Brenda Ortiz

April 16, 2026

Headshot Simone Samra
Simone Samra’s dedication to education and community work is influenced by her mother's experience immigrating from India and her belief in the power of education for immigrant women. Samra is keenly aware of the barriers immigrants face when attempting to transfer their education or...
Female with brown hair in cream turtle neck top in front of building
Physics Ph.D. candidate Arabi Seshappan added two prestigious fellowships to her curriculum vitae: the Chateaubriand Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics & Biology-Health...
three stages of cotton textile composting
UC Merced researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles. The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from...
Photo depicts a crowd of students in front of a UCM letter installation on the UC Merced campus.
UC Merced buzzed with energy as nearly 800 students and 200 recruiters, staff and volunteers from across California converged on campus on Oct. 18 for the California Forum for Diversity in...
Image with blue and gold on either side, female wearing red dress holding a plaque
Chemistry and Biochemistry Ph.D. student Abigail Gyamfi was recognized by the California Section of the American Chemical Society Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged (SEED)...
UCM letters in blue and yellow on Pavilion lawn
For students considering a master’s or doctoral degree, the 2025 California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education is the place to be on Oct. 18. Eight hundred undergraduate and master...
A collage of photos depicting Tamela Adkins and other staff during the past 20 years.
On Aug. 12, 2005, less than one month before UC Merced opened its doors to undergraduate students, Tamela Adkins joined the campus’s Police Department as support services manager. Intially,...
This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Drake Ledford was an exemplary high school student, earning a 4.29 GPA. The Merced...
Interdisciplinary Humanities Ph.D. graduate Nicolette Lecy and her 4-year-old son, Alejandro
When Nicolette Lecy began her graduate studies at UC Merced, life was anything but typical. It was August 2020, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lecy’s classes were held remotely, and...
Two UC Merced graduate students wearing blue
Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship...

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