Awards

Two UC Merced Researchers Among This Year’s AAAS Fellows

March 26, 2026

The sign reads University of California, Merced

Professors Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and Ming-Hsuan Yang have been named 2025 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. They are among the nearly 500 scientists, engineers...

Postdoc Earns Prestigious NIH Fellowship to Expand Prion Disease Research

Postdoctoral Scholar Mikahl Banwarth-Kuhn was awarded a $205,140 National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (NIH-F32) to be distributed...

SCI Active Network CEO and Founder Troy Plunkett and recent UC Merced alumnus Joseph Bello ('21).

Strauss Foundation Winner, Recent Grad Works to Improve Wheelchair Accessibility

In July, Joseph Bello will present his findings for the prestigious Donald A. Strauss Foundation scholarship to United Spinal, the longstanding nonprofit dedicated to overcoming the stigma of...

Ph.D. Student Named Underrepresented Chemist of Color by Merck

Chemistry and Chemical Biology graduate student Ali Abou Taka is one of 12 students to receive the inaugural Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color. Abou Taka, a Ph.D....

Engineering Professor Awarded $1 Million NSF Award to Study Protein Folding

Proteins operate like biological machines, regulating nearly every major function and organ in our bodies through a still-mysterious shape-shifting process. Bioengineering graduate group chair...

With the support of Mayor Matthew Serratto and others, Adison Martinez's lemonade stand raised more than $1,000 to buy trees for Rahilly Park.

Staff Members’ Daughter Raises $1,000 to Plant New Trees

A core tenet of UC Merced’s mission is public service, something staffers Tom and Esmeralda Martinez know all about thanks to their daughter. On June 5, Merced natives the Martinezes and...

Among the six scholarship recipients was second-year bioengineering major Gehad Elhanafy who received the highest scholarship, $3,500.

University Friends Circle Recognizes Six Students and Two Service Organizations with Awards

Since 2008, University Friends Circle (UFC) has shown its support to UC Merced students through programs that promote community interaction. One way UFC has been a critical advocate of the campus...

Faculty Members Earn Peer Honors for Teaching, Research and Mentorship

Faculty members at UC Merced are recognized throughout the year for excellence in a variety of ways, including by their colleagues in the Academic Senate. This year’s Academic Senate awards...

Applied Math graduate student Shayna Bennett

UC Merced Ph.D. Student Wins UC Grad Slam Competition

Applied Mathematics graduate student Shayna Bennett won first place at the University of California’s Grad Slam finals today (May 7). Bennett presented her dissertation research, “A...

Male Interdisciplinary Humanities graduate student Ivan G. Soto

UC Merced Alums, Students Earn Prestigious Fellowships

A half-dozen UC Merced students and alumni are recipients of significant fellowships to help support their graduate education. “We’re extremely proud of our undergraduate and graduate...