Undergraduate Experience at UC Merced

Student & Alumni Success

From Wild Mushrooms to Punchlines, Bobcats Learn in Out-of-the-Box Ways

May 26, 2026

A student hones communication skills by learning how to use comedy to deliver messages.
Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine. Walk across UC Merced’s campus on any weekday, and you might hear laughter spilling from a classroom, feel the thrum of a wind tunnel or spot students crouched in a field searching for...
Four student standing in front of their poster at the Data Science Challenge

UC Merced Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program

Applications are open for the 2026 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Data Science Challenge, a two-week summer internship that gives students a firsthand look at national lab research through...
Grad student Abigail Gyamfi

Leadership in STEM: Abigail Gyamfi Honored with 2025 ACS Leader Scholars Award

Chemistry and Biochemistry (CBC) Ph.D. candidate Abigail Gyamfi has earned the 2025 American Chemical Society Leader Scholars Award. The ACS Leader Scholars program recognizes outstanding...
Recent female UC Merced graduates wave to the camera

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

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...
UC Merced students are depicted in front of a poster explaining their project for I2G.

Creative, Problem-Solving Projects Win at I2G

A semi-automated washing system for bins at a tomato-processing facility and a mobile app for hikers earned big wins at the Fall 2025 I2G, or Innovate to Grow, event at UC Merced. I2G is a unique...
graphic with five individuals higlighted; three females and two males with UC Merced and ARCS logos on blue background

Innovative Research Secures Coveted Fellowships for Ph.D. Students

The ARCS Foundation Northern California awarded five UC Merced graduate students with 2025-26 fellowships. ARCS advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to...
Trinidad Quiroz playing soccer

Trinidad Quiroz Signs Professional Contract with Necaxa Femenil

UC Merced women's soccer star Trinidad Quiroz has signed with Necaxa Femenil of Liga BBVA MX Femenil. Quiroz is the first Bobcat to sign a contract with the highest level of women's...
Kevin Arrieta is pictured speaking to an electrical engineering class at UC Merced.

UC Merced Alum, Now a Robotics Expert for Amazon, Advises Students to Get Their Hands Dirty

Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble. Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at Dominguez High School in Compton high school after Gloria Esiobu, the teacher who ran it...
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.

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

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...
High school students will have a wider array of research opportunities through COSMOS starting next summer.

COSMOS Expands to UC Merced, Opening Doors for California’s Brightest Young Scientists

Starting next summer, UC Merced will join an elite group of University of California campuses hosting COSMOS — the California State Summer School for Math and Science — giving some of the...

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