Dear Colleagues,

As I continue my first year's journey as dean of the School of Engineering, I am filled with gratitude for our School of Engineering faculty and staff, all of whom are relentlessly committed to the success of our students and research endeavors.

I am also lucky to be here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the UC Merced campus's groundbreaking. In those 20 years, the School of Engineering has grown from 140 undergraduate students enrolled in the inaugural cohort from Fall 2005 to 2,450 undergraduate engineering students enrolled this past Fall 2022 -- we are now becoming the fastest-growing school at UC Merced!

This is an exciting time for our engineering students. We will be adding two new programs, Electrical Engineering (Fall 2023) and Chemical Engineering (Fall 2024), with a few more in the hopper. Emerging technologies are fueling demand in many sectors for engineers, especially our UC Merced engineering students, who are a part of a highly dynamic and diverse institution.

Our engineering graduate programs continues to rise in rankings. U.S. News ranks graduate programs solely on peer assessment surveys sent to deans and department heads in each engineering field, reflecting the growing prominence of UC Merced’s faculty and alumni in the minds of engineers and academics nationwide. Our graduate programs saw an across-the-board rise: Mechanical engineering ranked 111 (rising 11 spots from 122); Environmental Engineering ranked 77 (up seven from 84); Electrical Engineering ranked 122 (up six from 128); Biomedical Engineering ranked 112 (up six spots from 118); and Computer Engineering ranked 91 (up three spots from 94). Materials Engineering ranked 91.

We are also proud to have two faculty recipients of the prestigious NSF CAREER awards, Professor Roberto Andresen-Eguilez and Professor Ahmed Arif, whose research you can read more about below. Our research impact continues to grow and make a difference in our region -- find out more about our AgTech research focus, Smart Farm and what we are up to with our Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) designation.

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.

Mechanical engineering Professor Reza Ehsani leads a team awarded a nearly $1 million grant for student training

Grant will Fund Development of New, Technically Advanced Agriculture Workforce

Mechanical Engineering Professor Rezah Ehsani received a $999,983 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-HSI program) to fund "Integrated Education Programs to Train Students for a Future in the Agricultural and Food Industry."

As agriculture, California's most important industry, becomes increasingly technical, the workforce needed to sustain it will have to have different skills than those of a generation ago. The grant will fund day camps for high school and community college students in Merced and Coalinga. They will be learning about agriculture and completing projects related to science, technology, engineering and math. 

UC Merced-led Research to Focus on Reducing Power Needed for Computing

Elizabeth Nowadnick, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was awarded a Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grant totaling $299,629 from the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) to explore new classes of materials for enabling more energy-efficient computing.

The land at UC Merced's smart farm is prepared for planting. Professor Tom Harmon (right) co-leads the smart farm with Professor Joshua Viers (left).

Ground Tilled, Crops to be Planted at UC Merced’s Smart Farm

UC Merced’s recent designation as an agricultural experiment station (AES) will open other avenues of funding. University of California President Michael Drake recently announced that the Merced and Santa Cruz campuses have received the prestigious designation, the first time it’s been earned in more than 50 years.

The smart farm is UC Merced’s AES facility.

A solar heating system created by UC Merced alumni has the potential to be energy efficient and cheaper than traditional sources.

UC Merced Researcher Taking Part in United Nations Water Conference

Erin Hestir, a professor in environmental engineering and associate director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), attended the UN Water Conference in March 2023 representing the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations Freshwater Biodiversity Observation Network.

READ MORE

Research Reveals an Easy Way Dairy Farmers Can Dramatically Reduce their Climate Impact

A recent study, funded by the California Strategic Growth Council and led by Professor Gerardo Diaz, shows that adding just a little bit of biochar to that waste dramatically reduces methane emissions and has a host of other benefits for both farmer and the environment.

READ MORE

Photo Courtesy WalletHub

2023's Best and Worst States of Drive in

Professor Sarah Kurtz was featured in an Ask the Expert feature of WalletHub's article about Best States to Drive In.

READ MORE @ WalletHub

Professor Asmeret Berhe is director of DOE’s Office of Science, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Professor Emily Moran won a collaborative NSF grant to investigate climate effects on tree reproduction across the U.S.

Professor Rebecca Ryals earned the Presidential Chair in Climate Change and was awarded a Regenerative Agriculture Award funded by the Almond Board that is funding ES grad students.

Professor Sora Kim was awarded an NSF CAREER Award for her project that bridges concepts between modern and ancient marine ecosystem.

Innovate to Grow (I2G), the School of Engineering's twice-a-year showcase for capstone engineering projects, expands to include first-year students.

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Check out our Spring 2023 Capstone Showcase! 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 -- this semester's projects ranged from warning residents of an impending flood to detecting rodents on cropland.

I2G WINNERS | I2G PROJECTS

• Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering (Fall 2024)
• Civil Engineering
• Computer science Engineering

• Environmental Engineering
• Electrical Engineering (Fall 2023)
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering