Faculty

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Curiosity and Care: Betsy Dumont's Path to UC Merced Provost

In a thick rainforest in Papua New Guinea, they're tracking bats. Researchers glue radio transmitters to the creatures’ little, furry bodies, then wait. And wait. When a bat flits to another position, the humans sprint through the foliage, stop and take a reading.

It’s 1 a.m. The researchers will do this all night, running from spot to spot, triangulating the bats’ movements. Logging data.

Having a blast.

“It’s just fun, right?” Betsy Dumont said, recounting a moment lived on the way to becoming one of the world’s top bat biologists. “It’s hard and it’s fun.”

Ph.D. Student Juggles Academic Demands with Managing a City

Glancing at Mike Futrell’s resume, one might ask, “What hasn’t he done?”

He is a retired United States Navy captain with two submarine tours under his belt and 26 years of service; a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; a former senior staff member in the U.S. Senate; and he practiced corporate law for over a decade and is still licensed in Hawaii and Louisiana. Futrell has served as a California city manager for more than a decade.

He is also a graduate student at UC Merced.

Grant Supports UC Merced Effort to Improve College Readiness in Valley

A significant grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will advance UC Merced's efforts to create a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of college readiness among high-school students in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly those from underrepresented and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.

Fellowship Expands Quantum, AI Training to Fill Industry Demand

UC Merced graduate students Anuvetha Govindarajan and Jocelyn Ornelas-Munoz have each received a $25,000 fellowship from SandboxAQ, which creates solutions at the nexus of artificial intelligence and quantum technology — or AQ — to address some of the world's greatest challenges.

Sukenik Named Sloan Research Fellow for Pioneering Research in Protein Chemistry

Professor Shahar Sukenik has been a faculty member for only 5 1/2 years, but he has already built an impressive resume, becoming a leader in his research field, an innovator and an exceptional communicator.

Those qualities helped him become UC Merced’s first recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Sloan Research Fellowship.

Active-matter Researcher will Further Modeling, Education with NSF CAREER Award

Department of Physics Professor Kinjal Dasbiswas has received a CAREER award for his work on the theory and modeling of shape-changing active solids.

He is the 38th researcher from UC Merced to earn this award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Journal Published UC Merced Public Health Professor's Study on Violence and Suicidal Behavior

A study conducted by a UC Merced researcher found that people injured through violent acts have a substantially higher risk to die by or attempt suicide.

Wang Curates New Traveling Exhibition of Three Trailblazing Japanese American Women

A new art exhibition curated by Professor ShiPu Wang is reintroducing the diverse art of three California painters to a national audience by bringing representative works from each together for the first time.

Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” will travel to five museums across the country, including a nine-month display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Give to UC Merced 2023 Raises Nearly $1.3 Million, Shattering Year-Old Record

Hundreds of UC Merced supporters made it crystal clear they believe in the university's mission, giving a record-breaking amount to support current Bobcats and other members of the campus community, through scholarships and fellowships, research projects and more.

A total of 692 gifts were made during the campus's annual monthlong fundraising campaign, Give to UC Merced, which amounted to nearly $1.3 million in vital funding for the university.