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 members through their college journeys and beyond.
The commemoration at UC Merced on Main marked 25 years of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute and 20 years of UC Merced, one of its member institutions.
"Together these anniversaries tell a shared story - rooted in innovation and access and public impact," UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said.
Smiling even as she cried, Nancy Rodas De Leon stood in UC Merced's University Plaza, accepting hugs, flowers, stuffed animals and cards from extended family.
"These are happy tears," said Rodas De Leon, who previously earned both her undergraduate and master's degrees at UC Merced. The eldest of five children, she said it was hard to believe she was now a doctor of psychological sciences.
"I'm incredibly grateful I got through," she said. "I can't imagine doing anything that would have led to more growth."
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 mechanical engineering, died April 27. He was 59.
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 power to autonomous cars.
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 pumps interact with the heart and body. It's the first time a faculty member from UC Merced has received one of these awards.
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 Barbara.
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 covering operational irrigation canals with solar panels can help save water, generate clean energy, and conserve natural lands.
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 damaged tissue.
However, inflammation can become chronic, leading to life-threatening diseases, such as autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders. Scientists do not fully understand how inflammation becomes unstable.
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 materials in everyday products.
