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...

Management Major Takes Leadership Experience to South Africa

UC Merced senior Alexandra Hamilton is spending five months at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, studying global markets and business. Hamilton, a management major and San Diego native,...

Aspiring Architect Earns PG&E Internship

At a conference of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, Jessyca Kamel, a junior from Los Angeles, wore her UC Merced shirt on her morning coffee run. “I bumped into one of the PG&E...

Former UC Merced Students Travel Entrepreneurial Path to China

Three entrepreneurs with UC Merced roots are trying to revolutionize the biking experience. UC Merced graduate Seena Zandipour, and former students Tony Belmontes and Kenneth Gibbs, are developing...

Gift for Amphitheater, Research Strengthens Community Connections

The ties between the community and the University of California, Merced, will grow stronger thanks to a gift from longtime campus supporters Joel and Elizabeth Wallace. The Wallaces have given UC...

Interactive Tour Provides Unique View of Campus

The best way to explore what UC Merced has to offer is to visit the campus and see it firsthand. However, for prospective students and their family members who can’t make the trip, there is a new...

Political Journalist Alumnus Witnesses History Makers at Work

As a founding student at UC Merced, Justin Duckham, ’09, trudged up the hill every day for classes. Now, he spends many of his days on a different hill — Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. “I go to a...

Computer Major Looks Forward to Job at Microsoft

On his ﬁrst tour of UC Merced almost five years ago, Andy Luhrs decided the campus was the right place for him. “The tour guide made an impression,” said Luhrs, who is from Danville. “Everyone I...

UC Merced Sends Off Class of 2013 with Twin Ceremonies

This year isn’t the first time Maxine Umeh-Garcia has walked across the commencement stage at the University of California, Merced. She was part of the campus's graduating class in 2010. But this...

Graduating Student Builds Confidence, Leadership Skills

Stephanie Toledo didn’t want anything to get in the way of her academic success when she arrived at UC Merced. The shy freshman wasn’t ready to consider clubs, social activities or other campus...