Grants

Last year, UC Merced received the largest research grant in its history. The $10 million Secure Water Future (SWF) award, led by Professor Joshua Viers in cooperation with other UC campuses and other partners, is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and aims to improve agricultural and environmental water resilience.

Higher education and high textbook prices usually go hand in hand, but hundreds of UC Merced students have been able to keep more money in their pockets thanks to a grant program.

Graduate students who are passionate about their research, concerned about the environment and eager to reach across disciplinary boundaries are invited to apply for a three-week summer program in which they will team up with like-minded scientists and engineers to design solutions to environmental sensing challenges.

The 2021 drought directly cost the California agriculture sector about $1.1 billion and nearly 8,750 full- and part-time jobs, according to estimates in a new analysis led by UC Merced researchers.

Once the effects on other economic sectors are considered, total impacts are estimated at $1.7 billion and 14,634 full- and part-time jobs lost.

Theoretical chemist Professor Aurora Pribram-Jones has been named a Cottrell Scholar, winning one of only 24 of the prestigious $100,000 grants for her proposal entitled “Reframing Interaction in Quantum Mechanical Ensembles and Across Chemistry Learning Communities.”

Professor Xuecai Ge, a developmental neurobiologist, has received a CAREER award for research to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms that direct brain formation, and how errors in cell signaling lead to developmental disorders.

Ge is the 31st number researcher from UC Merced to earn a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

As part of the 2021-22 Governor’s California Comeback Plan, UC Merced students will get the opportunity to serve their community while receiving financial support for college through the new program #CaliforniaForAll College Fellowship.

As part of a heartfelt tribute to their beloved advisor, mentor and “surrogate mom,” a group of university alumni and Omega Delta Phi fraternity members have established the Carla Krogh Legacy Endowed Scholarship, which will support UC Merced students with a demonstrated interest in public and community service.

A team of eight scientists from around the country is organizing a new project to foster belonging and participation among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students in the geosciences, supported by the National Science Foundation.

Paleoecology Professor Sora Kim is a member of the team that’s led by Professor Daniel Ibarra with Brown University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Science, and Professor Kimberly Lau with Penn State’s Department of Geosciences.

Just because there has been rain lately doesn’t mean California is drought-free.