How do you take a university further?

For UC Merced’s chancellor, the answer starts with record-setting enrollment and extends to student opportunities, strong community connections, and new homes for students, academics and research, along with an ever-growing national reputation.

Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz pointed to the future and celebrated the university’s people and achievements in his annual State of the University address Oct. 21 before a gathering of UC Merced Foundation trustees, elected officials and members of the campus community.

Key points

• Three UC Merced professors have been named 2026 Hellman Fellows, representing the university’s School of Engineering, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, and School of Natural Sciences.

• The fellowships will advance innovative research across three fields, from heat-responsive materials and the disappearance of Indigenous and Chicana women and girls to the nutritional value of plants consumed by livestock and wildlife.

Five UC Merced doctoral students have earned prestigious awards from the Northern California Chapter of ARCS Foundation, joining a select group of scholars recognized for outstanding research.

“Congratulations to this year’s ARCS Scholars. You are being recognized as outstanding scientists who are breaking barriers and solving problems that will create a better world for all of us. We are proud to offer you our support,” said Heidi Huchberger, co-president of ARCS NCC.

A smiling throng of new faces took part Tuesday in one of UC Merced’s oldest traditions, the Scholars Bridge Crossing.

Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz and other campus leaders led the march over the bridge. Blue and gold balloons arced over the span, which was lined with cheering staff, faculty and current students. “Let’s go, Bobcats!” they chanted.

The procession then passed through the Beginnings sculpture, signifying the start of the students’ academic journeys at UC Merced. During commencement ceremonies, graduates go through Beginnings again, in the other direction.

UC Merced researchers are launching a project that could change how Central Valley growers harness the sun’s energy, using a family of light-active molecules developed at the university to design smarter agricultural greenhouses.

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2026 semester.

Driven by a passion for animal care, incoming biological sciences major student Esperanza Garcia is already well on her way toward a future in veterinary medicine.

UC Merced doctoral students Brianna Aguilar-Solis, Vanessa Sanchez and Nora Shamoon have been awarded the 2026-2027 UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship, a University of California Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative award that supports promising scholars from California Hispanic-serving institutions as they pursue careers in academia.  

Each will receive a full year of support, allowing them to focus full-time on their research.