Brenda Ortiz

Audio has become a top form of entertainment over the past several years, in large part due to the rising popularity of podcasts. UC Merced graduate students are seizing the opportunity to help improve science literacy.

A group of Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) graduate students started RadioBio, a science podcast that discusses biology topics, in 2016. The podcast sparked from a discussion between the students and Professor Fred Wolf during a graduate professional skills development course.

Quantitative and Systems Biology (QSB) graduate student Anh Diep will represent UC Merced at the University of California Grad Slam finals in San Francisco on May 10.

UC Merced’s Graduate Division will host its Grad Slam competition on April 18 with graduate scholars presenting on topics ranging from Valley Fever immune response and antibiotic resistance to computer vision and mathematical methods for thermal collection. This year’s competition started in March with 30 graduate students in the qualifying round, from which the judges narrowed the field to the top 12.

The campus’s 2019 Grad Slam semi-finalists are:

The Interdisciplinary Humanities (IH) Graduate Group and UC Merced Graduate Division are co-hosting the sixth annual Interdisciplinary Humanities Graduate Student Conference (IH Grad Con) from April 4-6 at UC Merced.

The event provides space for graduate-level networking, student presentations, keynote speakers and exploring the humanities as both academic scholarship and social advocacy.

UC Merced’s Vice Provost and Graduate Dean Marjorie S. Zatz was selected as one of the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in Diverse: Issues In Higher Education’s eighth annual special report recognizing the contributions of women to higher education.

The edition, in honor of Women’s History Month, marks the publication’s 35th anniversary by highlighting 35 women who are tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges, exhibiting extraordinary leadership skills and making a difference in their respective communities.

Two UC Merced Ph.D. students took to the State Capitol yesterday with representatives from the other UC campuses to advocate for the importance of the research being done across California.

Twelve years ago, Cassie Gunter was fighting for her life. Now she wants to give back to the group that helped her survive.

At age 22, she went to the emergency room with what she thought was bronchitis. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) — an uncommon blood cancer for her age — and rushed to Stanford Hospital.

Janna’s Rodriguez’s achievements exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit and drive shared by many UC graduates. Rodriguez not only launched a successful business in her hometown of Merced as an engineering student, she also excelled in the classroom.

Rodriguez credits the combination of unique programs, people, encouragement and small class-size for helping her get to where she is now.

Bestselling author and Stanford University Professor Robert Sutton will share principles and examples of “Scaling Up Excellence,” the title of his presentation as this year’s Vital and Alice Pellissier Family Distinguished Lecturer.

Sutton, professor of management science and engineering and organizational behavior, will discuss how to spread, enhance and amplify excellence at all levels of business and organizational management. He’ll share his insights based on diverse case studies including Facebook, Google, Pixar, Uber, Johns Hopkins Hospital, IKEA and more.