Research

The University of California, Merced, has been designated a “doctoral-granting university with higher research activity” — or R2, the second-highest classification for American research universities — in its first appearance on the highly cited Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

The R2 classification recognizes UC Merced as a selective institution that awards more than 20 doctoral degrees, primarily in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Computational biologist David Ardell has been awarded the 2016 Julius Kuehn Professorship by the academic senate of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.

A team of scientists led by UC Merced Professor Aaron D.

Shakespeare might have been right when he wrote “what’s past is prologue,” but not when it comes to modeling climate change.

Professor Clarissa J.

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 evidence of rituals to appease gods of fertility and rain.

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 all doctorates awarded.

From understanding how groups of atoms behave at ultra-low temperatures to modeling how flocks of birds organize, UC Merced's Physics group is helping solve many of the world's mysteries and using the knowledge to improve technology, ranging from computing to solar energy conversion.

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. Once infected, some people fight it off while others die.