Graduate Students

Graduate Student Earns Fellowship to Study Fusion at Livermore Lab

April 16, 2025

Sameen Yunus, left, and her faculty advisor, physics Professor David Strubbe

UC Merced physics graduate student Sameen Yunus has been awarded a prestigious fellowship allowing her to spend the next three years working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting experiments and simulations that could lead to faster fusion ignition. The UC-National Lab In-...

Professor Shahar Sukenik, center, with graduate students Eduardo Flores and Karina Guadalupe, investigate intrinsically disordered proteins.

Chemistry Lab Receives NSF Funding to Study How Proteins Protect from Dehydration

Like many people this summer, Professor Shahar Sukenik has dehydration on his mind. But it’s not the soaring outside temperatures prompting this focus. Dehydration has been a theme of his...

Competitive Edge Summer Bridge participants and mentors

Incoming Grad Students Get a Jump Start

While the campus remained quieter than usual this summer, a group of new graduate students began their UC Merced journey earlier than the rest of their cohort. On July 6, 19 incoming grad students...

The exterior of the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library at UC Merced is seen on the evening of Jan. 27, 2014.

After 18-Month Closure Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, UC Merced Library Reopening Its Doors

Since opening its doors in August 2005, the UC Merced Library has served as the hub of the campus. That all changed when the coronavirus pandemic hit and the building was forced to close in...

Falandays Wins Marr Prize for Phenomenon of Meaning Research

Cognitive and Information Sciences Ph.D. student Ben Falandays was recently awarded the Marr Prize for Best Student Paper at the Cognitive Science Society’s annual conference. The Cognitive...

Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. alumna Kinsey Brock

Recent Ph.D. Grads Receive NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship

Quantitative Systems Biology Graduate Program alumni Kinsey Brock and Robert Boria were awarded Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) from the National Science Foundation (NSF)....

A machine developed in Professor Reza Ehsani's lab improves almond harvests by reducing the amount of dust stirred up as the nuts are gathered from the ground.

New AI Institute Expands UC Merced’s Smart, Sustainable Agriculture Effort

With a new $20 million federal grant, UC Merced becomes part of a multi-institutional research collaborative to develop artificial intelligence — or AI — solutions to tackle some of...

Computer science and engineering Professor Florin Rusu (left) and his third-year graduate students Asoke Datta and Yesdaulet Izenov.

Computer Science and Engineering Professor, Students Improve Database Query Results with NSF Grant

Every time you surf the web, check your credit card balance, or even sign up for a class at UC Merced, you’re using a relational database. Relational databases are basically the back end of...

Interdisciplinary Humanities Ph.D. student Sabrina Rawson

Incoming Grad Students Awarded Inaugural Inclusive Excellence Fellowship

As part of its commitment to inclusive excellence in graduate research and education, UC Merced has awarded its new Chancellor’s Fellowship for Inclusive Excellence to four incoming Ph.D....

Two engineering professors and a graduate student received a grant from NASA to study how wildfires alter changes in carbon and sediment along California’s coastline.

Engineering Professor Awarded NASA Grant to Study Impacts of Wildfires on California’s Coastline

California is known for its beautiful coastline, where the Pacific Ocean meets sandy beaches and rugged cliffs. While many scientists have studied the land or the ocean independently, less is known...