Campus Life

UC Merced Dining Services will celebrate the spring equinox and Persian New Year today with its second annual Nowruz event.

Organized by Executive Chef Matt Perez in collaboration with Belinda Braunstein, coordinator of the English Language Institute, lunch will be served at the Pavilion dining center from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, March 20. The lunch features traditional Persian dishes crafted with help from volunteer Ph.D. students.

Meal plans, CatDollars, and credit and debit cards will be accepted. For those without a meal plan, lunch costs $12.88.

Shannon Lee – whose extensive resume includes roles as author, producer and legacy-keeper of her father, martial arts icon Bruce Lee -- visited UC Merced on March 6 as a special guest speaker. The event, held in recognition of Women’s History Month, spotlighted her career highlights, not only as Bruce Lee Foundation chair and Bruce Lee Family Companies CEO, but her many creative endeavors that are introducing her father’s philosophies and artistry to new generations of martial arts fans.

Shannon Lee, a New York Times bestselling author and the daughter of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, will share her father's messages of healing and unity Thursday, March 6, at UC Merced.

The event, which is free and open to the public, also will feature Indonesian-inspired food prepared by UC Merced Dining under the guidance of a Michelin Guide chef.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Roland Winston, a pioneer in solar energy, engineering and physics, died Feb. 8 at the age of 88 at his home in Merced.

A founding faculty member in the schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering at UC Merced, Winston also founded and directed the intercampus collaborative Advanced Solar Technologies Institute, known as UC Solar.

His research and teaching focused on concentrating solar energy systems. Winston published hundreds of articles in scientific journals, co-wrote several books and held more than 50 patents.

This story is part of a series for Black History Month. Read more stories highlighting Black excellence at UC Merced.

The Black Scholars Resource Center might be one of UC Merced’s best-kept secrets, although its leaders hope that changes soon.

A lot happened in 2024. Thankfully, we have some very talented photographers to document it all! Enjoy this look back at some of the images of the past year. 

2024 was a remarkable year for UC Merced. From groundbreaking research and academic excellence to inspiring student achievements and impactful community engagement, it has been a year of growth, innovation, and resilience. All of this was documented by our newsroom staff in more than 200 articles.

Here’s a look back at the stories that shaped 2024. 

UC Merced will celebrate hundreds of graduates alongside their friends and families in the Art Kamangar Center at the Merced Theatre this weekend. There are 402 Bobcats set to participate in the fall commencement ceremonies in downtown Merced.

The festivities begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20, with the Graduate Division commencement ceremony.

Innovate to Grow, or I2G as it’s known on campus, is a twice-a-year showcase for UC Merced engineering and computer science students demonstrating projects they have been developing.

Students compete on teams that are judged by experts from around California. People can see the fall showcase Dec. 19, when teams display the results of their work.

These capstone projects are the culmination of students’ undergraduate careers, but the impacts are far more than academic: Teams work together to tackle real-world problems brought to them by clients.

Medical education at UC Merced is expanding at a rapid pace as part of the campus’ long-term goal to address the shortage of physicians and health care professionals in the Central Valley.