Quantitative and Systems Biology

Students Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

June 4, 2025

Two UC Merced graduate students wearing blue

Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This year, NSF awarded 1,000 GRFP fellowships compared to about 2,000 in previous years...

Finalists Vie for Campus Grad Slam Champion Title During Research Week

Each spring, master’s and doctoral students across UC Merced’s 18 graduate groups are invited to contend in the campus’s Grad Slam Finals. They are given three minutes and one...

Ph.D. candidate Ambarish Varadan will compete in the UC Grad Slam finale livestreamed starting at 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 3.

Campus Grad Slam Winner Examines ‘Gut Viruses: Friends or Foes?’

Earlier this month, Ambarish Varadan competed in UC Merced’s Grad Slam finals and seized the title of Campus Champion. This was the second time the Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) Ph....

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...

Graduate students from UC Merced’s three schools will take the stage to compete in the Graduate Division’s 10th Grad Slam finals on April 8.

Graduate Division Hosts 10th Grad Slam Competition

Who will UC Merced’s Grad Slam champion be? Cheer on the finalists on April 8 and find out. Graduate students from UC Merced’s three schools will take the stage to compete in the...

Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. student Christi Turner

Turner Honored as 2023 Lindau Fellow

Christi Turner will represent UC Merced and join Nobel laureates from around the world at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, June 25-30 in Germany. Turner, a Quantitative and Systems Biology...

Students, Alums Receive Competitive NSF Fellowships

UC Merced students Brianna Aguilar-Solis, Diane-Marie Brache-Smith, Sierra Lema and Sarif Morningstar, and alumni Diana Cruz Garcia and Anna Maria Calderon were awarded fellowships from the National...

UC Merced graduate programs in the natural sciences and engineering are included in the newest U.S. News rankings of 2023-2024 Best Graduate Schools.

UC Merced’s Graduate Programs Rank Among Best in the Nation

UC Merced continues to be recognized nationally, with some programs leaping forward, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 edition of Best Graduate Schools released on April 25...

Ten finalists will compete in Grad Slam on April 10 on campus.

Cheer on Campus’s 10 Grad Slam Finalists April 10

Ten graduate UC Merced students will take the stage on April 10 to compete in the Graduate Division’s Grad Slam finals. Grad Slam is an annual University of California competition that aims...

Alumna Credits UC Merced for Inspiring Her Interest in Cancer Research

After transferring from a Sacramento community college to UC Merced in 2007, Maxine Umeh-Garcia was unsure of her future career. She admits she hadn’t looked at the majors the newest UC offered...