Brenda Ortiz

Students Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

June 4, 2025

Two UC Merced graduate students wearing blue

Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This year, NSF awarded 1,000 GRFP fellowships compared to about 2,000 in previous years...

Public Health Grad Student Selected for Prestigious Award

Second-year public health Ph.D. student Sarina Rodriguez was named as a Health Policy Research Scholar by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The HPRS program supports doctoral students from...

UC Merced Receives Second Consecutive HEED Award For DEI Efforts

UC Merced has received the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, making it the second straight year the university has earned the distinction. The award, given by Insight Into...

Star Soccer Player Finds Success On and Off the Pitch

Four years ago, lifelong soccer player Yesenia Tijerina stopped playing when the pandemic shut everything down. Her classes at UC Davis were taken online at her home in Salinas. Tijerina started...

Fresno Developer Ed Kashian Named 2024 Chancellor's Medal Recipient

Philanthropist and community leader Ed Kashian was awarded the UC Merced Chancellor’s Medal, the university’s highest honor, at the campus’s State of the University event on Oct. 9...

Chef Maria’s Pozole Brings Comfort to Campus

Every Thursday, Chef Maria Maravilla arrives on campus at 5 a.m. In the kitchen, she carefully grinds spices and chops vegetables, both for her special creation and to top it off. She boils 300...

UC Merced Earns Seal of Excelencia Recertification For Advancing Latino Student Success

In recognition for its continuing efforts to advance Latino student success, UC Merced has earned recertification of the prestigious Seal of Excelencia. The Seal is a national certification for...

Five males standing in a conference room

UC Merced, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority Sign Partnership that Opens Exciting Opportunities

A new five-year pilot study to place solar panels on the water in the Delta-Mendota Canal is just the beginning of a formal working relationship between UC Merced and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota...

U.S. News Places UC Merced Among Top 30 Public Schools Following Top Social Mobility Ranking By Wall Street Journal

The University of California, Merced, climbed once again in US News & World Report’s Best Colleges report, rising to the 26th best public school in the nation. Among all universities, UC...

Representatives from LACCD and UC Merced present at memorandum of understanding signing

UC Merced and LACCD Forge New Transfer Pathway to Boost Student Access, Success

A memorandum of understanding signed between University of California, Merced, and the Los Angeles Community College District this week will extend access for transfer students through the Merced...