Since age 5, Preston Nguyen has been kicking around a soccer ball.
“I have been consumed by the sport ever since,” the Turlock native said. “I can play any role in the midfield, but I usually play as a defensive midfielder.”
The incoming management and business economics major is joining UC Merced this fall as part of the men’s soccer team on an athletic scholarship.
UC Merced doctoral student Luis Rubén González Marquez was awarded the American Sociological Association Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (ASA DDRIG), funded by the National Science Foundation, for his research on renewable energy conflicts in Central America.
The grant started May 15 and helps support his summer research, and the coming fall and spring semesters.
When Associate Director for Educational Equity and Access for the Calvin E. Bright Success Center Alejandro Delgadillo announced his plans for retirement earlier this year in a social media post, there was an outpouring of felicitations and appreciation from current and former students he has mentored.
“Your dedication and sincerity are what will keep UC Merced a hub for first-generation students seeking higher education. We are forever indebted to you!”
Christi Turner will represent UC Merced and join Nobel laureates from around the world at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, June 25-30 in Germany.
Turner, a Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. student from Orange County, was nominated and selected as part of the fourth class of the University of California President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows. The meeting, a one-of-a-kind scholarly summit now in its 72nd year, will focus on physiology and medicine.
UC Merced students Brianna Aguilar-Solis, Diane-Marie Brache-Smith, Sierra Lema and Sarif Morningstar, and alumni Diana Cruz Garcia and Anna Maria Calderon were awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).
The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000, as well as access to opportunities for professional development.
UC Merced’s Graduate Division hosted its third National Labs Day on April 21. The goal of the day-long event is to connect graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with researchers from across the nation, including campus alumni.
Associate Graduate Dean and physics Professor Sayantani Ghosh said the Graduate Division was delighted to revive the event after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Two undergraduate student speakers will share their journeys and insights with UC Merced’s graduating class and their families and friends at two commencement ceremonies to be held this weekend.
Aneelman Brar wants to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The Chemistry and Chemical Biology Ph.D. student’s three-minute talk entitled “From Pollutant to Fuel and New Products: Recycling Carbon Dioxide” earned her bragging rights as UC Merced's Grad Slam champion and a $5,000 prize, plus the opportunity to represent the campus at the UC systemwide finals on May 5.
Zayd Andre doesn’t consider himself outdoorsy, but the second-year computer science and engineering major from Fullerton caught the exploring bug in elementary school.
“I believe my first trek was with the Cub Scouts in first grade to Holy Jim trail in the Cleveland National Forest. This sparked my passion for nature and hiking, and since then I've tried to go on a hike at least once a month,” he said.
Taylor Fugere is one of 110 doctoral students across the United States and Canada to receive a $20,000 Scholar Award from P.E.O., a philanthropic educational organization dedicated to supporting higher education for women for more than 150 years.
