Student & Alumni Success

UC Merced's Lambda Alliance is continuing its tradition of hosting Pride Week from March 31 to April 4. Held each year in April, the week of events celebrates and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community at UC Merced, in the Central Valley and beyond.

"We hope that participants walk away with the knowledge that at UC Merced, there is a community of people who value their existence, mental health and safety," said Katelynn Prater, Lambda Alliance vice president.

This year, Lambda Alliance is focusing on themes that include belonging, community, self-protection and self-care.

Sometimes you meet a young person who makes such a powerful impression that you want to vault forward a few decades to see how much they lifted others and elevated our world.

Maddison Crump is one of those people. At age 21 she has logged over a dozen years of making a difference. A self-described “firecracker” as a child, she stood up to schoolyard bullies and peppered her teachers with questions. Her grades were good and her ability to listen to others was exceptional.

“I always had this sense of knowing when something was off with people,” she said.

Among the UC Merced students’ impressive creations in the dimly lighted room — dioramas, poems, photo collages, paintings in bold colors — Derek Miller’s creation attracted attention.

Because it gurgled.

It was a tall box open on one side. Balanced on top was a miniature footbridge made of red Popsicle sticks. Through the open side you could see clear beads dangling from the lid. At the bottom of the box, water trickled noisily into a tray glowing in sky-blue light.

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

Men's basketball senior Myles Haynes has encountered expected and unexpected opportunities at UC Merced, and he has done his best to embrace each one.

Annaliza Perez Torres has already accomplished plenty.

A 2019 graduate of UC Merced, Perez was named the School of Engineering's Outstanding Student in Materials Science and Engineering and earned Research Excellence recognition from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center.

Now Perez, an engineer with Lockheed Martin, has received a Rising Technical Contributor Award from the Society of Women Engineers.

Physiology Professor Rudy M. Ortiz has been named this year's winner of the A. Clifford Barger Underrepresented Minority Mentorship Award by the American Physiological Society.

The UC Merced professor was recognized for his leadership, guidance and mentorship of underrepresented minority and diverse groups of students in the physiological sciences.

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.

UC Merced has assumed its place in the top echelon of research institutions in the nation by earning R1 status from Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The announcement was made Thursday morning by the American Council on Education and comes less than 20 years after the university opened its doors.

Faculty members at UC Merced are taking the lead on four Multicampus Research Program Initiatives (MRPI), working with colleagues around the University of California system to address challenges around labor and agriculture, active matter, Indigenous health and fusion energy.

Helping diplomats navigate new cultures, removing mircroplastics from stormwater and automating raisin processing: These are some of the projects awarded winning scores at UC Merced's fall Innovate to Grow event.

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 to demonstrate projects they have been developing.

Teams of students work to address challenges presented to them by clients, then present their results to judges who are experts from around California.