Students

Student Finds Community and Purpose Through Culture and Literature

March 12, 2026

Student stands outdoors on the UC Merced campus holding a notebook and pen, looking off into the distance near a campus walkway lined with leafless trees.

Between classes at UC Merced, you will often find Padme James under the trees outside the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. What she studies there isn’t directly correlated to her classwork, but it connects her roots to where she hopes her future is headed. Instead of reviewing notes for a...

Rivera Middle School students get a lesson in engineering at the CalTeach Learning lab.

Learning Lab Offers Education for Children and Future Teachers

Every Tuesday and Thursday during the school year, elementary, middle and high school students from around the region travel to a special lab at UC Merced designed just for them. It’s the...

Participants in a Secure Water Future expedition raft on the Green River in Utah.

Water Research Goes Deep with Rafting Trip to Utah

The USDA-funded Secure Water Future (SWF) team at UC Merced believes that to fully understand water, you must do more than just study this vital resource. You must immerse yourself in it -...

Campus Adds New Areas of Studies for Students to Choose From

New students or those who have not yet chosen their majors will have an array of options before them. Five new majors and several new emphases, ranging across all three schools, are all coming...

Donor Denise Watkins with her mother, Genelia Phillips.

UC Merced Trustee Denise Watkins Establishes New Scholarship to Encourage Students to Study Abroad

UC Merced undergraduates who dream of expanding their educational horizons by immersing themselves in foreign cultures and far-away countries now have access to vital financial aid for that goal,...

student wearing regalia, getting their diplomas

Inspired by Their Roots, UC Merced Graduates Look to the Future

A sea of blue and gold regalia filled Recreation Field as hundreds of UC Merced Bobcats crossed the stage during commencement weekend. Almost 1,500 students took part in three distinct ceremonies...

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...

Student Jose Sanez undergoes a virtual eye exam developed by a team at UC Merced's Innovate to Grow event, .

Student Projects Provide Real Solutions at Innovate to Grow Event

Dozens of innovative ideas were on display at UC Merced's Innovate to Grow event May 11. The biannual event provides an opportunity for engineering students to showcase their capstone projects,...

The students are in New South Wales as part of a research collaborative.

Chemistry Students in Australia for Summer Research Experience

Chemistry Professor Aurora Pribram-Jones is looking for undergrads to help her get the lead out — out of drinking-water pipes. She and a colleague at Harvey Mudd College (HMC) in Claremont...

UC Merced Among Top Schools in US For Leadership in College Access, Success

Bloomberg Philanthropies has recognized the University of California, Merced, as an American Talent Initiative (ATI) High-Flier, among a group of 28 high-graduation-rate institutions that are...