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Undocumented Ph.D. Makes History at UC Merced

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Yuriana Aguilar is 26 years old, bright and ambitious, a medical researcher whose work may help people with heart disease. She's also the first undocumented student to get her doctorate at UC Merced. She came to California with her farmworker parents when she was five. None of them have immigration papers. Aguilar has worked her way through school picking watermelons, cleaning hotels and selling produce at flea markets. We find out what motivates her, and her parents. Sasha Khokha reported this story, which first aired in May, just as college students were graduating across the state.

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