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...

Changing Snowmelt Threatens Valley Ag, Way of Life

The San Joaquin Valley — with all its agriculture and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it — is one of the places most at risk because of changing snowmelt patterns, a new...

UC Merced is commemorating the tremendous accomplishments of its graduates with a virtual ceremony streamed at 10 a.m. May 16.

Virtual Commencement Promises Surprises for Grads, Families

While the COVID-19 pandemic has altered many things this spring on the UC Merced campus — from classes and research to events — UC Merced is making sure the Class of 2020 has a forum to...

Innovate to Grow Goes Virtual

Innovation is nothing new at UC Merced, but this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone on campus has had to reimagine nearly everything they do. But leave it up to the School of...

Professor’s Documentary Film about Refugee Family Honored at Vienna International Festival

“Songs that Never End,” Professor Yehuda Sharim’s intimate film about a family transitioning from Iran to life in Texas, is a finalist contender in the International Documentary...

At the Intersection of Math and Biology, Sindi Lab Sees a Breakthrough in Prion Disease

A UC Merced researcher and her lab have unlocked one of the mysteries that could lead to treatments — or even cures — for prion diseases in mammals. Prion diseases are a family of rare...

This fall, Katie Daniels will start a faculty position in the sociology department at California Polytechnic State University, Pomona.

First-Generation Student Pursues Anti-Racism Research, Joins Cal-Poly Pomona this Fall

Kathryn “Katie” Daniels was a teen when she attended the celebration of the opening of UC Merced. As a child growing up in Merced, Daniels had heard her parents stress the importance of...

Q&A with Economist Greg Wright: COVID-19’s Impact on the Economy

Since the onset of many governors’ stay-at-home orders, there are fewer cars on the road as fewer people are driving to work. While some people can work from home, sadly, some are not working...

Senior Becomes Fourth Bobcat to Win Prestigious Scholarship

Sam Schroeder, a fourth-year undergraduate student working with Professor Valerie Leppert in materials sciences, has been awarded a highly competitive Materials Engineering Scholarship — one...

How 'Bout Them Apples? Engineers Correlate Friction to Texture

Think about biting into a fresh apple. What do you perceive? Is it juicy? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Now remember how unpleasant it is to bite into mealy apple flesh. Vineland Research and Innovation...