Patty Guerra

Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square miles by Wednesday morning. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services recorded more than 9,000 lightning strikes in a single day.

Lightning is a major source of wildfire ignition in the western United States every summer.

Three professors are joining UC Merced’s Agricultural Experiment Station this fall, bringing more expertise and resources to the 3-year-old research center.

UC Merced’s smart farm is getting a smart barn.

The university will receive $3 million from the state of California, part of $80 million in funding to support 11 projects across California announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Jobs First Council.

The money will go to construct an agricultural technology barn at the site of UC Merced’s Agriculture Experimentation Station, known as the Smart Farm. The barn facility will be used for research and development, according to the governor’s office.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $600,000 to support a groundbreaking project at UC Merced aimed at accelerating the future of artificial intelligence and scientific research.

The National Society of Black Engineers, established at UC Merced in 2007, is one of the campus’s oldest and most active student organizations. It provides support, guidance and advocacy for its members through their college journeys and beyond.

All that hard work has been recognized by the national NSBE organization, which recently awarded UC Merced its Region VI Chapter of the Year award during its convention in Chicago.

A team of UC Merced researchers has shown that tiny artificial cells can accurately keep time, mimicking the daily rhythms found in living organisms. Their findings shed light on how biological clocks stay on schedule despite the inherent molecular noise inside cells.

UC Merced's Makerspace lab has been living up to its name recently.

The School of Engineering's lab, housed in the Sustainability Research and Engineering building, has been increasingly busy. The Makerspace offers services to courses, research and campus clubs.

At first glance, a mathematical model that describes how quickly materials transform from one phase to another might seem to have few other practical applications.

But what if this kind of model could be adapted to predict the spread of the next pandemic?

Two UC Merced researchers have been studying the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) equation, which helps scientists describe and predict how materials change over time, such as when crystals grow from a liquid, or when a new solid phase with a different composition emerges in an existing solid.

A simulation for a proposed air transport system among University of California campuses earned an award for a team of UC Merced students.

A UC Merced team competing in a U.S. Department of Energy contest won its division with a proposal to use floating solar panels to power the campus's Experimental Smart Farm.