Student & Alumni Success

First-generation Students Shine at UC Merced. This Week Celebrates Them

November 3, 2025

UC Merced Professor Rose Scott, student Narciso Martinez Solorio

More than six in 10 UC Merced undergraduates are the first in their families to attend a university. The national average for four-year universities is about two in 10. Opening doors to opportunity for first-generation students is infused into UC Merced’s DNA. Young people who had little...

Linda Barreto is the first Latina in Fresno County to pass the Immigration Law Legal Specialist Exam

Alumna Becomes First Latina in Fresno County to Pass Immigration Law Legal Specialist Exam

As a first-generation Latina, Linda Barreto says she understands the importance of perseverance and determination to prevail in life. It’s a mindset that has led her to become the youngest and...

Estefania Cuevas-Zepeda and Zachary Mauri

Two Undergraduate Stars Earn Unique Summer Opportunities

Two undergraduate students who will receive their bachelor’s degrees later this month have been selected for a unique opportunity to attend a meeting of some of the greatest minds in the world...

Sign Up Now to Attend This Spring's I2G Events

Innovate to Grow (I2G), the biannual showcase of innovative engineering design projects developed in partnership with industry and nonprofit partners, continues in-person and virtually this spring...

Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. candidate Jessica Wilson won UC Merced's 2022 Grad Slam competition and heads to the UC final on May 6.

Jessica Wilson’s CBD Research Talk Advances Her to UC Grad Slam Final

UC Merced’s top 10 Glad Slam finalists went head-to-head earlier this month to share their research in three minutes, in a format meant to share their scholarly work in a manner that is...

Professor David Strubbe and student Elsa Vazquez pose for a photo at UC Merced.

Cottrell Award Giving Undergrad a Grad Student Experience

Physics undergraduate student Elsa Vazquez and her faculty mentor Professor David Strubbe have won a prestigious Cottrell Postbaccalaureate award that allows Vazquez to continue her research...

Environmental Systems graduate student Jonathon Kuntz

California Sea Grant Funds Grad Student’s Shark Conservation Research

Leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata) populations in the San Francisco Estuary (SFE) are experiencing extreme decline in recent years, causing concern for coastal ecosystems. With funding from a...

Students with a drone in a field with cows

Apply Now for a Paid Summer Internship with Real Research Experience

The May 1 deadline is fast approaching for students to apply for the San Joaquin Valley Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics Tools and Science (FACTS) bridge program, a paid summer research...

Plan to Attend Innovate to Grow or Volunteer as a Judge

Now is the time to register to attend this year's Innovate to Grow (I2G) competition and see some of the 66 student engineering teams present their solutions to real-world engineering...

Graduate Students’ Fellowships Promote Study of Valley Fever

Professor Katrina Hoyer ’s lab is helping UC Merced serve the San Joaquin Valley community through its studies of immune responses to Valley fever and other diseases. Graduate students...

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