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USDA Grant Supports Diverse Ag-related Learning and Training for Students

November 18, 2021
Students at UC Merced and those who might someday become Bobcats are the focus of FARMERS, Professor Rudy M. Ortiz’s training program funded again for $1 million by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). FARMERS stands for Facilitating Agriculture-Related Mentoring for Emerging Research...

Study Shows Climate-Driven Forest Fires on the Rise

November 17, 2021
An upside of the increase in forest fires in the West is that they reduce the amount of fuel available for other burns. That might provide a buffering effect on western fires for the next few decades, but the threat of climate-driven forest fires is not diminishing, a new study shows. Without...

Exploring Microbial Interactions with Glowing Squid

November 15, 2021
As a young child, Professor Michele Nishiguchi would dive off the couch and into the shag carpet reefs of her family home, mimicking the turns and leaps of intrepid explorer and environmentalist Jacques Cousteau. This love of the ocean would remain with Nishiguchi as she progressed through her...

Researcher Studies Cloud Formation as a Key to Climate Change Modeling

November 15, 2021
Lots of people look at clouds and think about flying, floating or the shapes they see. When atmospheric chemistry Professor Xuan Zhang looks at clouds, she thinks about tiny particles in the air. With her first grant from the National Science Foundation, Zhang is studying how pine tree emissions...

Is a Great Lecture Better Than Active Learning? Students May Think So But Study Says Otherwise

November 9, 2021
Students who take part in active learning — engaging directly with the instruction process — learn more than they would from an excellent lecture, though they think they learned less, according to a study co-authored by a UC Merced lecturer. The study, originally published in Proceedings of the...

Research is Clarifying Benefits of Transforming Human Waste into Useable Resources

November 8, 2021
Human waste isn’t a topic most people want to talk about. But environmental systems Professor Rebecca Ryals embraces the subject, especially when it comes to mitigating climate change, improving public health and creating sustainable food systems. In a recent publication in Frontiers in...

NSF Grant to Help Grad Students Find Solutions to Environmental Challenges

November 1, 2021
Graduate students and a convergence of physics, engineering and environmental science could result in not only the next generation of solutions to pressing environmental challenges, but a new group of diverse and globally competitive nano-engineers, as well. A nearly $2 million grant from the...

Professor’s Side-Blotched Lizards Become Latest Campus Inhabitants

October 26, 2021
Every faculty member has to set up their lab when they join a new campus. But Professor Danielle Edwards literally built a key component of hers from the ground up. The outdoor component of El Huevo — the Edwards Lab of Herpetology Uta Evolution Vivarium and Ovipositorium — is set on 1.2 acres...

Hirst Selected for Prestigious Fellowship in the American Physical Society

October 25, 2021
Physics Professor Linda Hirst has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) by the APS Council of Representatives at its most recent meeting. This is the second consecutive year the Department of Physics has had a faculty member elevated to an APS fellowship. The number of APS...

HIV Preventative Developed in LiWang Lab Takes One Big Step Forward

October 20, 2021
An HIV-inhibiting silk film designed to advance prevention and help end the AIDS epidemic in countries in Africa, developed by UC Merced Professor Patti LiWang, has met recent success at the California National Primate Research Center at UC Davis. “They show complete protection,” LiWang said. “The...

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