Research Excellence

Starting a university from scratch isn’t for the faint of heart — or the slow of foot. Lucky for UC Merced, Anne Myers Kelley and David Kelley are neither.

Anne, a former Olympic marathon trials qualifier, and David, a competitive cyclist, were no strangers to long, grueling efforts when they packed up their lab gear and headed west from Kansas State University in 2003.

In addition to being used recreationally, marijuana and cannabidiol, or CBD, one of the cannabinoids produced by the marijuana plant, are thought to have medical benefits such as helping with chemotherapy-induced nausea, treating epilepsy, relieving pain and helping with a variety of mental health issues.

For many first-generation Mexican American college graduates, the definition of success includes paying their parents’ bills or even buying them a home.

Lifting the social or financial status of their elders is a goal that often defines upward mobility for Latinx millennials, especially the children of immigrants, according to a study by UC Merced sociology Professor Daisy Verduzco Reyes.

UC Merced remains one of the top universities in the nation according to Money’s 2025 “Best Colleges in America” report.

The university earned 4.5 stars out of 5 in Money’s latest poll, which scores over 700 schools. The ratings are based on several factors, including graduation rates, cost of attendance, instructor access and economic mobility.

A team of UC Merced researchers has shown that tiny artificial cells can accurately keep time, mimicking the daily rhythms found in living organisms. Their findings shed light on how biological clocks stay on schedule despite the inherent molecular noise inside cells.

As wind-whipped walls of flame destroyed hundreds of Los Angeles-area residences last January, one media report framed the disastrous wildfires in beastly terms, saying they were “ripping through homes.” The report then shifted to militaristic imagery: “Firefighters here have an uphill battle.”

A day later, a journalist from a national newspaper rode in a helicopter over the blackened devastation. Earlier, an evacuee had told him a stricken neighborhood looked like a war zone.

“I wondered if that was an exaggeration,” the reporter wrote, “until I saw it myself.”

Shark Week starts Sunday and Professor Sora Kim will be featured again this year in a special airing at 9 p.m. Monday, titled “Jaws vs. Mega Croc,” and the filming allowed her to swim with a Nile crocodile.

“I flew to Florida and learned about crocodiles – their evolution, strength, physiology and behavior. More interactions are being recorded between sharks and crocodiles these days, so I also needed to learn about these situations,” she said.

San Luis Reservoir in Merced County - one of California's largest artificial lakes - not only irrigates Central Valley farmland and supplies drinking water across Silicon Valley and the South Bay, but also draws swimmers, boaters and anglers year-round.

Yet for months at a time, forest-green blankets of algae spread across the lake's surface. Despite their calm appearance, these harmful algal blooms, or HABs, can disrupt water supplies, ecosystems and recreation activities - and pose serious health risks.

On laptop screens, televisions and social media feeds across the nation, images and words fueled by a fractured political landscape spout anger, frustration and resentment. Clashing ideologies burst forth in public demonstrations, family gatherings and digital echo chambers.

Red-hot rhetoric and finger-pointing memes are open expressions of emotions generated by engaging in politics. But there is another set of emotions far less incendiary but just as damaging to democracy. These feelings can push people to the sidelines and drive them to silence.

The National Institutes of Health are backing Professor Clarissa Nobile ’s mission to understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health.