Research Excellence

Two UC Merced computer science and engineering professors will delve deep into artificial intelligence in projects with Amazon.

Applications are open for the 2026 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Data Science Challenge, a two-week summer internship that gives students a firsthand look at national lab research through high‑impact, data‑driven problem solving.

High-risk conditions for fires are increasingly happening across countries at the same time, making wildfires even more challenging to tackle, new research reveals.

Scientists from UC Merced and the University of East Anglia found this synchronized extreme fire weather — characterized by exceptionally warm, dry and often windy conditions — has increased strongly worldwide since 1979, becoming more widespread throughout regions, not just in single locations.

Written words can do more than communicate. They can also unlock the writer’s ability to process distress, identify hurtful feelings and take control of personal conflict.

Our circadian clocks play a crucial role in our health and well-being, keeping our 24-hour biological cycles in sync with light and dark exposure. Disruptions in the rhythms of these clocks, as with jet lag and daylight saving time, can throw our daily rhythms out of whack.

But a group of researchers is getting closer to understanding how these clocks operate.

UC Merced biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang and his colleagues have solved how the circadian clocks in microscopic bacteria precisely control when different genes are turned on and off during the 24-hour cycle.

Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang has spent much of his career studying how life keeps time. His work on the circadian clock of cyanobacteria — tiny, ancient organisms that share the planet with us — has shed light on one of biology’s most elegant systems.

But his newest research project, supported by a prestigious $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation, pushes that inquiry into bold, uncharted territory.

UC Merced continues to demonstrate its growing influence on the global stage.

Several faculty members landed on Clarivate’s 2025 list of the world’s most‑cited researchers. The honor is reserved for the top 1% of scholars whose work has shaped their fields over the last 10 years. Clarivate, which produces journal impact factors and other analytics, says the award identifies the world’s most influential researchers.

When UC Merced launches Give to UC Merced 2025 on Dec. 2, it won’t just be about one day of giving; the month-long campaign will be about hope, opportunity and community impact.

For the 12th year, the campus joins the global Giving Tuesday movement, inviting donors to power change through the university’s UC Merced Fund. Contributions to Give to UC Merced will support the campus’s greatest needs, ensuring UC Merced has the flexibility to fund emerging opportunities, expand programs and student support initiatives, and assist promising scholars with direct financial assistance.

A husband’s optimism and confidence might play a crucial, if often unseen, role in helping babies arrive healthy and on time.

A new study from UC Merced psychology researchers found that when married fathers reported higher levels of resilience — a quality that includes traits such as optimism, self-esteem and perceived social support — their partners showed lower levels of inflammation during pregnancy and carried their babies longer.