Lorena Anderson

A group of interdisciplinary scientists have put the practice of science itself under a microscope to begin quantifying the fundamental drivers of scientific discovery and to help develop tools and policies aimed at improving the scientific endeavor.

An article co-written by 14 researchers from various universities including UC Merced, lays out a framework that could pave the way to improving the current researcher-evaluation system. Many people say the current system stifles younger researchers, especially those working at the intersections of disciplines.

Management Professor Alexander Petersen said that without the roadmaps UC Merced offers for new faculty, he’d have been adrift on campus his first year.

“I tend to get lost easily when there is a deluge of new information, so the new faculty seminars appropriately spread out information across the entire year into more digestible pieces,” he said.

Orientation seminars, though, are just one of the resources available to untenured faculty members who are new to UC Merced.

An ongoing effort to collect, digitally preserve and share 100 years of historical records by the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) has earned the UC Merced Library a more than $300,000 grant.

Make the connections that will help you make your ideas and dreams become a reality.

Spend a couple days at UC Merced meeting successful entrepreneurs and hearing how they have brought their ideas to life, learning about the essentials of entrepreneurship, gaining foundational knowledge, and exploring the strengths and weaknesses of your entrepreneurial plan in this special series of workshops.

With race, immigration, rising inequality, gender discrimination and collective mobilization grabbing current headlines, the work of the UC Merced sociology unit — always relevant locally — is gaining wider recognition across the country.

Outstanding contributions in service to professional organizations, academic institutions and the advancement of criminal justice have earned Graduate Dean Marjorie Zatz the Julius Debro Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on People of Color and Crime.

She will be honored at a luncheon ceremony today in Philadelphia as part of the ASC’s annual conference, where she will also present a session for attendees from around the nation.

Professor Laura Giuliano isn’t the only female economics faculty member at UC Merced, but she is the only faculty member who worked in the Obama administration before joining the campus.

As a senior labor economist supporting the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, Giuliano and her colleagues played a big role in policy written during the last administration.

Topics ranging from ethnobotany, public health and feminism to agriculture, urban growth and social movements are among the highlights of the Mesoamerican Studies Center’s upcoming conference at UC Merced.

If you’ve ever wondered why people stand where they do on the political spectrum, science might have at least part of the answer: People can be biologically predisposed to certain feelings toward politics and society.

A new paper lead-authored by UC Merced graduate student Chelsea Coe indicates that physiological factors can predict how someone will react when presented with political scenarios — an idea that demonstrates an emerging area of study, the intersection of biology and politics.

Political science students are invited to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the unit’s founding with a special student-oriented event from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in the Classroom and Office Building 2, Room 390.

The event gives students the opportunity to meet with their faculty members — who have worked a lot of extra hours to build the successful political science group — outside of office hours and class time.