Viet Ta (’10) and Janna Rodriguez (’12) are the newest alumni establishing an endowed scholarship at this year’s annual Alumni Signature Ceremony on Saturday, April 13. Ta and Rodriguez join nine fellow alumni who have established endowed scholarships through pledges of $10,000.

The event will take place during Bobcat Day from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. Ta and Rodriguez will sign a gift agreement and share their stories of giving with attendees.

Alzheimer’s disease affects people all over the world and Kumaran Akilan’s family is no different.

As the first-year student from Cupertino waits to see if his grandfather’s mild cognitive impairment is indeed Alzheimer’s, Akilan has been busy deciphering a new way to diagnose the disease — with a smartphone.

With the help of a friend, Akilan recently developed a computer-vision algorithm that extracts the retinal vessel system and determines abnormalities that can help detect the presence of Alzheimer’s.

Jeffrey Aceves is an excellent student. Always has been. He graduated high school with a 4.3 GPA and an Eagle Scout ranking. He graduated from UC Merced in 3 ½ years, having come to the campus with 20 college credits already completed.

The Bakersfield native is driven, dedicated and not afraid to push his personal envelope. He was named Outstanding Bioengineering Student of 2018, was a finalist for the UC Distinguished Leader Award, has already co-authored one published academic paper and graduated with honors.

Warren Nanney, who’s pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology, received a three-year NASA fellowship that’s creating a unique opportunity for him to develop biosensors that could detect heart attacks before symptoms appear.

NASA recently awarded 12 fellowships totaling $1.9 million to graduate students through its Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) to conduct research and contribute directly to NASA’s work and mission.

UC Merced has a track record of helping first-generation and underrepresented students succeed in college, earning high rankings nationally for social mobility and outperforming expected graduation rates.

As UC Merced students continue to rise above their circumstances, a Bay Area organization is producing a pipeline that helps these students begin the road to success before they set foot on the campus.

For Merced native Tessa Provins, the opportunity to attend UC Merced for her graduate education was a chance to come home again — but it wasn’t simply the familiar location that drew her to the campus.

Provins earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford University in 2013 before pursuing her graduate education at UC Merced. She completed a master’s degree in 2016 and a Ph.D. in political science in 2018.

More than 140 students became proud UC Merced alumni Saturday, Dec. 15, at Fall Commencement at the Art Kamangar Center in the Merced Theatre. Students receiving their bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees were honored in front of a theater full of friends and family.

Chancellor Dorothy Leland congratulated the students on their achievements and their roles in helping guide the future at UC Merced.

Growing up in San Juan Bautista, Vanessa Andrade loved hanging out with her father and his collection of cars and tractors.

She spent hours in the “barn” or shop, helping change the oil in cars, playing with tools and tinkering with her grandfather’s old Allis-Chalmers tractor. So perhaps it’s no surprise that this UC Merced senior — and Chancellor’s Scholar — found her academic calling in mechanical engineering.

On Dec. 15, Andrade will participate in the university’s fall commencement ceremony. She next plans to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Last fall, Turlock native Marcus DeCouto reminded the sports scene that UC Merced consistently brings some of the top freshmen to the California Pacific Conference.

DeCouto, now a sophomore midfielder on the Bobcats’ men’s soccer team, became the first Cal Pac player since 2015 to record at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season. To little surprise, he was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year.

Three enterprising Global Arts Studies Program (GASP) students saw the empty UC Merced Art Gallery on campus and, worried the space would be reallocated, wondered why they couldn’t volunteer to run it.

So they started the Young Artist Movement (YAM) — a “guerilla” group that expanded through word of mouth to 17, then bloomed to more than 50 members. YAM was a finalist for the Division of Student Affairs’ Best New Club or Organization award.