Research

Finalists Vie for Campus Grad Slam Champion Title During Research Week

March 10, 2025

Each spring, master’s and doctoral students across UC Merced’s 18 graduate groups are invited to contend in the campus’s Grad Slam Finals. They are given three minutes and one visual slide to present their research to a panel of non-specialist judges. This year’s...

Stanford Runner, Researcher Ready for Next Step

Spencer Castro is moving from one of the nation's most established research universities and most successful athletics programs to one building its reputation in both regards. He's also coming home,...

Research Gets to the Root of California's Water Cycle

In a remarkable outdoor laboratory in the Sierra, a team of researchers led by UC Merced hydrologist Roger Bales is using sensors to gather a mother lode of data to greatly improve ecological...

Study Builds on Plausible Scenario for Origin of Life on Earth

A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry co-authored...

Study: Climate Change to Increase Yellowstone Wildfires Dramatically

An increase in wildfires due to climate change could rapidly and profoundly alter the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, according to a new study authored by environmental engineering and geography...

Cap-and-Trade Trumps Carbon Taxes for Clean Tech Adoption

A cap-and-trade system is more likely than a carbon tax system to trigger the adoption of clean energy technologies, according to a study by Professor Yihsu Chen at the University of California, ...

Global Sustainable Engineering Network to Move to UC Merced

The University of California, Merced, will become the new headquarters of Engineers for a Sustainable World effective July 1, the university announced today. Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW)...

Study: Urban Rail Reduces Carbon Monoxide Air Pollution

The opening of a major urban rail system in Taiwan caused a meaningful reduction in air pollution, according to a forthcoming study by two professors at the University of California, Merced. “Despite...

Human Rights a Passion for Literature Professor

Just after graduating college in 1995, Nigel Hatton showed up for the first day of his journalism internship with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia. That afternoon, he was assigned to go with...

Self-Identified Social Smokers Less Likely to Try to Quit

Self-identified social smokers are less likely to try to quit and to avoid smoking for more than a month, according to a national study in the American Journal of Public Health conducted by...