As the 10^th campus in the UC system approaches the start of its 10^th academic year, the University of California, Merced, has received a record number of applications for undergraduate admission this fall.

According to admissions data released today (Jan. 17) by the UC Office of the President, undergraduate applications to enroll in Fall 2014 hit 17,469, a 1.6 percent increase compared to Fall 2013 applications.  

Between record enrollment and research expenditures, a massive economic impact on the San Joaquin Valley, new buildings and a visit from the new UC president, the University of California, Merced, has had a big year.

Newly appointed University of California President Janet Napolitano chose UC Merced for her first campus visit – in her first week on the job – saying the youngest UC campus is important to the UC system, but also to the Central Valley and the state.

University life can be hard, and for transfer students, it often proves even more daunting.

Studies have shown they typically have low rates of campus engagement and retention, and take longer to earn their degree. But thanks to a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, that should change at the University of California, Merced.

Jose Garcia, a fourth-year student, will spend next summer as the only intern in Chevron Oronite’s Tribology division, with a small group of researchers who delve into lubricants, additives and the relationship between machines and fluids for the multinational corporation.

The past two years, the division has chosen an MIT student for the summer position.

“It’s going to be a great experience,” said Garcia, who hails from Santa Paula and is majoring in mechanical engineering.

As the world continues to amass more digital data everyday, thousands of skilled mathematicians will be needed to slice it into meaningful pieces that can help power the information economy.

With the help of an $880,000 grant, three of UC Merced's applied math faculty members will help prepare some of those future data analyzers.

Graduate student Ryan Lucas is living a mountain-lover’s dream through his research.

As part of engineering Professor Martha Conklin’s meadows-hydrology lab, he gets to spend a lot of time in the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks, collecting data on how much water is flowing through the meadows, how it’s moving and by what process.

For Melissa Ugaldes and many San Joaquin Valley high school students like her, a University of California education might not be an obvious option.

The nearly $1 billion the University of California, Merced, has pumped into the region’s economy since operations began is significantly contributing to the San Joaquin Valley’s economic recovery, according to data released today by the university.

Two University of California, Merced, students – Viridiana Murillo and Alexandro Perez-Tovar – won first prize in their divisions at the recent Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Nineteen UC Merced students joined other scholars from all over the country at the conference, presenting the details of the research they’ve been conducting.