Awards

Ph.D. Student Awarded Fellowship to Advance Environmental Health and Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation

December 18, 2025

Collage photo of Black male with dark hair and beard wearing blue and gray long sleeve shirt and photo of campus signage and palm trees.

Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship. The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health. Opoku...

Hellman Awards Deepening Research into Genomes, Health and Computer Science

Three faculty members have joined the prestigious ranks of Hellman Fellowship recipients this year. Applied mathematics Professor Tomas Rube, who studies mathematical biology, Professor Andrea...

UC Merced Chef Santiago Wins International Food Service Award

An international organization recognized UC Merced Executive Sous Chef Jonathan Gutierrez Santiago for his commitment to innovative and sustainable use of fresh produce for the university’s...

Sharim Film 'Flora' Wins Festival's Social Justice Award

“Flora,” a film by UC Professor Yehuda Sharim, earned an award from the Latino and Native American Film Festival. The film, which Sharim describes as a memoir of post-teen daughters...

Two men in safety garments and goggles conduct an experiment at UC Merced.

UC Merced-led Collaborative Awards $10.6 Million to Community, Education Partners

The WE Will! Education and Workforce Collaborative, spearheaded by UC Merced and composed of partners from Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, has awarded $10.6 million to community and...

Students, Alums Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships

Three UC Merced graduate students and two undergraduate alumni were recently offered fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). “I am...

UC Merced’s Chef Jonathan Gutierrez Santiago Wins 3rd Annual CASA Chef Cookoff

In an impressive display of his culinary capabilities, Executive Sous Chef Jonathon Gutierrez Santiago was crowned champion of the 2024 CASA Chef Cookoff. With a team of fellow UC Merced staff...

UC Merced’s Chef Mitch Earns Top Honor from Peers

Mitchell Vanagten, executive chef for UC Merced’s Lakeside Catering , has been named Chef of the Year by the Monterey Bay chapter of the American Culinary Federation. The award from the...

Professor Shahar Sukenik studies intrinsically disordered proteins.

Sukenik Named Sloan Research Fellow for Pioneering Research in Protein Chemistry

Professor Shahar Sukenik has been a faculty member for only 5 1/2 years, but he has already built an impressive resume, becoming a leader in his research field, an innovator and an exceptional...

Active-matter Researcher will Further Modeling, Education with NSF CAREER Award

Department of Physics Professor Kinjal Dasbiswas has received a CAREER award for his work on the theory and modeling of shape-changing active solids. He is the 38th researcher from UC Merced to...