Graduate Students

Graduate Students Highlight Research and Campus Life to Encourage Transfers

December 5, 2025

Three Ph.D. students recently visited Madera Community College to share research findings and highlight opportunities available to transfer students at UC Merced. Emily Rivera Mondragon, a second-year environmental systems Ph.D. student, joined sociology graduate students Justin Barnes...

Photo depicts Ph.D. student Lynn Breithaupt holding up a native plant cutting.

Sow and Grow Workshops Connect Smart Farm, Community

On a chilly autumn morning at the UC Merced Experimental Smart Farm, about a dozen people enthusiastically dug/plunged their hands into soil in an exercise on how to propagate plants. For the less...

An example showing a chiral molecule and 'handedness.'

UC Merced Leads National Effort to Unlock Quantum Secrets of Twisty Molecules

A team of scientists led by UC Merced is embarking on a project to understand how the twisted shapes of specific molecules can influence the spin of electrons — a phenomenon that could...

This summer's cohort of Data Science Challenge students and Professor Suzanne Sindi (red scarf)

Two Weeks, One Challenge, Lifelong Impact: Bobcats Dive into Data Science Challenge

Kathy Chau believed she knew what her future would look like. The first in her family to attend college, she had long been advised to aim for a safe and stable job — one that might not light a...

Image with blue and gold on either side, female wearing red dress holding a plaque

Abigail Gyamfi Honored for Excellence in Mentorship and Community Impact

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)...

Cal-Bridge Scholar Rolando Ortega Wants to Build the Future

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Rolando Ortega is closing in on his dream of earning a Ph.D. This fall, the Cal-Bridge...

Anne and David Kelley, third and fourth from left, with a group of graduate students.

A New Adventure for Two Founding Faculty Chemists: Retirement

Starting a university from scratch isn’t for the faint of heart — or the slow of foot. Lucky for UC Merced, Anne Myers Kelley and David Kelley are neither. Anne, a former Olympic...

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...

UC Merced GEM Fellow Seizes Summer Internship Opportunity

Mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate Justus Nwoke was awarded a competitive fellowship from the National GEM Consortium, giving him the opportunity to intern at Lam Research Corporation this summer...

image with two people with brown/black hair and the Beginnings sculture

Two Social Science Graduate Students Earn Fellowships

UC Merced Ph.D. candidates Eliana Fonsah and Nihan Karagul are recipients of the highly competitive dissertation fellowship from the UC Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). They...

Graduate Students