For Azucena Robles, a mechanical engineering major, performing research into one of society’s most challenging issues — developing clean energy sources — has become her passion.

Under the guidance of UC Merced Professor Gerardo Diaz, Robles designed a data collection system that checks and records temperatures, flow rates and solar irradiance that could become game-changing technology for our society.

Without scholarship support, she would not have been able to work in UC Merced’s research lab and gain such extensive, hands-on experience.

Robles’ parents never made it beyond grade school, but they wanted something more for her and her siblings. They encouraged her to attend college and maximize all of the financial aid support available.

UC Merced’s unique areas of research span fighting cancer to understanding how the mind works, and all have a common element: Graduate students immerse themselves in solving some of humankind’s most challenging problems.

Graduate student Emily Wilson is growing beneficial bacteria collected from pine trees in the Sierra Nevada to develop applications in sustainable agriculture practices. Wilson, who was supported by a fellowship, said the assistance has proven invaluable, allowing her to focus on her research.

Graduate students like Wilson are tomorrow’s leaders and innovators. The mentorship they receive at UC Merced sets the course for their future and the research they conduct for the benefit of our society.

In its trajectory to become a leading research university, UC Merced must recruit the best and brightest graduate students from around the world. You can help by supporting our Chancellor’s Fellowships, which propel UC Merced into competition with other universities in attracting top students.

By promising graduate students an additional $4,000 per year for four years and offering a research experience where they work alongside leading faculty, UC Merced can draw these brilliant scholars and expand its research areas. A named $100,000 endowment enables support in perpetuity for one of the campus’s graduate programs.