Talk about meta: A pop culture phenomenon is using a pop culture phenomenon to undo the results of a pop culture phenomenon. And for the fourth consecutive year, paleoecology Professor Sora Kim is diving back into the spotlight of the Discovery Channel hit "Shark Week," this time with a K-pop twist

This is part of a series of profiles  of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2026 semester. Tayven Tipler won’t travel far from his hometown when he starts at UC Merced and he is already well along on his higher education journey. Tipler completed several courses at Merced College as a high

Everyone recognizes the sharp, clean fragrance of pine needles. But that's not just a pine forest or a Christmas tree we're smelling - it's the aroma of thousands of microscopic partners working quietly on every needle, helping shape the health of entire forests. For years, researchers have known a

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2026 semester. After moving from Nigeria to the United States two years ago, Wonderful Ezieme built a new foundation in California, where he distinguished himself as a dedicated student and active member of his high

A leading expert in soil biogeochemistry and environmental engineering, UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, brings her research and perspective to a global conversation about the future of our planet. Berhe, the Ted & Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology and director of the UC

Key Points: Elephants function as a keystone species, producing large amounts of nutrient-rich dung that sustain diverse dung beetle populations and support wider ecosystem health. A 15-year field experiment showed that removing elephants leads to sharp declines in dung beetle abundance, biomass

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine. Walk across UC Merced’s campus on any weekday, and you might hear laughter spilling from a classroom, feel the thrum of a wind tunnel or spot students crouched in a field searching for mushrooms. Not

The W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded UC Merced nearly $1.8 million in new grants that fuel ambitious research and give early-career scientists a crucial boost at a pivotal stage of their careers. One of the nation’s most prominent private supporters of basic science, the Los Angeles–based foundation

UC Merced is abuzz with celebration as students, families, friends, staff and faculty finish last-minute preparations for the largest commencement in university history. Across three outdoor ceremonies, 1,649 undergraduates and 112 graduate students will walk the stage at Spring Commencement 2026

Five UC Merced faculty members are among the first awardees of a UC-wide honor given for exemplary research in budding academic careers. The Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards, launched last fall, support commitment to scholarship and creative activity across the 10-campus system. The