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UC Merced Aerial Picture
Cal-Bridge Scholar Rolando Ortega Wants to Build the Future
August 22, 2025
This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester.  Rolando Ortega is closing in on his dream of earning a Ph.D. This fall, the Cal-Bridge scholar from Los Angeles County joins UC Merced to... Read More
UC Merced Marks 20th Year with New Academic Programs, First DII Season and Celebration
August 21, 2025
The new academic year is a momentous milestone for UC Merced — two decades of growth, innovation and achievement. In 2005, the first undergraduate students were welcomed on the new campus. Now, 20 years later, thousands more new students... Read More
Simple Chemical Treatment Makes Next-Gen Electronics More Reliable
August 19, 2025
A team of international researchers has discovered that a simple chemical treatment can enhance the strength and reliability of one of the world’s thinnest materials for use in future electronics. The study, published in Nature... Read More
Summer Programs Give Students a Jump Start on Academic Year
August 19, 2025
For more than 1,300 Central Valley students, this summer break wasn’t all about fun — it included strengthening their math and science skills to prepare them for the new school year and beyond. UC Merced’s Center for Educational... Read More
A New Adventure for Two Founding Faculty Chemists: Retirement
August 18, 2025
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... Read More
Fellowship Lifts Mission of Farmworkers’ Daughter to Improve Immigrant Health
August 13, 2025
A daughter of San Joaquin Valley immigrant farmworkers has earned the opportunity to study alongside a nationally prominent health researcher and energize her mission to improve the well-being of agricultural laborers. Fabiola Perez-Lua,... Read More
Boosting AI and Science: NSF Invests $600K in OpenDOTA Project at UC Merced
August 12, 2025
The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $600,000 to support a groundbreaking project at UC Merced aimed at accelerating the future of artificial intelligence and scientific research. Professor Xiaoyi Lu from the electrical... Read More
Buhach Valedictorian Pursues Environmental Engineering at UC Merced this Fall
August 12, 2025
This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Drake Ledford was an exemplary high school student, earning a 4.29 GPA. The Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) recognized him as one... Read More
UC Merced Launches Bobcat Club to Support Scholar-Athletes in NCAA Division II Competition
August 8, 2025
To mark UC Merced’s entry into National Collegiate Athletics Association NCAA Division II competition, the university is launching the Bobcat Club – an initiative designed to support scholar-athletes and the campus’s elevated level of... Read More
Vaping Produces a Chemical that Destroys Human Tissue, Research Shows
August 7, 2025
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... Read More
Amemiya Awarded for Research, Teaching, Outreach and Service
August 4, 2025
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Professor Chris Amemiya, former interim director of the Health Sciences Research Institute, has been honored by the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (PASEDB) with the... Read More
Study: Mexican American Millennials Link Success to Providing for Parents
August 4, 2025
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... Read More
Incoming Bobcats ‘Grew Up’ with UC Merced
July 31, 2025
This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. One could say UC Merced has always been part of incoming Bobcats Ella and Satchel Ortez’s lives. The twins’ father worked for the 10th UC... Read More
UC Merced Recognized Nationally for Excellence, Affordability and Student Success
July 30, 2025
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... Read More
Black Engineering Society Earns Regional Chapter of the Year
July 29, 2025
The National Society of Black Engineers, established at UC Merced in 2007, is one of the campus’s oldest and most active student organizations. It provides support, guidance and advocacy for its members through their college journeys and... Read More
New Alumni-Funded Endowment to Champion LGBTQ+ Initiatives at UC Merced
July 29, 2025
A group of dedicated UC Merced alumni have come together to launch an endowed fund focused on supporting LGBTQ+ student initiatives, programs and priorities. Spearheaded by University of California Regent Emeritus Keith Ellis ’12, the... Read More
Community Health Worker Program Celebrates First Graduates
July 28, 2025
The region has nearly 170 newly certified community health workers after the first cohort completed a specialized training program at UC Merced. Graduates of the training, offered through the university’s Professional and Continuing... Read More
Tiny Artificial Cells Can Keep Time, Study Finds
July 28, 2025
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... Read More
Humanities Grad Student Advocates for Student Parents
July 24, 2025
When Nicolette Lecy began her graduate studies at UC Merced, life was anything but typical. It was August 2020, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lecy’s classes were held remotely, and she had limited access to campus. Another... Read More
UC Merced’s Berhe Joins Scientists in Warning of Global Land Mine Crisis
July 24, 2025
More than 100 million land mines remain buried around the world, posing a threat in approximately 70 countries and territories, and killing or injuring about 5,000 people, most of them civilians, every year.  As the world’s geopolitical... Read More