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Researcher Illuminates the Olfactory Life of Crabs

February 27, 2017
If you want to know what the ocean really smells like, you’ll have to ask a crab. Yes, crabs have a sense of smell. In humans, chemicals in the air flow into our nasal cavities toward specialized sensory cells. Olfaction occurs when odorant molecules bind to specific sites on the olfactory...

Despite Farms, Some in Valley Struggle to Find Fresh Food

February 22, 2017
It might come as a surprise that, in a region where agriculture is so prevalent, many people in the San Joaquin Valley cannot afford fresh, quality produce or live too far from grocery stores, farmers markets and other sources. A recent study from UC Merced public health Professor Susana Ramirez...

Cancer Patients’ Care Requires More Than Written Instructions

February 13, 2017
The depth and breadth of post-diagnosis care for cancer patients often depends on the resources available to them. But a new paper in the journal PLoS One by UC Merced Professor Nancy Burke shows that care — and how effective it is — also depends on understanding and addressing cultural differences...

Study: Infants Recognize Surprise in Others Before Age 2

February 8, 2017
Infants as young as 20 months of age expect adults to display surprise when discovering a false belief, according to a new study from UC Merced Professor Rose Scott. Previous research suggested that children younger than 4 years old could not recognize when people held beliefs different from their...

Raindrops, Red Wine Inspire Solar Tech Advancements

February 6, 2017
In recent publications, Professor Vincent Tung proves that inspiration for advancements in materials science can come from anywhere — even the merging of raindrops on a windshield or the sheeting of red wine down the inside of a glass. Through those liquid movements, Tung discovered and optimized a...

New UC Grant Enables Deeper, Broader Valley Fever Research

February 1, 2017
Researchers at UC Merced are playing key roles in the new UC Valley Fever Research Initiative, studying how the Valley fever fungus, Coccidioides immitis, causes disease in its mammalian hosts, and identifying the genes involved in this process. School of Natural Sciences professors Clarissa Nobile...

Blum Center Relaunching With Focus on Food

January 30, 2017
UC Merced is relaunching its branch of the Blum Center for Developing Economies with a focus on food security for the first two years of the faculty-led effort. Economics Professor Kurt Schnier, with the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and Karina Diaz Rios, a nutrition specialist in...

‘Diverse’ Magazine Names Groundbreaking Professor an Emerging Scholar

January 26, 2017
The magazine Diverse: Issues in Higher Education has named UC Merced Professor Ala Qattawi an Emerging Scholar of the Year in its first issue of 2017. Qattawi, with the School of Engineering, is the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in automotive engineering, and the only automotive...

Bird Researcher Expands Knowledge About Reserve’s Kestrels

January 23, 2017
Kestrels are a fixture among the birds on the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve adjacent to campus. Though they are not endangered, the small falcons’ population has declined by 60 percent in California over the past half-century because of changes in land usage. Nesting-box programs like...

Artist-in-Residence Brings Theories of Flight to Classroom, Community

January 19, 2017
Spanish artist Olga Diego blends the concepts of art and engineering into the magic of flight. This semester, Diego is bringing her creativity and expertise to UC Merced as the campus’s newest artist-in-residence and lecturer. Diego, known partly for her playful and often-oversized inflatable...

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