Computational biologist David Ardell has been awarded the 2016 Julius Kuehn Professorship by the academic senate of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany. Ardell, a professor in UC Merced’s School of Natural Sciences, will spend six weeks this summer with his family at the German

A team of scientists led by UC Merced Professor Aaron D. Hernday has made a major advancement in understanding how the most common fungal pathogen in humans can alter its cellular phenotype and behavior. Although typically a benign component of the human microbiome, Candida albicans can transition

Professor Clarissa J. Nobile of the University of California, Merced, is one of 22 researchers named today as a Pew Biomedical Scholar for her work exploring how communities of microbes conspire to cause disease. Nobile is the first UC Merced researcher to win a Pew scholar award, and she joins the

As part of the University of California Global Food Initiative, 54 students — including six from UC Merced—have been awarded fellowships to fund projects that will address issues ranging from community gardens and food pantries to urban agriculture and food waste. All 10 UC campuses plus the UC

MERCED, Calif. — The University of California, Merced, will report at the White House today (Dec. 4) on progress the campus is making in its efforts to support undocumented students, create career pathways to the Silicon Valley and advance other initiatives to help underserved students prepare for

The odds were stacked against Ruben Rodriguez. When the 27-year-old UC Merced student was still in high school, he was confronted with a sobering statistic that Hispanics receive only 5 percent of all doctorates awarded. “That’s always stayed with me,” said Rodriguez, who was born in Mexico and came

From understanding how groups of atoms behave at ultra-low temperatures to modeling how flocks of birds organize, UC Merced's Physics group is helping solve many of the world's mysteries and using the knowledge to improve technology, ranging from computing to solar energy conversion. "Physics uses

Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of UC Merced Magazine. Before it infects humans who breathe it in, the fungus that causes valley fever changes shapes in the environment. Once infected, some people fight it off while others die. If scientists can determine how that shape

Biochemistry Professor Patricia LiWang calls it a stroke of luck that she has become enmeshed in HIV research, but her developments are no accident. The National Institute for Health (NIH) apparently agrees, awarding her more than $2.3 million over the next four years to continue working toward a

Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2014 issue of UC Merced Magazine and has been updated in the wake of the Nov. 4 elections. Read the whole issue online. In two small rooms on the University of California’s youngest campus, far removed from the epicenters of American political power