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A Brand-New Degree and a Stellar Job Offer to Accompany it

Depicted is UC Merced graduate Eduardo Savala Alvarez, in a cowboy hat and stole on campus.

UC Merced prides itself on its high social mobility ranking (No. 3 among public schools in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal). Social mobility is defined as the ability to move between socioeconomic tiers.

But what does that mean, really?

2025 costliest year on record for wildfires, study finds

Depicted are students in yellow vests and hard hats standing around and in a two-story Snoopy doghouse.

Bobcats Outbuild Bears in Timber Strong Competition

A doghouse built by Bobcats for a famous beagle beat out a fairytale structure hammered together by Bears. UC Merced's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers took part in the annual Timber-Strong Design Build competition in April, going up against UC Berkeley in a day-long...

Depicted are groups of people sitting at tabled and talking at UC Merced's Merced 2 Market event.

Projects to Make the World Better Promoted at Merced 2 Market

An artificial intelligence-powered system to ensure the safety of the elderly while still providing privacy. Wearable muscle monitoring to speed recovery from injury. A chemical-free method of putting out fires. A more effective way to detect methane leaks. These were just some of the projects...

Photo depicts dry, cracked land among weeds.

Can AI Help Predict and Manage Drought? UC Merced Researchers Explain in New Book

After a couple of years of sufficient water, much of California is showing "abnormally dry" conditions in spring 2026, according to the state drought monitor. And as climate change adds more swings between wet and dry conditions, researchers are working on ways to better identify, predict and...

A student hones communication skills by learning how to use comedy to deliver messages.

From Wild Mushrooms to Punchlines, Bobcats Learn in Out-of-the-Box Ways

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine. Walk across UC Merced’s campus on any weekday, and you might hear laughter spilling from a classroom, feel the thrum of a wind tunnel or spot students crouched in a field searching for mushrooms. Not...

Members of UC Merced's National Society of Black Engineers pose with their certificate at the convention in Baltimore.

Black Engineering Society Honored as Chapter of the Year, Again

UC Merced's chapter of the  National Society of Black Engineers was again honored as the Region VI Medium Chapter of the Year. It is the second consecutive year the organization received this recognition. The NSBE, established at UC Merced in 2007, provides support, guidance and advocacy for its...

Depicted are UC Merced and CITRIS representatives around a cake commemorating the organization's 25th anniversary.

Celebration of UC Merced and CITRIS Looks Both Back and Forward

A recent celebration marked important anniversaries for two partners in research and innovation, but both emphasized that the most exciting events still lie ahead. The commemoration at UC Merced on Main marked 25 years of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (...

Professor YangQuan Chen is pictured standing behind a table with flowers at UC Merced on Main.

Remembering YangQuan Chen, Mechanical Engineering Innovator and Mentor to Many

Services are set Sunday afternoon for Professor YangQuan Chen, whose contibutions to UC Merced's School of Engineering and to the university as a whole will endure through programs he helped build, the research he advanced, and the many students and colleagues he inspired. Chen, a professor of...

A graduate student eagerly anticipates her hooding ceremony.

Degrees, Cheers and a Record Number of Graduates Under the Open Sky

UC Merced is abuzz with celebration as students, families, friends, staff and faculty finish last-minute preparations for the largest commencement in university history. Across three outdoor ceremonies, 1,649 undergraduates and 112 graduate students will walk the stage at Spring Commencement 2026,...

Collage of three headshots of Commencement keynote speakers

UC Merced Alumni to Take the Stage as Commencement Speakers

UC Merced will celebrate the Class of 2026 with three inspiring alumni returning to campus as keynote speakers for commencement ceremonies May 15-17. Emily Reed, ’07, ’13, a tenured biology professor at Merced College, will share her story with more than 100 master’s and doctoral degree candidates...

Northern California could face a fire-prone summer — here are the wild cards

Professor Marina Garcia Lopez-Arias is pictured holding a block of concrete in her lab at UC Merced.

Work with Making More Sustainable Concrete Earns Award from Purdue

Cement is responsible for 8 percent of the world's carbon emissions. Some building companies provide ways to mitigate those emissions to try to reach "net zero" projects, so that their impact is offset. But what if the concrete itself could not only be created more sustainably but also act as a...

Professor Ross Greer is pictured with five students and an autonomous model car in his lab at UC Merced.

UC Merced Project Aimed at Making Autonomous Cars Safer with NVDIA

Road changes such as lane shifts, new signs and speed-limit modifications can be confusing to drivers, both human and mechanical. A human driver can quickly perceive and understand new or temporary changes to road conditions. A new project at UC Merced aims to deliver that same swift processing...

Bioengineering Professor and biofluid dynamicist Arian Aghilinejad is pictured in his lab at UC Merced

AHA Career Award, UC Merced's First, Funds Project Aimed at Improving Heart Interventions

Left ventricular devices, or LVADs, are life saving for patients with advanced heart failure, a condition that affects more than 6 million Americans each year. A UC Merced researcher has earned an American Heart Association Career Development Award to fund his work on improving how these mechanical...

Leah Stokes, a political scientist, energy expert and climate communicator from UC Santa Barbara, speaks from the stage at UC Merced.

Turning A Carbon Footprint into a Carbon Wave

It's time to think bigger about mitigating climate change. Measures such as recycling, turning off lights and reducing energy use are great, but making a real impact is going to take systemic change, said Leah Stokes, a political scientist, energy expert and climate communicator from UC Santa...

Elementary school students get a lesson in engineering and physics from undergraduates in the CalTeach program.

UC Merced Opens Flexible Routes from STEM Degrees to Teaching and Beyond

Students who arrive at UC Merced planning on specific careers often discover along the way that their interests — and strengths — are broader than they first imagined. A new initiative called Education Tracks, or EdTracks, is designed to give students a flexible, low‑risk way to explore careers in...

Depicted is a poster describing solar-over-canal Project Nexus in front of the actual structure.

State's First Solar Canal Project Moves from UC Merced Lab to Real World

What started as a premise in a UC Merced lab culminated with a commemoration of Project Nexus, California's first solar canal project. On Wednesday, state leaders gathered at the Project Nexus sites in Hickman and Keyes to celebrate the completion of the construction pilot, which demonstrates how...

Pictured are Professor Eva de Alba and members of her lab standing outside the Biomedical Sciences & Physics building at UC Merced.

What Causes Chronic Inflammation? UC Merced Project Aims to Find Out

Inflammation can be a good thing. When the human body is exposed to injury or infection, inflammation - which can result in redness, heat, swelling and pain as white blood cells fight threats - is the first line of defense. Inflammation helps fight bacteria, viruses and other pathogens and repair...

Depicted are postdoctoral researcher Sourabh Kumar and Professor Ashlie Martini in their lab.

UC Merced Researchers Explain How Mechanical Force Can Trigger Chemical Reactions

Mechanical force can do more than just push things around - it can also trigger chemical reactions. A new review by researchers at UC Merced and Penn State brings together decades of work to explain how these reactions occur and why they matter for technologies ranging from pharmaceuticals to the...