Health

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.

Editor's note: This story is republished from the Spring/Summer 2026 issue of UC Merced Magazine.

Omar DeGuchy remembers the moment he left the comfort of UC Merced — the place he’d found his footing — and stepped onto what some call “the smartest square mile on Earth.” He defended his Ph.D. dissertation in applied mathematics remotely in 2020 and started a job at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

UC Merced alumnus Michael Urner is one of five finalists in the University of California new “I am a UC Entrepreneur” contest.

Urner was selected from a pool of 169 contestants — representing all 10 UC campuses — for his innovation and creativity in co-founding Tergis Technologies, a company developing new medical devices to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections.