Graduate Students

Chemistry Ph.D. Student Wins Campus Grad Slam Top Prize, Advances to UC-wide Final

April 28, 2025

Top nine Grad Slam finalists with graduate dean and associate graduate dean with R1 prop

Adekunle “Kunle” Adewole isn’t a stranger to the spotlight, having grown up singing at family functions and performing in theater productions. He also has fervently watched “The Voice,” a singing reality competition television series, envisioning himself performing on...

Biochar is high in carbon and created by heating biomass at moderate temperatures in a process called pyrolysis.

Keske Publication Shows Central Valley Ripe for Biochar Studies

Central Valley natives are accustomed to seeing plumes of smoke from burning tree piles after harvest. This is the traditional way farmers dispose of crop waste, such as trees, nut shells and pruned...

From left, professors Tom Harmon, David Strubbe, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Michael Scheibner, Sayantani Ghosh and Mehmet Baykara

NSF Grant to Help Grad Students Find Solutions to Environmental Challenges

Graduate students and a convergence of physics, engineering and environmental science could result in not only the next generation of solutions to pressing environmental challenges, but a new group...

Professor’s Side-Blotched Lizards Become Latest Campus Inhabitants

Every faculty member has to set up their lab when they join a new campus. But Professor Danielle Edwards literally built a key component of hers from the ground up. The outdoor component of El...

Professor Ahmed Sabbir Arif’s lab is contributing to a new form of communication that could people who are not able to audibly express themselves.

Arif Lab Studies Throat Patterns to Give a Voice to the Speechless

Not being able to communicate with loved ones is an unfortunate reality for some, such as recent stroke patients or mute individuals. Vocal imaging research performed by Professor Ahmed Sabbir Arif...

Professor Colleen Naughton is taking students to Morocco to study argan oil production.

Research Program Offers Students a Moroccan Summer Field Experience

Students will soon be able to apply for a unique opportunity to go to Morocco — when travel is safe again — to study the environmental and socioeconomic aspects of the production of argan...

Professors Sarah Loebman, left, and Anna Nierenberg, right

Space Telescope Time and Data Analysis Boosting Astrophysics Studies This Fall

Dark matter and the life cycles of star clusters will come into focus as UC Merced’s astrophysicists get resources from the two space telescopes soon to be exploring the universe. NASA...

Professor Andy LiWang is one of the lead authors in a new paper in Science.

Scientists Assemble a Biological Clock in a Test Tube to Study How It Works

Daily cycles in virtually every aspect of our physiology are driven by biological clocks (also called circadian clocks) in our cells. The cyclical interactions of clock proteins keep the biological...

Professor Joshua Viers stands near a canal on the UC Merced campus.

UC Merced Leads Innovative Effort to Secure Water for Agriculture and Ecosystems

UC Merced’s largest research grant in its 16-year history aims to improve agricultural and environmental water resilience. The new $10 million collaborative focuses on water banking, trading...

A woman comforts another woman by holding her hand.

Brain Study 'Turns Off the Brake' to Understand How Sympathy Can Be Increased

A new study by faculty members and students in UC Merced's Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences takes a closer look at the sympathy people have for one another. The...