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...

National Science Foundation Grant Supports Biodiversity Research

MERCED, Calif. — A $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support a five-year investigation by University of California, Merced, researchers into environmental changes in marine...

Senegal Shrubbery Research Could Bear Fruit for Many

Shrubs blooming in a specific area of Africa might hold the answers to feeding millions of people on that continent, and possibly others. UC Merced Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei, his doctoral student,...

Snowy, Sandy Research Explores Climate Change

From the white, sugary sands of Hawaii to the white, powdery slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Natural Sciences Professor Stephen Hart has his eye on climate change. For the past two years, the professor...

Campus Humanities Center to Expand Mission with Private Gift

With the help of a $2 million gift, UC Merced’s humanities center will support scholars in conducting interdisciplinary research, engaging the public and addressing issues critical to the San Joaquin...

Member of National Science Foundation Leadership Team Appointed Provost

The University of California, Merced, today announced the appointment of Thomas W. Peterson, assistant director for Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF), to the position of provost...

Human Rights Fellow to Explore Midwifery Decisions

Catalina Hernandez, UC Merced’s first Human Rights Center fellow, is spending this summer exploring how women decide to seek help from a midwife for childbirth instead of an obstetrician. A proponent...

More Homes in Danger from Fire in Coming Decades, Research Shows

The risk of losing your home to a wildfire could double within the next 40 years, according to modeling done by UC Merced Professor Anthony Westerling. In a paper prepared for the California Energy...

UC Merced Plasma Lab Turning Leftovers into Cleaner Energy

There’s a reason the UC Merced plasma lab is isolated behind a locking fence near the entrance to campus. There’s some serious heat being produced down there. Engineering professors Gerardo Diaz,...

Korean Students Get UC Solar Experience

They traveled nearly 20 hours by plane and bus across 5,700 miles to spend three weeks in the Central Valley sun. Fifteen engineering students from Dankook University in Yongin, Gyeonggi, South Korea...