Faculty Advisor

Susan Varnot

Since joining UC Merced in 2007, Susan Varnot has been active in Writing Studies, including founding the UC Merced Creative Writing Collaboratorium, a multi-campus conference, and curating the Write! Look! Listen! reading and workshop series. She has also been active in general education, assessment and review processes, the UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal, student clubs and events, as well as other campus initiatives and projects. These areas of engagement and inquiry stem from her teaching and research interests in collaborative, integrative, anti-racist, and empowering pedagogy and praxis, creative writing, interdisciplinary, poetry, and creativity studies.

Editor-in-Chief

Emily Le

Emily is a 3rd year at UC Merced studying Microbiology and Immunology. She joined the URJ to involve herself in the undergraduate research community and work with equally passionate students. She is currently a research assistant in a Developmental Biology lab, and she plans to apply for graduate programs after receiving her undergraduate degree. Outside of academics, she likes to drink tea and play video games.

Executive Editor of Operations

Yu Fang Tseng

Yu Fang is a 4th-year Psychology major who joined the URJ to actively engage with the community of student researchers at UC Merced, especially those early in their research career, and help promote diversity in academia. She plans to pursue a Clinical Psychology PhD in the near future. Her research interests are in the developmental etiology of ADHD, learning difficulties, and their preventions and interventions. She has a black and brown cat named Felix (nicknamed “Raggedy Cat”), who adopted herself into the family.

Director of Campus Outreach & Promotion

Christopher Finley

Christopher is a 4th-year English major and is graduating this semester. He first joined the URJ in the spring of 2023.

Digital & Web Operations Director | Editorial Data & Workflow

Zachary Gatto

Zachary Gatto is a Second Year student at UC Merced. Currently enrolled with a Human Biology Major, but may soon change majors. Primarily focused on the digital aspects of the journal and general upkeep and maintenance.

Editorial Training & Lead Copy Editor

Mitchell Bauer

Mitchell is a 4th-year English major and Writing Studies minor who joined the URJ to gain experience in editing and publishing. He enjoys the processes of writing and editing and seeks to bring out the best in his peers’ abilities in those areas as well as their research. He is also Lead Copy Editor of UC Merced’s undergraduate creative arts journal, The Vernal Pool. His focus is on creative writing, and after graduation he plans to work in publishing or another collaborative creative field while developing his own writing projects. Mitchell has 6 cats and 4 dogs, and he loves cats but hates dogs.

Managing Editor of Outreach

Kaisy Reynoso

Kaisy Reynoso is a 3rd year Writing Studies Major at UC Merced. She has been a member since last fall as Managing Editor of Outreach and Events and enjoys meeting new people to connect with. Her determination to succeed and learn with her peers has helped build an environment that challenges her peers to critically think about how to interact with others outside of our research journal.

Team Photographer

Andy Hernandez

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Editorial Data & Workflow

Cyrus Griffin

Cyrus is a 2nd year Applied mathematics major at UC Merced. 

Art Director | Secretary

Micah Angela Lardizabal

Micah Angela Lardizabal is a 4th year Psychology major at UC Merced. This is their second and final semester on the URJ team and have once again taken on the roles of Secretary and Art Director. They like drawing, writing, video games, and crocheting when not working on assignments or looking for jobs.

STEM Section Editor, Natural Sciences

Emily Le

STEM Section Editor, Engineering

Andy Hernandez

STEM Section Editor, Applied Maths & Physics

Cyrus Griffin

Humanities & Arts Section Editor

Mitchell Bauer

Humanities & Arts Section Editor

Christopher Finley

Social Sciences Section Editor

Yu Fang Tseng

Editor-in-Chief

Emily Le

Emily Le is currently a third year at UC Merced, majoring in Microbiology and Immunology. She is working hard to achieve her career goals and figure out the focused area of research she wants to pursue. Outside of class, you can either find her in the research lab, or trying out new restaurants, cafes, or tea shops.

Managing Editor of Editorial Workflow

Yu Fang Tseng

 Yu Fang is a 4th-year Psychology major who joined the URJ to actively engage with the community of student researchers at UC Merced, especially those early in their research career, and help promote diversity in academia. She plans to pursue a Clinical Psychology PhD in the near future. Her research interests are in the developmental etiology of ADHD, learning difficulties, and their preventions and interventions. She has a black and brown cat named Felix (nicknamed “Raggedy Cat”), who adopted herself into the family. 

Digital & Web Operations Director

Zachary Gatto

Zachary Gatto is a Second Year student at UC Merced. Currently enrolled with a Human Biology Major, but has an uncertainty about their exact future. Primarily focused on the world of medicine and technology, they are most often found working tirelessly on a new project or attempting to figure out how the website somehow managed to break itself again.

Social Media & Publicity Manager

Jose Mondragon

Jose is currently majoring in Management and Business Economics with a minor in Writing Studies. He decided to add on a writing minor in order to improve his writing abilities and has enjoyed all his writing classes in the process.

Managing Editor of Campus Outreach & Events

Kaisey Reynoso

Kaisy is a third year student at UC Merced, pursuing a major is Writing Studies. Aside from academic pursuits, she has a passion for freewriting and swimming on Sunday evenings. Additionally, an interest in cinematography how movies evoke emotion, direction and thought-provoking concepts.

Campus Outreach Ambassador & Treasurer

Genesis Iniguez-Espinoza

Genesis is a second-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Writing Studies. She enjoys writing creative pieces and reading books in her free time. She has two fur babies: a puppy named Sukki and a tabby cat named Suga. 

Art Director & Secretary

Micah Angela Lardizabal

Micah is a fourth year undergraduate student at UC Merced. They are currently majoring in Psychology and minoring in Creative Writing and exploring what they wish to pursue after graduation. They enjoy doodling, writing, and (recently) crocheting.

Editorial Training Coordinator & Lead Copy Editor

Mitchelle Bauer

Mitchell Bauer is a fourth-year English major and writing studies minor. He joined the Undergraduate Research Journal to help fellow students polish their skills in writing and research, though his interests and hopeful expertise lie in creative writing. Over the summer, Mitchell started The Wheel of Time book series but has put himself on hiatus from them since the start of the semester in order to read what he calls “real books.”

STEM Section Editor

Emily Le

STEM Section Editor

Zachary Gatto

Humanities  & Arts Section Editor

Mitchelle Bauer

Humanities  & Arts Section Editor

Genesis Iniguez-Espinoza

Social Sciences Section Editor

Jose Mondragon

Social Sciences Section Editor

Yu Fang Tseng

Editor-in-Chief | Evelyn Roque

Evelyn Roque

Evelyn is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Management and Business Economics (B.A.) with a minor in Professional Writing. Following graduation, Evelyn plans to become an audit accountant at an internationally recognized firm. While at UC Merced, Evelyn was a writing consultant at the University Writing Center and emphasized the importance of emotional intelligence in writing. In this, Evelyn cultivated her intrapersonal communication and written communication skills by giving feedback on a multitude of papers, including literature reviews, research articles, personal essays, and more. Evelyn foresees a career in the audit accounting industry while pursuing her CPA license. Evelyn also plans to go into graduate school to pursue an MBA focusing after gaining experience within the field.

Managing Editor of Editorial Workflow

Emily Le

 Emily is a second-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Biology with an emphasis in Microbiology and Immunology. She is a research assistant in Dr. Sogin’s lab working with sea anemones (aiptasia) studying their physiological responses to changes in their environment through bacterial cultures. Outside of academic settings, she can be found in restaurants and boba stores trying out new dishes and drinks! She likes playing badminton and video games, and loves collecting small trinkets, magazines, and photocards!

Managing Editor of Outreach

Christopher Finley

Christopher Finley is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in English. He hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in English focusing on Ecocriticism and specifically waste as it relates to both to identity of the self, and the body politic. He is a nontraditional student who believes in the power of words to enact meaningful change to ourselves and the world. 

Humanities  & Arts Section Editor

Guadalupe Castaneda Zavala

Guadalupe is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in English, with a minor in Writing Studies. Her plans after graduating college is to attend graduate school in order to pursue her goal of becoming a community college professor. Besides reading, she enjoys watching movies and listening to music. 

Humanities  & Arts Section Editor

Christopher Finley

Social Sciences Section Editor

Yu Fang Tseng

Yu Fang  is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science. Her long-term goal is to become a Clinical Psychologist helping individuals with ADHD & other neurodivergence. Currently, she is an RA in Dr. Isbell’s l.D.E.A lab where they do research based on EEG (electroencephalogram) data! Boba is her favorite food, and she enjoys playing video games in her free time. 

Social Sciences Section Editor

Henry Pacheco

Henry Pacheco is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Political Science with a minor in Writing. Wanting to “run toward the outdoors” is one of the many interests that has crossed his path although he hopes it remains permanent, unlike those of the past. He also hopes his desire to become an English teacher isn’t fleeting either. Henry enjoys nature, nature writing, the Meateater TV show and podcast, and aspires to go hunting to measure whether the activity matches with the anticipation he has built up for it for so long.

STEM Section Editor

Keith Buchignani

Keith is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Environmental Systems Science with a minor in both Geo-spatial Technologies and Creative Writing.  He enjoys the outdoors, nature, and has trekked to the top of Half Dome twice.  Recently he found solace in creative writing, and now enjoys learning about the intersections of creative and professional writing. An interesting fact about Keith is that he is a published poet!

Social Media & Online Publicity Director

Sheila Chavez Perez

Sheila is a second-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Public Health with a minor in Writing. She is from the Bay Area. She is also a first generation student exploring opportunities out of her career field – how cool is managing a research journal? Her favorite color is green. She loves true crime, and has a puppy named Pickles.

Social Media & Online Publicity Director

Genesis Iniguez-Espinoza

Genesis is a first-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Writing Studies. She is from a small town called Orosi (near Fresno). A fun fact about Genesis is that she is currently writing a fantasy/romance book and hopes to publish it soon after she finishes it! She has a tabby cat named Suga (based off of her favorite kpop group: BTS) back in her hometown, and she loves the color pink. 

Secretary & Club Manager

Angel Perez

Angel is a first-year undergraduate student at UC Merced pursuing a degree in Psychology with a minor in Writing Studies. He looks forward to taking his education in the field of Clinical Psychology and further help individuals suffering from mental health complications. He enjoys listening to bands such as Pink Floyd and taking in the outside world.

Campus Outreach, Publicity, & Events Coordinator

Guadalupe Castaneda Zavala