Dear Colleagues,

The School of Engineering at the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA MERCED is one of the youngest engineering schools in the nation and the youngest in the University of California system. In the 15 years since the first freshmen arrived on campus, the campus and the School have established a strong foundation for continuing excellence.

It is truly remarkable to witness how much we have accomplished over the years.  UC Merced has risen 39 spots in U.S. News & World Report rankings in just two years, climbing into the Top 100 overall and Top 40 among public universities. We are recognized as one of the nation’s best universities for social mobility and the success of our students (No. 5 among all universities). This year, all nine University of California undergraduate campuses landed in the Top 100, with UC Merced coming in at a remarkable 7th among our esteemed 9 campuses.

In the School of Engineering, we are especially proud of the progress of research programs this past year, having risen in the ranks to 127th best graduate engineering program. The School has accomplished a number of firsts, including partnerships in two new NSF centers – an Engineering Research Center (ERC) in the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag) and an NSF Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI) in the Mechanical Control of Chemistry (CMCC). 

This year has seen remarkable achievements from our faculty, with five total CAREER Award winners: 1) Professor Jessica Wang 2) Professor Wan Du 3) Professor Xiaoyi Lu 4) Professor Ahmed Arif and 5) Professor Roberto Andresen Eguiluz. You can read more about their research areas below. Our research impact continues to grow and make a difference in our region.

I am also excited to share that our new programs will offer growing opportunities for our students to succeed and thrive: Biomedical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Data Science and Analytics, including a new emphasis in aerospace engineering.

Boldy Forward | UC Merced is building the future in the heart of California, and the School of Engineering is proud to be a major part of the university’s continued success.

DR. CHRISTOPHER VINEY

Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching by a Senate Faculty Member

In recognition of excellence in teaching at the undergraduate level.

DR. COLLEEN NAUGHTON

Distinguished Scholarly Public Service

In recognition of energetic and creative application of professional expertise and scholarship to benefit the local, regional, national, or international community.

DR. ABEL CHUANG

Distinguished Graduate Teaching and Mentorship by a Senate Faculty Member

In recognition of excellence in teaching at the graduate level and mentorship of graduate students.

Department of Mechanical Engineering Chair and Professor Ashlie Martini is the center's associate director engineering

Understanding the Atomic-Scale Mysteries of "Crushing" Chemistry

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $20 million investment in its Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry, supporting work at 11 U.S. institutions in nine states. That includes UC Merced, and Department of Mechanical Engineering Chair Professor Ashlie Martini is the center's associate director. The award supports multiple centers developing innovations in chemical research.

Department of Energy Grant will Fund Research into Improving Machine Learning

UC Merced Computer Science and Engineering Professor Xiaoyi Lu is leading a collaboration that earned a $4.35 million grant from the Department of Energy to improve machine learning systems. Professor Lu’s project was one of five aimed at distributed resilient systems in science awarded a total of $40 million in funding from the DOE.

The grant will fund de Alba's project through 2025

NIH Grant Funds Research into Reducing Inflammation

Bioengineering Professor Eva de Alba has been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study a potential process to reduce inflammation. The $405,375 grant will fund de Alba's project through 2025. David Gravano, Technical Director of UC Merced Stem Cell Instrumentation Foundry, is a collaborator on the project. https://ucm.edu/jD639q

Team members from UC Merced are engineering professors Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez (left) and Roger Bales (right) and School of Natural Sciences faculty Stephen Hart (center). Professor Tirtha Banerjee of UC Irvine (not pictured) is also a collaborating team member.

Environmental Engineering Faculty Receives DOE Grant for Minority Serving Institutions

Professor Marc Beutel received a $350K grant entitled “Development and Testing of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Real-Time Methane Leak Detection” from the DOE minority serving institution partnership program that will provide training for 4 undergraduates and 2 graduate students.

Check out our

Fall 2023 Capstone Project Lineup!

The I2G program is a unique "experiential learning" program that engages external partner organizations with teams of students who design systems to solve real-world problems. Roughly 50 projects are completed each semester. 

This semester's projects include: using magnetic resource imaging, or MRI, to harmlessly detect seeds in Mandarin oranges; identification of pathogens in an image library with artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose plant disease; creating a robot to more efficiently manufacture a robot; building a user-friendly database to organize information for a global tech organization; production-grade employee coaching and training applications for a large cold chain industry and a multinational computer storage company. 

Sponsoring community partners include The Morningstar Co., E&J Gallo, Western Digital, Bay Area Rapid Transit and Valley Children's Hospital, among many others.

READ MORE

Yulissa Perez Rojas 

Environmental Systems Graduate Student, Yulissa Perez Rojas won 2nd place for student presentation in the Soil Physics & Hydrology Division @ Soil Science Society of America annual meeting. Was also awarded USDA FARMERS fellowship for 2023-24.

READ MORE

Kate Demarsh

Environmental Systems graduate student Kate Demarsh received the Next Generation Fellowship from University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in the Public Policy category for her work investigating how air pollution impacts marginalized communities.

READ MORE

• Bioengineering
• Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering (F'25)
• Chemical Engineering (F'24)
• Civil Engineering
• Computer science Engineering

• Data Science and Analytics
• Electrical Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering