Undergraduate Students

There’s a reason the UC Merced plasma lab is isolated behind a locking fence near the entrance to campus.

There’s some serious heat being produced down there.

From the caves of Belize to laboratories in Japan, UC Merced faculty members and students are abroad conducting research this summer across the globe.

Portia Mira considers herself lucky. Although the UC Merced senior was taken from her parents and spent five years in foster care, she said she and her sister are much better off than most.

When a deadly earthquake shook the Sichuan province of his native China in May 2008, John Li watched from Los Angeles and immediately made a connection. He knew his passion for performing magic could offer relief and hope to suffering people, especially orphaned children.  

Five University of California, Merced, undergraduate students have been selected to attend the Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) Program at Harvard University Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, now in its third year.

The program, which was developed to address the rapid growth of the Latino population and the lack of Latino leadership representation across all sectors of society, starts June 23 in Cambridge, Mass., and lasts one week.

Fidel Cervantes found the right fit for his university education 25 miles down the road from home.

A native of Delhi in north Merced County, Cervantes selected UC Merced when he made his college choice two years ago.

A joyous throng of 776 degree candidates of the University of California, Merced, today marched through the Beginnings Sculpture and onto the campus' South Bowl to receive their prized degrees, marking the culmination of the newest UC’s seventh academic year.

UC Merced celebrated its largest graduating class — 81 percent larger than last year’s graduating class of 428 — with some 7,000 family members and friends present. The total number of UC Merced students with degrees is just above 2,000.

Grecia Sanchez and Blaine Hartsock know they’re more than lucky. Out of dozens of UC Merced seniors, they were chosen to speak and sing, respectively, at the 2012 Commencement ceremony.

When Alma Fausto first arrived at UC Merced in 2008, she felt pangs of doubt common to many freshmen.

UC Merced sits in an ideal spot for students, faculty and staff who want to engage in an active, outdoor lifestyle.