Research

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New Bioengineering Study Aims to Understand the Mechanisms of Inflammation

When it functions correctly, inflammation protects the body from infection and injury. But when it becomes chronic, inflammation is linked to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis and bowel diseases, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

DOD Grant Helps Upgrade Special Refrigerators for Quantum Physics Research

Researchers and students in the departments of Physics, Mechanical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering working on quantum physics will have upgraded equipment soon, thanks to a grant from the Department of Defense.

Professor Jay Sharping is refurbishing two dilution refrigerators that are required to perform measurements on samples at temperatures as low as 10 millikelvins (mK) — near absolute zero.

Chancellor Muñoz to Help Re-Envision Carnegie Classifications

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz has been named to the Carnegie Classifications Institutional Roundtable, a panel of higher education leaders that will recommend potential revisions to the way institutions are classified, looking particularly at metrics describing students’ social and economic mobility.

“This is a historic measure by the Carnegie Foundation to re-envision how well universities help to build the lives and futures of our students,” said Muñoz. “It is an honor to be able to join colleagues from around the country in this important work.”

UC Merced Shines In Annual Sustainability Report

In the 2022 Sustainable Campus Index, UC Merced placed Top 10 in several categories including a tie for the No.1 spot in research. The annual report published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recognizes top-performing colleges and universities overall and in 17 sustainability impact areas.

Undergrad Stem Cell Training Positions Students For Careers After Graduation

Rising juniors this fall will have an unprecedented opportunity for stem cell research training that could lead directly to careers in stem cell science after graduation.

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 formed one of six interdisciplinary teams chosen for the prestigious award.

The duo is combining expertise from Nobile’s research in microbial communities and Mendoza-Cózatl’s work in plant biology to study how plants and microbes interact in the context of iron uptake and utilization.

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 Interactions, Training and Education — a research collaborative that aims to expand the fundamental knowledge of symbioses and inform immediate and long-term conservation strategies in the face of climate change.

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 doing it from the sky.

Coalition Including UC Merced 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 (F3) Coalition as part of its "Build Back Better" initiative to boost economic recovery after the pandemic.