Elizabeth Arakelian

Imagine blending economics, psychology, and neuroscience to pioneer new ways to think about human behavior.

Behavioral economist Colin Camerer does just that and was honored as the recipient of the 12^th annual Distinguished Cognitive Scientist award on Monday. Bestowed by UC Merced’s Cognitive and Information Sciences department, this award honors researchers who have made game-changing contributions to the study of mind, brain, and behavior.

Complex societies produce people with more varied personalities.

That’s the surprising finding of a cognitive science study that attempts to understand how people develop into who they are: social and ecological environments in which we develop have a lot to do with it.

Harrison Duran has always wanted to discover ‘the land before time,’ and his desire to dig up dinosaur bones led him to the Badlands of North Dakota, where Alice the Triceratops was waiting for him.

Anne Zanzucchi has worn many different hats in her 14 years at UC Merced and now she is preparing to enter her newest role as associate dean for Student Services and Academics for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA).

A social movement’s cause can be as diverse as the people who spur it in the first place —examples abound, from community organizations initiating struggles for neighborhood sidewalks and clean water to national level mobilizations led by labor unions and their allies against the privatization of education and healthcare.

But how do social movements get started? And why do some last while others wither? Ask Professor and Department of Sociology Chair Paul Almeida.

The rate of smoking in the San Joaquin Valley is the highest in California — on par with tobacco-producing regions in Georgia and South Carolina — and UC Merced’s Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) is determined to change that.

Hundreds of accomplished students walked in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) commencement earlier this month, proudly wearing their cap, gown and stole. Among them were a handful of students wearing one additional item: a gold medal hung on a blue and yellow ribbon inscribed with the UC Merced seal.

These were the recipients of the SSHA Outstanding Student Awards.

A decade has passed since Sam Fong (’09) crossed the stage to get his diploma and walked through Beginnings for the first time as part of UC Merced’s inaugural graduating class, and a lot has changed.

For one, the student population has quadrupled to nearly 8,000. The campus is in the midst of a massive expansion. But the 2019 commencement ceremonies provided a pause and a perfect opportunity for Fong and other first graduates to reflect on the university’s early days.

When Anna Ocegueda walks across the stage at UC Merced’s 2019 commencement, it will be not only a powerful moment for her, but for her family, too — and for the thousands of people who identify with her story.

Ocegueda is the daughter of migrant farm workers from Mexico and as one of five children, is the first in her family to graduate from a four-year university. This weekend, she receives her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in Spanish.

Where do Shakespeare and swing dancing collide? At UC Merced’s Global Arts, Media & Writing Studies (GAMWS) Spring Showcase.

For the second time this academic year, students, faculty and community members will gather to enjoy the culminating work of UC Merced’s GAMWS students. Unlike other art departments, UC Merced’s GAMWS work is unique in that the coursework intentionally blends a range of art forms to provide students a holistic understanding of the arts.