UC Merced Magazine | Volume XX, Issue VI

model to improve communication and engagement among health professionals and the communities they serve in the San Joaquin Valley, particularly among the region’s Hispanic, Latinx, immigrant and rural communities. Local partner and campus supporter the Central Valley Community Foundation is also driving UC Merced’s e orts to address health disparities and reduce the region’s severe physician shortage. A recent grant from CVCF will assist undergraduates enrolled in the B.S.-to-M.D. Pathway by providing scholarships to these students, ensuring they can focus on their academic studies and ful ll the requirements of their rigorous coursework.

Leading Through Discovery

Empowering Student Excellence

Gi highlights in support of UC Merced’s research enterprise under the Leading rough Discovery pillar include several grants made by Portola Valley-based rm 1s1 Energy to School of Engineering Professor Abel Chuang’s work in thermal and electrochemical energy innovating fuel-cell technologies. Both Chuang and the students in his lab bene t from the funding, which provides the resources needed for their research engagement and activity. Private philanthropy in support of research also has been directed toward improving educational attainment in the Central Valley. A signi cant grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a project called Advancing Educational Opportunities in California. Led by Professor Zenaida Aguirre-Muñoz and interim Associate Vice Chancellor Orquidea Largo, the two-year study is analyzing how college-readiness data, policies and access disparities are impacting underrepresented and socioeconomically diverse student populations in San Joaquin Valley high schools. Cultivating Healthy Societies UC Merced’s determination to improve the well-being of communities through the Cultivating Healthy Societies pillar was boosted by organizational support focused on the Central Valley. Genentech, a member of the Roche group and a longtime supporter of UC Merced, provided a new round of funding to the university to create the UC Merced Center for Health Equity. Led by Project Scientist Rosa Manzo, the center is applying a community-engaged collaboration

Student support, as embodied by the Empowering Student Excellence pillar, is a top priority for UC Merced donors. Notable among the capstone gi s received during the campaign is multimillion-dollar support from a longtime anonymous donor, whose increasing philanthropy for the Gateway Scholars Program includes an endowment to provide scholarships every year to at least 36 incoming freshmen who attended regional high schools as well as direct assistance to other promising student populations, such as community college transfers.

Chuang’s lab is researching sustainable fuel-cell technology.

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