News

UC Merced Student Makes Campus History with Goldwater Scholarship

April 27, 2026
Avinav Biswas, a third‑year undergraduate majoring in biological sciences at UC Merced, has been named a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, becoming the university’s first recipient of one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate awards for students pursuing research careers in science,...

From Classrooms to Communities, UC Merced Symposium Tackles Public Health Challenges

April 17, 2026
Community voices, student research and cross-sector partnerships took center stage at the UC Merced’s Public Health Symposium, where speakers emphasized equity, access and connection as urgent priorities in the Central Valley and beyond. The symposium was co-organized by the Departments of Public...

Turlock Student Blends Public Health, Advocacy to Support Underserved Communities

April 16, 2026
Simone Samra’s dedication to education and community work is influenced by her mother's experience immigrating from India and her belief in the power of education for immigrant women. Samra is keenly aware of the barriers immigrants face when attempting to transfer their education or degrees, often...

New Liberal Studies Major Expands Paths for Degree Completion and Future Teachers

April 13, 2026
A highly customizable degree that rewards curiosity, reaches out to a diverse set of learners and prepares scholars for people-centered careers has arrived at UC Merced. Liberal studies, a bachelor’s program that taps into disciplines in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, debuts in...

UC Merced’s Center for Health Equity Convenes Partners to Address Patient Trust Gap in San Joaquin Valley

March 26, 2026
On March 20, UC Merced's Center for Health Equity brought together researchers, regional health partners and community members to share findings from a study on how community health workers are transforming patient care across the San Joaquin Valley. "This has been a long-term vision for myself and...

Ripon Student Turning Heart and Heritage into a Path of Healing

March 19, 2026
As a child of the Central Valley and a member of a Native tribe, Grace Grinder developed an early awareness of health care disparities affecting rural regions and underserved communities. While in third grade, Grinder lost her grandmother to what she described as too few physicians nearby to...

Delhi Student Made the Leap to UC Merced and Hasn’t Looked Back

March 17, 2026
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. A few more taps and Nayelyi Salazar would be a community college student — a big step for the high-schooler from Delhi, a town of 10,000 that hugs California’s Highway 99. She hesitated. Days earlier, she received an acceptance letter from a University of...

Researchers Rebuild Microscopic Circadian Clock That Can Control Genes

February 10, 2026
Our circadian clocks play a crucial role in our health and well-being, keeping our 24-hour biological cycles in sync with light and dark exposure. Disruptions in the rhythms of these clocks, as with jet lag and daylight saving time, can throw our daily rhythms out of whack. But a group of...

Unlocking the Secrets of Tiny, Living Clocks Could Revolutionize Science

February 2, 2026
Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang has spent much of his career studying how life keeps time. His work on the circadian clock of cyanobacteria — tiny, ancient organisms that share the planet with us — has shed light on one of biology’s most elegant systems. But his newest research project,...

Ph.D. Student Awarded Fellowship to Advance Environmental Health and Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation

December 18, 2025
Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship. The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health. Opoku, who works...

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