Welcome to graduate education at UC Merced!
As the newest University of California campus, we are continuing the UC tradition of research and educational excellence, while also helping to define a new breed of 21st century research universities. In less than 20 years, we have established over 18 distinct graduate programs that span the gamut of science, engineering, and humanities scholarship. We pride ourselves on creating a synergistic mix of the old and the new, with familiar areas of academic research alongside new areas of interdisciplinary study.
Our award-winning faculty advisors work closely with graduate students to formulate new ideas and methods to address the problems and debates of our times. Together they embark on adventures in research and scholarship that launch the careers of our junior scholars. This is what graduate school at UC Merced is all about — the transition from absorbing information and learning skills, to making lasting contributions to human knowledge. The friendships and collaborations made in graduate school last a lifetime, and at UC Merced you will find a supportive and inclusive community of graduate peers with shared interests.
Graduate research and education takes place on our campus, in our community, and throughout the world. Our students are supported by grants, contracts, fellowships, and donations from a wide array of partners, companies, institutions, foundations, and state and federal agencies. We also have several research units with cutting-edge facilities and research programs, including the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and Health Sciences Research Institutes, to the Center for Humanities and the Advanced Solar Technologies Institute. We have several graduate training grants across the campus that support graduate research with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion for a graduate community.
So start your journey right here. Browse the Graduate Division and graduate group websites. Arrange a visit to our campus, and be sure to save time to visit nearby Yosemite National Park. Talk with our faculty, our students, and our staff. Find out what it’s like to be part of history in the making.
Forge your legacy in California’s Central Valley, and be a part of the “esprit de corps” that can only be found at UC Merced!
Hrant P. Hratchian, Ph.D.
Vice Provost and Graduate Dean
Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
