UC Merced grad ready to give back to university after receiving PhD, joining faculty
A little more than a decade ago, just attending college seemed an unattainable goal for Giovanni González Araujo.
After his sophomore year at Linden High School, near Stockton, González Araujo spent the summer working in cherry and walnut orchards to help support his family.
His father had moved the family to the United States from Paracuaro, Guanajuato, México when González Araujo was 6 years old. His father worked those same cherry and walnut orchards near Stockton.
“When I got here, up until high school, I was going to school, I was getting good grades, but in back of my mind there was always an uncertainty — why am I working for good grades when I’m not going to be able to go to college,” González Araujo said. “Even if I do go to college, where am I going to get financial aid from?”
DACA changed his life.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 presidential executive action which serves as a lifeline for some undocumented immigrants, made attending college a possibility.
This spring González Araujo, 27, received his PhD from UC Merced in computer science and this summer will begin working as a professor on campus, becoming the first Mexican-born instructor in the department.
González Araujo is the first undocumented Latino and first UC Merced-grown hired as faculty in Computer Science.
He’s the first person in his family to attend college, serving as an inspiration for his young brother and cousins.
“It’s for my brother and my cousins, it’s basically showing them it can be done,” González Araujo said.
Growing up, González Araujo never thought college would be an option for him. He thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps and work in agriculture.
“The biggest part was how to pay for it,” González Araujo said. “My dad always made minimum wage. The tuition is more than he made in a year. Some years when it rained a lot my dad didn’t work for months. Our worry was where was our next meal coming from?”
González Araujo did continue working in the orchards during the summers up until he entered the PHD to help his family.
DACA made it possible for González Araujo to receive financial aid to attend UC Merced. He received his bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2019.
UC Merced professor Angelo Kyrilov steered González Araujo into education after he received his bachelor’s degree. He told them if he worked as a TA in the department his tuition for the PhD program would be waived so Gonzalez Arajuo went down that path.
Kyrilov has been instrumental to González Araujo as a mentor and adviser at UC Merced.
González Araujo worked on two years of undergraduate research with Kryilov, including, work on educational research and together they attended several Computer Science Education conferences.
“All this academic exposure opened my eyes to the fact that there are other rewarding opportunities and careers outside of the work in industry,” González Araujo said
“(Kyrilov) was always there to guide me, starting from my undergraduate education, all the way up to now, not only as an advisor and mentor, but also as a friend,” González Araujo said. “Any time that I encountered hardships, even outside of education, he was always there to hear me out and help me find a solution.”
Kyrilov says González Araujo has had to overcome obstacles along the way, especially as a minority in computer science and engineering with limited experience in computing.
“Giovanni has had to work twice as hard to develop his programming, problem solving, and teaching skills on his way to becoming a faculty member in Computer Science and Engineering,” Kyrilov said. “He can motivate and inspire future generations of underrepresented students to be the best version of themselves as they enter the work environment.”
González Araujo says he had a lot of support from his family during his educational journey, including his wife Karely González, who went to Linden High and also graduated from UC Merced and works on campus.
González Araujo says he hopes to continue helping his family. He says his little brother also wants to come to UC Merced and major in computer science.
“My big goal is to retire my parents,” González Araujo said. “Thanking them for bringing me to this country, which allowed me to achieve everything I wanted.”
González Araujo is thrilled for his next chapter as a professor.
“I am so excited,” he said. “I’m very happy I was granted the ability to stay here at UC Merced... I really want to give back to UC Merced for all the opportunities I was given here.”
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