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Star Student and NASA Standout Preparing for a Stellar Future

November 12, 2019
Like many young women, Calista Lum absorbed the message that she was not as capable as her male peers when it came to science, technology, engineering and math. Teachers in her Fairfield high school engineering classes often asked if male classmates had done her work for her. “I just assumed the...

Researchers Look to Wetlands to Increase Delta Water Quality

November 4, 2019
UC Merced Professor Peggy O’Day hopes to improve water quality in the California Delta by studying local wetlands. O’Day is leading a new three-year study of Merced County wetlands that drain into the San Joaquin River and eventually the Delta. “The Delta is sort of the heart and lungs of...

Physicist Found His Path to the Future at UC Merced

November 4, 2019
When Denzal Martin started his undergraduate work at UC Merced, he wasn’t thinking about a career in physics, interning with NASA or attending graduate school. The Los Angeles native was studying computer science and engineering. One day, though, he decided to attend a materials science and...

Lab Works to Understand Molecular Motors and Cholesterol’s Relation to Alzheimer’s

November 4, 2019
Professor Jing Xu and her students study extremely tiny motor proteins, but their work could make a huge contribution to the growing body of knowledge about Alzheimer’s and other diseases that progressively destroy brain tissue. Alzheimer's disease is, so far, untreatable and incurable and is the...

Water Yield from Forest Thinning Depends on How, Where and How Much

October 30, 2019
Even a little forest management significantly increases water runoff in the Central Sierra Nevada and other semi-arid regions, while drier forests need more extensive treatments, according to a new study published recently in the journal Ecohydrology. “The result is more runoff to downstream water...

CCBM Bringing High-Powered Speakers for Two-Day Workshop

October 25, 2019
The NSF-CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) at UC Merced is hosting a two-day workshop entitled “Emerging Themes in Cellular and Biomolecular Machines” on campus and in Yosemite National Park. The workshop will bring invited speakers from related National Science Foundation...

Symposium Explores How Biogas Could Fuel California

October 21, 2019
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 104 times greater than carbon dioxide. But what if the methane could be turned into energy? The topic of using waste for power is a hot one, both literally and figuratively, for the San Joaquin Valley. Biogas — the gases naturally...

Berhe Named to Endowed Chair in Recognition of Her Work in Soil Sciences

October 21, 2019
Soil biogeochemistry Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe has been named the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology. “The Falasco family is engaged in construction and development, so they have an intimate connection with and an understanding of the earth beneath our feet,” Berhe said...

RadioBio Breaks Down Science Through the Airwaves

October 15, 2019
Audio has become a top form of entertainment over the past several years, in large part due to the rising popularity of podcasts. UC Merced graduate students are seizing the opportunity to help improve science literacy. A group of Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) graduate students started...

Biodiversity Study Indicates Large and Small Organisms React Similarly to Environment

October 9, 2019
Bacteria and starfish have more in common than people might think. A new study published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences shows that both single-celled (microbes) and multi-celled organisms (every other living thing) in marine lakes share similar reactions to...

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