Faculty

When physics graduate student William Delmas made samples of solar energy harvesting perovskite films two years ago, he had no idea that this summer, he’d be analyzing those same samples after they made a round trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

“It’s really cool to see this come full circle,” Delmas said.

Proteins operate like biological machines, regulating nearly every major function and organ in our bodies through a still-mysterious shape-shifting process. Bioengineering graduate group chair Professor Victor Muñoz has a new $1,082,356 award from the National Science Foundation to unlock those mysteries.

A core tenet of UC Merced’s mission is public service, something staffers Tom and Esmeralda Martinez know all about thanks to their daughter.

With COVID-19 protections lifting, many people are eager to travel again. Among them is graduate student Elena Bischak, who is planning multiple trips to Haiti in the coming months to study improving sanitation and human waste processing in the Caribbean country.

A UC Merced professor is collaborating with faculty from UCLA and the University of Illinois in a study that aims to find how people might best deal with COVID-19 at home.

Half a world away from California’s Central Valley is a place with similar climate but an unparalleled diversity of plants, marine animals and ecosystems. From deserts to shrubland to montane forests, the diversity of life in South Africa’s Greater Cape Floristic Region (GCFR) is the subject of NASA’s first biodiversity campaign led by UC Merced Professor Erin Hestir.

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has been felt around the world. COVID-19's grip has affected people's mental health and sense of what was once normal, prompting them to turn to new and familiar behaviors to help cope.

A group of researchers harnessing the power of light to control gene expression has dramatically improved its method, optimizing speed and precision, and opening new research avenues for scientists who employ optogenetics — the use of light and genetic engineering to control cells.

A new paper in the journal Zebrafish details the advancements made in Professor Stephanie Woo’s lab and quantifies the results of experiments on zebrafish embryos.

The pandemic has changed many aspects of life, but UC Merced Bobcats demonstrated their ability to overcome life's unexpected curveballs during an academic year unlike any other.

To ensure each student’s accomplishments are celebrated, UC Merced will host its second virtual spring commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 15, for the Class of 2021.

Applied Mathematics graduate student Shayna Bennett will represent UC Merced at the University of California Grad Slam finals on May 7.