Graduate Students

The 18th annual Ma Kelley Memorial Shoot-Out and the fifth annual Building Future Champions Dinner, presented by Merced Honda in October at the Stevinson Ranch Golf Course, netted more than $56,000 for UC Merced Athletics.

As part of the University of California Global Food Initiative, 54 students — including six from UC Merced—have been awarded fellowships to fund projects that will address issues ranging from community gardens and food pantries to urban agriculture and food waste.

The odds were stacked against Ruben Rodriguez. When the 27-year-old UC Merced student was still in high school, he was confronted with a sobering statistic that Hispanics receive only 5 percent of all doctorates awarded.

From understanding how groups of atoms behave at ultra-low temperatures to modeling how flocks of birds organize, UC Merced's Physics group is helping solve many of the world's mysteries and using the knowledge to improve technology, ranging from computing to solar energy conversion.

With psychiatrists in short supply throughout the community, UC Merced is leveraging modern technology to expand that service to students.

How patients perceive and talk about their illnesses can have an impact on how they recover and heal, according to a growing area of health research being furthered by UC Merced health psychology Professor Jitske Tiemensma.

"It should be a team effort to treat a patient. Medical doctors often have no idea about the psychological consequences of disease," she said. "It's really important for them to have close ties to health psychologists."

UC Merced is recruiting three students to be part of the UC Global Food Initiative, which aims to address how to sustainably and nutritiously feed a world population expected to reach 8 billion by 2025.

The campus has three $2,500 food fellowships open to undergraduate and graduate students, and applications are being accepted through Sept. 30 on Chancellor Dorothy Leland's website. The recipients will be announced in mid-October. The proposal will be evaluated on how they can advance the UC Global Food Initiative.