Welcome to the Physics and Chemistry Graduate Group

We are a close-knit and diverse research group of faculty, students, and postdocs in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California, Merced. To address modern scientific and technological challenges from renewable energy to advanced computation to human health, our graduate program is fostered by UC Merced's unique academic structure, which favors an interdisciplinary approach over more traditional departments. As the first new American research university of the 21st century, we have been able to build large collaborative groups in emerging research areas such as solar energy, nanoscience, soft matter and biological physics, and atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics in addition to more traditional areas of physics and chemistry.

Science and Engineering Building, in the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite.

Recent News

Merced Sun-Star: Column: UC Merced Connect: Physicist finds answers in small places *Also appeared in the Sacramento Bee

New paper by Marina Stavytska-Barba et al (A. M. Kelley lab) in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C: Plasmonic Enhancement of Raman Scattering from the Organic Solar Cell Material P3HT/PCBM by Triangular Silver Nanoprisms

New paper by Justin Hujdic et al (Menke lab) in The journal of Physical Chemistry Letters: Lead Selenide Nanowires Prepared by Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition (subscription required for link)

New paper by Justin Hujdic et al (Menke lab) in the journal Nanoscale: High-density gold nanowire arrays by lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition

Prof. Sayantani Ghosh win NSF CAREER grant for the Investigation of Spatial and Temporal Scales of Cooperative Spin Clusters in Doped and Undoped Geometrically Frustrated Magnets, 6 January 2011 (Prof. Sayantani Ghosh)

Physicist Wins Prestigious National Science Foundation Award, UC Merced News Articles, 4 February 2011 (Prof. Sayantani Ghosh)

UC Merced publication highlights home-grown technology, Merced Sun-Star (Prof. Jinah Choi, Prof. Matthew Meyer, Prof. Patti LiWang, Prof. Wei-Chun Chin, and grad students Scott Seronello, Hui Zhu, and Eric Yi-Tong Chen) 14 Dec 2010

Prof. Anne Kelley, Prof. Erik Menke and Prof. Tao Ye win NSF grant to study Acquisition of a high performance ambient atomic force microscope, 3 Dec 2010

Campus to Study Faculty Recruitment Techniques for Diversity, UC Merced Feature, 3 Dec, 2010 (Dean Maria Pallavicini)

How Animals Avoid Each Other, (Prof. Ajay Gopinathan, and grad student Igor Goncharenko), Physical Review Focus, 12 Nov 2010.

Prof. Ajay Gopinathan and Co-PI Kerwyn Huang (Stanford) win NSF grant to study Stochastic Transport in Biology: From molecules to Ecosystems, 15 Sept 2010.

Profs. Shawn Newsam, Mike Colvin and Ajay Gopinathan win NSF grant for research into disordered protein dynamics, 1 Sept 2010.

Professor Wins UC Mexus Award for Research, UC Merced Panorama 1 Sept. 2010 (Prof. Ajay Gopinathan)

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