Undergraduate Students

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...

Students Work to Spark Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

The entrepreneurial mindset is as much an inherent part of the atmosphere at UC Merced as it is at any start-up. But now two students, Eduardo Rojas-Flores and Nick Fong, are on a mission to help...

Capstone Team’s Designs Could Win DARPA Competition

Improvements for a ubiquitous device that cools high-powered electronics aboard military aircraft could do more than just earn a group of engineering students their senior capstone design credits. It...

Students Save Cash Through New Program Offering ‘Office’ for Free

UC Merced students are now using some of the latest and most popular Microsoft Office applications without having to dig into their wallets. The free software is available under Microsoft’s Student...

Students Continue Their Acting Careers at UC Merced

TaNayiah Bryels didn’t get the lead role of Mary in her first-grade Christmas pageant, but it did spark a lifelong interest in theater. The UC Merced student has been acting ever since, landing parts...

Campus Spirit Encouraged Alumna to Pursue Fungi Research

Graduate school is a constant state of discovery, something UC Merced alumna Jackie Shay credits for her current passion: fungus. Shay just returned home from a month in the humid climes of...

Research Week Offers Opportunities to Learn More about Intriguing Subjects

California’s drought is a major topic, including on the UC Merced campus. It will be among the subjects explored during this year’s Research Week, from March 10 through 14. The annual event...

UC Merced Chosen as Pioneer for Entrepreneurial Program

University of California, Merced, was chosen as one of a dozen campuses across the nation to bring to life a new program designed to inculcate innovation and entrepreneurship in undergraduate...

Commencement Speakers Bring Varied Experience to Campus’s Largest Commencement

The University of California, Merced, has selected CEO of Enduring Hydro LLC and former U.S. Undersecretary for Energy Kristina Johnson and Merced County Superior Court Judge Paul C. Lo to deliver...

Men’s Soccer Team Builds Framework for Success in Debut Season

In its inaugural intercollegiate season, the UC Merced men’s soccer team showed plenty of promise by defeating the eventual conference champions and producing the California Pacific Conference...