To the Campus Community,
As I reflect on the vibrant activity taking place on our campus this month and in the weeks to come, I am filled with a deep sense of pride and hope. The stories unfolding across our labs, gymnasiums, classrooms, and community spaces speak to the extraordinary possibilities present at UC Merced.
For example, in January it was announced that several of our faculty have earned placement on the prestigious Clarivate's 2025 list of the world's most highly cited researchers; an honor reserved for the top one percent of scholars. Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang's pioneering contributions to computer vision and artificial intelligence, Professor Martin Hagger's transformative work in health psychology, Professors John Abatzoglou and Crystal Kolden's nationally sought expertise in climate science and wildfire resilience, and Emeritus Distinguished Professor Henry Jay Forman's foundational scholarship in free radical biology; these are only a few of the remarkable scholars and innovators that are part of the distinguished faculty at UC Merced.
But it is not only our faculty making their mark. Several of our graduate students have been competing in the annual UC Grad Slam representing the expansive range of academic inquiry that defines our campus. Among them: Zahra Alitaneh, whose work in Quantitative and Systems Biology is developing novel treatments for life-threatening fungal infections; Zoe Loh, whose research on human attention and cognitive workload is informing safer systems in aviation and autonomous driving; and our campus finalist, Tahirah Williams, who is investigating Valley fever, a disease with profound implications for our region. This research is also a testament to the culture of faculty mentorship and hands-on collaboration that defines graduate education here.
I hope you will cheer on Tahirah in the Grad Slam finals and actively participate in this year's Research Week, taking place April 13–17. The week opens Monday with a Research Week Welcome and spans a rich program that includes:
- UC Merced–Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory workshop
- National Lab Day connecting our graduate students and postdocs with leading scientists
- Climate, Environment, and Health Symposium
- Merced to Market innovation and entrepreneurship event
- Research Week Poster Showcase open to the entire campus community
March is also Women's History Month, and this year we are not merely looking backward with gratitude, but reaching forward with intention. Our campus was recently recognized by Newsweek as one of America’s Best Colleges for Women, highlighting support, safety, and leadership opportunities for women. The spirit behind that earned recognition was on full display earlier this month.
On International Women's Day, UC Merced hosted the inaugural Together We Will Sports Leadership Summit. Nearly 150 young women from approximately 30 Central Valley high schools gathered on our campus for a daylong program built around resilience, confidence, leadership, and health.
Together We Will was more than an event; it was further affirmation that UC Merced believes in the potential of female athletes in our region and is willing to invest in the spaces where that potential can flourish. And further to said commitment, this weekend, UC Merced will host an additional 250 6th to 12th grade girls for a collaborative leadership summit with the Merced City School District and its Superintendent Julianna Stocking.
Events like Together We Will and the Young Women’s Conference happening this weekend build community in ways that few other endeavors can match and extend UC Merced’s reach and impact.
In similar fashion, this has been a season of rapid growth and visibility for UC Merced Athletics. Our teams competed against Villanova, Bucknell, and yes, Harvard. We recently welcomed a sellout crowd to the Joseph Gallo gymnasium for a game against BYU. And on April 9 and 10 our system sibling UCLA will be coming to our campus to compete on the men’s volleyball court for the first time ever.
These matchups create tremendous opportunities to put UC Merced's name in front of new audiences, forge new institutional relationships, and demonstrate to the broader world that this university is rightfully positioned among the best.
I want to personally invite everyone who will be in Merced this weekend to join me at the Annual Toloma 5k walk/run – all proceeds will be applied toward native and indigenous programming and the event presents another great opportunity to gather as a community and share our beautiful campus with friends and family.
Every lab result and discovery, every research partnership, every sellout crowd, every young person who arrives and then leaves our campus believing a little more firmly in themselves; these are the building blocks of an institution that is earning its place among the great public research universities of this country.
I am honored to walk this path alongside each of you. Thank you for all that you do to make UC Merced exceptional.
Wishing you a safe and restful spring break,
Juan Sánchez Muñoz
Chancellor
