IN THIS ISSUE

FACULTY RESEARCH & ACCOLADES

STUDENT NEWS

STAFF CORNER

Emily Moran and her team have been looking at sugar pine seedling performance in post-fire restoration plantings and what best predicts their survival and growth. Their study was published in the journal, Ecosphere.

Fred Wolf and researchers at UC Merced used fruit flies to uncover a cellular process common to many organisms that could dramatically impact the understanding of cancer and aging.

Tomas Rube received the Hellman Fellowship.

Stephanie Woo and Stefan Materna have established a more efficient and reliable way of labeling proteins to see their location in cells and how that location changes under different conditions. Half of the co-authors on their recent paper on the subject were undergraduate students.

Justin Yeakel and Ajay Gopinathan modeled predation behaviors, as well as changes in those behaviors, among large carnivores, developing a new theory that will help biologists assess the health of various ecosystems.

Tao Ye, Hui Cai, Sayatani Ghosh, and Michael Scheibner were awarded a $1 million seed grant from the National Science Foundation to form a research collaborative to expand participation and access to materials, research-focused facilities, education, training and careers.

In a recent article in MRS Advances, David Strubbe proposed a paradigm for computational material science CUREs, enabled by web-based simulation tools that require minimal computational skills. After preparatory exercises, students each calculate part of a set of closely related materials, following a defined protocol to contribute to a novel class dataset which they analyze, and also calculate an additional property of their choice.

Kinjal Dasbiswas is part of a group of researchers that have made discoveries about the mechanics of blood clots that could help in the development of biomaterials for tissue engineering and improved surgical adhesives.

Graduate Students

Physics Ph.D. student Micah Oeur has been awarded a 2024-2025 UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship

Physics graduate student Thomas Adams was awarded the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

QSB's Pedro Perez, with Dr. Michele Nishiguchi, published his first paper in Molecular Ecology.

Physics graduate student Arabi Seshappan was awarded the Fulbright U.S. Student Program's Fulbright-Université Paris-Saclay Doctoral Research Award.

Sameen Yunus, advised by Prof. David Strubbe, is being awarded the University of California National-Laboratory In-Residence Graduate Fellowship for the project “Achieving Fast Ignition with Electron Heating for Fusion Energy Applications,” with Dr. Ronnie Shepherd at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

QSB students Gloria Denise Ligunas and Jonathon Kuntz won the UCM Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship.

Harry Hart-Alesch, advised by Prof. Jay Sharping, was awarded the UCM Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship for his thesis work on sensing with microwave cavities.

Undergraduate Students

Outstanding Graduating Senior Award Winners

Each semester the School of Natural Sciences recognizes exceptional graduating undergraduate students with ‘Outstanding Graduating Senior Awards’. Students are nominated and selected by the faculty who oversee their major. Awardees are selected based on criteria including academic excellence, achievements in research, service to UC Merced, and community service and outreach. This semester’s winners were recognized during an awards reception on December 5th:

Nathan Macalino- Applied Mathematical Sciences

Omar Safi- Applied Mathematical Sciences

Andres Aguilar- Biological Sciences

Evelin Guardado Barron- Biological Sciences

Isabel Jones- Biological Sciences

Alana Shakra- Biological Sciences

Justin Liu- Biological Sciences

Gabriel Tejada-Environmental Systems Science

Adelynne Wagner- Chemistry

On the Spot Awards

The On-the-Spot Recognition Program provides SNS staff a way to show appreciation for their fellow SNS colleagues in-the-moment. Nominators submit a few sentences of recognition which are shared during our monthly staff breakfast. Winners receive a gift card as a token of appreciation.

This semester’s winners were:

Melissa Cutter
Vanessa Ortega
Erica Robbins
Jenn Souza
Chelsea Flannery
Cynthia Granados
Maricela Melendrez
Sophia Guillen
Angie Salinas
Dora Lopes
Petia Gueorguieva

2nd Annual Bobcat Pawrade

SNS staff participated in the Bobcat Pawrade by decorating a School of Natural Sciences academic program themed golf cart to welcome incoming UC Merced undergraduate students during the annual Scholar's Lane Bridge crossing. The "pawrade" featured creative and highly decorated UCM golf carts showcasing our spirit, community and passion for our students.

Got News? Recent Accomplishments? We Want to Hear From You!

If you have any news please email us at: snsnews@ucmerced.edu