Faculty

Sociology Ph.D. Student Examines Why Workers Protest in El Salvador

April 25, 2025

UC Merced Sociology graduate student Luis Rubén González Márquez has a new first-authored article titled “The Glocal Foundations of Threat-Driven Labor Resistance to Authoritarian Capitalism,” published by UC Press in the Sociology of Development journal with his advisor, Professor Paul...

Students’ Capstone Project Reaps Sweet Benefits

A group of students in the most recent School of Engineering capstone design course at the University of California, Merced, devised a sweet solution to a local farm’s harvesting problem – one that...

Solar, Water Research Proposals Rewarded with Competitive UC Grants

MERCED, Calif. — Research into sustainable water supplies and viable solar energy solutions won the University of California, Merced, an anticipated $5 million in prestigious and competitive grants...

Day of Giving Nets $40,000 for Scholarships

On Dec. 2, UC Merced alumni, parents, staff, faculty members and friends of the campus came together for the first #GivingTuesdayUCMerced, in an effort to create a positive effect on the lives of ...

New Algorithm Helps Machines Function More Like Brains

Every day, your brain completes millions of complicated functions without you even being aware of them, and it learns as it goes. Teaching a machine to do the same thing is extremely complicated, but...

Undergrads Get One-of-a-Kind Experience through NanoBIO Program

For the University of California, Merced, students in this year’s nanoBIO internships and research program, working with something extremely small could have huge implications. “I had no idea...

Discover Magazine Features Archaeologist’s Cave Research

Most archaeologists have to dig in the field, but Professor Holley Moyes digs deeper than most. Her research takes her more than 400 feet into the Belize underground, where ancient Maya caves hold...

Ph.D. Student Beats Odds to Put Science and Community First

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...

Researchers Delve into Valley Fever from All Angles

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....

NIH Supports Professor’s Work in Inhibiting HIV Infection

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...