Student & Alumni Success

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

January 6, 2026

Kevin Arrieta is pictured speaking to an electrical engineering class at UC Merced.

Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble. Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at his Compton high school after the teacher who ran it gave him an ultimatum. "I had gotten in with the wrong crowd," he said. "I had a physics teacher who told me, '...

Virtual Summer Academy, Other Sessions, Reached Students Around the Country

Students and faculty worked with a record number of schoolchildren from Merced, the Bay Area and southern California all the way to Washington, D.C., enriching their learning and increasing their...

Alum Develops Device to Measure and Manipulate Invisible Force

As scientists build smaller and smaller machines, they need to understand the invisible forces that make those machines work. Thanks to research and the initiative of then-UC Merced graduate...

Public Health Ph.D. Student Wins CCAPW Scholarship

Shaina Santa Cruz, a graduate student in the Public Health Graduate Program, was awarded the Central California Asian Pacific Women (CCAPW) scholarship. The scholarship provides financial...

UC Merced Makes Strong Debut in Money’s "Best Colleges" Rankings by Value

UC Merced is one of the country’s best four-year universities for quality, affordability and alumni outcomes, according to Money’s 2020 Best Colleges rankings by value. In its first...

Some Immune Cells Appear to ‘Know’ the Coronavirus, Even Though They’ve Never Met

Having had the common cold appears to have programmed some people’s immune cells to recognize the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. That discovery — by an immunology team that includes...

RadioBio hosts GradStory, an event that takes place during research week to highlight graduate students’ research and their journey to graduate school.

RadioBio Receives UC President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership

University of California President Janet Napolitano has selected UC Merced student organization RadioBio as one of two recipients for the 2020 President’s Award for Outstanding Student...

Grad Students, Alums Receive NSF Research Fellowships

Two UC Merced Ph.D. students, a recent undergraduate and an alumna have each been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP). The fellowship provides multiyear...

Innovate to Grow Awards 10 Winners from Virtual Expo

Despite the challenges of making an in-person event into a remote one, students in this year’s Innovate to Grow spring showcase displayed the determination, passion and innovation Bobcats are...

Innovate to Grow Goes Virtual

Innovation is nothing new at UC Merced, but this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, everyone on campus has had to reimagine nearly everything they do. But leave it up to the School of...

All News