Kenneth Mashinchi

Alzheimer’s disease affects people all over the world and Kumaran Akilan’s family is no different.

As the first-year student from Cupertino waits to see if his grandfather’s mild cognitive impairment is indeed Alzheimer’s, Akilan has been busy deciphering a new way to diagnose the disease — with a smartphone.

With the help of a friend, Akilan recently developed a computer-vision algorithm that extracts the retinal vessel system and determines abnormalities that can help detect the presence of Alzheimer’s.

As the only institution in the country with all LEED certified buildings, being sustainable is ingrained in UC Merced’s DNA. Now, a new competition is challenging the university to strive for carbon neutrality through a UC system-based initiative.

During the month of April, all 10 UC campuses will go head-to-head in the Cool Campus Challenge, a contest to see which UC location can do the most to reduce its carbon footprint and spread the word about the importance of becoming carbon neutral.

Representatives from UC Merced have joined President Janet Napolitano’s newly formed Chicano/Latino Advisory Council for the University of California.

Under the leadership of Professors Asmeret Berhe and Stephen Hart, three UC Merced Environmental Systems (ES) graduate students have been awarded fellowships from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to advance their doctoral theses.

UC Merced welcomed Beth Mitchneck, vice provost for Faculty Success at University of Massachusetts, Lowell, as part of Chancellor’s Dialogue on Diversity and Interdisciplinarity series last week.

Mitchneck presented “Institutional Change for Equality: A Recipe for Change,” which provided a framework for institutional transformation to help universities become more gender equitable.

Under the leadership of Professors Asmeret Berhe and Stephen Hart, three UC Merced Environmental Systems (ES) graduate students have been awarded fellowships from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to advance their doctoral theses.

UC Merced honored nearly 200 employees for their loyalty to the university and higher education at the annual Celebrating Service breakfast earlier this week.

Those honored each received a crystal award with milestone markers for their service to UC Merced and lapel pins for their total service. A service milestone is reached every five years.

Division leaders for the employees shared a few words about the employees’ impact during their years of service.

With nearly a third of all food worldwide being wasted and millions of people going hungry every day, preventing food from going to waste is a crucial operation.

The Bobcat Eats Food Waste Awareness and Prevention Program may have a long name, but in a short amount of time it is playing a major role in curtailing food waste in Merced County by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste.

The Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) was recently highlighted in a video at the Biophysical Society (BPS) Annual Meeting in Baltimore. The conference brings together more than 6,000 attendees from all over the world.

New student orientation and learning assistance coordinator Dulcemaria Anaya and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts graduate specialist Karla Seijas were recognized as 2019 Latina Women of the Year at a luncheon earlier this month. The Merced County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted the event recognizing three women for their work in the community.