Faculty

Hurricanes Create Powerful Changes Deep in the Ocean, Study Reveals

June 6, 2025

Hurricane Bud left some surprising changes in its wake, UC Merced researchers found.

With careful planning and a little luck, researchers found a surprising upside to hurricanes after a Category 4 storm disrupted their expedition off the coast of Mexico. The team was able to sample the ocean right after the storm passed and found that the storms churn the ocean so powerfully and...

Solar, Water Research Proposals Rewarded with Competitive UC Grants

MERCED, Calif. — Research into sustainable water supplies and viable solar energy solutions won the University of California, Merced, an anticipated $5 million in prestigious and competitive grants...

Day of Giving Nets $40,000 for Scholarships

On Dec. 2, UC Merced alumni, parents, staff, faculty members and friends of the campus came together for the first #GivingTuesdayUCMerced, in an effort to create a positive effect on the lives of ...

New Algorithm Helps Machines Function More Like Brains

Every day, your brain completes millions of complicated functions without you even being aware of them, and it learns as it goes. Teaching a machine to do the same thing is extremely complicated, but...

Undergrads Get One-of-a-Kind Experience through NanoBIO Program

For the University of California, Merced, students in this year’s nanoBIO internships and research program, working with something extremely small could have huge implications. “I had no idea...

Discover Magazine Features Archaeologist’s Cave Research

Most archaeologists have to dig in the field, but Professor Holley Moyes digs deeper than most. Her research takes her more than 400 feet into the Belize underground, where ancient Maya caves hold...

Ph.D. Student Beats Odds to Put Science and Community First

The odds were stacked against Ruben Rodriguez. When the 27-year-old UC Merced student was still in high school, he was confronted with a sobering statistic that Hispanics receive only 5 percent of...

Researchers Delve into Valley Fever from All Angles

Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of UC Merced Magazine. Before it infects humans who breathe it in, the fungus that causes valley fever changes shapes in the environment....

NIH Supports Professor’s Work in Inhibiting HIV Infection

Biochemistry Professor Patricia LiWang calls it a stroke of luck that she has become enmeshed in HIV research, but her developments are no accident. The National Institute for Health (NIH) apparently...

Researching the Hows and Whys of Politics

Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of UC Merced Magazine and has been updated in the wake of the Nov. 4 elections. Read the whole issue online. In two small rooms on the...