Student & Alumni Success

UC Merced Recognized on Newsweek’s Inaugural ‘America’s Best Colleges for Women’ List

February 4, 2026

Recent female UC Merced graduates wave to the camera

UC Merced has been recognized on Newsweek’s inaugural America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026 list, a national ranking designed to spotlight institutions that support, advance and elevate women across campus and beyond. Newsweek developed the new report in partnership with Gender Fair...

Incoming freshman Kyle Chun (mechanical engineering), third-year Daniel Baerwaldt (chemistry) and first-year Alejandro Lopez-Vaca (engineering) in front of their presentation.

USDA-funded Internship Program Introduced New Bobcats to Agriculture Research

Shortly before the fall semester kicked off in person, 11 students were wrapping up their first summer on campus as part of the FACTS summer bridge program. FACTS stands for San Joaquin Valley...

Falandays Wins Marr Prize for Phenomenon of Meaning Research

Cognitive and Information Sciences Ph.D. student Ben Falandays was recently awarded the Marr Prize for Best Student Paper at the Cognitive Science Society’s annual conference. The Cognitive...

Trevor and Katherine Albertson have created the Albertson Family Fellowship Fund, making Albertson the first UC Merced alumnus to endow a fellowship.

Trevor and Katherine Albertson Create New Fellowship to Support History Graduate Students

Trevor Albertson Ph.D. (’09) had a history of “firsts” during his time at UC Merced. Albertson was among the university’s earliest doctoral students, entering the then-...

Hands-on, Handmade Instruments Boost Engagement for Remote Physics Class

With her students spread to the four winds by COVID-19, a UC Merced professor discovered she could build engagement in a virtual classroom with cardboard, painter’s tape and a child’s toy...

Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. alumna Kinsey Brock

Recent Ph.D. Grads Receive NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

Quantitative Systems Biology Graduate Program alumni Kinsey Brock and Robert Boria were awarded Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) from the National Science Foundation (NSF)....

Professor Colleen Naughton with the 2021 FACTS Summer Bridge Program students.

Students Conduct Ag Tech Research on Campus for USDA Internships

While many are preparing to head off to college after an unprecedented year, a handful of students are already on UC Merced’s campus and working away in research labs. They’re part of the...

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...

People participate in a march against anti-Asian hate.

Q&A: Alumnus Sang Hoang Founds Nonprofit to Fight Asian Hate and Injustice

Sang Hoang ('20) says he has had enough. The University of California, Merced alumnus is tired of seeing countless attacks on Asian Americans, which have only increased amid the coronavirus...

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...

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