Research

For the First Time, All Avian Evolutionary Relationships Revealed Through Collaboration

April 29, 2025

Professor Emily Jane McTavish and colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have mapped the evolution of every known bird species. They created a complete evolutionary tree of bird species by combining data on 9,239 species published in nearly 300 studies between 1990 and 2024 and...

Nobile Named Pew Innovation Fund Investigator

UC Merced Professor Clarissa J. Nobile has been named a 2022 Innovation Fund investigator by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Nobile and University of Missouri Professor David G. Mendoza-Cózatl have...

A multi-disciplinary team from UC Merced, Michigan State University and Resilient Oceans will look at how climate change will impact ecosystems through a symbiotic lens.

UC Merced Lands $12.5M NSF Grant to Predict the Impact of Climate Change on Symbiotic Systems

UC Merced has received a $12.5 million grant funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop the Biology Integration Institute (BII): INSITE — the INstitute for Symbiotic...

Researchers Take New Approach to Quantify Water Use

Like many other researchers, environmental engineering professors Erin Hestir and Joshua Viers are trying to quantify water use in California’s Central Valley. The difference is, they are...

Sociology Professor Contributes Research to Mexican Journal of Foreign Policy

Department of Sociology Professor Paul Almeida is one of the coordinators, along with Professor Jorge Cadena-Roa of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), of a recent issue of the...

Professor Maggie Sogin's research interests in the Molecular Cell Biology Department at UC Merced are understanding host-microbial interactions across marine ecosystems.

Sogin Receives Inaugural NSF Grant to Further Microbial Interactions Research

Professor Maggie Sogin is one of 20 faculty members nationwide to receive the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) inaugural Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology (BRC-BIO) award...

Five Students Earn NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Two UC Merced doctoral students and three undergraduate alumni have each earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP). The fellowships are highly competitive, with...

Members of the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (F3) Coalition pose for a photo on Sept. 2, 2022.

F3 Coalition Awarded $65 Million in Build Back Better Funds

The White House announced today (Sept. 2) a $65.1 million award — the largest federal grant ever awarded to the Central Valley — to the Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation (...

Recent sociology Ph.D. alumnus Alejandro Zermeño is now an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Sociology Boasts 11 Tenure-Track Faculty Placements in Its Short History

Just seven years after it began offering graduate degrees, UC Merced’s Sociology Department has already begun shaping the future of the professoriate by placing 11 of its graduate alumni in...

Hrant P. Hratchian now leads UC Merced's Graduate Division.

Hratchian Takes the Helm as Graduate Dean, Shares Vision for Division

July was a transition month for UC Merced’s Graduate Division as interim Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Chris Kello passed the baton to Professor Hrant P. Hratchian — an Armenian name...