Brenda Ortiz

Key points:

• UC Merced launched the Summer Investment Academy to help students build financial literacy, professional networks and pathways into finance careers before their first semester.

• Participants explored investing, entrepreneurship, personal finance and venture capital through hands-on instruction and mentorship from finance professionals.

• The academy builds on the success of the UC Investments Academy, which has engaged more than 4,500 students across the University of California system.

When farmworkers decide conditions are so harsh they have to leave the fields, the story doesn’t end there — it moves to another corner of the labor market.

For Holly Rus, ’17, a passion for health psychology and real-world impact has led to a career at the forefront of consumer sleep research. She is head of scientific research at Sleep.ai, where she directs studies designed to improve health and wellness through better sleep.

“I lead a team of researchers and serve as principal investigator on longitudinal behavioral health intervention studies testing consumer sleep products,” said Rus, who earned a Ph.D. in Psychological Sciences.

Five UC Merced doctoral students have earned prestigious awards from the Northern California Chapter of ARCS Foundation, joining a select group of scholars recognized for outstanding research.

“Congratulations to this year’s ARCS Scholars. You are being recognized as outstanding scientists who are breaking barriers and solving problems that will create a better world for all of us. We are proud to offer you our support,” said Heidi Huchberger, co-president of ARCS NCC.

In “The Miracle of Merced,” author James H. Erickson chronicles the volunteers, educators and community leaders who helped transform a patch of land into the nation’s first research university of the 21st century.

The book tells the story of the people who refused to let go of the vision: bringing a world-renowned University of California campus to Merced.

UC Merced doctoral students Brianna Aguilar-Solis, Vanessa Sanchez and Nora Shamoon have been awarded the 2026-2027 UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship, a University of California Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative award that supports promising scholars from California Hispanic-serving institutions as they pursue careers in academia.  

Each will receive a full year of support, allowing them to focus full-time on their research.

When first-generation mechanical engineering student David Miguel arrived at UC Merced, he had no research experience, but a passion for engineering and a desire to learn.

A former foster care youth from Los Angeles, Miguel had limited resources to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). His interest in mechanical engineering was sparked at a community fair, an experience that led him to start a general engineering club at his high school.

UC Merced doctoral candidate Adekunle “Kunle” Adewole has been selected as a 2026 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellow. 

Adewole was also chosen as one of 18 participants in the Baden-Württemberg International Post Meeting Programme for Young Scientists.

“I keenly anticipate this opportunity to exchange ideas and views with all participants and delegates as we examine one of the major recent advances transforming how we pursue science,” he said.

When Isabelle Haddad, a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Systems, looks ahead to the next chapter, her future is already coming into focus.

The New York native participated in commencement in May and will defend her dissertation in August. She will then begin a one-year, full-time position on Aug. 31 as a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Transportation Affordability and Equity Fellow.

Jarrod L. Brown Jr. is the first UC Merced graduate student to be awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation fellowship, supporting his doctoral research in structural inequality in higher education.