Chia Thao was a teenager when she arrived in Fresno with her family to begin a new life. She was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, where her Laotian parents had fled after the Vietnam War. “Our parents brought a skillset to the U.S., found a home in the Central Valley and began farming,” Thao said

As a child, Kevin Dawson traveled from California to visit his grandmother in Harlem, where he recalls playing in Jackie Robinson Park. Dawson, an avid swimmer and surfer, would peer through a fence with his cousins to check out the park’s large swimming pool. “I remember thinking how fun it’d be to

Death is a part of life, a loss surrounded typically by mourning and grief. But what if the passing of a loved one were also a transition to be celebrated? That is the sentiment behind Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead,” in Mexican culture. The Nov. 2 holiday traditionally has been a time to

It’s a new school year, which also happens to be a new chapter of the UC Merced Writing Project. The UC Merced Writing Project is a local affiliation of the National Writing Project, which aims to improve writing skills among students as well as the art of teaching writing among educators. The

Six faculty members have been named this year’s Hellman Fellows — two from each of UC Merced’s schools. The 2019-20 winners are: • Professor Anna E. Beaudin, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, School of Natural Sciences; • Professor Chih-Wen Ni, Department of Bioengineering, School of

Two simple words, “Leland Legacy,” captured the significance of Wednesday’s opening event for the second phase of the Merced 2020 Project, an event that doubled as a goodbye and thank you to outgoing Chancellor Dorothy Leland. The message graced a wall of the new Sustainability Research and

Since his undergraduate days in Environmental Studies at Humboldt State University, Ivan Soto has aspired to produce research with a positive impact on the public — not just to benefit the academic community. As a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Humanities at UC Merced, Soto is doing just

The opportunity to participate in cutting-edge scientific research as an undergraduate is one of the most exciting aspects of a UC Merced education. One of the best preparation opportunities for graduate school is to engage in research as an undergraduate, but at many universities, it’s not until

Overdoses and suicides were among the most common reasons for mothers dying within a year of giving birth in California, according to a new study published this week. Psychiatric epidemiology Professor Sidra Goldman-Mellor , a public health researcher with the School of Social Sciences, Humanities

Akhila Yechuri is taking what she learned as an undergrad at UC Merced to Hyderabad, India, researching health disparities as the campus’s first undergrad to earn a Fulbright scholarship. “I'm so overwhelmed and excited,” she said. “This is really thrilling.” Yechuri studied public health and