Brenda Ortiz

Key points

• Pregnant women with cannabis use disorder (CUD) had a 10 percent rate of postpartum psychiatric emergency visits, compared to 2.7 percent among those without the disorder.

• CUD during pregnancy was linked to a 40 percent higher risk of psychiatric emergency visits during the first postpartum year.

• Diagnoses of CUD in pregnant women in California rose by about 40 percent over six years.

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.

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.

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.

UC Merced 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.

Ten UC Merced 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.

The ARCS Foundation Northern California awarded five UC Merced graduate students with 2025-26 fellowships. ARCS advances science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to exceptional graduate-level scholars in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

In total, the ARCS Foundation Northern California has gifted more than $200,000 in fellowship support to UC Merced since 2022.

This year’s ARCS recipients:

Public health Ph.D. student Felix Agyemang Opoku has been awarded the UC Global Health Initiative Center for Planetary Health Water and Health Summer Research Fellowship.

The research fellowships are designed to provide students with funding to conduct research on water and health.

Opoku, who works with Professor Asa Bradman, is one of three selected for the fellowship across all UC campuses.