All Stories

UC Merced Aerial Picture
New Scholarship Pays Homage to Persistence and Research
May 10, 2018
A generous gift from the grandmother of a UC Merced alumna and current staff member is benefitting two undergraduate students who put the UC Merced Library to good use. Melissa Becerra, a third-year psychology student, and Nathan Parmeter... Read More
Grad Student’s Passion for Prince Fuels Research
May 9, 2018
Dig if you will, a picture: the chance to study Prince – the musician and purveyor of all things purple -- as a subject of academic research. UC Merced’s Dalena Ngo did. For years, Ngo – a Minnesota native and lifelong Prince fan – wanted... Read More
Campus Conferring its Highest Number of Doctorates at Commencement
May 8, 2018
This weekend, 1,250 UC Merced undergraduate and graduate students, including 52 doctoral candidates — the most in the campus’s 12-year history — are expected to cross the commencement stage and embark on the next chapter of their lives. “... Read More
QSB’s Portia Mira Places Third at GradSlam Finals
May 4, 2018
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Portia Mira scored $1,000 for winning third place in the University of California’s 2018 Grad Slam competition , marking UC Merced’s first appearance as a top-three finalist during the systemwide contest. In three minutes, Mira -- a... Read More
Grad’s Ambition Continues to Motivate Her Success
May 4, 2018
The odds of Tomanik’e Banks graduating from college were slim — only slightly lower than the odds she’d go to college at all. But Banks had one thing going for her that many others don’t. Determination. When... Read More
Professor’s Fellowship Allows Renewed Focus on Sociology of Race in South Africa
May 3, 2018
Professor Whitney Pirtle recently became the first researcher to win the prestigious Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship while employed at UC Merced — a grant that will help her finish writing a book and move her closer to gaining... Read More
I2G Alumni Return as Event Expands, Enters Seventh Year
May 2, 2018
The idea for a year-end event showcasing School of Engineering students’ original designs started as a scribble on the back of a cocktail napkin and culminated in the exhibition of 12 teams’ work. Now, six years later, Innovate to Grow (... Read More
Campus’ Spring Open House Draws Record Attendance
April 26, 2018
More than 3,700 individuals visited UC Merced last Saturday during the campus’s annual Bobcat Day — a 26 percent increase over 2017 and more than any previous year. About 1,200 admitted students and twice as many family members and other... Read More
Inaugural 'UC Merced Day' Paints Capitol Bobcat Blue and Gold
April 26, 2018
UC Merced students, alumni, leaders and supporters were in Sacramento today to advocate for full state funding for the University of California and to promote the unique opportunities and challenges that face the rapidly growing campus.... Read More
Shakespeare’s ‘Dream’ Delights Yosemite Visitors for Earth Day Weekend
April 24, 2018
“April ... hath put a spirit of youth in everything,” Shakespeare wrote in Sonnet 98. He might as well have been writing about this year’s Shakespeare in Yosemite production. With Friday’s premiere — attended by high school students from... Read More
Applied Math Grad Student Committed to Central Valley Roots
April 23, 2018
When Mario Banuelos was 12, his mother took him into the fields to tie grape vines. The labor was tough and the wages were meager. After just one day on the job, Banuelos knew that his path in life would be different. He worked even harder... Read More
Billions of Gallons of Water Saved by Thinning Sierra Forests
April 23, 2018
There are too many trees in Sierra Nevada forests, say experts from UC Merced, UC Irvine and the National Park Service working at the National Science Foundation Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (NSF SSCZO). This comes as a... Read More
QSB’s Portia Mira Wins GradSlam!, Advances to Finals
April 19, 2018
After a fierce round of competition during last week’s UC Merced GradSlam! finals, the third time was the charm for quantitative and systems biology (QSB) student Portia Mira, who emerged as the campus’s new champion. For her success, Mira... Read More
Undergraduate Student Advocates for Youth at Empowerment Event
April 18, 2018
Kimberly Ramirez Gonzalez has been advocating for youth for four years and she is committed to dedicating the rest of her life to doing so. The third-year UC Merced student takes the stage April 19 alongside world-renowned entertainers and... Read More
Researchers Examine Barriers to Organ Donation and Possible Remedies
April 16, 2018
Every 10 minutes, someone is added to the national organ transplant waiting list, and about once every hour, someone on the list is removed — either because they died while waiting or grew too ill for surgery. The number of Americans on... Read More
Sustainable California Video Highlights UC Water Academy Experience
April 13, 2018
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April is Earth Month. It’s also when UC Water Academy — an intensive course aimed at training the next generation of California water experts — starts its second year. To mark the occasion, UC Water released its second video for the UCTV... Read More
Campus’s First Student Fulbright Scholar Heads to El Salvador for Research
April 11, 2018
UC Merced graduate student Danielle Bermudez will spend the next 10 months in El Salvador, conducting research and serving as a cultural ambassador for the campus as a Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher. She is the campus’s first student... Read More
Women’s Soccer Star, Campus Leader Wraps Four Fulfilling Years
April 9, 2018
When prospective student-athletes visit UC Merced, soccer standout Abbie-Leigh Meneses is among the first people they meet. Not long ago, Meneses was a recruit herself, touring the University of California’s 10th and newest campus. She... Read More
Feeling a Little Puckish? Get Thee to Yosemite for ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
April 5, 2018
Desperate lovers, a fairy king and queen, a woman with a donkey’s head and a scamp with Cupid’s arrow in flower form are taking over Yosemite National Park on Earth Day weekend. Highlighting UC Merced’s special partnership with Yosemite,... Read More
Study: Drug-Resistant Cancer Cleverer Than Imagined
April 4, 2018
Precision medicine offers hope after a life-changing cancer diagnosis. But some cancers that initially respond to targeted chemotherapy become treatment-resistant — and the tumor itself is the culprit. Now, new research from UC Merced and... Read More