News

New Project Aims to Predict People Likely to use Firearms in Suicides

March 11, 2019

The majority of people who die by suicide do so with firearms, and there were more firearm suicides in America in 2017 than there were homicides committed by any method. Combined. Those shocking numbers from the FBI and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention are the impetus for two UC Merced...

UC Merced Students Explore Peru By Volunteering as Translators

March 6, 2019

The explorer mentality, public health Professor Stephen Wooding said, is what sets the students of UC Merced apart from anywhere else. A willingness to try something new, to go somewhere they’d never thought possible, is a part of the Bobcat DNA. For three students, the time they spent traveling up...

Grant Enables Researcher to Focus on Valley Families and Children’s Development

March 5, 2019

Certain aspects of children's social cognition ripple throughout their lives, including whether small children can understand that other people’s minds are different than their own. That understanding plays a critical role in relationships, cooperation with other people and even in academic...

Kids Day Inspires Local Students to Pursue STEM Careers

March 4, 2019

UC Merced hosted sixth- through eighth-graders from Weaver School as part of Kids Day during Engineers Week last month. Students rotated between three STEM-related stations — creating volcanic eruptions using acid-based chemical reactions, producing solar circuits, and touring Central Plant and...

Study: Tiny ‘Ecosystem Engineers’ Are an Overlooked Source of Carbon Dioxide Emissions

March 4, 2019

It’s estimated that a leaf-cutter ant colony can strip an average tree of its foliage in a day, and that more than 17 percent of leaf production by plants surrounding a colony goes straight into their giant, fungus-growing nests. It’s no wonder these ants are considered the smallest recyclers on...

Research Week Offers Events, Education, Tours and More

February 27, 2019

This year’s Research Week, March 4-8, promises more community connections than ever before. Research Week , sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development, focuses on the research conducted at UC Merced that fosters the development of students and faculty and extends growth from...

Scientists Simulate Forest, Fire Dynamics to Understand Area Burn of Future Wildfires

February 26, 2019

Climate change and wildfire make a combustible mix with deadly and costly consequences. Scientists have been trying to understand that link for many years, studying the effects of climate and wildfire interactions in the Sierra Nevada. UC Merced Professor LeRoy Westerling and University of New...

Grad Student Discovers, Patents Process to Create “Nanofoams” in Liquid Crystals

February 25, 2019

It sounds like an easy-to-follow recipe from the world of molecular gastronomy: Dissolve nanoparticles in liquid crystals and cool to form frothy nanofoams, tiny tubes and hollow microspheres. But what fifth-year doctoral student Sheida Riahinasab and physics Professor Linda Hirst actually...

I Am a UC Engineer: Alumni Jeffrey Aceves

February 22, 2019

Jeffrey Aceves is an excellent student. Always has been. He graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and an Eagle Scout ranking. He graduated from UC Merced in 3 ½ years, having come to the campus with 20 college credits already completed. The Bakersfield native is driven, dedicated and not afraid to...

Gunter Set on Making a Difference for Cancer Research

February 20, 2019

Twelve years ago, Cassie Gunter was fighting for her life. Now she wants to give back to the group that helped her survive. At age 22, she went to the emergency room with what she thought was bronchitis. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) — an uncommon blood cancer for her...