Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.
Dr. Garima Handa's journey from an undergraduate at UC Merced to a physician specializing in interventional cardiology at Dignity Health in the Central Valley was a full circle one.
Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.
Yaritza Mora clutched her boarding pass and took a deep breath. Alone at the airport, bound for Barcelona, she wasn't just crossing time zones - she was crossing into a new phase of life.
She had traveled before, but never solo. This time, every step - from navigating terminals to finding her gate - felt like a rite of passage.
Talk about meta: A pop culture phenomenon is using a pop culture phenomenon to undo the results of a pop culture phenomenon.
And for the fourth consecutive year, paleoecology Professor Sora Kim is diving back into the spotlight of the Discovery Channel hit "Shark Week," this time with a K-pop twist intended to rebrand sharks as less frightening.
Kim appears in the new "Shark Week" premiere show, "K-Pop Shark Heroes," which uses the power of K-pop, or Korean popular music, to transform the perception of sharks across the globe.
David Zwart hadn't even finished introducing himself as the keynote speaker for "The Dutch -American Story in the San Joaquin Valley" at the UC Merced event on July 14 before he'd found a connection in the audience.
"Any connections?" the historian and associate professor at Grand Valley State University asked, rattling off the years he'd spent teaching in nearby Visalia in the late 1990s. An audience member called out a name he recognized. It's a parlor game Zwart calls "Dutch Bingo," a version of six degrees of separation that, among Dutch Americans, usually takes one or two.
Yaritza Mora clutched her boarding pass and took a deep breath. Alone at the airport, bound for Barcelona, she wasn't just crossing time zones - she was crossing into a new phase of life.
She had traveled before, but never solo. This time, every step - from navigating terminals to finding her gate - felt like a rite of passage.
She had traveled once before with her mother to Italy, but this was different. This time, she was alone.
Everyone recognizes the sharp, clean fragrance of pine needles.
But that's not just a pine forest or a Christmas tree we're smelling - it's the aroma of thousands of microscopic partners working quietly on every needle, helping shape the health of entire forests.
This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2026 semester.
After moving from Nigeria to the United States two years ago, Wonderful Ezieme built a new foundation in California, where he distinguished himself as a dedicated student and active member of his high school community. He balanced academics with athletics while nurturing a growing interest in neuroscience.
Where I come from: I went to University Preparatory School in Victorville.
UC Merced officially becomes an active National Collegiate Athletics Association Division II member on Sept. 1, after receiving confirmation that the athletics department successfully completed its expedited two-year transition process from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to the NCAA.
UC Merced continues to rank among the nation’s top universities, earning a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 in Money’s 2026 “Best Colleges in America” report.
The annual evaluation scores more than 700 institutions nationwide using a range of factors, including graduation rates, cost of attendance, instructor access and economic mobility.
A new partnership between UC Merced's CalTeach program and the Bakersfield City School District gave middle-school children from migrant families a rare opportunity to live and learn on a college campus while exploring science in a hands-on, deeply engaging way.
The collaboration began when the Bakersfield program, called Migrant Education Program DFD21, contacted UC Merced to expand its efforts to expose students to higher education. Funding issues have shuttered similar programs elsewhere in California.
