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For Turlock High Grad, UC Merced is Just Far Enough from Home

March 6, 2026

Breyenne Pierce, a utility player on the water polo team, demonstrates her skills.
Breyenne Pierce wasn't sure UC Merced was for her. The Turlock High graduate had followed her passion for water polo to Sierra College in Rocklin. As she was concluding her community college experience, she started looking for a four-year university to complete her degree. "Honestly...
A sign posted on a tree in Eastern Europe warns of active land mines.

UC Merced’s Berhe Joins Scientists in Warning of Global Land Mine Crisis

More than 100 million land mines remain buried around the world, posing a threat in approximately 70 countries and territories, and killing or injuring about 5,000 people, most of them civilians,...
Interdisciplinary Humanities Ph.D. graduate Nicolette Lecy and her 4-year-old son, Alejandro

Humanities Alum Advocates for Student Parents

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...

‘Queen of the Court’ Ready to Make Her Mark at UC Merced

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Michailla Springs led her high school basketball team in scoring and earned MVP honors. With a...
Professor Andy LiWang

LiWang’s Research into Biological Clocks Earns Protein Society Honors

Professor Andy LiWang knows what makes us tick, at least at a cellular level. His research into the mechanisms of the oldest biological clock known to humankind has led him to understand how...
Wildfire as beast metaphor image

Igniting Our Response to Wildfires: the Power of Metaphors

As wind-whipped walls of flame destroyed hundreds of Los Angeles-area residences last January, one media report framed the disastrous wildfires in beastly terms, saying they were “ripping...
Professor Sora Kim swam with a Nile crocodile for this year's Shark Week special, which focuses of sharks versus prehistoric reptiles. Photo courtesy of Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Professor Dives with Crocs, Displays Megalodon Expertise During Shark Week

Shark Week starts Sunday and Professor Sora Kim will be featured again this year in a special airing at 9 p.m. Monday, titled “Jaws vs. Mega Croc,” and the filming allowed her to swim...

New Bobcat Pursues Public Health and Passion for Performing

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Trinity King is coming to UC Merced with dreams of shining both as a performer and in the health...
Photo depicts Brian O'Bruba, assistant vice chancellor at UC Merced, and student Tatiana Howell in graduation cap and gown.

UC Investment Academy Propels Students to Financial Career Success

This summer, 2024 UC Merced graduate Tatiana Howell is set to begin working as a wealth management analyst with Goldman Sachs. She got the job through tenacity, a strong work ethic and participation...
Photo depicts Brittany Barreto Martinez pouring liquid into a test tube in a lab.

UC Merced Breakthrough Could Transform How California Monitors Toxic Algae

San Luis Reservoir in Merced County - one of California's largest artificial lakes - not only irrigates Central Valley farmland and supplies drinking water across Silicon Valley and the South Bay...

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