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...

Alumna Stays Local, Pledges to Serve the Underserved

When she began her journey at UC Merced, Sheena Truong had the future planned out. She’d graduate, go to dental school and become an orthodontist. But Merced had more to offer — and in a roundabout...

Alumnus Named Women's Volleyball Coach

Surabordin “Ai” Prachumsri has been hired to take the helm as UC Merced’s second head coach in women's volleyball and the first alumnus to become a head coach for the campus. Prachumsri brings a...

Alumnus Expands Science Literacy Nonprofit to South America

A science literacy nonprofit created by UC Merced students is gaining an international foothold with planned expansion into classrooms in Ecuador. Growth is nothing new for BEAT — short for Biology,...

Campus Police Officers Hit the Road for Special Olympics

The Merced County portion of the 2016 Law Enforcement Torch Run made its way to the UC Merced campus yesterday. This is the fifth year that UC Merced police officers and staff members have run in the...

Campus Ranks Among Best for Scholarships

The GoodCall 2016 Best Schools for Scholarships Report has ranked UC Merced No. 8 out of 4,000 U.S. public colleges and universities for earning scholarships. The report examined the amount of...

Collaboration Aims to Increase Fresno Students’ Success

Building on an existing seven-year partnership with UC Merced, the Fresno Unified School District is spearheading an innovative collaboration to increase the number of its students who complete their...

Congratulations to #UCM2016, UC Merced's 11th Graduating Class

The campus posted 122 updates to social media over the weekend. Here is a curated collection of those and ones shared by members of our community. [View the story “Commencement 2016” on Storify]

Souza Leadership Center Recognizes Program Graduates

Eleven UC Merced students were honored during a recent dinner for completing the Margo F. Souza Leadership Center certification program. “The inaugural graduation dinner was four years in the making...

UC Merced to Honor 11th Graduating Class at Commencement

This weekend, more than 900 degree candidates are expected to take part in the 11th commencement ceremonies at University of California, Merced, and commemorate the hard work that led to their...