School of Natural Sciences

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Researcher Studies Effects of Dust on Climate Change

Being able to accurately predict how the climate will change in the future is one of the most important quests of our lifetimes. A key to better prediction is the fundamental understanding of how particles in the atmosphere are connected to climate and climate change. One way to do that is to better understand the interactions between desert dust particles and radiation — from the sun and the Earth's surface.

Data Science Challenge offers Students Learning and Growth Opportunities

About 20 UC Merced students spent the past two weeks working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to see if they can solve a problem that could have a significant impact on cardiology.

The annual Data Science Challenge (DSC), a two-week, full-time internship at LLNL, this year teamed students from Merced and UC Riverside. They attempted to see if machine learning could address a gap in the information provided by the common electrocardiogram (ECG) test.

Fresno Native Takes Next Step to Becoming a Doctor

For Joslyn Conchas, becoming a physician wasn’t always the plan.

“I wanted to be a veterinarian, but that was before I saw firsthand how impactful health disparities are within my community,” she said.

Her grandfather was ill and she witnessed his struggles with the healthcare system while he was in and out of the hospital.

Students Learn from Experts in Electronic Structure at Physics Conference Hosted on Campus

Faculty members from the departments of Physics and Chemistry and Biochemistry recently co-hosted a conference that drew about 100 faculty members, researchers and students from around the country and around the world.

Shark Week Highlights Researcher’s Megalodon Expertise

UC Merced 's resident expert on the nightmarishly massive megalodon will play a role in Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, a celebration of the toothy creatures at the top of the oceanic food chain.

Professor Sora Kim will be featured in a show called “Jaws vs. The Meg,” in which she and other experts discuss and compare two of the largest predators to ever roam the oceans.

Research Proves Megalodon was Warm-blooded, both an Advantage and an Extinction Factor

Megalodon was the biggest shark in the world — 50 feet long or more — and one of the largest fish ever to exist. It roamed most of the world’s oceans from 23 million to 3.6 million years ago.

A new study by paleoecology Professor Sora Kim and colleagues shows the shark’s body temperature was considerably higher than previously thought and provides clues to the species’ demise.

Learning Lab Offers Education for Children and Future Teachers

Every Tuesday and Thursday during the school year, elementary, middle and high school students from around the region travel to a special lab at UC Merced designed just for them.

It’s the CalTeach Learning Lab, and in just one year more than 2,200 students from the community have experienced hands-on lessons there in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), including chemistry, coding and robotics and spectro analysis.

Campus Adds New Areas of Studies for Students to Choose From

New students or those who have not yet chosen their majors will have an array of options before them.

Five new majors and several new emphases, ranging across all three schools, are all coming online in 2024 and are recruiting students now.

New bachelor’s of science degrees:

  • chemical engineering
  • data science and computing
  • public health

New bachelor’s of arts degrees:

  • data science and analytics
  • environmental humanities

New emphases:

In the mechanical engineering major:

Turner Honored as 2023 Lindau Fellow

Christi Turner will represent UC Merced and join Nobel laureates from around the world at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, June 25-30 in Germany.

Turner, a Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. student from Orange County, was nominated and selected as part of the fourth class of the University of California President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows. The meeting, a one-of-a-kind scholarly summit now in its 72nd year, will focus on physiology and medicine.

Academic Senate Honors Faculty Members with Annual Awards

Each year, faculty members are specially recognized by their peers in the Academic Senate for a variety of accomplishments.

This year’s Academic Senate awards honor faculty from across the three schools for their outstanding teaching, research, impacts on their fields and mentorship, as well as their dedication to diversity and scholarly public service in the 2022-23 academic year.