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Professor Tracey Osborne Taking on Complex, Grand Challenges in Climate and Social Justice

September 9, 2020
The world is a complex place, and humanity faces major challenges. Climate change mitigation might be the most difficult, in large part because of the interdependency of living things and their ecosystems. How do people transform economic systems so they are also sustainable for people and the...

Alum Develops Device to Measure and Manipulate Invisible Force

September 2, 2020
As scientists build smaller and smaller machines, they need to understand the invisible forces that make those machines work. Thanks to research and the initiative of then-UC Merced graduate student Jake Pate, some of those forces can now be measured and manipulated. Pate, who graduated in May with...

New Grant More than Doubles Campus Supercomputing Power

August 31, 2020
UC Merced is rapidly gaining a strong reputation for research and scientific computing across many disciplines and a major expansion of its computing infrastructure is about to cement the campus’ status as a research computing hub. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is supplying $700,000 and the...

SNRI Executive Named Director of State Parks

August 27, 2020
Armando Quintero’s passion for water, conservation, nature and responsible stewardship has carried him through his life, from his days as a National Park ranger, artist, teacher and leader of natural history journeys to his executive director position with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. Now...

Some Immune Cells Appear to ‘Know’ the Coronavirus, Even Though They’ve Never Met

August 20, 2020
Having had the common cold appears to have programmed some people’s immune cells to recognize the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. That discovery — by an immunology team that includes a UC Merced alumnus — could change scientists’ understanding of the virus behind the current pandemic. Lorenzo...

New Project Shining a Light on Energy Storage

August 20, 2020
California’s leaders want the state to reach 100 percent clean energy in the future, including being 60 percent powered by renewable energy by 2030 and being free of fossil fuels entirely by 2045. But if the state wants power without fossil fuels, School of Engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz said...

Precipitation and Drainage Fuel Large CO2 ‘Burps’ from Rainforest Soils, Study Finds

August 17, 2020
It is said that rainforests are the Earth’s lungs, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, building it into lush vegetation and releasing oxygen and water back into the air. But every time there’s a big rain, the rainforest soil emits a significant burst of that CO2, according to a new study...

Reforesting After Wildfires: Which Trees Are Most Likely to Thrive?

August 11, 2020
Wildfire seasons are intensifying because of climate change. That means reforestation efforts will increase, making it important for scientists and resource managers to understand how to make sure restorations will thrive in the future. Because changes in climate challenge forests’ stability and...

Ecosystem Engineers Play Crucial Role in Stabilizing Their Environments, Study Shows

August 11, 2020
When people think of engineering in nature, they tend to think of species such as beavers — the tree-felling, dam-building rodents whose machinations can shape the landscape by creating lakes and changing the path of rivers. But beavers are far from the only organisms to reshape their environment....

World’s Oldest Trees Shape the Diversity of Life in Their Soils, Study Shows

August 10, 2020
There’s a whole world of activity beneath your feet. Soil holds a large proportion of Earth's biodiversity, and is the place where organisms interact with each other and with plants, serving important functions for their ecosystems. A new study shows that trees and rocks are important drivers of...

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