University of California, Merced - Brenda Ortiz

Turlock Student Blends Public Health, Advocacy to Support Underserved Communities

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:02:52 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

April 16, 2026

Public health major Simone Samra spent a semester as an intern with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law through the UCDC Program.

Simone Samra’s dedication to education and community work is influenced by her mother's experience immigrating from India and her belief in the power of education for immigrant women.

Samra is keenly aware of the barriers immigrants face when attempting to transfer their education or degrees, often limiting their career options.

“If you don't get the opportunity to use your education in America, it can be very discouraging,” said Samra, who graduated from John H. Pitman High School in Turlock.

Her mother had to navigate how to support the family financially on one income.

“She had a nursing license in Punjab, but when she came here, it was difficult for her to transfer her education,” Samra said. “If she hadn't been able to, I don't know where my family would be.”

Her mother, a registered nurse, stressed the importance of education, and college was a given for Samra and her two sisters — the oldest a medical school graduate and the other running a mental health treatment center in Modesto.

Samra chose ��Ƶ��APP over other UC campuses for its small class sizes and interdisciplinary approach to public health — courses that draw on the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to promote health, prevent disease and improve quality of life through organized efforts.

She accepted her admission to ��Ƶ��APP before ever seeing the campus. Attending Bobcat Day, the campus’s annual open house, sealed the deal.

“When I first got into ��Ƶ��APP, I was nervous it would be too similar to my hometown,” she said. “Then I visited the campus, and I was amazed that there was something like this in the Valley. It felt completely different from where I grew up.”

Simone Samra founded EmpowerHER, a nonprofit pop-up clothing boutique providing unhoused people with essential clothing and hygiene items.

Samra has embraced the opportunities ��Ƶ��APP offers.

She spent her first summer working at the Community and Labor Center’s Labor Summer Internship — an eight-week, paid internship program where she learned the fundamentals of community and labor organizing.

She participated in epidemiology research with public health Professor Sandra Ha, focused on environmental health issues in Fresno.

She worked multiple campus jobs and participated in several clubs.

She founded EmpowerHER, a nonprofit pop-up clothing boutique providing unhoused people with essential clothing and hygiene items, and started a complementary campus organization that promotes educational opportunities for women

She spent the fall semester of 2025 at the University of California Washington Center — known as UCDC — interning with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The experience further ignited her passion to understand and dismantle systemic barriers to health equity and influenced her future goal to pursue health policy or health law, focusing on LGBTQ+ health rights and AI regulations in healthcare.

“I've used it to my full advantage. I feel like I wouldn't have been able to do all those things at the same time as my academics if I went to a big school,” she said.

Samra and her sister Nikita help run a community medical clinic for substance use and unhoused people called Vituity Cares in Modesto. The pop-up serves up to 300 individuals monthly, supported by volunteers and community health workers.

“Every month we offer medical care, haircuts, showers, food and activities for children. We have community health workers who come out from nearby hospitals, and we bring students from ��Ƶ��APP to volunteer,” she said.

After graduating in May, she plans to study for the LSAT with the goal of starting law school in the fall of 2027.

Samra encourages students to get involved in meaningful campus activities and find opportunities that align with their interests.

“Stay true to what you would like to do in life. Get involved…find your niche and keep going," she said.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

��Ƶ��APP’s Grad Slam Champion Explores Mucus-Fungus Battle Behind Valley Fever

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:03:15 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

April 15, 2026

Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. student Tahirah Williams wins ��Ƶ��APP Grad Slam competition.

Nervous but prepared, Tahirah Williams took the stage at ��Ƶ��APP’s Grad Slam competition in March and delivered her three-minute talk, “More Than Slime: When Mucus Meets the Valley Fever Invader.” By day’s end, she had been announced as the university’s 12th Grad Slam Campus Champion.

“It feels unreal; sometimes I think, ‘Did that really happen?’” said the fourth-year Quantitative and Systems Biology Ph.D. candidate from Jamaica. “I definitely felt the nerves, the anxiety, and my heart pounding.”

The victory earned Williams a $5,000 prize and the honor of competing at the UC systemwide finals on April 22 in Sacramento. Second place and $2,000 was awarded to Environmental Systems graduate student Zachary Malone and third place and $1,000 was awarded to Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate student Zahra Alitaneh.

In Professor Clarissa Nobile’s lab, Williams’ research focuses on understanding host and fungal pathogen interactions.

“Her research focuses on how mucus influences Coccidioides, the fungal pathogen responsible for Valley fever, a topic of particular importance for our region. Her ability to convey its relevance to the public will have a real impact,” Nobile said.

Williams emphasized that Valley fever is easily inhaled when dust is disturbed, making farmworkers, construction crews and residents especially vulnerable.

“When mucus is present, it doesn't just passively sit by; it fights back, but we don't know how fungi, like Coccidioides, respond to this fight, and that is where my research comes in,” said Williams during her talk that wooed the judges. She highlighted the challenges of Valley fever, especially in the Central Valley.

A key challenge is that antifungals used to treat this disease are not specific to Cocci, raising the risk of drug resistance. Diagnosis is also difficult because symptoms mimic conditions like pneumonia, COVID and lung cancer.

“Those are the driving reasons why we still study Cocci, and why we're trying to understand it from its very earliest point of infection, what it does, and how it changes, and maybe we can target those to create new ways to treat or diagnose,” she said.

Gradaute Dean Hrant Hratchian presents the 2026 Grad Slam award to Champion Tahirah Williams.

Williams’ journey to graduate studies at ��Ƶ��APP wasn’t linear. She attended Howard University, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry. She moved to Denver and worked for a financial tech company.

“It was a wonderful experience; I learned so much and developed my leadership skills,” she said. “But I wanted to get back into research.”

A pivotal summer program in 2017 helped shape her path to a doctoral degree. Williams participated in UC San Diego’s eight-week Summer Training Academy for Research Success, conducting research in Professor Elizabeth Winzeler’s lab, known for its research in eukaryotic pathogenesis, drug discovery and chemical biology.

That experience ultimately led her to ��Ƶ��APP.

“I felt this was a program where I could truly learn and develop as a Ph.D. student and build community, not just within my lab, but within the program itself,” said Williams, who anticipates graduating in spring 2027.

Nobile is thrilled for Williams’ Grad Slam win.

“She is an exceptional science communicator, as reflected in the many invitations she has received to present her work at scientific venues throughout her graduate career,” Nobile said. “Grad Slam represents a new and exciting challenge, requiring her to distill complex findings for a broad audience — something she has embraced with remarkable skill. I have no doubt she will excel at the systemwide competition, and I am incredibly proud of her.”

Join us live for the UC Grad Slam finals beginning at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 22, and cast your vote for Williams for the People’s Choice Award at the end of the talks.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

��Ƶ��APP Sees Strong Gains in U.S. News Grad School Rankings

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:04:02 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

April 7, 2026

The university's School of Engineering earns top 100 national ranking 11 years after debut.

��Ƶ��APP programs across a range of disciplines received national recognition in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings.

��Ƶ��APP saw broad gains in the U.S. News and World Report 2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings with graduate programs rising in national standing, reflecting the campus’s growing academic and research profile.

��Ƶ��APP’s School of Engineering broke into the top 100 in the rankings, securing No. 99 in the Best Engineering Schools and ranked in the top 12 among California universities. Engineering rose seven spots since last year and is up 41 positions since debuting in the U.S. News rankings in 2015, alongside institutions such as the University of Oklahoma, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), University of Missouri and University of Nebraska (Lincoln).

“Earning a top 100 spot 11 years after first entering the U.S. News rankings, and 20 years after the campus opened, is a significant milestone for ��Ƶ��APP’s School of Engineering,” Dean Rakesh Goel said. “It reflects the extraordinary dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and indicates the strong upward momentum of our programs as we continue to expand our impact and reputation nationwide.”

Six of Engineering's seven graduate programs made the rankings list again this year. Environmental Systems (Best Environmental Engineering) climbed four spots to No. 82, earning a shared ranking with New Mexico State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and University of New Mexico. ES is interdisciplinary, spanning all three ��Ƶ��APP schools.

Other ranked programs include the Materials and Biomaterials Engineering Graduate Group (Best Materials Engineering Programs) at No. 101; the Bioengineering Graduate Program (Best Biomedical/Bioengineering Programs) at No. 126; computer engineering (part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Graduate Group) and the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Group, both positioned at No. 103; and electrical engineering (part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Group) at No. 125.

Recent highlights for the School of Engineering include:

Computer science and engineering professors Dong Li and Xiaoyi Lu earned Amazon Research Awards to delve deep into artificial intelligence using AWS Trainium, a chip purpose-built for high-performance deep learning training of generative AI models.
Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Pengfei Su received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his research on cross-layer performance tuning to enhance deep learning model efficiency.
Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his distinguished contributions to the field of computer vision, particularly for visual tracking, low-level vision and visual learning. Yang appeared on Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited list of the world’s most‑cited researchers.
Climate experts John Abatzoglou, a professor in management of complex systems, and Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the campus’s Fire Resilience Center, also appeared on the Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited list.

Chemistry and Biochemistry led the School of Natural Sciences with an 18‑spot jump to No. 118 in the latest U.S. News Best Graduate School rankings.

Graduate programs in the School of Natural Sciences posted some of the largest gains in this year’s U.S. News rankings. The Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Group made the largest jump, up 18 spots to No. 118. The Quantitative and Systems Biology Graduate Group (Best Biological Sciences Programs) ranked No. 131, up 13 spots from last year, and the Physics Graduate Program rose nine spots to No. 104.

"These rankings reflect the strength and momentum of graduate education across ��Ƶ��APP. In the School of Natural Sciences, we’re especially proud to see significant gains across chemistry, biology and physics,” Dean Michael Findlater said. “These areas are central to the university’s research mission and represent the School’s unofficial motto that we do research ‘From the Valley to the Stars.’ Together with our colleagues in engineering and the social sciences, this progress highlights the depth and breadth of scholarship being built across the campus."

Highlights for the School of Natural Sciences include:

Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her distinguished contributions to soil sciences and for her exemplary leadership in scientific organizations, leading to a more equitable and innovative scientific culture. Chemistry Professor Henrik Larsson received a prestigious Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, becoming the first faculty member from ��Ƶ��APP to earn the honor.
Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang received a $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation to support his work to explain how bacteria, and potentially many other organisms, adapt to changes in temperature.
Physics Professor Anna Nierenberg received an NSF CAREER award for a project that will vastly improve the study of the nature of dark matter in the universe.
The National Institutes of Health renewed Professor Clarissa Nobile’s Maximizing Investigators' Research Award grant for an additional five years and $2.5 million to help her understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health.
Professor Xuan Zhang received an NSF CAREER Award to support her project to uncover how chemical shifts in the atmosphere could affect the air we breathe and the climate.

U.S. News ranks business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine graduate programs annually, while other disciplines and specialties in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and other areas are ranked periodically. More information about how U.S. News rankings are weighted is available on its website.

Three Ph.D. programs in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts earned spots in last year’s U.S. News rankings. The Sociology Graduate Program made a strong debut in the rankings at No. 64 in the nation, tied with UC Riverside, Temple University, the University of Florida and Washington State University. The Political Science Graduate Program ranked No. 52, up 11 positions from its debut in the 2022 rankings, and the Psychological Sciences Graduate Program ranked No. 95, up 63 spots since debuting in 2015.

The U.S. News rankings are designed to help prospective students research more than 2,000 graduate programs, weighing factors such as reputation, research activity and student selectivity.

“These rankings reflect the progress we are making and the future we are building as a leading public research institution,” Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Hrant Hratchian said. “They highlight academic strength, research excellence and our unwavering commitment to graduate education.”

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at ��Ƶ��APP

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:03:46 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

March 31, 2026

��Ƶ��APP student Jacqueline Garcia found her core sense of belonging from her civil engineering peers.

Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at ��Ƶ��APP.

“The perk is being able to pursue my undergraduate degree while still having a tie to home. It's been great having the campus here in the Valley,” she said.

While she has enjoyed living at home while attending a UC campus, the third-year undergraduate student said commuting does pose some challenges. Early on, she often went home right after class, making it harder to join evening activities.

“I spent so much time on the campus, but I always had to make my drive home. So, it was hard to make plans,” Garcia said. “I didn't have a home in either place.”

That changed during her second year when she said she found her core sense of belonging from her civil engineering peers. Because the civil engineering major is relatively new and small, students “build your own community.”

In 2025, she joined the newly formed American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter at ��Ƶ��APP and now serves as its marketing director.

“I want to build something more in these four years than just an education. I want to build a community,” Garcia said. “I want to build friendships, relationships that will last after I graduate. And I think that's what ASCE has created for me here.”

Her involvement with ASCE is just one part of her growing professional journey.

Garcia has also significantly benefited from a four-year summer internship with Gallo that has allowed her to rotate within several different sectors of the global wine leader, giving her professional exposure. She started in the program the summer before she began attending ��Ƶ��APP. This summer will be her last and then she will be added to Gallo’s application process for a full-time engineering position.

Garcia has also performed outreach with Gallo’s college ambassador program for the past two years. During the company’s open application period between August and November, she works with the Student Career Center and other organizations to share her experience with students at career fairs, networking coffees and other recruitment events.

“I bring the perspective of ‘I've interned here and this is what I've taken away from it,’” she said. “I think it’s really cool to be able to connect with students and give them the same opportunities that I was able to have as well.”

Garcia’s advice for students, especially commuters, is to get involved with the resources at ��Ƶ��APP. “There are so many organizations, so many projects, so many ways to get involved.”

After graduation in 2027, she plans to search for positions in structural engineering —possibly in energy or water systems. Garcia will finish this academic year commuting but plans to move to Merced for her senior year so she can be more immersed in campus life.

“I think being on a college campus you're growing intellectually every single day. Building community here and building these connections, whether it's with faculty or with organizations has taught me the value of professionalism and learning how to stay persistent,” she said.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

��Ƶ��APP Receives $1 Million Award to Support Postdoctoral Fellows

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:04:45 +0000

By Francesca Dinglasan, ��Ƶ��APP

March 11, 2026

A new grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will fund postdoctoral fellows in the natural sciences.

��Ƶ��APP has received a $1 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to strengthen postdoctoral fellowships and expand research in the natural sciences. Awarded through the foundation’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Commitment, this distinction places ��Ƶ��APP among just 30 leading research universities nationwide to receive the grant.

The funding will support postdoctoral fellows, advancing ��Ƶ��APP’s commitment to scientists in the early stages of their professional development. The Moore Foundation’s investment reflects the critical role postdoctoral researchers play in driving scientific discovery and shaping the next generation of scientific leaders, while enabling ��Ƶ��APP to broaden its impact on research and innovation.

“We’re grateful to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for their fervent dedication to postdoctoral research,” Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education Hrant Hratchian said. “Their generous gift will help ��Ƶ��APP attract and retain outstanding early-career scientists, strengthen the mentoring culture across our research community, and advance the boundaries of discovery in key disciplines.”

The selected postdoctoral fellows are:

Sobroney Heng, Ph.D., conducts research under the mentorship of Professor Ruben Michael Ceballos in the Host-Virus Evolutionary Dynamics Institute (HVEDI). She investigates virus-host interactions in photosynthetic microbes, focusing on cyanophages that infect cyanobacteria and phycodnaviruses that infect microalgae. Heng earned her doctorate from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand.

Derek Hollenbeck, Ph.D. ’23, earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering at ��Ƶ��APP and now conducts research with the Center for Methane Emission Research and Innovation (CMERI) and the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab under Professor YangQuan Chen. His work advances smart sensing technologies for environmental challenges, spanning digital twins, fluid mechanics, controls and fractional calculus. He applies these approaches to unmanned aerial systems for methane emission detection, localization and quantification.

Sourabh Kumar, Ph.D., received his doctorate in computational chemistry from the University of Bremen in Germany, and works with Professor Ashlie Martini. His research centers on mechanochemistry and multiscale modeling of force- and pressure-driven chemical processes using quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics simulations. Kumar seeks to advance understanding of how mechanical forces influence chemical transformations.

Vivian K. Rojas, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral scholar in Professor Maggie Sogin’s laboratory. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Rojas uses untargeted metabolomics to identify chemical signals exchanged between bacteria and seagrass hosts, providing insight into ecosystem function, resilience and biogeochemical cycling in coastal environments. She aims to establish an independent research program focused on cross-kingdom metabolite signaling.

Monika Sanoria, Ph.D., completed her doctorate at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Working with Professor Ajay Gopinathan, her research examines how cellular groups make decisions through local interactions that drive collective migration and chemotactic instabilities. Using computational and theoretical modeling, she studies the structural and dynamical properties of active swimmers and explores the physical principles underlying self-organization across physics and biology.

Support from this grant lays the groundwork for a more robust postdoctoral community, enabling ��Ƶ��APP to enhance professional development programming for postdocs, with workshops, mentoring resources and career readiness activities available to current fellows and the broader postdoctoral population. The funding also allows ��Ƶ��APP to increase the number of postdocs on campus by between five to eight scholars, beyond the five fellows above.

Together, these efforts will deepen ��Ƶ��APP’s visibility as a recently designated R1 institution and further establish the campus as a hub for cutting-edge scientific inquiry and mentorship excellence.

Founded by Gordon and Betty Moore, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation works to create positive outcomes for future generations by advancing scientific discovery, environmental conservation and the special character of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

Ready, Set, Slam: 10 ��Ƶ��APP Scholars Battle for Champion Title

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 01:01:24 +0000

March 9, 2026

On March 11, participants will take to the stage to vie for the Grad Slam 2026 campus champion title.

Ten ��Ƶ��APP graduate researchers are gearing up to deliver the most intense three minutes of their academic careers.

Each spring, master’s and Ph.D. students across the campus’s three schools are invited to participate in Grad Slam — a fast‑paced competition that challenges scholars to distill their cutting‑edge research into a crisp, engaging presentation for a general audience.

In February, participants submitted their prequalification video presentations. Faculty and staff judges narrowed it down to 10 finalists for this year’s showdown, listed in alphabetical order:

Zahra Alitaneh, Quantitative and Systems Biology
Alberto Alves, Mechanical Engineering
Alex Hartzler, Mechanical Engineering
Harleen Kaur, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Zoe Loh, Management of Complex Systems
Sarah Malone, Applied Mathematics
Zachary Malone, Environmental Systems
Emmanuel Rabago Moreno, Mechanical Engineering
Andrew Silverstein, Environmental Systems
Tahirah Williams, Quantitative and Systems Biology

This year’s competition will take place at 3 p.m. March 11 in the Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom inside the Conference Center and all are welcome. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Those who can’t attend in person may watch live via Zoom. There is no need to pre-register.

The annual competition offers some great prizes. The campus champion will receive $5,000 and compete at the UC systemwide Grad Slam event April 22 in Sacramento. The second-place winner will receive $2,000 and third place receives $1,000. The remaining seven finalists will each receive $250.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

��Ƶ��APP Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:04:25 +0000

February 23, 2026

The Data Science Challenge is an intensive two-week summer program where they collaborate on complex scientific and computational problems.

Applications are open for the 2026 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Data Science Challenge, a two-week summer internship that gives students a firsthand look at national lab research through high‑impact, data‑driven problem solving.

“I want our students to see themselves in these different career pathways. When you spend time there, you learn about the culture and you learn about this type of career path,” applied mathematics Professor Suzanne Fernandes-Sindi said. “You solve some problems and you learn a lot — you learn about internships in areas that you didn't even know the national labs have.”

Past challenges have addressed diverse topics such as cancer therapeutics and computer vision. The 2026 challenge focuses on building AI-driven workflows for additive manufacturing.

Established in 2019, the DSC is open to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in mathematics, computer science, engineering, science or other fields. The challenge brings about 40 participants — half from ��Ƶ��APP — to the UC Livermore Collaboration Center, or UCLCC, where they work closely with LLNL mentors, interact with lab researchers and present their findings at the program’s close.

Participants receive a stipend, meals and funding for travel and lodging.

Applications for this summer’s DSC, set for July 20-31, are open through March 6.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

Doctoral Student Secures New Fellowships to Support Computational Modeling Research

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 19:06:18 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

December 11, 2025

Arabi Seshappan celebrates earning both the Chateaubriand Fellowship in STEM-Biology Health and the UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship.

Physics Ph.D. candidate Arabi Seshappan added two prestigious fellowships to her curriculum vitae: the Chateaubriand Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics & Biology-Health and the UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship.

During her graduate studies journey, the Fremont native has applied for more than 20 fellowships, and has now earned three major ones, as well as being named an Eugene-Cota Robles Fellow in 2019 and ARCS Fellow in 2023.

Seshappan, who works with Professor David Strubbe, recently wrapped up 10 months in Orsay, France, as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program's Fulbright-Université Paris-Saclay Doctoral Research Award.

“I'm really grateful to have spent this year here because it felt like an introduction,” she said about acclimating to France as a Fulbright Fellow. “Now, I'm hoping to focus on more of the research collaborations and strengthening connections.”

Seshappan has her sights set on becoming a research professor at a historically Black college or Hispanic-serving undergraduate institution and believes the connections she is building now with peers and mentors will serve her and her future students.

“I can reach out to them in five years and say, ‘I have an undergrad student I would love to have do some summer research with you. Can I send them your way?’” she said.

The Chateaubriand Fellowship will keep her in France through August 2026.

According to its website, “the Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from U.S. institutions who wish to conduct part of their doctoral research in France for a period ranging from four to nine months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, with expert evaluation in France and in the United States.”

The UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship is part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative. Seshappen expressed a strong connection to the fellowship’s mission to increase faculty diversity and provide pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented students from California Hispanic-serving institutions. The fellowship is funding both her French and American research.

As a community college and undergraduate student, she applied for numerous research opportunities but faced repeated setbacks. While at UCLA, a director at the Undergraduate Research Center took a chance on her and offered a position in a summer research program.

“I really struggled academically, but being given the chance to do undergraduate summer research really opened the doors to help me get into a master's and eventually a Ph.D. program,” she said. “I want to be that for someone else — especially for students who are underrepresented in the sciences. I want to be that person who opens doors for someone in the future, and the pre-professoriate is one step in that direction.”

Seshappan plans to fly back in spring 2026 to defend her thesis and participate in commencement.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:02:24 +0000

November 12, 2025

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

From colorful scraps to soil-like material, a groundbreaking two-year research study explores the journey of cotton textiles through composting.

��Ƶ��APP researchers are collaborating on a two-year research project to develop effective composting methods for cotton textiles.

The project explores manufacturing cotton waste scraps from clothing into compost to demonstrate efficient composting with the right recipe, and the compost’s ability to nourish soils without introducing pollutants, according to ��Ƶ��APP’s project lead, Biyensa Dubiwak, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences.

“The textile industry produces over 90 million metric tons of waste every year that ends up in landfills, contributing significantly to global methane emissions,” Dubiwak said. “We are interested in recycling it and putting it back into the soil to maintain the sustainability of the industry, in addition to the benefits the compost would provide to farmers.”

The ��Ƶ��APP-led project is part of a broader collaboration involving Bowles Farming, Agromin, Fibershed, and Cotton Incorporated who funded the project. The goal is to create a circular economy by recycling cotton waste into compost and returning it to the soil to close the loop on agricultural sustainability.

“Bowles Farming, in partnership with Agromin, one the largest composting companies in the region, is working toward circular practices for sustainable production, improved soil health, and reduced environmental impacts,” Dubiwak said. “They want to make the system soil-to-soil sustainable and environmentally friendly.”

Research led by postdoctoral scholar Biyensa Dubiwak (left) aims to close the loop on textile waste and enhance sustainable farming practices across California.

Dubiwak, who works in Professor Rebecca Ryals’ Agroecology Lab at ��Ƶ��APP, brings international expertise in soil science and organic fertilizers. He earned his Ph.D. in Integrated Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences at the Marche Polytechnic University in Italy. His doctoral research focused on converting bioenergy waste into organic fertilizer that could replace the inorganic fertilizer needed to grow sunflowers in Italy’s Marche Region, where the bloom’s production is not only a commercial enterprise, but attracts tourists each summer.

Prior to his current role, he conducted research in Arkansas and Missouri focusing on soil health and exploring pathways to mitigate the spread of micro-pollutants in soils when organic waste is used as fertilizer.

Dubiwak said the research team is testing composting recipes that combine cotton textiles with different green wastes to find the most effective recipe and mix for producing high-quality compost and reduced environmental impact.

The project also tracks greenhouse gases released during composting, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide to compare the environmental impact of composting versus landfilling.

Future phases of the research will evaluate how composted textile materials affect long-term soil health.

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

Hundreds Gather at ��Ƶ��APP to Explore Graduate School Pathways

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:02:26 +0000

By Brenda Ortiz, ��Ƶ��APP

October 30, 2025

Students, staff, recruiters and volunteers came from across California.

��Ƶ��APP buzzed with energy as nearly 800 students and 200 recruiters, staff and volunteers from across California converged on campus on Oct. 18 for the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education - a dynamic event dedicated to inspiration, inclusion and academic ambition.

Diversity Forum is a collaboration with public and private colleges and universities from across California.

"This is a day to celebrate diversity, graduate education and the greatness of education right here in California," said Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Education Hrant Hratchian during the morning kick-off and introduction of ��Ƶ��APP soil biochemistry Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, who gave an uplifting plenary session

"The graduate school journey is not necessarily easy, but it is so worth it," Berhe said. "You are where you are because of your brilliance, your potential, your unique contributions that that are desperately needs."

Berhe wove insights from her family's heritage and the wisdom she's cultivated through her work with soil.

"Keep pursuing education because education is the only lasting wealth in this world… be purposeful in building and nurturing a supportive professional community," she said as she described plants that share resources through connected roots. "The most successful plants aren't the ones that try to do it all by themselves. They're the ones that are connected to a robust network.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without my village: my family, my mentors, my colleagues and collaborators. Be purposeful about building and nurturing a professional community. Seek out mentors who will see your potential, find peers who will celebrate your wins and support you through challenges."

Following Berhe's talk, students chose from workshops ranging from "Keys to Success and Survival in Graduate School" to "How to Finance Your Graduate Education" to help demystify graduate school.

"Today's workshops help students get more insight about what's involved in going to graduate school: what that process is, how to get there and what you can expect once you get there, how to better prepare for it, and thinking beyond it in terms of careers," said Pamela D. Jennings, associate vice provost for Graduate Studies for the University of California Office of the President.

A key draw for the day was a recruitment fair with more than 100 graduate program representatives from across the nation, including University of California campuses, California State University campuses, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michigan State University among others.

Representatives were on hand to answer questions and help demystify the process to apply and succeed in graduate school.

"They're getting that opportunity to meet their, you know, their peers, whether they're from their home campus or from other campuses," said April Lane, graduate student resource specialist in the Office of Graduate Studies at Cal State San Bernardino. "And they're getting a chance to talk to some of the leading institutions in the country."

Emely Echavarria, a psychology and child development fourth-year student from Chico State University, said the forum allowed her to get out of her comfort zone.

"It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know more about ��Ƶ��APP as well as the different graduate programs that came today," she said. "I've learned it's possible to go to graduate school and even with the struggles, there are a lot of resources schools offer."

Third-year statistics student Chris Liu, who attends Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, said he was excited to speak to representatives from UCLA and learn about the campus's new data science graduate program.

"I wanted to network with people from other schools, and this seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about grad school and prepare myself," he said.

Karla Ruiz Vega was one of more than 100 ��Ƶ��APP undergraduates in attendance. The fourth-year management and business economics student learned about the Diversity Forum as an intern with ��Ƶ��APP's Graduate Division.

"It was the perfect opportunity to network with other schools and see the resources they could provide me," she said. "I've been able to network not just with representatives but other students as well. That gives me a different perspective to the possibilities for different programs."

Lisanny Manzueta Custodio, associate director of Graduate Student Support and Diversity for the Graduate School at University at Albany, said the day was an excellent opportunity.

"We're super interested in recruiting amazing talented students. This is a great opportunity for students to be able to connect schools from all over the country and for us to reach students who we might not otherwise be able to connect with," she said.

The day concluded with more workshops and discipline panel sessions featuring faculty and graduate students from ��Ƶ��APP and others.

"It's so important for universities to come together in spaces like this so students know that there's a future, that there's potential, and there are so many people who want to support them on their journey," Jennings said. "And that's particularly important now that students get that encouragement and that universities understand that they have a role to play to make sure that our state and our nation is supporting and uplifting all people."

Media Contact

Senior Public Information Representitive

Office: (209) 228-4203

Mobile: (209) 628-8263

bortiz@ucmerced.edu

University of California, Merced - Brenda Ortiz

Turlock Student Blends Public Health, Advocacy to Support Underserved Communities

������Ƶ����APP’s Grad Slam Champion Explores Mucus-Fungus Battle Behind Valley Fever

������Ƶ����APP Sees Strong Gains in U.S. News Grad School Rankings

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at ������Ƶ����APP

������Ƶ����APP Receives $1 Million Award to Support Postdoctoral Fellows

Ready, Set, Slam: 10 ������Ƶ����APP Scholars Battle for Champion Title

������Ƶ����APP Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program

Doctoral Student Secures New Fellowships to Support Computational Modeling Research

Postdoc Leads Study to Turn Cotton Waste into Climate-Smart Compost

Hundreds Gather at ������Ƶ����APP to Explore Graduate School Pathways

��Ƶ��APP’s Grad Slam Champion Explores Mucus-Fungus Battle Behind Valley Fever

��Ƶ��APP Sees Strong Gains in U.S. News Grad School Rankings

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at ��Ƶ��APP

��Ƶ��APP Receives $1 Million Award to Support Postdoctoral Fellows

Ready, Set, Slam: 10 ��Ƶ��APP Scholars Battle for Champion Title

��Ƶ��APP Students Invited to Tackle Real-World AI Challenges in 2026 Data Science Program

Hundreds Gather at ��Ƶ��APP to Explore Graduate School Pathways