Merced County.</p>
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<p>Statewide, off-campus spending by UC Merced students totals $69.3 million. Every dollar students spend generates $1.45 in economic output.</p>
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<p>The top five sectors supported statewide by UC Merced, ranked by employment, are higher education, real estate, food and beverages, retail and recreation.</p>
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<p>UC Merced-related spending generates $79.3 million per year in tax revenue in Merced County, plus $13.1 million in the rest of the Valley and $32.39 million in the rest of California, for a statewide total of $124.8 million.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service: A Day On, Not a Day Off/news/2026/martin-luther-king-jr-day-service-day-not-day2026-01-15 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Diversity & Inclusion, Yosemite, Community Engagement, In The Community, Campus Community, Community Service, Yosemite National ParkAlyssa Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/calteach_5.png" width="1631" height="844" alt="UC Merced students shown leading the MLK Jr Day Unity march." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/From Merced to Yosemite, UC Merced will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a Day of Service on Jan. 19, inviting volunteers to serve and connect.<p>UC Merced will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by hosting a day of action, inviting the campus and community to serve together on Monday, Jan. 19.</p>
<p>In keeping with King’s call to build a “beloved community,” UC Merced’s Community Engagement Center is inviting students, staff, faculty and alumni to participate in a range of service projects throughout Merced and beyond as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.</p>
<p>“This National Day of Service is a time to come together, give back and work toward the community Dr. King envisioned,” event organizers said.</p>
<p>For UC Merced students, the service opportunities are eligible for CatLife and CollegeCorps credit.</p>
<p>“Participating in community service, especially on a day meant to honor such an impactful voice who fought for the equal treatment of all human beings, is important in any community,” said Melina Ramirez, a student staff member with the Community Engagement Center. “We should take advantage of our ability to help build up the community of Merced. We can only rely on each other to strengthen the well-being of our fellow community members.”</p>
<p>Ramirez said she is especially looking forward to spending time with senior living residents on MLK Day, noting that they often share meaningful life experiences and advice.</p>
<p>“Giving UC Merced the opportunity to engage on MLK Day allows us, alongside the city of Merced, to recognize the power of unity and what we can accomplish through collective effort,” said Pricilla Cardenas, community engagement coordinator. “Service reminds us that carrying MLK’s legacy forward means showing up for our communities and putting his values into practice. It helps us build the kind of place he worked for, where people look out for one another.”</p>
<p>Several service opportunities are scheduled throughout the day, allowing volunteers to participate based on their interests and availability.</p>
<p>One of the day’s signature events is the Unity March, beginning at the Merced Amtrak Station, 324 W. 24th St. Volunteers will help support the march and accompanying community celebration by assisting with coordination, event logistics, vendor support, parking management and information distribution. Volunteers are asked to arrive at 10 a.m.</p>
<p>Community members can also assist with the annual MLK Program at the Merced Theatre, 301 W. Main St. Volunteers will help welcome attendees and check in performers and vendors. Volunteer arrival time is 11 a.m.</p>
<p>Those interested in intergenerational service can volunteer at Park Merced Senior Living, 3050 M St., where UC Merced volunteers will engage residents through recreational activities. A morning session from 10 to 11 a.m. will include board games, coloring and reading. An afternoon session from 3 to 4 p.m. will focus on assisting with a bingo game.</p>
<p>The day will conclude with the MLK Day of Service at the D Street Shelter, 317 E. 15th St., where volunteers will join Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto to prepare and serve meals for people experiencing homelessness. Volunteers should arrive at 5 p.m.</p>
<p>In addition to local service opportunities, UC Merced volunteers will also spend the day serving at Yosemite National Park as part of a full-day MLK Day of Service project in collaboration with the Yosemite Leadership Program. The 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. service opportunity will support the park’s volunteer awards event and assist with essential operations, including event setup, sorting and displaying clothing donations, and supporting guests throughout the day. All volunteer spots for the Yosemite project are currently filled, though a waitlist is available.</p>
<p>Visit the <a href="https://cec.ucmerced.edu/MLK-Day-Of-Service">MLK Day of Service webpage</a> for more information about volunteering and transportation options available through the UC Merced Community Engagement Center.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Innovative Research Secures Coveted Fellowships for Ph.D. Students/news/2026/innovative-research-secures-coveted-fellowships-phd-students2026-01-14 00:00:00By Brenda Ortiz, UC MercedIn BriefStudent & Alumni Success, Awards, Campus Community, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Research, Graduate Division, Faculty, Financial Aid, Fellowships, Gifts, Research, School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Physics, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Cognitive & Informational Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Cognitive Science, Physics, Graduate Students<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/20260108_pr-hero_arcs_fellowship_recipients_1740x900.jpg" width="1740" height="900" alt="graphic with five individuals higlighted; three females and two males with UC Merced and ARCS logos on blue background" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced Ph.D. students representing all three schools were awarded fellowships by the ACRS Foundation Northern California.<p>The ARCS Foundation Northern California awarded five UC Merced graduate students with <a href="https://northern-california.arcsfoundation.org/scholars/2025-26-arcs-northern-california-scholars">2025-26 fellowships</a>. 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.</p>
<p>In total, the ARCS Foundation Northern California has gifted more than $200,000 in fellowship support to UC Merced since 2022.</p>
<p>This year’s ARCS recipients:</p>
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<p><a href="https://chemistry.ucmerced.edu">Chemistry and biochemistry</a> Ph.D. student Victor Duran Arroyo, from Oxnard, was named an ARCS Foundation Scholar. His research with Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/rebeca-arevalo">Rebeca Arevalo </a>focuses on the design, synthesis and mechanistic elucidation of a new generation of catalysts using cheap Earth-abundant metals for application in pharmaceutical synthesis. “Thanks to the generosity of the ARCS Foundation, I have been able to purchase critical equipment, accessories, books and software needed to keep advancing in my doctorate program,” Arroyo said. “Additionally, I have been able to use the funds to improve my quality of life as a graduate student, which has greatly improved my ability to remain focused on my studies.”</p>
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<p><a href="https://cogsci.ucmerced.edu/">Cognitive and information sciences</a> Ph.D. student Yasemin Gokcen was named a Charlie Campbell Scholar and Carmi & Darrell Ticehurst Scholar by ARCS. This is her second year earning a fellowship from the foundation. Gokcen’s current work involves building computational neuroscience models to understand language and sentence processing with professors <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/david-c-noelle">David Noelle</a> and <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/rachel-ryskin">Rachel Ryskin</a>. “This fellowship has opened up so many opportunities, as it means the university and others are interested in and support my research,” said Gokcen, who is from Columbus, Ohio. “It has helped me with application and travel to conferences as well as personal costs that I can take care of without worrying or taking away from my studies or research.”</p>
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<p><a href="https://es.ucmerced.edu/">Environmental Systems</a> Ph.D. student Genevieve McKeown-Green was named an ARCS Foundation Scholar. Her current research in Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/sam-markolf">Sam Markolf’s</a> lab focuses on environmental and energy engineering, investigating the current and future landscape of zero-emission vehicle adoption. McKeown-Green, a native of Acton, a city in the Mojave Desert, will next focus on evaluating the holistic impacts of wildfire on California's solar generation through case studies and modeling. “It means so much for me to receive this fellowship. When funding for environmental work is being challenged, and people are losing hope for the natural world, it is an extraordinary gift,” she said. “This fellowship means I can pursue wildfire research that I have been hoping to begin for several years, attend important conferences to share my work, and connect with a meaningful community of scholars, thinkers and others invested in the future of science and our planet.”</p>
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<p><a href="https://physics.ucmerced.edu/">Physics</a> doctoral student Micah Oeur from Long Beach was named a Jane Fuller Gillespie Memorial Scholar by ARCS. Oeur works in Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/sarah-loebman">Sarah Loebman’s</a> lab and uses cosmological zoom-in simulations to study the structure and content of Milky Way–like galaxies, applying a novel technique that combines stellar kinematics and chemistry to recover the galactic mass distribution and probe dark matter. "Receiving the ARCS fellowship has endowed me with a vibrant community of scientists who are also on the vanguard of research in their respective fields. This sense of community has bolstered my commitment to become an astrophysics professor at a research institution and to support students from marginalized backgrounds,” Oeur said. “I have been able to focus more fully on my research, present my dissertation at a national astronomy conference, and submit postdoctoral applications as I advance toward my thesis defense.”</p>
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<p>Andrew Silverstein, an <a href="https://es.ucmerced.edu/">environmental systems</a> doctoral student from San Diego, was named an Edina Jennison Scholar by ARCS. Silverstein studies the impact of agrivoltaics on water use efficiency, plant phenology and soil properties in the Central Valley with Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/sarah-kurtz">Sarah Kurtz</a>. “This fellowship has helped me connect with people across the country and discuss current research by funding travel to conferences. This will help me shape the research I would like to conduct at our future site at UC Merced. This fellowship has also created a community of researchers that I am able to connect with for help with my career in the future,” he said.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - The American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation Recognize UC Merced's Leadership in Community Engagement/news/2026/american-council-education-and-carnegie-foundation-recognize-uc-merceds-leadership2026-01-12 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Community Engagement, Awards, Campus, Academics, Campus Community, Chancellor, Chancellor’s Office, Outreach, StudentsBy Brenda Ortiz<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ucm_carnegie_hero-03_1_copy.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="collage of photo with yellow text on a blue background reading Carnegie Elective Reclassification for Community Engagement " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced has been recognized with the 2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.<p>UC Merced has once again been recognized as a national leader in community-engaged scholarship. The <a href="https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/elective-classifications/community-engagement/" target="_blank">2026 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement</a> affirms the university’s deep and expanding commitment to serving the public.</p>
<p>The designation from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is awarded to institutions that demonstrate robust, institutionalized community engagement through rigorous self-study, data collection, and clear documentation of their missions, identities and commitments.</p>
<p>“Our renewed Carnegie designation makes clear that community engagement is deeply embedded in UC Merced’s identity,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “Since 2015, that commitment has expanded across every corner of the campus, building strong, reciprocal relationships across California’s Central Valley and beyond.”</p>
<p>UC Merced is one of 277 institutions recognized by the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement. Its formal notification praised the university’s application, noting “excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement.” It also highlighted UC Merced’s “examples of exemplary institutionalized practices of community engagement.”</p>
<p>UC Merced’s 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification had expired, and Muñoz appointed former Special Assistant to the Chancellor Marjorie Zatz to lead the effort to renew the designation, now valid until 2032.</p>
<p>A campuswide working group was convened in October 2024, and the reclassification application was submitted in April 2025. The process reflected broad and meaningful collaboration with department chairs, research centers and more than 130 faculty members contributing information and evidence. Together, they crafted a compelling narrative demonstrating how UC Merced has strengthened the institutionalization of <a href="https://www.ucmerced.edu/about-us/community-engagement">community engagement</a> since its initial classification.</p>
<p>“I would like to thank Dr. Zatz and all of the members of the working group on behalf of our entire campus community for organizing the successful effort that resulted in this very important recognition,” Muñoz said.</p>
<p>This reclassification comes on the heels of a landmark year for UC Merced. In early 2025, the campus earned <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/uc-merced-achieves-r1-highest-tier-research-classification" target="_blank">Carnegie R1 status</a>, placing it among the nation's top-tier research institutions with very high research activity and doctoral degrees conferred just 20 years after opening.</p>
<p>Later in 2025, UC Merced earned the Carnegie <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/carnegie-recognizes-uc-merced-student-access-grad-earnings" target="_blank">Student Access and Earnings Classification</a> “Opportunity Colleges and Universities,” becoming one of only 21 institutions nationwide, and three in California to be recognized as both R1 and Opportunity.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - New Major Teaches How to Tackle Questions of Ethics in Science, Tech/news/2026/new-major-teaches-how-tackle-questions-ethics-science-tech2026-01-08 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Academic Distinction, Politics & Society, School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, School of Social Sciences Humanities and ArtsBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ste-hero3.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced professor and students" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/CUTLINE: Professor Dan Hicks, right, in his science, technology and ethics class with students (from left) Dylan Carlton, Cosmo Campbell and Cody Evans.<p>Should a scientist who sees signs of global catastrophe sound an early alarm or wait until more conclusive evidence is in? Does going public lead to swifter action or give naysayers more time to discredit the message?</p>
<p>Students in Professor <a href="https://philosophy.ucmerced.edu/content/dan-hicks">Dan Hicks’</a> course in science, technology and ethics discussed the pros and cons. Does sharing initial findings waste resources if the findings turn out to be flawed? If the scientist waits to come forward, could the crisis become too big, expensive and politically fraught to control?</p>
<p>One student argued that speaking out early is good because “even if you can’t answer unanswerable questions, you provide an area of focus. You encourage further studies.”</p>
<p>Another said if the scientist waited, “they would have more time to research it and then drop the bomb with all the information.”</p>
<p>And around it went.</p>
<p>In a world where artificial intelligence, climate change, epidemics and bioengineering compete for our attention and concern, the need for people who can weigh the technical and humanistic sides of an argument is crucial. UC Merced’s <a href="https://www.ucmerced.edu/majors-and-minors/science-technology-and-ethics">science, technology and ethics major</a>, which debuted in fall 2025, addresses this need.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/
<p>'In society, we have all of these challenges where science and technology are wrapped up in complex social, political and legal problems.'</p>
Professor Dan Hickshttps://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Students who pursue the bachelor of science degree take courses that bridge the divide between philosophy and the sciences. Graduates can pursue careers ranging from policy advocate and compliance officer to patient advocate.</p>
<p>“In society, we have all of these challenges where science and technology are wrapped up in complex social, political and legal problems,” said Hicks, who led the major’s design. They noted that about two-thirds of the <a href="https://philosophy.ucmerced.edu/STEMajor">course requirements</a> are in the humanities and social sciences. The remaining courses are in a STEM field the student chooses, such as data science, biology or public health.</p>
<p>“We’re bringing these two perspectives together,” said Hicks, who has taught philosophy and science policy at UC Merced since 2019.</p>
<p>The questions that opened this story are based on a real event: In June 1988, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Hearing_of_James_E._Hansen_(1988)">climatologist James Hansen testified</a> to a Senate committee that Earth was, at that moment, warmer than at any time in measurable history. He warned that sunlight trapped by gases such as carbon dioxide — the greenhouse effect — was already strong enough to trigger unusually extreme weather.</p>
<p>It was a watershed moment; for the first time, an eminent climate scientist, in a highly public and politically potent forum, said he was certain the planet was heating up beyond natural variations. In the years and decades that followed, research confirmed Hansen’s projections of human-caused climate change. But in the late ’80s, his interpretation of the data “was kind of out on a limb,” as one contemporary climatologist put it.</p>
<p>Today, society is in a similar position with contentious issues such as artificial intelligence, vaccines, social media and (still) climate change. There is a powerful need for experts who can identify and communicate how emerging technologies and discoveries could affect people and the planet.</p>
<p>First-year student Dylan Carlton said he took Hicks’ ethics course because it combined his interests in technology and philosophy. The class has given him new insights into how the two intertwine.</p>
<p>“The idea that experimentally verifiable knowledge could replace parts of philosophy was a fascinating perspective,” Carlton said. “We explored what types of research should be prioritized, depending on complicated issues such as social consequences rather than simply academic advancement.”</p>
<p>Hicks brings to the course — and to the major — first-hand experience with complicated issues, thanks to a science fellowship that placed them in roles with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation. When students reviewed a case study about chemical safety, Hicks shared what they learned working with a team at the EPA.</p>
<p>“Philosophy isn’t you just sitting back and asking questions you find interesting,” Hicks said. “It is a skill set you can bring to many workplaces and apply to a lot of important questions.”</p>
Jody Murray - Trinidad Quiroz Signs Professional Contract with Necaxa Femenil/news/2026/trinidad-quiroz-signs-professional-contract-necaxa-femenil2026-01-06 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Hispanic/LatinX Heritage Month, Women's History Month, Athletics, Women's Soccer, Student Life, StudentsBy Andrew Mitchell, UC Merced Athletics<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_2026-01-06t160435.634.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Trinidad Quiroz playing soccer" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Trinidad Quiroz is a two-time All-American and has scored a program-record 20 game-winning goals. <p>UC Merced women's soccer star Trinidad Quiroz has signed with Necaxa Femenil of Liga BBVA MX Femenil. Quiroz is the first Bobcat to sign a contract with the highest level of women's football in Mexico.</p>
<p>The forward from San Jose, Calif., is a two-time NAIA All-American and she earned All-CCAA First Team honors this past fall following the Bobcats first season in NCAA Division II.</p>
<p>Quiroz played and started 55 games in her three years with the Bobcats and recorded 109 career points with 48 goals and 14 assists. Both her points and goals total rank second in program history. She owns the program-record with 20 game-winning goals.</p>
<p>In 2023, Quiroz broke the California Pacific Conference single-season record with 23 goals. She was named the Cal Pac Player of the Year that season and led the Bobcats to their first ever Cal Pac Tournament Championship and a victory in the NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship Opening Round, also the Bobcats first.</p>
<p>Quiroz was honored as the program's first NAIA Third Team All-American and first CSC Academic All-American (first team) after her heroic 2023 campaign.</p>
<p>Other awards throughout her career include 2022 NAIA Honorable Mention All-American, 2022 Cal Pac Newcomer of the Year, 2X All-Cal Pac First Team selection, 4X Cal Pac Player of the Week, and CCAA Player of the Week.</p>
<p>As a senior in 2025, Quiroz finished tied for second in the CCAA with seven goals and four game-winning goals on her way to being named All-CCAA First Team. She owned the top spot in the CCAA with 3.5 shots per game and 1.83 shots on goal per game.</p>
<p>Quiroz graduated in December of 2025 with a bachelors degree in Computer Science & Engineering.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - UC Merced Alum, Now a Robotics Expert for Amazon, Advises Students to Get Their Hands Dirty/news/2026/uc-merced-alum-now-robotics-expert-amazon-advises-students-get-their-hands-dirty2026-01-06 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Management & Technology, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, StudentsBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/arrieta_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Kevin Arrieta is pictured speaking to an electrical engineering class at UC Merced." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Arrieta encouraged students to make use of the resources uniquely available on campus.<p>Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble.</p>
<p>Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at Dominguez High School in Compton high school after Gloria Esiobu, the teacher who ran it, gave him an ultimatum.</p>
<p>"I had gotten in with the wrong crowd," he said. "I had a physics teacher who told me, 'Join my robotics club or I'm calling your mom.'"</p>
<p>In the club, Arrieta found he loved working with sensors and doing programming, and he was good at it.</p>
<p>"You have an engineering mind and you don't even know it," his teacher said.</p>
<p>Arrieta put that engineering mind to work at UC Merced, where he graduated in 2024. Now a senior automation engineer at a company that works with retail giant Amazon, Arrieta recently returned to campus to talk about his career and offer advice to students in an electrical engineering class taught by Professor Sarah Kurtz.</p>
<p>"Get your hands dirty," he told them. "Do personal projects, do research."</p>
<p>He also encouraged them to make use of the resources uniquely available at UC Merced.</p>
<p>"Speak to your professors," he said. "The relationship you can have with them is something you won't see on a lot of campuses. Take advantage of that."</p>
<p>The path to success isn't always smooth. In his third year of college, Arrieta found himself running an e-commerce business. He was working about 60 hours a week and struggling to juggle that with his course load. He essentially dropped out of school, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to finish.</p>
<p>"I'm a person of faith, so I prayed about it," he said. He recommitted to his education and landed internships with Tesla at sites in Texas and New York, as well as a job at Amazon.</p>
<p>"I was taking five engineering courses, working the night shift at Amazon and weekends somewhere else," he said. "It's important to understand your bandwidth, how much you can handle."</p>
<p>Resilience is also important, he said.</p>
<p>"Apply, apply, apply. I applied to 100 internships and got three offers."</p>
<p>All that work paid off, and when Arrieta graduated, he already had two years of experience.</p>
<p>"I started off straight into management. I've supported six Amazon sites all over the country."</p>
<p>He now works for C&W Services, which provides automation engineering support at an Amazon site in Stockton.</p>
<p>And he's still learning. He showed the students video footage of a robot he created that was supposed to be powered by a PlayStation 4 controller. Except it didn't go anywhere, a problem with a Bluetooth signal. Another remote got the robot to move a little.</p>
<p>"Finally, we got it to work in autonomous mode," Arrieta said. "As an engineer, you're going to have these failures. Things that don't play out the way you want them to play out."</p>
<p>He said students now have the option of majoring in electrical engineering, which wasn't available when he attended UC Merced.</p>
<p>"That person next to you, they're probably going for the same internships you are," he said. "What are you doing to set yourself apart? Home in on your craft and whatever you're learning now, try to carry that into your career."</p>
<p>Kurtz said having a former student who has a similar experience to those now in class is valuable.</p>
<p>"Many of our students are trying to understand what will happen after they finish their degrees," she said. "Kevin's visit was a fantastic opportunity for students to peek into the possibilities for their own futures."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Astronomers Reveal Hidden Activity in the Early Universe’s Most Massive Galaxies/news/2026/astronomers-reveal-hidden-activity-early-universe%E2%80%99s-most-massive-galaxies2026-01-05 00:00:00Faculty And Staff NewsResearch Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Big Data, Materials & Matter, Research and Economic Development, Faculty, Research, School of Natural Sciences, Physics, Staff, Graduate Students<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/keck-hero.gif" width="870" height="450" alt="Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory.<p>An international team of astronomers has studied ultramassive galaxies - galaxies containing more than 100 billion stars - as they existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old. The results show that while some of these ultramassive galaxies, or UMGs, had already shut down star formation and become extremely dust-poor, others exhibit ongoing or residual activity that is obscured by dust, revealing multiple evolutionary pathways for the most massive galaxies.</p>
<p>The research was led by Wenjun Chang, a graduate student at UC Riverside, under the mentorship of Gillian Wilson, vice chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development and professor of physics at UC Merced. Chang will present it at a media briefing during the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society today (Jan. 5) in Phoenix.</p>
<p>The findings come from MAGAZ3NE (the MAssive Galaxies at z ~ 3 NEar-infrared Survey), a long-running collaboration that uses spectroscopy and multi-wavelength observations to investigate how the most massive galaxies formed and evolved. The backbone of the MAGAZ3NE survey comprises more than 30 nights of spectroscopy obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, yielding precise redshifts and stellar mass measurements needed to interpret the multi-wavelength data.</p>
<p>According to the European Space Agency, “red shift” is a key concept for astronomers. The term can be understood literally: The wavelength of the light is stretched, so the light appears “shifted” toward the red region of the spectrum.</p>
<p>These new insights come from longer-wavelength far-infrared and radio observations, which are far better at probing dust emission, revealing vigorous star formation and active galactic nucleus activity that can be hidden from shorter-wavelength optical and near-infrared studies. An active galactic nucleus is a small region at the center of some galaxies that is far brighter than can be explained by the stellar population alone.</p>
<p>Using observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, the team directly tested whether massive galaxies previously classified as quiescent were truly inactive or instead hosting star formation or nuclear activity that is obscured at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.</p>
<p>“By combining multi-wavelength observations, we can tell which galaxies truly have limited ongoing star formation and which are still active but heavily hidden by dust,” Chang said. “Our far-infrared and (sub)millimeter measurements allow us to constrain how much dust these early massive galaxies contain.”</p>
<p>“What is striking is not just that we can detect hidden activity, but that we see such diversity among galaxies with similar masses at the same epoch,” Wilson said. “That tells us that the shutdown of star formation in the most massive galaxies was neither uniform nor simple, and it places important new constraints on our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the early universe.”</p>
<p>This research helps clarify whether UMGs in the early universe are “dusty or dead.” The researchers’ answer is not either-or. The results show that most of the UMGs studied are genuinely quiescent, indicating a rapid and efficient shutdown of star formation. Within this quiescent population, several systems are among the most dust-poor massive galaxies ever identified at these early cosmic times. The remaining two galaxies exhibit residual dust emission, with one showing evidence for ongoing but heavily obscured star formation, and the other caught in the process of quenching, or shutting down star formation.</p>
<p>These results offer a rare glimpse into the diverse evolutionary paths taken by the universe’s most massive galaxies.</p>
<p>“While optical and near-infrared data alone can severely underestimate obscured star formation in dusty massive galaxies, ALMA probes far-infrared wavelengths allowing improved constraints on the nature of these galaxies,” said Benjamin Forrest, a former postdoctoral scholar in Wilson’s research group and now a researcher at UC Davis. Forrest has played a central role in the development of the MAGAZ3NE survey and its multi-wavelength analysis of ultramassive galaxies. Forrest also led the proposal that resulted in many of the ALMA observations used in this study.</p>
<p>Members of the MAGAZ3NE collaboration involved in this work include Ian McConachie, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Professor Allison Noble of Arizona State University; Professor Tracy Webb of McGill University; Professor Adam Muzzin of York University, Canada; Professor Michael Cooper of UC Irvine; Professor Gabriela Canalizo of UC Riverside; Professor Danilo Marchesini of Tufts University; Percy Gomez, staff astronomer at the W. M. Keck Observatory; and Stephanie Urbano Stawinski of UC Santa Barbara.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Fall Commencement Graduates Urged to Write Their Own Story/news/2025/fall-commencement-graduates-urged-write-their-own-story2025-12-22 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Academic Distinction, Academics, Graduate Division, School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, School of Social Sciences Humanities and ArtsBy Jody Murray, UC MercedHundreds of UC Merced graduate candidates gathered with friends and family Dec. 19-20 for Fall Commencement. Ceremonies were held for the Graduate Division and the university’s three schools.<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/fall24-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Student speaker at 2024 UC Merced Fall Commencement" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Student speaker AJ Heard Jr. gestures during a UC Merced Fall Commencement ceremony in The Art Kamangar Center at The Merced Theatre.<p><strong> </strong>A beaming Jesus Cevon-Gonzalez stood on Merced’s Main Street, surrounded by his mom and dad, grandparents, sister and other loved ones. He clutched the proof of a freshly bestowed bachelor’s degree in computer science.</p>
<p>“I’m just trying to make my parents proud,” the Merced native said.</p>
<p>Cevon-Gonzalez was among about 400 UC Merced graduate candidates who gathered with friends and fam ily on Dec. 19-20 for <a href="https://commencement.ucmerced.edu/past-ceremonies">Fall Commencement </a>at The Merced Theatre. Its Art Kamangar Center hosted ceremonies for the Graduate Division and for the university’s three schools.</p>
<p>"You are graduating from UC Merced at a historic time – the 20th anniversary since opening our doors," Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said.</p>
<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img alt="image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/251220_fall_commencement_ssha-9-2.jpg" style="width: 100%; max-width: 700px; height: auto;" /></div>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>"Much has been accomplished at UC Merced in a short time. An academic legacy that redefines what postsecondary will look like and a shining example of how to shape an inclusive culture of excellence.</p>
<p>"To be a part of this climate and culture of rigor you have overcome many challenges and obstacles, and you leave UC Merced more prepared than ever to succeed in your careers and throughout your lives."</p>
<p>After the ceremonies, people poured into the closed-off street, turning it into a sea of blue gowns, hugs and photo opportunities. Veronika Mayoraga of Fresno wore a sash over her gown that read “First Generation,” marking her status as the initial member of her family to pursue a secondary education.</p>
https://youtu.be/Ut2-P0VSslM?si=7FKwAntBRLEhp3rEhttps://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/video_embed_field_thumbnails/youtube/Ut2-P0VSslM.jpg<p>“I’m feeling very emotional,” said Mayoraga, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. “It's definitely a huge stepping stone for my family.”</p>
<p>Vanessa Sanchez of Fairfield said it felt “surreal,” after years of study and effort, to hold a master’s degree in quantitative and systems biology.</p>
<p>“Now it’s time to get my doctorate,” she said.</p>
<p>UC Merced’s banner year was a recurring commencement theme. In 2025, the university earned the <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/uc-merced-achieves-r1-highest-tier-research-classification">highest classification</a> for a public research institution, was <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/uc-merced-named-top-25-public-university-us-news-world-report">ranked 25th among public universities</a> by U.S. News and World Report and <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2025/uc-merced-celebrates-20-years-firsts">marked 20 years</a> since the start of undergraduate instruction.</p>
<div style="display: flex; justify-content: center;"><img alt="image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/images/251220_fall_commencement_sns_soe-85.jpg" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; height: auto;" /></div>
Jody Murray - Recipe for L.A.’s fire disaster: Intense rains followed by unprecedented heat and dry conditions/news/2025/recipe-la%E2%80%99s-fire-disaster-intense-rains-followed-unprecedented-heat-and-dry-conditions2025-12-17 00:00:00In The News“Climate change is contributing to this increase we’ve seen in fire activity,” said John Abatzoglou, professor of climatology at UC Merced, one of the study’s co-authors.
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-17/palisades-and-eaton-fires-fu...https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-17/palisades-and-eaton-fires-fueled-by-a-catastrophic-combination-of-worst-case-scenarios- Ph.D. Student Awarded Fellowship to Advance Environmental Health and Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation/news/2025/phd-student-awarded-fellowship-advance-environmental-health-and-harmful-algal-bloom2025-12-18 00:00:00In BriefStudent & Alumni Success, Awards, Campus, Campus Community, Graduate Division, Faculty, Fellowships, Health, Legislation, Research, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Public Health, Public Health, Graduate Students, UCOPBy Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_9_0.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Collage photo of Black male with dark hair and beard wearing blue and gray long sleeve shirt and photo of campus signage and palm trees. " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the <a href="https://ucghi.universityofcalifornia.edu/our-work/planetary-health/">UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health</a> Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship.</p>
<p>The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health.</p>
<p>Opoku, who works with Professor <a href="https://publichealth.ucmerced.edu/content/asa-bradman">Asa Bradman</a>, is one of three selected for the fellowship across all UC campuses.</p>
<p>“It's a beautiful thing to be in a program that is very interdisciplinary, from economics, environmental health to engineering, all coming together for the sake of the public,” Opoku said. “It gives me fulfillment that my work is relevant and it's been recognized.”</p>
<p>He earned a bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory technology and a Master of Public Health in Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.</p>
<p>Opoku’s professional background includes clinical work as a biomedical scientist and research focused on occupational and environmental exposures and their association with injury and disease risks in Ghana. His current research interests center on environmental health, particularly investigating the aerosolization of cyanotoxins from harmful algal blooms (HAB), air pollution and related health outcomes.</p>
<p>Between June and August 2025, he compiled literature on the factors contributing to HAB events in California, as well as their distribution, trends, toxicity, testing, monitoring and mitigation.</p>
<p>“This fellowship helped steep my understanding of how to sample environmental data, how to compile literature and how to speak to industry people about your research,” Opoku said.</p>
<p>He and Bradman met with leading scientists in the field, including personnel from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Department of Water Resources.</p>
<p>These exchanges underscored the fellowship’s role in connecting emerging researchers with policymakers and scientific leaders.</p>
<p>“At the end of the day, it is not scientists or researchers versus industry, people, or policymakers,” he said. “I wanted this holistic training where I get advanced training at the intersection of science and policy. Where we can come together to bring change in environmental health because I believe that a healthy environment is going to be translated into having healthy outcomes.”</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - Hundreds of UC Merced Graduates to Cross the Stage at Fall Commencement/news/2025/hundreds-uc-merced-graduates-cross-stage-fall-commencement2025-12-17 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Commencement, Students, Graduate Students, Undergraduate StudentsAlyssa Johansen, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/calteach_4_1.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Line of UC Merced graduates in cap and gown" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Fall commencement ceremonies will celebrate nearly 400 undergraduate students and 40 Graduate Division students.<p>Hundreds of UC Merced students will be celebrated this weekend at the university’s fall commencement ceremonies in downtown Merced. Nearly 400 undergraduate students and 40 Graduate Division students are set to cross the stage in the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre during three ceremonies.</p>
<p>Commencement weekend kicks off with the Graduate Division ceremony at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19. Undergraduate ceremonies are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 20. Students from the School of Engineering and the School of Natural Sciences will be celebrated at 9 a.m., followed by students from the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts at noon.</p>
<p>Omar DeGuchy, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will address graduates at Friday’s ceremony. At LLNL, he has served as a technical lead and principal investigator on projects pertaining to the application of machine learning to problems involving national security. DeGuchy earned his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from UC Merced in 2020, following graduate studies that produced numerous publications and collaborations with researchers at Air Force Research Laboratories and LLNL.</p>
<p>While at UC Merced, DeGuchy served as the president of the university’s Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics student chapter and enjoyed mentoring undergraduate student research. At LLNL, he is the group lead for the analytic software group in the global security computing applications division and the lead for the data science challenge, a program that brings students from UC Merced to the lab to work on mission-relevant datasets and problems.</p>
<p>Saturday’s commencement speaker will be Dale Johns, the president and CEO of Dignity Health Mercy Medical Center Merced. Johns is leader whose work is deeply connected to the well-being, resilience and future of Central California. He has more than 35 years of hospital leadership experience, navigating health systems across the country through moments of tremendous change, including the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a proud veteran of the United States Army Reserves, having served during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He has volunteered on the board of the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, served on Utah’s Health Facility Committee, and devoted many years to mentoring youth and coaching teams, thus, demonstrating the kind of community-focused leadership we hope today’s graduates carry forward into their own lives.</p>
<p><strong>Commencement schedule</strong>:</p>
<p><strong>Graduate Division</strong><br />
Friday, Dec. 19, 6 p.m.</p>
<p><strong>School of Engineering and School of Natural Sciences</strong></p>
<p>Saturday, Dec. 20, 9 a.m.</p>
<p><strong>School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts</strong><br />
Saturday, Dec. 20, noon</p>
<p>Tickets have been distributed to graduating students and are required for admission to the commencement ceremonies.</p>
<p>Guests are encouraged to arrive early and allow at least 30 minutes for parking, walking to the venue, and ticketing. Seating for ticketed guests is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and all guests must be seated prior to the start of the processional.</p>
<p>Please use public parking in nearby parking lots or available street parking. Parking is limited, and carpooling is strongly encouraged. Guests should plan to arrive early to secure parking, as spaces are also available on a first-come, first-served basis.</p>
<p>Those who won't be able to celebrate graduates in person can watch a livestream on the university's commencement <a href="https://commencement.ucmerced.edu/"><strong>webpage</strong></a>.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Climate Speaker Series at UC Merced Kicks Off with Warnings … and Hope/news/2025/climate-speaker-series-uc-merced-kicks-warnings-%E2%80%A6-and-hope2025-12-16 00:00:00Research Highlights (gateway)Community, Environment, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Research, Climate Change, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of Engineering, Management of Complex SystemsBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/climate_speaker_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts climate scientist Michael Mann speaking at a podium at UC Merced." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Michael Mann was the first in a planned series of speakers addressing climate change. <p>The global climate crisis was entirely predictable and impacts nearly every facet of life. But we still can slow its progress and mitigate the effects we already see.</p>
<p>That was the message delivered earlier this month by climate scientist Michael Mann, who spoke at the first in a series of presentations at UC Merced planned for the university community and the public.</p>
<p>Mann said he and colleagues published research in the 1990s that showed the Earth's warming and the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the climate.</p>
<p>"We saw there's something pretty unique going on today, and it probably has to do with us," he said.</p>
<p>By examining what Mann called the "archives of climate" - items such as tree rings, corals and ice cores - researchers could go back in time to examine conditions before instruments to measure them were available.</p>
<p>"The average temperature is now 2 degrees warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution," Mann said.</p>
<p>Though some climate change impacts, such as rising temperatures, were predictable, questions remain. Those include what the changes mean for rainfall and drought in California.</p>
<p>There are some years where it's colder but the Pacific Ocean sees an El Niño pattern, or warmer water. And the opposite - when it's warmer, there is sometimes La Niña, or colder patterns. What seems evident is what Mann called "weather whiplash" between heavy precipitation and severe drought.</p>
<p>Though Mann started his work in the 1990s, other scientists were already aware of the impacts of the use of fossil fuels on the environment. He pointed out that Exxon Mobil's own climate scientists created a report in 1982 that cited "potentially catastrophic events" if the use of fossil fuels, and their resulting greenhouse gas emissions, increased.</p>
<p>However, it's not too late to act, Mann said.</p>
<p>"The surface stops warming when carbon emissions reach zero," he said. "This is an underappreciated and largely unknown fact."</p>
<p>The United States has contributed the most to the reduction of fossil fuel emissions. Other countries, including China and India, are also investing heavily in renewable energy, Mann said.</p>
<p>"This may be the last opportunity the world has to commit to reduction in carbon emissions," he said. "The dinosaurs couldn't do anything to affect their fate. We can.</p>
<p>"The warming of the planet stops when we bring fossil fuels to zero."</p>
<p>In the meantime, there are steps individuals can take. Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou" target="_blank"> John Abatzoglou</a>, a climatologist at UC Merced, spoke about some of those measures.</p>
<p>"The story in California and much of the West is the story of water," he said. "When it's a warm and dry summer, a lot of fire happens, particularly in forested parts of the state."</p>
<p>The Sierra Nevada snowpack provides water in the spring and summer to much of the state. But as temperatures rise, there is less snow to hold water. And groundwater is being depleted.</p>
<p>"But there are a whole bunch of solutions," he said. Those include finding more ways to store water, recharging groundwater supplies and even providing more tree cover for disadvantaged communities. Urban forestry programs can bring trees to areas that don't have them, providing shade and lowering the temperature for residents.</p>
<p>Agrivoltaics may offer some solutions: Solar panels provide renewable energy without the carbon emissions, and the panels can shade areas that don't have it. That can lead to less water use for crops that aren't getting so thirsty under a hot Central Valley sun.</p>
<p>"These sorts of win-wins might be useful if they can be scaled up," he said.</p>
<p>Increased burning and reducing fuels during wetter seasons can help alleviate the threat of massive forest fires.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://snri.ucmerced.edu" target="_blank">Sierra Nevada Research Institute</a> at UC Merced has been delving deep into some of these solutions, said Professor <a href="https://snri.ucmerced.edu/content/asmeret-asefaw-berhe" target="_blank"> Asmeret Asefaw Berhe</a>, who recently took over leadership of SNRI.</p>
<p>"SNRI is working to support the emergence of the <a href="https://research.ucmerced.edu/institutes-centers/climate-institute" target="_blank"> Climate Institute </a> at UC Merced," she said. The institute serves as a hub for climate and environmental research. "We are working on fire resilience, energy and equitable climate solutions."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Electrical Engineering Professor Named IEEE Life Fellow/news/2025/electrical-engineering-professor-named-ieee-life-fellow2025-12-15 00:00:00AccoladesStaff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/ieee_herosize.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts Professor Mukesh Singhal on a blue and gold background. " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Professor Mukesh Singhal's honor is effective Jan. 1.<p>The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has bestowed the honor of "IEEE Life Fellow" to Mukesh Singhal, professor of electrical engineering at UC Merced.</p>
<p>According to its website, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization, with more than 465,000 active members worldwide. IEEE bestows this honor on individuals who have "distinguished themselves through their sustained and lasting exemplary service and contributions to the advancement of technology for the benefit of humanity."</p>
<p>Singhal's research interests include cloud computing and distributed computing systems, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, blockchain, consensus algorithms, artificial intelligence and machine learning, wireless and vehicular networks, mobile computing, network security and the Internet of Things.</p>
<p>Singhal's honor is effective Jan. 1.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Doctoral Student Secures New Fellowships to Support Computational Modeling Research/news/2025/doctoral-student-secures-new-fellowships-support-computational-modeling-research2025-12-11 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Women's History Month, Awards, Campus, Graduate Division, Faculty, Fellowships, Research, School of Natural Sciences, Physics, Science, Physics, Graduate StudentsBy Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_8_0.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Female with brown hair in cream turtle neck top in front of building" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Arabi Seshappan celebrates earning both the Chateaubriand Fellowship in STEM-Biology Health and the UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship.<p>Physics Ph.D. candidate Arabi Seshappan added two prestigious fellowships to her curriculum vitae: the <a href="http://chateaubriand-fellowship.org/">Chateaubriand Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics & Biology-Health</a> and the <a href="https://graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu/node/23751">UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship</a>.</p>
<p>During her graduate studies journey, the Fremont native has applied for more than 20 fellowships, and has now earned three major ones, as well as being named an Eugene-Cota Robles Fellow in 2019 and <a href="https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2023/arcs-scholars-work-advance-stem-research">ARCS Fellow</a> in 2023.</p>
<p>Seshappan, who works with Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/david-strubbe">David Strubbe</a>, recently wrapped up 10 months in Orsay, France, as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program's Fulbright-Université Paris-Saclay Doctoral Research Award.</p>
<p>“I'm really grateful to have spent this year here because it felt like an introduction,” she said about acclimating to France as a Fulbright Fellow. “Now, I'm hoping to focus on more of the research collaborations and strengthening connections.”</p>
<p>Seshappan has her sights set on becoming a research professor at a historically Black college or Hispanic-serving undergraduate institution and believes the connections she is building now with peers and mentors will serve her and her future students.</p>
<p>“I can reach out to them in five years and say, ‘I have an undergrad student I would love to have do some summer research with you. Can I send them your way?’” she said.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/img_4698.jpg" width="350" height="250" alt="Six people in classroom setting reviewing something on whiteboard" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>The Chateaubriand Fellowship will keep her in France through August 2026.</p>
<p>According to its website, “the Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from U.S. institutions who wish to conduct part of their doctoral research in France for a period ranging from four to nine months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, with expert evaluation in France and in the United States.”</p>
<p>The UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship is part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative. Seshappen expressed a strong connection to the fellowship’s mission to increase faculty diversity and provide pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented students from California Hispanic-serving institutions. The fellowship is funding both her French and American research.</p>
<p>As a community college and undergraduate student, she applied for numerous research opportunities but faced repeated setbacks. While at UCLA, a director at the Undergraduate Research Center took a chance on her and offered a position in a summer research program.</p>
<p>“I really struggled academically, but being given the chance to do undergraduate summer research really opened the doors to help me get into a master's and eventually a Ph.D. program,” she said. “I want to be that for someone else — especially for students who are underrepresented in the sciences. I want to be that person who opens doors for someone in the future, and the pre-professoriate is one step in that direction.”</p>
<p>Seshappan plans to fly back in spring 2026 to defend her thesis and participate in commencement.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - COSMOS Expands to UC Merced, Opening Doors for California’s Brightest Young Scientists/news/2025/cosmos-expands-uc-merced-opening-doors-california%E2%80%99s-brightest-young-scientists2025-12-11 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Staff & Faculty News, Student & Alumni Success, Materials & Matter, First. Further. Forward, Faculty, Outreach, Research, School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, Science, Graduate StudentsBy Lorena Anderson, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/cosmos-hero-1.png" width="870" height="450" alt="High school students will have a wider array of research opportunities through COSMOS starting next summer." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/High school students will have a wider array of research opportunities through COSMOS starting next summer.<p>Starting next summer, UC Merced will join an elite group of University of California campuses hosting COSMOS — the <a href="https://cosmos-ucop.ucdavis.edu/app/main">California State Summer School for Math and Science</a> — giving some of the state’s most talented high school students a new destination for exploring advanced STEM fields.</p>
<p>Established by the California Legislature in 1998, the prestigious program gives top students from across the state the chance to work with UC faculty, researchers and graduate and undergraduate students on advanced science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) topics that go far beyond the standard high school curriculum.</p>
<p>Current COSMOS sites are UCs Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Cruz. UC Merced’s addition reflects both the growing demand for the program and the university’s mission to expand educational opportunities in the Central Valley.</p>
<p>“UC Merced’s addition mirrors the geographic and academic diversity the UC system offers,” said Niels Grønbech-Jensen, a UC Davis distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and mathematics who serves as executive director of COSMOS. “It is crucial for COSMOS to be geographically representative of California. UC Merced, in the San Joaquin Valley, will serve a geographically important role in this representation.”</p>
<p>With nearly 9,000 applications for about 1,000 spots each year, COSMOS is among the most competitive pre-college programs in the state. The average GPA of accepted students is 4.0, and applicants rank among the top students at their schools.</p>
<p><strong>Building Opportunity Close to Home</strong></p>
<p>UC Merced’s COSMOS program will be led by Professor Michele “Nish” Nishiguchi, a molecular and cell biology faculty member, with Bobbi Henderson serving as assistant director. Together, they are developing an experience designed to inspire high-achieving students across California to pursue higher education in STEM.</p>
<p>“The program allows UC Merced to provide research opportunities and exposure to college life for top-performing high school students across the state, including in our own community,” Nishiguchi said. “It’s an extension of our commitment to ensuring that academically excelling students in our region get the best possible preparation for success.”</p>
<p>Michael Findlater, interim dean of the School of Natural Sciences, said the program aligns perfectly with UC Merced’s mission to uplift the region through education.</p>
<p>“By offering high school students hands-on research experiences and a glimpse into college life, we can inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, particularly from underrepresented communities in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond,” he said. “As a growing research institution, UC Merced is thrilled to be part of COSMOS.”</p>
<p><strong>How COSMOS Works</strong></p>
<p>COSMOS is not the typical summer camp. Students live on campus for four weeks, taking part in research clusters, or focused academic groups, each led by UC faculty members and supported by graduate and undergraduate mentors.</p>
<p>Each cluster enrolls 20 to 25 students who dive deeply into STEM topics and work on real-life projects and challenges. They are in class from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and evenings and weekends are filled with team-building and social activities — from “lab Olympics” and pickup soccer games to field trips, possibly including Yosemite National Park.</p>
<p>By the program’s end, students present their results at a research symposium attended by faculty, peers and their families.</p>
<p>UC Merced is launching with seven clusters:</p>
<ul>
<li>Experiments in Soft Matter at UC Merced: Complex Fluids and Flows</li>
<li>Nanomaterials for Accelerating Chemical Reactions</li>
<li>Exploring Materials</li>
<li>AI at Scale</li>
<li>Glowing Partnership: Exploring Bacterial-Animal Symbiosis Through Bioluminescence</li>
<li>Digital Twins-Making Things Smarter</li>
<li>Quantum Materials & Light: Illuminating the Weird World of 0D and 2D Materials.</li>
</ul>
<p>For faculty, the program is an opportunity to teach California’s most motivated high school students — and to design creative courses around their own research.</p>
<p>“It’s not an easy task,” Nishiguchi said. “Faculty had to think about big questions but narrow them down to one doable project at a high school level for four weeks. But it’s a great challenge.”</p>
<p>Nishiguchi and Henderson visited UC Davis’s clusters last summer and said they saw students building robots and atomic microscopes and modeling the spread of HIV as they wrote their own computer code to make the simulations function.</p>
<p>“I hope we get students applying from the Central Valley, but also from other places — like the mix we have on our campus,” Nishiguchi said.</p>
<p>At UC Davis and other campuses, faculty members have praised COSMOS students for their focus and capability. Many professors report needing to raise their game because the students perform at a much higher level than anticipated.</p>
<p>“These students want to be here,” Nishiguchi said. “That’s what makes the program enjoyable for everyone.”</p>
<p>Nishiguchi said the experience can be transformative for students.</p>
<p>“These kids are all such high achievers. They are used to being the smartest people in the room, and then they realize they’re in a room full of people who are just as smart. They learn to work together. It’s good for them,” she said.</p>
<p><strong>A Legacy of STEM Leadership</strong></p>
<p>Since its inception, COSMOS has played a vital role in cultivating California’s STEM talent pipeline. The program was modeled after the California State Summer School for the Arts and created by the Legislature to engage “the most creative minds of the new generation” in science and mathematics.</p>
<p>Data from other campuses show that COSMOS participants often go on to enroll at UC campuses and other top universities. The UC undergraduate application even includes a section for applicants to indicate they are COSMOS Scholars.</p>
<p>The COSMOS program not only prepares students for future academic success but also helps them build teamwork and leadership skills in a supportive, research-oriented environment, network and get a taste of college life.</p>
<p>Grønbech-Jensen said the classes help students connect their learning to real-world applications — and to each other.</p>
<p>“Academically, students experience a curriculum that addresses a complex problem that requires multiple STEM disciplines to comprehend,” he said. “Socially, COSMOS often fosters camaraderie that goes far beyond the four-week stay. The residential experience can also be very important for students who have never been away from their parents for extended periods, and it is a great trial run for what it is like to live on a campus.”</p>
<p><strong>Support for Students and Faculty</strong></p>
<p>The program’s cost is $6,000 to $7,000, which covers tuition, housing and meals. However, financial aid is available to ensure that all admitted students can participate, regardless of family income. Acceptance is only based on academics, Nishiguchi said.</p>
<p>Funding from UCOP will help UC Merced launch its first year. UC Merced’s first COSMOS session will begin July 5, 2026. The campus is working closely with UC Davis to ensure a smooth rollout.</p>
<p>Students will apply to the program in early January and will have a choice of clusters from all six campuses.</p>
<p>Both Henderson and Nishiguchi expect UC Merced’s program to grow, and Henderson said UC Merced might also have opportunities to host additional clusters in future years — particularly in 2028, when UCLA’s COSMOS program may pause due to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>“We were thinking maybe some of their faculty could bring their clusters up here,” Henderson said. “That would give students more clusters to choose from and could lead to new collaborations between our faculty and UCLA’s.”</p>
<p>For UC Merced, the arrival of COSMOS marks a major step in expanding access to high-level STEM education — not only for the state’s top high school students but also for the region’s future scientists and innovators.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - Challenges, Opportunities Presented at Small Farm Tech Expo/news/2025/challenges-opportunities-presented-small-farm-tech-expo2025-12-10 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, Management & Technology, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Research, School of Engineering, Mechanical EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/small_farm_tech_expo_hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts a vendor demonstrating a drone on the UC Merced campus." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The expo included demonstrations of equipment.<p>The Small Farm Tech Expo brought researchers, farmers, university students and even a group from a Modesto elementary school to UC Merced to talk about agriculture technology and how it can best help those who grow the world's food.</p>
<p>Sponsored by the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, also known as CAFF, for the fifth year, the expo featured equipment demonstrations, educational sessions on hardware and software, panel discussions, and support organizations to highlight what's available for small farmers.</p>
<p>"We all eat in the San Joaquin Valley," said Leigh Bernacchi, executive director of the Valley Institute for Sustainability, Technology and Agriculture at UC Merced. "Today we are also learners."</p>
<p>While many of the advances in agricultural technology are available for larger farmers, those who run smaller operations often don't have access to them.</p>
<p>"The small farmer does everything," Bernacchi said. "They prep, plant, nourish, care, protect, harvest, restore land, package, sell, haul and price. They need help and we need to all contribute to support small farmers."</p>
<p>To do that, CAFF advertised its? small farms <a href="https://caff.org/2025-26-small-farm-innovation-challenge/" target="_blank"> innovation challenge</a> designed to enable all innovators to be compensated for their agtech solutions. Additionally, CAFF released at the eventa report on small farm technology needs to guide innovators.</p>
<p>Presentations included sessions on agrivoltaics, a farmer discussion of challenges ahead, and an introduction to the <a href="https://ucanr.edu/site/small-farms-inland-empire/sustainable-agriculture-tool-lending-library" target="_blank"> lending library</a> offered through University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and F3 Local, based at the ag research and extension center in Parlier.</p>
<p>Amber Butland, lending library coordinator, said the library is available for people who farm under 50 acres in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera, or Merced counties. The program could be expanded to other areas in the future.</p>
<p>Items such as compost spreaders, tractors, seeders and weeders can be borrowed for one to four days after the operator completes training on the equipment. There will be a fee ranging from $20 to $60 once the fee collection infrastructure is in place, Butland said.</p>
<p>"This is a little bit of an experiment to see what works and what doesn't," Butland said.</p>
<p>The library even offers a Gather robot, designed to transport crops. The operator just pushes a button and "it's going to follow you wherever you go," Butland said.</p>
<p>At another workshop, farmers were invited to share challenges they have with their operations. These included laying down plastic and cutting holes in it for strawberry plants, picking citrus from hillside orchards, and harvesting lavender.</p>
<p>"We want to learn from everybody what are your thoughts and ideas," said Marissa Johnson, agricultural outreach specialist with UCANR.</p>
<p>The issues raised at the workshop will inform the next meeting of SF-ADAPT, a program through <a href="https://www.f3local.org/what-we-do/sf-adapt" target="_blank"> Farms Food Future Local</a> that connects small-scale farmers with researchers, nonprofits and technologists to create tools that work on smaller farms.</p>
<p>"We are looking at technology that is simple, effective and easy to implement," Johnson said, "and that farmers can build and repair themselves."</p>
<p>UC Merced, located in the heart of the Central Valley, is uniquely positioned to help farmers address their challenges, Bernacchi said.</p>
<p>She said she envisions a future where farmers have the tools they need, researchers find cost-effective ways to pull carbon and from the atmosphere and return it to the soil and where workers can find a career path that supports their families.</p>
<p>"I see bots roam and enable sustainable practices, and UC Merced students act like the Geek Squad to come and repair equipment, where no child is hungry, where every child is full of nutritious food grown by farmers, real people," Bernacchi said. "Continue to work with us as we build the future of agriculture."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Report Reviews How California's Water Projects Balance Needs of People and Endangered Species/news/2025/report-reviews-how-californias-water-projects-balance-needs-people-and-endangered-species2025-12-09 00:00:00Faculty And Staff NewsResearch Excellence, Environment, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Research, Water, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/medelin_herosize_copy.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo is a mugshot of Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara depicted on a blue and gold background. " />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara's committee released its initial report Nov. 10.<p>A National Academies committee that includes a UC Merced researcher recently released its findings from a review of the science behind the operations of two massive California water projects.</p>
<p>Civil and environmental engineering Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/josue-medellin-azuara"> Josué Medellín-Azuara </a> is a member of an ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The committee conducted the first of what is expected to be biennial reviews of the monitoring, modeling, and other relevant scientific activities and initiatives that support the long-term operations of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project.</p>
<p>The projects are federal-state operations that annually move millions of acre-feet of water from Northern California for use throughout the state, including supplying nearly 30 million users 4.75 million acres of agricultural land and wildlife refuges. The operation of these projects affects species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Future operations will grow more complex as California faces more frequent climate extremes, rising temperatures and an already highly constrained regulatory environment <strong>.</strong></p>
<p>In its <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/29130/Highlights_Central_Valley_Project_and_the_State_Water_Project.pdf?utm_source=Division+on+Earth+and+Life+Studies&utm_campaign=036a27ace6-centralvalley-report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ab443c55b2-548259966&mc_cid=036a27ace6&mc_eid=a11f4a7c6c"> report</a>, released Nov. 10, the committee evaluated three actions considered consequential both for species survival and for their effects on water deliveries: the Shasta Coldwater Pool Management Action, the Old and Middle River (OMR) Flow Management Action and the Summer-Fall Habitat Action.</p>
<p>The committee suggests stronger and more consistent monitoring of the Shasta reservoir, whose cold-water pool and temperature controls are critical to salmon habitats. Committee members also find the OMR Flow Management Action, which limits pumping during sensitive fish migration periods, would benefit from better modeling, monitoring and understanding of the effects of Delta exports on fish.</p>
<p>Finally, the researchers said the Summer-Fall Habitat action (involving freshwater flows, salinity management and operation of salinity control gates), while scientifically grounded, requires continued study to understand the conditions that better support species. The report highlights the potential benefits of improved agency coordination through a science hub to integrate data, models and decision support tools.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/about">National Academies</a> are nonprofit organizations that operate under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. They study complex and sometimes contentious issues, reach consensus based on the evidence and identify the best path forward, according to their website.</p>
<p>"California's water challenges lack simple answers, but this report shows how essential good science is for informed decision-making," Medellín-Azuara said. "As climate extremes become more common, better data, stronger models and improved coordination will help us manage the systems so that healthy ecosystems and reliable water for communities and agriculture can coexist."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - UC Merced Receives Transformational $38 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott /news/2025/uc-merced-receives-transformational-38-million-gift-mackenzie-scott2025-12-08 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Staff & Faculty News, Student & Alumni Success, First. Further. Forward, Boldly Forward Campaign, Campus, GiftsUniversity Communications<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_12825.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Graduating UC Merced students" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/MacKenzie Scott's transformational $38 million investment will accelerate programs that deepen its commitment to access and opportunity.<p>The University of California, Merced today announced the largest philanthropic gift in its history, an extraordinary new commitment from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. This transformational investment, Ms. Scott’s second major gift to UC Merced, underscores growing national recognition of UC Merced’s rapid ascent as one of the nation’s most innovative public research universities and a leader in access and opportunity, student success, and social mobility.</p>
<p>The gift will accelerate UC Merced’s mission to drive world-changing research, to support new spaces designed for teaching, discovery, and the support of talented students from all backgrounds, many of whom are the first in their families to pursue higher education.</p>
<p>This historic commitment of $38 million follows Ms. Scott’s gift of $20 million in 2021, which helped launch major advancements in student support, research capacity, and campus growth. Together, these investments represent the most significant demonstrations of philanthropic leadership in the university’s two decades of existence.</p>
<p>“This remarkable act of generosity affirms what we know to be true — UC Merced is changing lives, uplifting families, and reshaping what is possible for California and beyond,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “We are profoundly grateful for Ms. Scott’s continued trust in our mission and for her belief in our faculty, our students and the extraordinary promise of higher education.”</p>
<p>With this gift, UC Merced will accelerate programs that deepen its commitment to access and opportunity, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Student success initiatives, including those that reduce barriers for students with high financial need</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Innovative faculty research programs and experiential learning that prepare graduates to excel in a rapidly changing world</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Critical capital projects that expand research capacity, enhance student spaces, and support the infrastructure needed to serve a growing population</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The gift significantly accelerates the university’s first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, Boldly Forward, catalyzing new opportunities for students, faculty and the Central Valley community. This commitment propels the campaign into an exciting new phase and reinforces the university’s standing as one of the nation’s highest-ranked, innovative, and accessible public R1 research institutions.</p>
<p>“UC Merced is a powerful example of what public higher education can achieve when access and excellence move hand in hand,” UC President James B. Milliken said. “Ms. Scott’s landmark gift will strengthen the university’s ability to open doors, change lives, and expand opportunity across the Central Valley and beyond. We are deeply grateful for her leadership and generosity.”</p>
<p>“This historic gift is a testament to the transformative work happening every day at UC Merced,” said E. Edward Klotzbier, Vice Chancellor, Chief External Relations Officer and President of the UC Merced Foundation. </p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Graduate Students Highlight Research and Campus Life to Encourage Transfers/news/2025/graduate-students-highlight-research-and-campus-life-encourage-transfers2025-12-05 00:00:00In BriefGraduate Division, Faculty, Outreach, Research, Sociology, Students, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/madera_cc_outreach.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="group of students and faculty" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/UC Merced professor and three grad students visit Madera Community College<p>Three Ph.D. students recently visited Madera Community College to share research findings and highlight opportunities available to transfer students at UC Merced. </p>
<p>Emily Rivera Mondragon, a second-year <a href="https://es.ucmerced.edu">environmental systems</a> Ph.D. student, joined <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu">sociology</a> graduate students Justin Barnes and Eliana Fonsah to present survey results from a project led by Professor <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/faculty/paul-almeida">Paul Almeida</a>. The research explored community opinions about the high-speed rail project planned in Merced.</p>
<p>During the visit, they shared information with a group of about 40 students and discussed the kinds of insights that research can generate.</p>
<p>“Events like this are important because they give us the opportunity to share with people what it is like to study at UC Merced, what daily life is like, and all the opportunities they have to start their path at an important university like UC Merced,” Rivera Mondragon said. “We can also provide information about how research is conducted and the kinds of results that can be achieved.”</p>
<p>Almeida added that the group showcased the new Promise Housing residence hall under construction, which will provide dedicated housing at UC Merced for transfer students.</p>
<p>“Sharing work that was completed in collaboration with UC Merced undergraduate students not only offered these students confidence and encouragement to pursue their academic goals but also demonstrated how UC Merced can be a welcoming and supportive environment for their studies in future,” Fonsah said. “Initiatives like this are vital for showcasing UC Merced’s commitment to providing students with opportunities to grow academically, connect and impact communities and so much more.” </p>
<p>The group has been invited to visit two other community colleges next spring.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/ - Engineering Professor Earns Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award/news/2025/engineering-professor-earns-outstanding-faculty-advisor-award2025-12-05 00:00:00AccoladesStaff & Faculty News, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/yarra_hero_1.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts Professor Siddaiah Yarra accepting a plaque on a blue and gold graphic background." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Yarra was chosen in recognition of his exceptional mentorship, leadership and dedication to student success.<p>The American Society of Civil Engineers has awarded civil and environmental engineering Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/siddaiah-yarra"> Siddaiah Yarra</a> the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for Region 9.</p>
<p>The ASCE San Francisco Section Individual Awards aim to recognize people who have made outstanding achievements or leadership in civil engineering, or who, through their work, support and advance the civil engineering profession.</p>
<p>Yarra was chosen in recognition of his exceptional mentorship, leadership and dedication to student success, said Professor <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/marc-beutel"> Marc Buetel</a>, chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at UC Merced.</p>
<p>"Since joining UC Merced in 2020, he has played a pivotal role in establishing the civil engineering program, guiding students in professional development, and strengthening connections between academia and the civil engineering community," Buetel said.</p>
<p>The recognition is deeply meaningful, Yarra said.</p>
<p>"It reflects not only my dedication to advancing civil engineering education but also the collective spirit of our students and colleagues who work tirelessly to grow our program and profession," he said. "This recognition also highlights our efforts in establishing and growing the ASCE student chapter, which has strengthened our program and provided students with valuable opportunities for professional development, leadership and networking.</p>
<p>"This honor reinforces my belief that mentorship, collaboration and service are at the heart of shaping the next generation of engineers."</p>
<p>Yarra was recognized at the 2025 ASCE San Francisco Section Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner in October. In addition, Yarra was named the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award from the ASCE Fresno Branch. He was honored at the Fresno Branch awards ceremony in September.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Conference of California Sociologists Engages UC Merced Undergrads/news/2025/conference-california-sociologists-engages-uc-merced-undergrads2025-12-03 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Student & Alumni Success, Politics & Society, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Sociology, Sociology, Students, Undergraduate Students<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/soc-club-conference-hero1.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="UC Merced Sociology Club students" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Undergraduate students in UC Merced's Sociology Club attended the California Sociological Association conference in Berkeley.<p>More than a dozen undergraduate students in UC Merced’s <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/sociology-club">Sociology Club</a> were immersed in the discipline’s breadth of research and professional possibilities during the <a href="https://cal-soc.org/2025-conference/">California Sociological Association’s annual conference</a>.</p>
<p>The two-day gathering, held in Berkeley in early November, was a meaningful experience for the students, many of whom are first-generation scholars, said club adviser and sociology Professor <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/content/amanda-mireles">Amanda Mireles</a>.</p>
<p>“The experience strengthened their sense of belonging in higher education, expanded their academic aspirations, and reinforced the university’s commitment to providing transformative opportunities for undergraduate scholars,” Mireles said.</p>
<p>Several UC Merced attendees returned from the conference motivated to pursue independent research in capstone classes, to join faculty research teams, or to prepare project proposals to present at the conference next year, Mireles said.</p>
<p>The Sociology Club members who attended the conference were Sofia Bernardino, Ashely Calvillo, Alicia Del Rio, Marlay'ja Hackett, Anthony Harris, Daniel Kariuki, Graciela Martinez, Kevin Ramirez Mora, Kuba Luis Salaam, Mariela Tapia, Ezra Echeverria Tate, Monseratt Gracie-Torres, Brigette Trujillo, and Belinda Higareda-Vazquez.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Jody Murray - New UC Merced Professor Delves Deep into Artificial Intelligence in Real Life/news/2025/new-uc-merced-professor-delves-deep-artificial-intelligence-real-life2025-12-02 00:00:00Faculty And Staff NewsStaff & Faculty News, Management & Technology, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, School of EngineeringBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_yu.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts Professor Xiaofan Yu standing next to the UC Merced sign." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Professor Xiaofan Yu is building her research lab. <p>From smartphones to medical devices, artificial intelligence is a part of much of everyday life. One of UC Merced's newest professors is working to make AI more explainable and more efficient.</p>
<p>Electrical engineering Professor <a href="https://yuccalab.ucmerced.edu/" target="_blank"> Xiaofan Yu</a> started at UC Merced this summer after graduating from UC San Diego with a Ph.D. Originally from China, Yu earned her undergraduate degree at Peking University. She said she is excited about the opportunities UC Merced offers.</p>
<p>"I'm thrilled to begin my dream job as a tenure-track assistant professor and to start building my own research group," Yu said. "The energy and dynamism of UC Merced, as the youngest UC campus, perfectly align with this exciting stage of my career."</p>
<p>Yu's research focuses on embedded systems and edge AI.</p>
<p>"Embedded systems are dedicated computing systems designed for specific applications - ranging from smartphones and smart home sensors to agricultural and medical devices," she explained. "Edge AI, on the other hand, explores how we can integrate artificial intelligence into these systems to enhance their capabilities while operating under strict resource constraints."</p>
<p>She said she can understand why people have concerns about AI.</p>
<p>"It seems like a black box," she said. "It's hard to understand what's going on."</p>
<p>At the core of her work is designing algorithms and system deployments to bridge the gap between intelligence and efficiency.</p>
<p>While those terms sound computer science-centric, Yu said her work is collaborative and crosses numerous areas of study.</p>
<p>Designing embedded systems draws upon expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, computer architecture, mechanical engineering and even cognitive science.</p>
<p>"For example, in agricultural applications, we need to collaborate with growers and farming companies to identify practical challenges and convert them to a technical problem we can solve," she said. "In medical settings, we would need to work with doctors to understand clinical workflows."</p>
<p>While obtaining her Ph.D., Yu created a chatbot that enables users to interact with sensor data using informal language, answering questions such as, "How long did I spend in meetings today?" or "How is my work-life balance?"</p>
<p>At UC Merced, Yu said she looks forward to continuing to build cross-department collaborations and exploring new, impactful projects together.</p>
<p>"We are very pleased to have Professor Yu join us, bringing her energy and exceptional skills," said Professor Sarah Kurtz, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. "I expect students will find her research to be relevant and fun."</p>
<p>She is actively recruiting two Ph.D. students for next fall and multiple undergraduate researchers, who could start anytime.</p>
<p>"During my Ph.D., I had the privilege of mentoring around 40 students at all levels - from high school to Ph.D.," Yu said. "It's always fulfilling to see students grow and reach their potential. I've mentored a high school student who went from being hesitant about coding to enjoying programming for bio-analytics projects; an undergraduate in Tijuana who became the only student in her class to pursue graduate studies; and another who started with no PyTorch (machine-learning framework) experience and went on to lead a first-author paper in his senior year and begin a Ph.D. last fall."</p>
<p>Yu said her lab isn't limited to electrical engineering majors.</p>
<p>"I am looking for motivated students who are passionate about working on hands-on problems, especially students who are interested in this intersection of software and hardware," she said. She welcomes computer science students, mechanical engineering and cognitive science majors, and undergraduates with a perspective on efficiency or sustainability. "They would need some coding experience or be willing to learn. I am happy to work with students who are eager to learn."</p>
<p>More information about the positions in Yu's lab is available at her <a href="https://yuccalab.ucmerced.edu/join.html"> website </a> .</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Hard lives in California’s fields: ‘The American dream eats us alive’/news/2025/hard-lives-california%E2%80%99s-fields-%E2%80%98-american-dream-eats-us-alive%E2%80%992025-11-30 00:00:00In The NewsBut these men are part of an aging workforce, with a 64% increase in California farmworkers ages 55 to 64, between 2009 and 2019, according to a UC Merced Community and Labor Center report. In the following decade, the report warned, there’d be “a wave of retiring farmworkers unlike any other in the state’s modern history.”<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/default_images/news-default-hero.jpg" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-30/hard-lives-in-california-fie...https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-30/hard-lives-in-california-fields-harvesting-watermelons- Giving Tuesday at UC Merced: Collective Generosity Transforms Lives/news/2025/giving-tuesday-uc-merced-collective-generosity-transforms-lives2025-12-01 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Community, Diversity & Inclusion, Research Excellence, Student & Alumni Success, AAPI, Community Engagement, First. Further. Forward, Hispanic-serving Institution, Boldly Forward Campaign, Campus Community, Diversity, Enrollment, Financial Aid, Scholarships, Gifts, Research, School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, SJV PRIME, Financial Aid/Scholarships, StudentsUniversity Communications<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/gtucm25_story_hero.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Two UC Merced students smiling at the camera" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Every gift during the Give to UC Merced 2025 campaign supports students on their educational journeys.<p>When UC Merced launches Give to UC Merced 2025 on Dec. 2, it won’t just be about one day of giving; the month-long campaign will be about hope, opportunity and community impact.</p>
<p>For the 12th year, the campus joins the global Giving Tuesday movement, inviting donors to power change through the university’s UC Merced Fund. Contributions to Give to UC Merced will support the campus’s greatest needs, ensuring UC Merced has the flexibility to fund emerging opportunities, expand programs and student support initiatives, and assist promising scholars with direct financial assistance.</p>
<p>Every dollar raised will also count toward Boldly Forward, the campus’s 10-year comprehensive fundraising campaign, which aims to raise $200 million by 2030.</p>
<p>Every gift touches lives in profound ways and empowers students to thrive.</p>
<p>One way donations help is through direct financial aid. UC Merced has the highest percentage of Pell Grant-eligible students of all the University of California campuses, and nearly three-quarters of its student body are the first in their families to attend college.</p>
<p>Donor support gives students the freedom to focus on academics, research and internships, rather than financial stress.</p>
<p>Gifts also open doors to discovery. Research is at the heart of UC Merced’s mission, driving solutions to real-world challenges. These efforts earned UC Merced Carnegie R1 status, placing it among the nation’s top research universities.</p>
<p>UC Merced Fund contributions fuel this momentum. They support every facet of the campus research enterprise, including the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center, which empowers students to engage in faculty-mentored projects across disciplines. Through UROC, undergraduates receive structured training, hands-on experience, and guidance that prepares them for graduate school and competitive careers.</p>
<p>Donations help make it possible for students to tackle pressing questions, explore cutting-edge technologies and contribute to discoveries that shape the future.</p>
<p>“UC Merced's success and continuing growth stem from the generosity of our campus community, partners, alumni, family and friends,” Vice Chancellor and Chief External Relations Officer E. Edward Klotzbier said. “As the season of giving begins, we welcome both returning supporters and new donors to join us in shaping positive change and expanding opportunity for the students we serve through Give to UC Merced.”</p>
<p>Together, all Give to UC Merced contributions create a ripple effect, strengthening access, equity and excellence across campus. This Giving Tuesday, every gift matters. To learn more about Give to UC Merced or to participate in the fundraising initiative, visit <a href="http://giveto.ucmerced.edu/" target="_blank">giveto.ucmerced.edu</a>.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Ag Tech For Small Farms Highlighted at UC Merced Expo/news/2025/ag-tech-small-farms-highlighted-uc-merced-expo2025-11-26 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, First. Further. Forward, Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Research, Climate Change, School of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/farm_expo_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Depicted is a sign reading "UC Merced Experimental Smart Farm" with the university campus in the background." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Tours of the university's Experimental Smart Farm will be part of the event.<p>An expo at UC Merced next week will bring together farmers, ranchers, researchers and community organizers to highlight what's possible when agriculture technology is designed for small farms.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://smallfarmtechexpo2025.sched.com/"> Small Farm Tech Expo</a>, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, will include hands-on demonstrations and panel discussions about the latest in ag tech innovations. There is no admission charge. Parking will be available in the Bellevue lot.</p>
<p>Now in its fifth year, the expo is hosted by <a href="https://caff.org/"> Community Alliance with Family Farmers</a> with support from <a href="https://www.f3local.org/" target="_blank"> F3 Local</a> through the <a href="https://www.f3initiative.org/" target="_blank"> F3 Initiative</a>.</p>
<p>Too often, ag technology is built for large-scale operations, making it inaccessible to most of California's family farms, organizers said. The Small Farm Tech Expo aims to change that narrative by highlighting innovations that respect scale, budget and sustainability.</p>
<p>"We have numerous small farms throughout the San Joaquin Valley, many of them underserved communities," said <a href="https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/joshua-viers"> Joshua Viers</a>, associate vice chancellor for interdisciplinary research and strategic initiatives at UC Merced. "The solutions we come up with not only benefit the small farmers locally, but they have the potential to be transformative on the global stage."</p>
<p>The expo is aimed at a variety of attendees, from people who manage an urban garden or a small organic vineyard to owners of a diversified family ranch. The event will introduce people tools and strategies that can help them work smarter, not harder.</p>
<p>Organizers promise a full day of workshops, live equipment demos, and farmer-driven conversations covering everything from irrigation and agrivoltaics to electric tools, harvest innovations, and digital marketing. Spanish interpretation is available throughout the event.</p>
<p>Exhibitors include Sutton Ag, BCS, Renewables Inc., Mobile Coolbot, Gather.ag, Agtom, Rotate8, Parabug, Andros Engineering, CENID's Scout Rover and UC Merced's own Experimental Smart Farm.</p>
<p>Panel discussion topics include water management in small, diversified farms; an information session on the F3 Local Equipment Lending Library, low-tech solutions and DIY innovations; an introduction to agrivoltaics; digital marketing; solar energy; and harvest tools and technologies.</p>
<p>Researchers also are looking to learn from the very farmers they hope to serve.</p>
<p>"We have a lot of farmers who are culturally from other areas of the world," Viers said. "They have fascinating practices, particularly around sustainable food production, that we can learn from."</p>
<p>UC Merced, located in the heart of the Central Valley's rich heartland, is uniquely situated to provide innovation to some of the pressing problems farmers face, Viers said.</p>
<p>"The closer you are to the problem, the closer you are to the solution."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Patty Guerra - Younger, Latino and Moderate California Republicans Diverge from Party Line on Immigration Policies/news/2025/younger-latino-and-moderate-california-republicans-diverge-party-line-immigration-policies2025-11-24 00:00:00Research Highlights (gateway)Staff & Faculty News, Politics & Society, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Sociology, SociologyUCLA Latino Policy and Politics Insitute<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/redblue-immigration-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Illustration of politics and immigration policy" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The study revealed significant fractures in California Republicans' support for some immigration enforcement measures.<p>While California Democrats are nearly unified in their views on current immigration enforcement strategies, Latino Republicans and party moderates, especially women, are most likely to diverge from the GOP majority, <a href="https://latino.ucla.edu/research/immigration-politics-poll-findings-from-california/">according to a study</a> co-authored by a UC Merced researcher.</p>
<p>The analysis of an August survey of California voters by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies showed that Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies never fell below 88% and reached 95% percent on some responses, while Republican responses reveal significant fractures in support for some enforcement measures.</p>
<p>The analysis, released Nov. 17 by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, was developed by UC Merced sociology Professor <a href="https://sociology.ucmerced.edu/content/daisy-reyes">Daisy Reyes</a> and UC Berkeley professors G. Cristina Mora and Nicholas Vargas.</p>
<p>“These findings suggest that some Republican attitudes on immigration are movable,” Reyes said. “When enforcement practices are seen as inconsistent with constitutional norms, voters — especially younger and moderate Republicans — tend to respond with skepticism rather than partisan reflex.”</p>
<p>According to the data analysis, 45% of California Republicans said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be required to show identification, 40% supported due process for all immigrants, and roughly a third opposed expanding enforcement into schools and hospitals, deporting long-term residents or ending birthright citizenship.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>'When enforcement practices are seen as inconsistent with constitutional norms, voters — especially younger and moderate Republicans — tend to respond with skepticism rather than partisan reflex.'</p>
Professor Daisy ReyesJody Murray - A Husband’s Self-esteem Could Protect Against Preterm Births, Study Finds/news/2025/husband%E2%80%99s-self-esteem-could-protect-against-preterm-births-study-finds2025-11-20 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Mind & Body, Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Psychological Sciences, PsychologyBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/husband-pregnancy-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="husband and pregnant wife" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The study offers one reason some mothers might be biologically protected from preterm birth: their partners’ emotional resources.<p>A husband’s optimism and confidence might play a crucial, if often unseen, role in helping babies arrive healthy and on time.</p>
<p>A new study from UC Merced psychology researchers found that when married fathers reported higher levels of resilience — a quality that includes traits such as optimism, self-esteem and perceived social support — their partners showed lower levels of inflammation during pregnancy and carried their babies longer.</p>
<p>“This is one of the first studies to show that a father’s inner strengths, such as his optimism and ability to cope with challenges, can ripple through the family in measurable, biological ways,” said Professor <a href="https://psychology.ucmerced.edu/content/jennifer-hahn-holbrook">Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook</a>, a co-author.</p>
<p>The findings <a href="https://journals.lww.com/bsam/abstract/9900/parental_resilience_resources_and_gestational.72.aspx">were published</a> in the journal Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine.</p>
<p>The research team, led by Ph.D. student <a href="https://psychology.ucmerced.edu/content/kavya-swaminathan">Kavya Swaminathan</a>, analyzed data from 217 mother-father pairs who participated in the Community Child Health Network study across five sites in the U.S.</p>
<p>Mothers provided blood samples during pregnancy that were analyzed for C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. Both parents also completed surveys assessing resilience-related traits such as optimism, self-esteem and social support.</p>
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<p>'This study is exciting because it highlights how the people surrounding a pregnant woman can shape her biology in ways that affect both her health and her baby’s.'</p>
Kavya Swaminathanhttps://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Preterm birth, defined as delivery before 37 weeks, is a leading cause of infant mortality and lifelong health complications, including heart disease and developmental disorders. High maternal inflammation is a well-established risk factor. The UC Merced study indicates one reason some mothers may be biologically protected: their partners’ emotional resources.</p>
<p>In married couples in this study, higher paternal resilience was associated with lower maternal inflammation, which in turn predicted a longer gestation period. Every day in the womb is better for fetal health and development. </p>
<p>“This study is exciting because it highlights how the people surrounding a pregnant woman can shape her biology in ways that affect both her health and her baby’s,” Swaminathan said.</p>
<p>The study does not confirm cause and effect, but it offers strong evidence that emotional and social strength in the father can have physical consequences for mothers and babies.</p>
<p>“Fathers who feel confident and supported might engage in more positive daily behaviors, such as cooking healthy meals, offering encouragement and reducing stress at home,” said Hahn-Holbrook, a <a href="https://hsri.ucmerced.edu/">Health Sciences Research Institute</a> faculty member. “Emotional connections may also play a role, because couples tend to coregulate their moods and even their immune systems.”</p>
<p>The study draws on the biopsychosocial model, which examines how emotional and social factors interact with biological factors to shape health. Previous research has shown that chronic stress can increase inflammation during pregnancy. The UC Merced study flips the lens to examine how positive psychological resources could protect against it.</p>
<p>Others involved in the study included UCLA Professor Christine Dunkel Schetter, one of several primary investigators, along with UC Merced psychology Professor <a href="https://psychology.ucmerced.edu/content/haiyan-liu">Haiyan Liu</a> and Stony Brook University Professor Christine Guardino.</p>
<p>Funding for the study came from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Nursing Research.</p>
Jody Murray - People Don’t Worry About Losing Jobs to AI, Even When Told It Could Happen Soon/news/2025/people-don%E2%80%99t-worry-about-losing-jobs-ai-even-when-told-it-could-happen-soon2025-11-18 00:00:00Research Highlights (gateway)Research Excellence, Politics & Society, School of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Political Science, Political ScienceBy Jody Murray, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/workers-and-ai-menon-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Illustration of worker threatened by robot" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Surveyed workers were slightly more worried by a shorter AI-takeover timeline, but it didn't significantly change their views about government safety nets.<p>As debates rage about artificial intelligence's impact on jobs, new research suggests that even warnings that AI could disrupt workers' employment soon do little to shake their confidence.</p>
<p>In a survey-based study, political scientists <a href="https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/anil-menon">Anil Menon</a> of UC Merced and Baobao Zhang of Syracuse University examined how people respond to forecasts of the arrival of “transformative AI,” ranging from as early as 2026 to as distant as 2060.</p>
<p>The researchers found that shorter timelines made respondents slightly more anxious about losing their jobs to automation, but did not meaningfully alter their views on when job losses would occur or their support for government responses such as retraining workers or providing a universal basic income.</p>
<p>Respondents to the survey of 2,440 U.S. adults who read about the rapid development of large language and other generative models, such as Genesis, Claude and ChatGPT, predicted automation might come somewhat sooner. Yet their policy preferences and economic outlooks were essentially unchanged. When the survey’s timeframes were combined, respondents showed modest increases in concern about unemployment due to technology.</p>
<p>“These results suggest that Americans’ beliefs about automation risks are stubborn,” the authors said. “Even when told that human-level AI could arrive within just a few years, people don’t dramatically revise their expectations or demand new policies.”</p>
<p>Menon and Zhang said their findings challenge the assumption that making technological threats feel more immediate will mobilize public support for regulation or safety nets.</p>
<p>The study draws on construal level theory, which examines how people’s sense of time shapes their risk judgments. Participants who were told that AI breakthroughs were imminent were not significantly more alarmed than those given distant timelines.</p>
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<p>'These results suggest that Americans’ beliefs about automation risks are stubborn.'</p>
Professor Anil Menonhttps://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>The survey, fielded in March 2024, assigned respondents randomly to a group. Three groups read vignettes stating job-threatening AI would arrive in a particular year: 2026, 2030 or 2060. A fourth control group received no timeline information.</p>
<p>Each vignette described experts predicting that advances in machine learning and robotics could replace human workers in a wide range of professions, from software engineers and legal clerks to teachers and nurses.</p>
<p>After reading the vignette, participants estimated when their jobs and others’ jobs would be automated, reported confidence in those predictions, rated their worry about job loss, and indicated support for several policy responses, including limits on automation and increased AI research funding.</p>
<p>While exposure to any timeline increased awareness of automation risks, only the 2060 condition significantly raised worry about job loss, perhaps, the researchers said, because that forecast seemed more credible than claims of imminent disruption.</p>
<p>The study, <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/739200" target="_blank">published in The Journal of Politics</a>, comes amid widespread debate over how large language models and other generative systems will reshape work. Tech leaders have predicted human-level AI may emerge within the decade, while critics argue that such forecasts exaggerate current capabilities.</p>
<p>Menon and Zhang said the study shows the public remains cautious but not panicked, an insight that may help policymakers gauge when and how citizens will support interventions such as retraining programs or universal basic income proposals.</p>
<p>The authors noted several caveats. Their design focused on how timeline cues influence attitudes but did not test other psychological pathways, such as beliefs about AI’s economic trade-offs or the credibility of expert forecasts. The researchers also acknowledged that the survey cannot track changes in individuals’ perceptions over time.</p>
<p>“The public’s expectations about automation appear remarkably stable,” they said. “Understanding why they are so resistant to change is crucial for anticipating how societies will navigate the labor disruptions of the AI era.”</p>
Jody Murray - Native and Indigenous Student Coalition Promotes Culture and Community at UC Merced/news/2025/native-and-indigenous-student-coalition-promotes-culture-and-community-uc-merced2025-11-17 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Diversity & Inclusion<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/calteach_3_0.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The 2025 Resilience in Native Student Empowerment Conference welcomed new Native students to campus with workshops, community-building and traditional Indian fry bread tacos.<p>November marks Native American Heritage Month<strong> </strong>— a time to celebrate, honor and amplify Indigenous traditions and histories. At UC Merced, the student-led <a href="https://nativematters.ucmerced.edu/native-and-indigenous-student-coalition">Native and Indigenous Student Coalition</a> has become a powerful source of community and cultural pride since its founding in 2012.</p>
<p>At the center of this movement are student leaders such as Chance Zucco, president of NISC, and Marissa Bigfeather-Garcia, the group’s vice president. Both are dedicated to uplifting Indigenous representation and belonging on campus.</p>
<p>“My main motivator to join NISC was to get in touch with other Indigenous students on campus and support each other,”said Zucco, a member of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of California. “I feel like I’m always smiling when I’m with the club.”</p>
<p>After the challenges of the pandemic, NISC made a strong comeback in 2023, reaffirming its mission to celebrate Native identity through events, cultural education and advocacy. The organization continues to expand its impact, from hosting traditional food offerings to organizing programs that highlight Indigenous perspectives and history.</p>
<p>“Native American Heritage Month is about supporting Indigenous communities, learning about our history and our culture,” Zucco said. “It’s about honoring the people, the languages and the traditions we have lost. It’s about teaching people who we really are and the history they weren’t taught.”</p>
<p>Bigfeather-Garcia, a member of the Cherokee Nation from Oklahoma, shared that NISC has been instrumental in deepening her connection to her roots.</p>
<p>“Although I wasn’t always confident in embracing my Native heritage, I’ve come to recognize how important it is to acknowledge this part of who I am and how meaningful it is to celebrate being Indigenous,” she said.</p>
<p>Bigfeather-Garcia noted that though UC Merced’s Indigenous student population is made up of less than 20 students, that strengthens her commitment to visibility.</p>
<p>“It can be frustrating to want progress and feel as though it’s slow to come, but I’m determined to be part of that change,” she said. “I joined NISC to use my voice in support of our small yet strong Indigenous community — one that I am very proud to represent.”</p>
<p>She honors her heritage through family powwows, traditional beading and the use of Cherokee language in everyday life. One of her most cherished memories is receiving a symbolic feather from her mother at her high school graduation — an intergenerational tradition of honoring milestones.</p>
<p>“The feather holds deep significance for us not only because of our Indigenous heritage, but also because it reflects our family name, Bigfeather,” she said.</p>
<p>At UC Merced, Bigfeather-Garcia found her sense of belonging through NISC. That feeling inspired her to help organize the 2025 Resilience in Native Student Empowerment Conference, which welcomed new Native students to campus with workshops, community-building and traditional Indian fry bread tacos served in collaboration with the Pavilion.</p>
<p>“As a first-year student adjusting to a new environment and living away from home for the first time, that sense of belonging made a tremendous difference,” she said.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, she hopes to continue giving back to Indigenous communities through a career in art therapy.</p>
<p>“My Indigenous roots influence my future goals in my career and community work,” she said. “I want to work with Native individuals in areas that are much-needed — potentially on Indian reservations in Oklahoma, where my tribe originates.”</p>
<p>To learn more about NISC meetings and events throughout the year, follow the group on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ucmnisc/">social media</a>.</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen - Sow and Grow Workshops Connect Smart Farm, Community/news/2025/sow-and-grow-workshops-connect-smart-farm-community2025-11-13 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Community, First. Further. Forward, Student Life, Graduate StudentsBy Patty Guerra, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/sow_and_grow_hero.jpeg" width="870" height="450" alt="Photo depicts Ph.D. student Lynn Breithaupt holding up a native plant cutting." />https://news.ucmerced.edu/The workshop demonstrated how to make new plants from seeds, cuttings and division.<p>On a chilly autumn morning at the UC Merced Experimental Smart Farm, about a dozen people enthusiastically dug/plunged their hands into soil in an exercise on how to propagate plants.</p>
<p>For the less horticulturally inclined, propagating is the process of creating new plants from a single parent plant. Methods include using cuttings, seeds and dividing plants.</p>
<p>"You can do this from a lot of plants," Lynn Breithaupt told the group of students, staff and faculty. Breithaupt is a Ph.D. student who studies California vernal pools and volunteers with native plant restoration projects. "Each plant is specific as to what it wants."</p>
<p>The demonstration in the smart farm's greenhouse included species of California native plants, propagated with seeds and cuttings. It was the first of a series of planned workshops at the farm. California native plants are easy to grow, Breithaupt said.</p>
<p>"They've adapted to their habitat."</p>
<p>It just takes a little care and know-how, she said.</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/sow_and_grow_2.jpeg" width="776" height="450" alt="Photo depicts a closeup of seeds used for propagating plants." />Seeds need damp soil to thrive. https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>When propagating, that means creating a damp environment. A lot of people will just plop a seed or cutting into some potting soil, but that's not going to get it the nutrients it needs, she said.</p>
<p>Breithaupt showed attendees how to soak potting soil to provide a sufficiently wet environment for the plant to thrive.</p>
<p>"You want your plants to get a good, strong start, so when you put them into the ground, they're happy," she said. "If you choose wisely, you can grow anything."</p>
<p>The next workshop was held this month and focused on the proper placement of plants in the ground.</p>
<p>"Propagating and planting are two very different processes," Breithaupt said.</p>
<p>Attendees learned about the significance of native plants in restoring local ecosystems and explore how native species support biodiversity and climate resilience. Attendees will have the opportunity to place native plants in a garden on campus designed to attract and sustain pollinators. UC Merced recently was <a href="https://ucm.edu/zbj8li">certified</a> as an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program, which unites cities and campuses across the country in an effort to improve their landscapes for pollinators.</p>
<p>The November workshop is full, but organizers are planning more opportunities for people to visit the greenhouse and learn how to care for plants.</p>
<p>For more information on upcoming workshops, email Barbara dos Santos at <a href="mailto:bdossantos@ucmerced.edu"> bdossantos@ucmerced.edu </a> .</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/ - Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost/news/2025/postdoc-leads-study-turn-cotton-waste-climate-smart-compost2025-11-12 00:00:00By Brenda Ortiz, UC MercedFeatured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Environmental Research, Faculty, Research, School of Natural Sciences, Life and Environmental Sciences, Science<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_6_0.png" width="870" height="450" alt="three stages of cotton textile composting" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/From colorful scraps to soil-like material, a groundbreaking two-year research study explores the journey of cotton textiles through composting.<p>UC Merced researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles.</p>
<p>The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from clothing into compost to demonstrate efficient composting with the right recipe, and the compost’s ability to nourish soils without introducing pollutants, according to UC Merced’s project lead, Biyensa Dubiwak, a postdoctoral scholar in the <a href="https://les.ucmerced.edu/">Department of Life and Environmental Sciences</a>.</p>
<p>“The textile industry produces over 90 million metric tons of waste every year that ends up in landfills, contributing significantly to global methane emissions,” Dubiwak said. “We are interested in recycling it and putting it back into the soil to maintain the sustainability of the industry, in addition to the benefits the compost would provide to farmers.”</p>
<p>The UC Merced-led project is part of a broader collaboration involving Bowles Farming, Agromin, Fibershed, and Cotton Incorporated who funded the project. The goal is to create a circular economy by recycling cotton waste into compost and returning it to the soil to close the loop on agricultural sustainability.</p>
<p>“Bowles Farming, in partnership with Agromin, one the largest composting companies in the region, is working toward circular practices for sustainable production, improved soil health, and reduced environmental impacts,” Dubiwak said. “They want to make the system soil-to-soil sustainable and environmentally friendly.”</p>
<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/biyensa_dubiwak.jpg" width="250" height="275" alt="male and female working with composted materials" />Research led by postdoctoral scholar Biyensa Dubiwak (left) aims to close the loop on textile waste and enhance sustainable farming practices across California.https://news.ucmerced.edu/<p>Dubiwak, who works in Professor <a href="https://naturalsciences.ucmerced.edu/people/rebecca-ryals-1">Rebecca Ryals’</a> Agroecology Lab at UC Merced, brings international expertise in soil science and organic fertilizers. He earned his Ph.D. in Integrated Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at the Marche Polytechnic University in Italy. His doctoral research focused on converting bioenergy waste into organic fertilizer that could replace the inorganic fertilizer needed to grow sunflowers in Italy’s Marche Region, where the bloom’s production is not only a commercial enterprise, but attracts tourists each summer.</p>
<p>Prior to his current role, he conducted research in Arkansas and Missouri focusing on soil health and exploring pathways to mitigate the spread of micro-pollutants in soils when organic waste is used as fertilizer.</p>
<p>Dubiwak said the research team is testing composting recipes that combine cotton textiles with different green wastes to find the most effective recipe and mix for producing high-quality compost and reduced environmental impact.</p>
<p>The project also tracks greenhouse gases released during composting, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide to compare the environmental impact of composting versus landfilling.</p>
<p>Future phases of the research will evaluate how composted textile materials affect long-term soil health.</p>
https://news.ucmerced.edu/Brenda Ortiz - Professor and Environmental Champion Bales Retires, But Research and Advocacy Continue/news/2025/professor-and-environmental-champion-bales-retires-research-and-advocacy-continue2025-11-10 00:00:00By Lorena Anderson, UC MercedFeatured News (gateway)Research Excellence, Staff & Faculty News, Environment, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Research, Climate Change, Water, Faculty, Research, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Students, Sustainability<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/bales-hero.jpg" width="870" height="450" alt="Professor Roger Bales" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Professor Roger Bales <p>Professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin arrived in Merced in 2003, the first non-administrative faculty members at UC Merced. They came with a vision: to create a research university that would serve California’s future.</p>
<p>Now, after more than 22 years of building institutions, mentoring and pioneering environmental research, Bales has retired from UC Merced.</p>
<p>“Some people came here to build research programs and some to build departments. But we really came to build a research university, because we already had well-established research programs,” Bales said. “And with UC Merced receiving Research-1 status this year, we feel that our goal has been realized. Our efforts and those of the other founding faculty provided the strong start that helped bring UC Merced to where it is now.</p>
<p>“It’s time to hand over the academic development to the next generation. We can be the senior scientists in the room, work, mentor younger colleagues, provide more service to the state, and advocate on behalf of the university and science. Those are sorely needed right now.”</p>
<p><strong>A Career Rooted in Science and Service</strong></p>
<p>Bales’ academic journey spans decades and disciplines. He earned a Ph.D. in environmental engineering science and an M.S. in social science from Caltech, an M.S. in civil engineering from UC Berkeley, and a B.S. in civil engineering from Purdue University. Before UC Merced, he was a professor in the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona, where he helped secure tens of millions of dollars in research funding.</p>
<p>At UC Merced, Bales helped establish and raise awareness of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and led efforts to integrate science with public policy and community needs. His work focused on hydrology, water resources and climate resilience — issues central to California’s future.</p>
<p>“I think the thing I’m most proud of in my time here is building the partnerships that have resulted in impactful research for the state,” he said. “We have a mission to serve the needs of the state. That includes knowledge building as well as our graduates.”</p>
<p><strong>Building a University from the Ground Up</strong></p>
<p>The early years at UC Merced were marked by a kind of camaraderie and closeness between faculty, staff and students that can only be found at a young university. It also meant a heavy workload.</p>
<p>“What we did was what we anticipated doing, but there was just more of it,” Bales said.</p>
<p>Despite the challenges, Bales found enthusiasm and eagerness among the staff and faculty. He recalled his first day walking into the Castle research facility and being greeted by IT staff making a house call to help him get started.</p>
<p>“Can you imagine them doing that today?” he said. “They are way too busy now.”</p>
<p>“We really felt it was a good team,” he said.</p>
<p>That spirit of collaboration extended to hiring and mentoring new faculty. Bales helped recruit researchers such as Safeeq Khan, whose initial position was co-funded by the Forest Service and later transitioned to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Now, Khan is a professor in the School of Engineering.</p>
<p>“Roger is a one-of-a-kind mentor who deeply cares about your success,” Khan said. “We’ve worked on a range of projects, from helping local agency partners with data and analysis to advancing the fundamental science of Sierra Nevada hydrology.”</p>
<p><strong>A Deep Commitment to the Sierra Nevada</strong></p>
<p>Much of Bales’ research has centered on the Sierra Nevada, where he has integrated hydrology, soils, ecosystem science and resource management. He co-led the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory and worked with dozens of collaborators on projects that have shaped state policy.</p>
<p>“Our work in the Sierra Nevada wasn’t just Martha and me,” he said. “It was 50 or 100 people who over the years collaborated with us.”</p>
<p>Bales has advised agencies on forest fuels treatments, helping them understand how thinning small trees can reduce wildfire severity. He’s also conducted long-term evaluations of past treatments to determine their effectiveness.</p>
<p>And just because he’s retiring doesn’t mean he’s done working. He has plenty of ongoing projects.</p>
<p>“We’re doing a statewide valuation of the benefits of forest fuels treatments,” he said. “We need up to about $4 billion a year to do fuels treatments in California just to keep up with what’s going on. This year, the legislature appropriated but a fraction of that.”</p>
<p>His work aims to help agencies spend limited funds more effectively.</p>
<p>“They know what to do,” he said, “but if we can give them better, more usable data, they can make more effective decisions and engage other funding partners in forest restoration.”</p>
<p><strong>Climate Advocacy and Innovation</strong></p>
<p>Bales has long been a vocal advocate for climate action. He serves on the UC President’s Global Climate Leadership Council and was a member of the UC Fossil Free Task Force, which recently submitted its final report to the UC Regents.</p>
<p>He’s also helping launch “Campus as a Living Laboratory,” an initiative to decarbonize UC campuses and serve as models for broader climate solutions.</p>
<p>“It’s more than just swapping out natural gas for electricity,” Bales said. “It’s engaging the creativity of all of us. I feel encouraged that the next generation may be more successful than I was in engaging people actively. I don't think there's anything more important than being a good example for the energy transition.”</p>
<p>The initiative will explore practical solutions, such as using occupancy sensors to modulate ventilation and energy use in labs.</p>
<p>There are countless such changes that could bring the campus closer to full decarbonization. It’s a matter of assessing them and finding ways to implement them more broadly. That’s what the new initiative is about.</p>
<p>“We’re really trying to engage the whole campus community in what is the defining crisis of our lifetimes,” he said.</p>
<p>Even on vacation, Bales is thinking about how to make things better.</p>
<p>“On one trip, we visited the Sierra Nevada in Spain. I wanted to see some acequias from the 8th century, after the Islamic conquest. They built impressive water systems that recharge water high in the watershed, allowing it to flow underground and emerge as springs in villages needing water during the Mediterranean summer,” he explained.</p>
<p>“Later cultures abandoned these recharge channels, but they're starting to revive them because these villages are running out of water in late summer. I’ve been thinking about how such a system could be used here in California.</p>
<p>“In the bigger picture, building new dams is challenging, and just doesn’t pencil out economically. What is ripe for more investment is subsurface storage. We need a broader mindset for storing winter precipitation for dry-season and drought-year use. My initial advocacy will be for the science to investigate innovations and show whether we can make them work.”</p>
<p><strong>Mentorship and Legacy</strong></p>
<p>Bales’ influence extends far beyond his own research. He has mentored students and postdocs who now work across the country on climate-related challenges — from floodplain mapping in Tennessee and forest restoration in the Western U.S. to polar glaciology — and said he hopes faculty across the university will take the time to equip their students with the tools needed to address these challenges.</p>
<p>To that end, he is still working with one of UC Merced’s recent Ph.D. graduates, project scientist Brandi McKuin. Their shared interest in climate solutions led to collaborative research on placing solar panels over canals, resulting in a pilot program called Project Nexus. The state allocated $20 million for the project, for which Turlock Irrigation District installed solar panels over its water canals, which are projected to save water by reducing evaporation, reducing maintenance needs, and avoiding repurposing valuable farmland or sensitive natural lands for energy production.</p>
<p>“It’s exciting to work with Roger because he’s a rainmaker,” McKuin said. “He’s a very positive person who focuses on the big picture. Besides being brilliant, I think optimism is one of his superpowers.”</p>
<p>McKuin credits Bales with teaching her how to build coalitions, communicate science effectively and approach research with interdisciplinary thinking.</p>
<p>“I’ve learned so much from him,” she said. “From systems thinking to navigating media requests, Roger has helped me become a more effective scientist.”</p>
<p>Khan echoed that sentiment, recalling a moment when Bales told him, ‘You can train a student or postdoc on how to do science, but you cannot teach them snowshoeing.’</p>
<p>“At the time, I thought that was ridiculous,” Khan said. “Now, as a PI, I get what he meant. We often ignore these soft skills when recruiting, but they can become bottlenecks when doing research in harsh terrains.”</p>
<p><strong>Recreation and Reflection</strong></p>
<p>Despite his demanding career, Bales has always made time for the outdoors. He’s an avid downhill and backcountry skier and backpacker, often combining recreation with fieldwork in the Sierra.</p>
<p>“Working in the Sierras cuts into my recreation time in the Sierra,” he joked.</p>
<p>Last summer, he and Conklin, who retired in 2023, hiked 32 miles through the High Sierra. This fall, he went on a backpacking and camping trip there by himself. Because they now live in the Bay Area, Bales said he and Conklin have been going to the beach more often and taking advantage of the region’s cultural offerings.</p>
<p>They've also been traveling a bit, but however far he ventures, California’s Sierra Nevada remains his go-to place.</p>
<p><strong>A Rare Dual-Campus Status</strong></p>
<p>Bales’ retirement from UC Merced automatically meant he retired from the UC. But because he was an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, he is continuing to make contributions to both campuses as a professor emeritus.</p>
<p>“I’m doing research and teaching the same graduate water-resources course at Berkeley that I taught at Merced,” he said. “It’s a popular course because the students say they leave it knowing what to do when they get jobs. One year, I was not planning on teaching it, and a bunch of students came to my office and said, ‘Hey, we came to Berkeley to take your course. Will you please?’” he said.</p>
<p>He plans to continue teaching for another year or two and mentoring master’s students in Berkeley’s large graduate program.</p>
<p>He is continuing his work with the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Global Climate Leadership Council and other groups advancing evidence-based decision-making with greater scientific input.</p>
<p>He also has a project with Professor Jeanette Cobian, who just moved to UC Davis, and professors Steve Hart and Safeeq Khan on carbon balance in the Sierra Nevada.</p>
<p>“We want to try to sequester carbon in our forests. But we also want to provide wildfire safety, which means removing carbon from the forest. So we're trying to figure out how we satisfy those opposite objectives,” he said.</p>
<p>Healthy forests have long been a focus of Bales’ research and advocacy. He is still conducting research on thinning projects from 10 years ago and the efforts of agencies to remove fire fuels, such as undergrowth, from the forests.</p>
<p><strong>Looking Ahead</strong></p>
<p>As he transitions into a more senior-scientist role, Bales plans to focus on mentoring, advocacy and continuing his research collaborations. He’s excited about working with younger colleagues and helping them navigate the challenges of climate science.</p>
<p>“I’m looking forward to being able to do more advocacy for the things that I think will help the university and the state and the people of California,” he said. “I’m also excited to see what the university’s next chapters will bring.”</p>
<p>As Bales steps into this new chapter, his legacy continues to resonate with the people he’s mentored and the landscapes he’s helped protect.</p>
<p>Khan reflected on the depth and breadth of Bales’ journey.</p>
<p>“Roger is a curious wanderer who has journeyed 50-plus years in pursuit of hydrologic science, from Greenland to the Sierra Nevada, and making this planet better for everyone.”</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Lorena Anderson - UC Merced Earns Perfect Score, Ranks 7th in Nation on Princeton Review’s ‘Top 50 Green Colleges’ List/news/2025/uc-merced-earns-perfect-score-ranks-7th-nation-princeton-review%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98top-50-green-colleges%E2%80%992025-11-09 00:00:00Featured News (gateway)Campus Life, Rankings, Campus, Sustainability, LEED Certification, Sustainable Operations, Triple ZeroBy Sam Yniguez, UC Merced<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://news.ucmerced.edu/sites/g/files/ufvvjh1306/f/news/image/hero_-_2025-11-09t144539.054.png" width="870" height="450" alt="Students tabling at Earth Day event" />https://news.ucmerced.edu/Students table at an on-campus Earth Day event<p>UC Merced was recognized again as a national leader in sustainability, earning a perfect Green Rating score and ranking No. 7 in the nation on The Princeton Review’s 2025 list of Top 50 Green Colleges.</p>
<p>The ranking highlights universities that set the standard for environmental stewardship through sustainable operations, curriculum and community engagement. UC Merced’s perfect score underscores its deep commitment to sustainability – from its zero net energy goals to its emphasis on preparing students to lead in a greener global economy.</p>
<p>“This distinction reflects the collective effort of our students, faculty and staff who live out our sustainability values every day,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “Together, we’re proving that meaningful environmental stewardship can thrive right here in our region.”</p>
<p>The Princeton Review surveyed 388 colleges and universities for its 2024-25 ratings, analyzing more than 25 data points drawn from detailed questionnaires completed by campus administrators and students.</p>
<p>The survey evaluated policies and programs related to environmental responsibility such as energy and waste management, food sourcing and climate action planning. Student surveys provided additional insights into the campus culture of sustainability, including administrative support and opportunities for student engagement.</p>
<p>The Princeton Review partnered with the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education to streamline reporting through its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System, ensuring consistent, verified data across institutions.</p>
<p>From its inception, UC Merced has woven sustainability into every aspect of campus life. All campus buildings are LEED certified, and the university’s commitment to sustainable construction and renewable energy has earned multiple national accolades.</p>
<p>In 2023, UC Merced became the first public research university in the nation to achieve carbon neutrality, years ahead of the University of California systemwide goal. The campus continues to model sustainable practices through initiatives in waste diversion, water conservation and climate education.</p>
<p>"The sustainability body of work that takes place at UC Merced is impressive and touches so many areas around campus," said Daryl Pierson, the university’s director of sustainability. "Through our sustainability initiatives, climate action, numerous course offerings, research activity, LEED certified buildings, and natural campus setting, UC Merced clearly stands out as a sustainability leader among higher education institutions."</p>
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https://news.ucmerced.edu/Alyssa Johansen