Brenda Ortiz

UC Merced Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program

February 23, 2026

Four student standing in front of their poster at the Data Science Challenge

Applications are open for the 2026 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Data Science Challenge, a two-week summer internship that gives students a firsthand look at national lab research through high‑impact, data‑driven problem solving. “I want our students to see themselves in these...

UC Goes Social to Raise Scholarship Funds

The University of California today (Sept. 18) began Promise for Education, a six-week crowd-funding campaign to engage students, faculty, alumni, celebrities, businesses, politicians and supporters...

UC Merced Alum Travels to U.K. for Master’s Program in Brain Sciences

With UC Merced in her hometown, Hillary Brown had an easy commute to her college campus. She’ll log many more miles on the way to graduate school. Brown is headed to the University of Glasgow in...

On-Campus Housing Accommodates 2,100 Students This Year

Although the UC Merced campus is entering its ninth academic year, the campus is still in a constant state of expansion. To fill a demand for more housing, the newest residence hall — Half Dome — was...

Merritt Writing Program Lecturer Reaches Students with Comic Books

In John Bultena’s writing classes, students often explore new literary classics. Like “Batwoman Volume 1: Hydrology.” Bultena, a lecturer in UC Merced’s Merritt Writing Program and recent panelist at...

Management Major Takes Leadership Experience to South Africa

UC Merced senior Alexandra Hamilton is spending five months at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, studying global markets and business. Hamilton, a management major and San Diego native,...

Aspiring Architect Earns PG&E Internship

At a conference of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, Jessyca Kamel, a junior from Los Angeles, wore her UC Merced shirt on her morning coffee run. “I bumped into one of the PG&E...

Former UC Merced Students Travel Entrepreneurial Path to China

Three entrepreneurs with UC Merced roots are trying to revolutionize the biking experience. UC Merced graduate Seena Zandipour, and former students Tony Belmontes and Kenneth Gibbs, are developing...

Gift for Amphitheater, Research Strengthens Community Connections

The ties between the community and the University of California, Merced, will grow stronger thanks to a gift from longtime campus supporters Joel and Elizabeth Wallace. The Wallaces have given UC...

Interactive Tour Provides Unique View of Campus

The best way to explore what UC Merced has to offer is to visit the campus and see it firsthand. However, for prospective students and their family members who can’t make the trip, there is a new...