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...

UC Merced's Impact Growing Rapidly as New Academic Year Begins

With student enrollment expected to top the 5,000 mark this fall, faculty research projects winning major new grants and making national headlines, and intercollegiate athletics about to begin, the...

Tulare County Valedictorians Continue Friendship, Academic Dreams

Stephanie Ruiz and Marisela Torres have been friends since seventh grade, and they share dreams that include college degrees and teaching careers. So it’s no surprise that these Tulare County...

Police Mentor Program Steers Youngsters Toward College

Uriel Bravo is about to become a freshman at Merced High School, but he's already thinking about college — thanks partly to the encouragement of a UC Merced program. “I really want to go to college...

Six UC Merced Students Headed to Harvard for Leadership Program

For the second year, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government has selected six University of California, Merced undergraduate students to attend the Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI...

History Student Fulfills Speaking Promise at Commencement

Dulcemaria Anaya once vowed to represent her UC Merced class as the student speaker at commencement. Anaya, a world history major from Merced, was an incoming freshman when she made the...

Seminar Helps Park Leaders Plan for Future

When it comes to management and preservation of public lands, park leaders have a simple choice: Be proactive or reactive. And that decision isn't easy. Park leaders are faced with issues like...

National Parks, Reserved Lands the Focus of Leadership Seminar

From California's Sierra foothills to Sweden's Tyresta forest, the problems facing the world's national parks and reserved lands are immense and require a new way of thinking. Park leaders from...

UC Merced Student Volunteers Gain Insight into Patient Care

During a typical day at the Mercy Medical Center Emergency Department (ED), nurses, doctors and support staff swiftly move through the halls of the 27-room facility. Patients register and are...

Fashion Show Will Highlight UC Merced's Diversity, Assist Moms in Need

A group of female students at UC Merced are determined to show that their college home is more cosmopolitan than many others might think. And they're doing it through fashion, with a plan to...