School of Natural Sciences

Research into Hidden Chemistry Shaping Future Air Quality Earns Zhang an NSF Award

September 8, 2025

As nations cut emissions that once fueled urban smog, scientists are discovering unexpected chemistry taking place in the atmosphere. UC Merced Professor Xuan Zhang is leading a project to uncover how these chemical shifts could affect the air we breathe and the climate. The project is supported...

Five Students Earn NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Two UC Merced doctoral students and three undergraduate alumni have each earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP). The fellowships are highly competitive, with...

Hrant P. Hratchian now leads UC Merced's Graduate Division.

Hratchian Takes the Helm as Graduate Dean, Shares Vision for Division

July was a transition month for UC Merced’s Graduate Division as interim Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Chris Kello passed the baton to Professor Hrant P. Hratchian — an Armenian name...

Applied Math Grad Student Awarded Prestigious NIH Fellowship

Doctoral student Ali Heydari recently received the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, also known as the National Institute of Health F31 fellowship....

A new four-student cohort will be formed each spring, and each cohort spends two years in the program.

New Bioinformatics Training Opportunity Opening for Undergraduates

Starting this fall, undergraduates interested in the biomedical sciences will have an opportunity to take part in a new and innovative training program that will give them strong foundations in...

Meet incoming first-year student Lizet Martin-Martinez.

Incoming Atwater Student Drawing on Discipline and Training for College Success

UC Merced is highlighting incoming first-year students for fall 2022 — a dynamic, diverse and accomplished cohort of new Bobcats. Lizet Martin-Martinez might not have had any family role...

incoming first-year student Joselle Talabong

High Achiever from Delano Headed to UC Merced

UC Merced is highlighting incoming first-year students for fall 2022 — a dynamic, diverse and accomplished cohort of new Bobcats. It’s no surprise Joselle Talabong was named Student...

Palmer Headed for Capitol Hill as Campus’s First Congressional Science Fellow

UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Palmer, Ph.D., was named as the 2022-23 Congressional Science Fellow by the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS...

Adjunct Professor Among Department of Energy Award Winners

Jennifer Pett-Ridge, an adjunct professor with the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has been honored by the Department of...

Academic Senate Recognizes Outstanding Faculty

Each year, faculty members recognize their colleagues in the Academic Senate for outstanding teaching, research and mentorship, impacts on their fields, and their dedication to diversity and...