School of Natural Sciences

COSMOS Expands to UC Merced, Opening Doors for California’s Brightest Young Scientists

December 11, 2025

High school students will have a wider array of research opportunities through COSMOS starting next summer.

Starting next summer, UC Merced will join an elite group of University of California campuses hosting COSMOS — the California State Summer School for Math and Science — giving some of the state’s most talented high school students a new destination for exploring advanced STEM...

Physics Graduate Student Explores Nanoworld

When Andrea Rodarte began studying physics, she first wanted to look to the stars for answers. Instead, she’s finding them in nanoparticles. “The people I know who went into astrophysics only get to...

Marine Biologist Receives Fulbright Award

Mónica Medina, a professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research at the Observatoire Océanologique...

Continued Smoking Can Spread Cancer, Research Shows

Cigarette smoke cannot only cause cancer, but it’s also responsible for the spread of it, according to research by UC Merced biochemistry Professor Henry Jay Forman. Forman discovered tobacco smoke...

Researchers Discover Protein Critical for Tissue Regeneration

A flatworm known for its ability to regenerate cells is shedding more light on how cancer could be treated and how regenerative medicine could better target diseases, according to researchers at the...

Impact: Ecologist Simulates Climate Change with Infrared Heaters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06VNtISfSycClimate change is leading to higher temperatures around the world, forcing plants, trees and animals to adapt to new conditions or relocate, often to higher...

Professor Awarded Collaborative Grant in Solar Energy Conversion

UC Merced applied math Professor Boaz Ilan is a major contributor to a national research team exploring a novel way to use fractal geometry to improve the production of electricity in solar panels...

Graduate Student Focuses Research on Infectious Disease

Mufadhal Al-Kuhlani came to UC Merced to help reduce the threat of harmful diseases through innovative research. Al-Kuhlani is studying immunology within the Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate...

Community-Engaged Research Serves San Joaquin Valley

About 180 people attended a conference at UC Merced that connected researchers with community members working to improve the lives of the San Joaquin Valley’s young people. The December...

Graduate Student Finds New Career in Military Research

As a chemistry teacher at Golden Valley High School in 2004, Scott Seronello frequently told his students to keep working at their education and never give up their dreams. Then his students asked...