First. Further. Forward

UC Merced's commitment to student success continues to earn national recognition as the university climbed to No. 60 - up from No. 97 last year - in U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Colleges in the nation released today. Among US public institutions UC Merced placed in the top 30, leaping to No. 28 in the country.

The placement represents UC Merced's highest-ever ranking in the annual report, and the improvement over last year is the biggest jump in the school's existence. Overall, UC Merced had the biggest gain of all schools in the Top 100, rising 37 spots.

The inaugural UC Merced Safety Conference is an effort to bring nationally recognized subject matter experts to the San Joaquin Valley to share critical safety information, best practices, and the latest innovations in enhancing community and campus safety with conference attendees. The overall goal is to amplify and grow the resources within area communities to prepare, recognize and respond to safety concerns.

Dozens of UC Merced students took their oaths as members of the College Corps recently. The program, which provides stipends to students in exchange for working with community partners, is in its second year.

The second cohort of UC Merced's College Corps was sworn in Sunday, Aug. 28.

It's more than just a way to help these students pay for college, explained Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Engagement Brian O'Bruba, who administered the oath. It's an opportunity to develop a service mindset that will last a lifetime.

A UC Merced researcher and her teammates around the world have succeeded in measuring the total amount of matter in the universe for the second time.

A new paper in the Astrophysical Journal, titled “Constraining Cosmological Parameters using the Cluster Mass-Richness Relation,” shows that matter makes up 31% of the universe, with the remainder consisting of dark energy — answering one of the most interesting and important questions in cosmology.

Since its completion three years ago, the Merced 2020 Project has amassed numerous accolades. Most recently, the landmark project that, in essence, doubled the size of the university's campus, was selected to receive the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Americas Award for Excellence.

UC Merced is among the top 10 U.S. universities for driving economic mobility for its graduates, according to a new study by think tank Third Way.

In its second annual national assessment of the impact of higher education on students and families, the Economic Mobility Index, Third Way ranked UC Merced No. 7 among all U.S. universities based on metrics linking students' initial financial status and their post-graduation economic success.

UC Merced has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking published today. Out of 400 universities that were looked at nationwide, UC Merced came in at No. 15 for public institutions. The university was ranked No. 59 overall.

UC Merced and Merced College will jointly build a 488-bed student housing project for community college and transfer students. The California Legislature gave final approval to the $100 million funding mechanism for the project on Wednesday, Aug. 30.

UC Merced public health Professor Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The $3 million grant will fund Young's ambitious, five-year research project to understand how immigration policy influences health care access and the well-being of Latinos in rural California and Arizona counties, including Merced, Tulare, Imperial, Monterey and Napa.

UC Merced Computer Science and Engineering Professor Xiaoyi Lu is leading a collaboration that secured a $4.35 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to improve federated machine learning systems.