KatieTyler is a proud Merced College and UC Merced alumna. As the president of hercampus’ Alpha Gamma Sigmahonor society chapter,she led monthly food drives for the campus food pantry. Later, she helped plan its statewide conventionfor hundreds ofattendees. Katie co-founded the Women’s Empowerment Club and organized an all-women career panelfor students. She returned to her former high school district to facilitateaGirls Who Code club. Katie saw that STEM environments could be full of creativity,kindness, and inclusivity. One summer, she took on a research internship with MACES at UC Merced to study quantum dots. Katie realizedshe couldbe a scientist someday, working alongside others with shared values.Katie transferred to UC Merced as a Regents’ Scholarin 2018. She started tutoring at The Math Center and enjoyed helping students become better problem solvers. Meanwhile, Katie joined the Society of Physics Students and became its social media and outreach coordinator. Later that year, she led a group of undergraduate women physics majors to start their own organization. Together they won a grant from the American Physical Society to establish the campus’ first women in physics club. During this time, Katie was awarded another MACES fellowship where she studiedsolar cellsfor NASA missions.
