Faculty

Dust is a Danger to Central Valley Health and Will Likely Get Worse, Researchers Find

May 12, 2025

A dust storm rises near Owens Lake. Photo Courtesy of UC San Diego

People don't think about dust much until it's time to clean the house, but a new report by UC researchers could raise awareness of the growing threat of dust and dust storms. Dust affects everything from cardiovascular and brain health to traffic collisions and agricultural yield....

Graphic Labels Discourage Smoking in Young Adults

Graphic cigarette warning labels are better at discouraging smoking in young adults than text-only labels, according to research recently published by a UC Merced professor. Health psychology...

Professor’s Fellowship Takes Her Into the Halls of Power

Like many faculty members, Professor Katrina Hoyer is busy running a lab, teaching and researching. This year, she adds another item to her to-do list – learning how public policy is implemented and...

Cog Sci Program’s Strength Shown at Conference

Cognitive and Information Sciences at UC Merced will be the top program represented this summer at the discipline’s premiere conference, Cognitive Science. There will be 25 presentations from the...

Founding Faculty Member Honored with NSF Grant for Excellence

A five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation is helping Professor Alberto Cerpa develop the next big breakthrough in wireless sensor networks – an autonomous, self-learning system...

Grad Student’s Farmland Mapping Project Gets Prestigious Publisher

Working to map every square inch, UC Merced master’s student Andrew Zumkehr found there are 111 million acres of abandoned farmland in the United States. That’s a lot of space for growing biofuels...

Professor’s Work Earns Her a Spot in Prestigious Journal

Using some of the tiniest fossils in the world to help clarify how climate change is modeled has earned Professor Jessica Blois a big honor – publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Science, Math Program to Offer More Paths to Aspiring Teachers

Armanti Hardesty is ready to join the next generation of teachers. “We’re all going into a more technological age,” said Hardesty, an alumnus from Long Beach. “It’s great to have new teachers...

Anthropology Lab Gives Students a Tactile Edge

With a growing collection of artifacts and replicas, UC Merced’s anthropology teaching laboratory gives students the ability to hold history in their hands. Students taking anthropology courses are...

Computer Major Looks Forward to Job at Microsoft

On his ﬁrst tour of UC Merced almost five years ago, Andy Luhrs decided the campus was the right place for him. “The tour guide made an impression,” said Luhrs, who is from Danville. “Everyone I...