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UC Merced graduates

UC Merced a National Finalist for Student Success Award

October 16, 2025
UC Merced, recognized nationwide for providing access to a world-class education and transforming young scholars’ lives, is a finalist for the inaugural Excellence in Student Success Award offered by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. UC Merced is among five universities...
Photo depicts Professor Erin Hestir boarding a plane with a NASA logo on it in South Africa.

Multinational Effort to Map South Africa’s Biodiversity from the Air Earns NASA Award

October 15, 2025
BioSCape, a multinational research project co-led by UC Merced, the University at Buffalo and the University of Cape Town, which monitored Earth’s biodiversity from the air, has received a Group Achievement Award as part of the 2024-25 NASA Honor Awards. A new documentary also showcases the project...
This summer's cohort of Data Science Challenge students and Professor Suzanne Sindi (red scarf)

Two Weeks, One Challenge, Lifelong Impact: Bobcats Dive into Data Science Challenge

October 6, 2025
Kathy Chau believed she knew what her future would look like. The first in her family to attend college, she had long been advised to aim for a safe and stable job — one that might not light a fire in her soul but would pay the bills. “I resigned myself to working a corporate job. I didn't like the...
Image with blue and gold on either side, female wearing red dress holding a plaque

Abigail Gyamfi Honored for Excellence in Mentorship and Community Impact

October 6, 2025
Chemistry and Biochemistry Ph.D. student Abigail Gyamfi was recognized by the California Section of the American Chemical Society Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged (SEED) Program and the Women Chemists Committee (WCC). “This is the first time a graduate student has been...
Photo depicts a firefighter battling a blaze at a Southern California home during the Palisades fire in January 2025.

Wildfire Disasters Surged in the Past 10 Years, Study Shows

October 2, 2025
Nearly half of the world’s worst wildfire disasters have occurred in just the past decade, new research from UC Merced’s Fire Resilience Center shows. A study published Thursday in the journal Science reveals that 43 percent of catastrophic wildfire disasters struck in the past 10 years....

UC Merced Launches Distinguished Speaker Series with World-Renowned Bioengineer David Kaplan

September 30, 2025
The Health Sciences Research Institute (HSRI) at UC Merced is preparing to launch its long-envisioned distinguished speaker series on Oct. 6 with a visit from David Kaplan, a Tufts University professor internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in bioengineering. “This is something we’...
Photo depicts smoke over a wildfire burning through a forest.

Forest Carbon: Store it or Burn it? Actually, Both is Best

September 25, 2025
Storing carbon in forests is an essential, nature-based buffer against climate change. Yet forests packed with too many trees increase the threat of severe wildfires, which are becoming all too common in warmer, drier conditions. A team of UC Merced and collaborating researchers evaluated the...
Photo depicts an irrigated field.

AI-Powered Irrigation System Offers Opportunities for Communications as well as Farming

September 24, 2025
An almond orchard in Parlier provides a look into the future of farming. Researchers at UC Merced and the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources installed an irrigation system powered by artificial intelligence to deliver the precise amount of water needed and measure the...
Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

From Soil to Climate Solutions: Berhe Leads Sierra Nevada Research Institute into its Next Chapter

September 11, 2025
When Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe arrived at UC Merced in 2009, she and her husband, Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei, were leaving major research institutions to join a brand-new campus in California’s Central Valley. It was a leap of faith — one made easier by the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. “...

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