News

New Study Shows Patchy Resources Drove Evolutionary Changes to Body Size

December 19, 2019

Resource allocation isn’t just a problem for humans preparing a holiday dinner, or squirrels storing up nuts for the winter. It can actually affect the size of an animal or whether it procreates, according to quantitative systems biology Professor Justin Yeakel’s new paper published in the journal...

Engineered Protein Assemblies that Respond to Cues Open Path for Smart, Protein-Based Medicines

December 17, 2019

Proteins are miniscule machines inside the body, about 10,000 times smaller than the thickness of human hair. They control all the processes of life — like how cells communicate to each other, how the immune system combats infection, how muscles contract, and how oxygen is picked up in the lungs...

Research Partnership Uses Compost to Tackle Climate Change

December 17, 2019

A thin layer of compost applied to grasslands could help fight climate change by capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil, recent research shows. UC Merced Professor Rebecca Ryals and a team of researchers, ranchers and public agencies will demonstrate this practice for the...

2010 Alum Jessica Anderson to Speak at UC Merced Fall Commencement

December 10, 2019

When Jessica Anderson first visited UC Merced as a high school senior, there wasn’t a campus to see. “They couldn’t bring us to campus because it was under construction,” she recalled. “They were showing us the fields and plans for things that didn’t exist yet.” Anderson, who grew up in San Diego,...

Team to Demonstrate Healthy New App at Fall Innovate to Grow Event

December 9, 2019

It’s a situation familiar to many UC Merced students: Having to translate for parents and other, older relatives who speak little or no English. It can be especially challenging when what you have to translate is almost a language in itself — medical jargon. Senior Ezer Angeles said it’s why he’s...

Students Push ‘Give Tue UC Merced’ to Record Number of Donors

December 6, 2019

Goal achieved! UC Merced supporters turned out in force on Giving Tuesday with a record number of donors contributing to campus scholarships and fellowships. More than 1,300 individuals donated during the 24-hour Give Tue UC Merced campaign on Dec. 3, surpassing the event’s goal of 1,000 donors. “...

UC Merced Aims to Draw 1,000 Donors in a Day with ‘Give Tue UC Merced’ Campaign

December 2, 2019

Jose Nava-Mejia hopes to work in renewable energy after he graduates from UC Merced. That means every moment spent on his environmental energy courses is a moment invested in the planet’s future. Kelsey Duggin hopes to use her microbiology and immunology studies to become a virologist and work with...

UC Merced Welcomes Visit by Junior Leadership Merced Students

November 27, 2019

Fifteen students from Merced County high schools experienced a bit of college life this week as part of the Junior Leadership Merced program. The students visited UC Merced on Monday, Nov. 25, spending time with staff members from The Margo F. Souza Student Leadership Center, which hosted the...

Zatz Named American Society of Criminology Fellow

November 21, 2019

The American Society of Criminology (ASC) has elected Vice Provost and Graduate Dean and sociology Professor Marjorie Zatz as an ASC Fellow — the society’s highest honor — in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the field of criminology. The society celebrated...

Researchers Aim to Solve the Unsolvable to Predict the Unseeable

November 18, 2019

A pair of UC Merced researchers are combining computational chemistry and machine learning principles to solve what seems to be an intractable problem at the heart of quantum mechanics: predicting the movement of electrons, also known as electron dynamics. Over the next three years with a $1.2...