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 education without delaying graduation or adding significant cost.
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, engineering and mathematics.
The scholarship provides $7,500 annually to support tuition, fees, books and living expenses. It is awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional research achievement and promise, and who plan to pursue careers centered on scientific discovery.
Professors Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and Ming-Hsuan Yang have been named 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized this year for their distinguished scientific and social achievements.
UC Merced’s CalTeach program is opening new pathways for younger students to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, academic support and early exposure to a college environment.
On most days, Reo Maynard’s life swings between two ecosystems: the microscopic world inside an ant’s gut and the sprawling one that stretches from Fresno to the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The 51-year-old Navy veteran, dad of two, screenwriter-in-waiting and newly minted Fresno City College faculty member is in his eighth year at UC Merced, earning his Ph.D. in Quantitative Systems Biology.
“I’ll be defending in May. The end is here,” he said, with the equal parts relief and wonder of someone who kept moving when the ground shifted beneath him.
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, supported by a prestigious $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation, pushes that inquiry into bold, uncharted territory.
Professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin arrived in Merced in 2003, the first non-administrative faculty members at UC Merced. They came with a vision: to create a research university that would serve California’s future.
Now, after more than 22 years of building institutions, mentoring and pioneering environmental research, Bales has retired from UC Merced.
A team of scientists led by UC Merced is embarking on a project to understand how the twisted shapes of specific molecules can influence the spin of electrons — a phenomenon that could revolutionize solar energy, electronics and quantum computing.
The research, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, focuses on a mysterious effect known as chirality-induced spin selectivity, or CISS.
Kathy Chau believed she knew what her future would look like. The first in her family to attend college, she had long been advised to aim for a safe and stable job — one that might not light a fire in her soul but would pay the bills.
“I resigned myself to working a corporate job. I didn't like the sound of it, but I didn't hate it, either,” she said.
