UC Merced Engineering News | Spring 2025 | | |
Dear Colleagues,
UC Merced’s School of Engineering continues its impressive rise as a center of innovation, inclusion, and academic excellence. This Spring semester has been especially momentous, marked by significant achievements and milestones.
I’m proud to share that UC Merced has earned a rare double distinction from the Carnegie Foundation. Earlier this year, we were officially designated an R1 University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education—making us the only R1 institution in the San Joaquin Valley. This recognition affirms our deep commitment to research and scholarship. In 2016, we became the fastest university in history to reach R2 status, and now, achieving R1 within just 20 years reaffirms our extraordinary momentum.
In addition, UC Merced was named to Carnegie’s Student Access and Earnings list—placing us among only 21 institutions nationwide, and just three in California, to hold both honors. These accolades reflect the outstanding contributions of our faculty, staff, and students, and the collaborative spirit that defines our community.
Our national recognition continues to grow. The Wall Street Journal ranked UC Merced the #1 university in the nation for social mobility, as well as #5 among U.S. public institutions, #6 in California, and #18 overall—a testament to our mission of transforming lives through education.
At just 20 years old, our engineering graduate programs are already among the best in the nation. Since debuting at #140 in 2015, we’ve climbed to #106 in 2025. Three of our programs—Environmental Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Computer Engineering—are now ranked in the top 100 by U.S. News & World Report. These rankings highlight the innovative research and academic rigor that define our programs. The rise of our Computer Engineering program, in particular, showcases the cutting-edge work of our faculty and students. Meanwhile, the continued success of Environmental and Materials Engineering underscores our commitment to solving global challenges.
We’re also proud to announce that our Electrical Engineering program has jumped 10 spots in the rankings—further evidence of our dedication to advancing knowledge and fostering innovation. We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of engineering education and research.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to expand our academic offerings with the launch of new programs in Aerospace Engineering, Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Management of Innovation, Sustainability, and Technology in Fall 2025. As we grow our faculty and programs, we remain steadfast in our mission to prepare tomorrow’s leaders and serve the underserved.
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.
| | REACHING CARNEGIE MILESTONES | | UC Merced is one of only 21 universities in the country and one of three in California to hold both Carnegie R1 and ‘Opportunity’ classifications | | COMMITMENT TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE | | |
Pengfei Su
EARLY CAREER AWARD
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Machine Learning Research Earns CAREER Award
Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Pengfei Su has received a CAREER award for his research on cross-layer performance tuning to enhance deep learning model efficiency. He is the 41st researcher from UC Merced to earn a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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Ming-Hsuan Yang
AAAI Fellow
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Computer Vision Researcher Honored for Work in AI
Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang has been named a 2025 Fellow by the AAAI. It is the first such fellowship for UC Merced.
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the premier scientific society dedicated to advancing the understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines, has honored a UC Merced professor for his work in AI — this is the first such fellowship for UC Merced.
| | $20M DOE Grant Funds Multi-Agency Center for Methane Emissions Research and Innovation (CMERI) | | Mechanical engineering Professor YangQuan Chen and postdoctoral researcher Derek Hollenbeck taking part in a comprehensive, multi-agency effort aimed at efficiently measuring and mitigating methane emissions | |
Researchers Developing New Tools in Fight Against Methane Emissions
IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory are leading the effort, which earned a $20 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy in December. UC Merced's team, led by mechanical engineering Professor YangQuan Chen and postdoctoral researcher Derek Hollenbeck, will use the Center for Methane Emissions Research and Innovation (CMERI) to help make boots-on-the-ground measurements in California well as drones equipped with laser spectrometers tuned for methane.
| | $3.5M NIH Grant Funds Immune System Research | | A $3.5 million, five-year grant will fund bioengineering Professor Joel Spencer's lab | | |
Thymus Research Could Unlock Immune System Improvements
A $3.5 million-dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund research at UC Merced that could help cancer patients and others live longer, healthier lives. Professor Joel Spencer's lab is investigating the thymus, a key organ in the human immune system that could help cancer patients and others live longer, healthier lives. The thymus, located under the sternum and on top of the heart, is where a type of white blood cell called a T cell develops. T cells originate from stem cells in the bone marrow and help protect the body from infection. The thymus has recently been shown to be important for maintaining health throughout life.
| | DARPA Funding for Adhesion Study | | The work could help create stronger medical adhesives and other products. | | |
Award Supports Research into What Makes Things Stick Under Water
Understanding how bacteria and other organisms stick to surfaces in wet environments could help develop better products ranging from medical adhesives to specialized boat paint. The work could help create stronger medical adhesives and other products. UC Merced chemical and materials engineering Professor Roberto Andresen Eguiluz has been awarded $168,700 from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the central research and development organization of the Department of Defense, to advance his work in this area.
| | Monitoring Earth’s Biodiversity from Space | | BioSCape was NASA's first biodiversity-focused campaign. Photo by Jeremey Shelton/Fishwater Films | | |
Measurements and Data Collected from Space Can Be Used to Better Understand Life on Earth
Ambitious, multinational research project funded by NASA and co-led by UC Merced civil and environmental engineering Professor Erin Hestir that demonstrated how Earth's biodiversity can be monitored and measured from space, leading to a better understanding of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. It’s NASA’s first biodiversity-focused campaign and it has the potential to lead to a worldwide effort.
| | Electrical Engineering | EV News | | Eric Cheng is known as "the father of the electric vehicle" in Hong Kong | | |
Electric Vehicle Pioneer Starts Work at UC Merced
UC Merced's electrical engineering major only started a year ago. But it's already made some significant accomplishments and attracted researchers digging into exciting projects. One of them is Professor Eric Cheng, who has done groundbreaking work developing electric and autonomous vehicles, and is known as "the father of the electric vehicle" in Hong Kong. In 2005, he played a pivotal role in technological development for the establishment of an EV company that was sold to a United States corporation in 2010.
| | California is predicted to need more than 2 million chargers by 2035 | |
Researchers Make the Case for Charging Cars During the Day
Many people with electric vehicles drive them to work during the day and then charge them overnight after returning home. But a simple reversal of that schedule could make it cheaper and easier to charge your electric car. That was the conclusion reached by a team of UC Merced researchers (mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Farzan ZareAfifi, mechanical engineering Professor Ricardo Pinto de Castro and electrical engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz), who recently published a paper in the Electricity Journal on "Aligning Electric Vehicle Charging with the Sun: An Opportunity for Daytime Charging?"
| | Using AI to Solve Societal Problems | | |
Pervasive Autonomous Networked Systems (PANS) Lab
Pervasive Autonomous Networked Systems Lab at UC Merced, led by computer science and engineering Professor Shijia Pan, focuses on using machine learning to change how society addresses challenges for healthier and more sustainable conditions that make life easier.
Over the past couple of years, the PANS Lab’s research has evolved into incorporating AI into embedded systems around us, a concept the researchers call the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT).
| | ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP | | CITRIS Innovation Fellowship and AIC Award | |
Project Nexus:
California's First Solar-Covered Canals
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Consortium Looks to Expand Solar-Over-Canal Projects Statewide
Project Nexus, which saw the first-in-the-state construction of solar panels over canals following UC Merced research (a 2021 UC Merced study led by project scientist Brandi McKuin and published in Nature Sustainability) that showed multiple benefits for these systems, is producing energy. And a multi-university effort has been launched to accelerate the deployment of solar arrays over California's extensive canal network.
| | Record-Breaking Wildfires During COVID | | Nearly 10,000 fires burned more than 4.2 million acres in 2020. Photo courtesy of CalFire | |
How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Fuel Record-Breaking Wildfires in 2020? New Study Explains
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many facets of life, including health care, schools and the work environment. A new study by UC Merced researchers (Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the UC Merced Fire Resilience Center, professors John Abatzoglou and Jeffrey Jenkins, and postdoctoral research scientist Emily L. Williams) shows evidence that the pandemic also fueled an elevated number of wildfires in the United States that year.
| | Looking Ahead at Fire Season 2025 | | Wildfires like those that devastated Southern California in January will be discussed at UC Merced Panel. Photo by Cal Fire. | |
Experts Provide Outlook of Upcoming Fire Season
A panel of UC Merced experts, joined by the founder of public safety information organization, Watch Duty, conduct an in-depth discussion of the risks, repercussions and forecasts, and what communities can do to be prepared | Fire Resilience Seminar.
| The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed nearly 7,000 structures in January 2025. Photo courtesy of CalFire | |
Researchers Collaborate to Identify Health Impacts and Test novel Tools to Mitigate Wildfire Risks
Some of UC Merced’s fire and health experts, including Management of Complex Systems Professor Crystal Kolden and John Abatzoglou, joined by the founder of disaster information app Watch Duty, took part in a livestreamed seminar that looked at the dangers of wildfire, the importance of information reaching people who could be in danger and what the 2025 fire season might look like.
California has seen a significant increase in wildfires in the last 50 years, Abatzoglou said. "The last decade or so, it's been a bit of a roller coaster." The 2022 and 2023 seasons, for example, were relatively quiet.
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Los Angeles Wildfires Highlight Importance of UC Merced Research
According to a study co-authored by Abatzoglou and Management of Complex Systems professors Crystal Kolden and LeRoy Westerling, stretches with insufficient rain are getting longer and were extended by about 25 days between 1979 and 2020.
This means a more significant overlap with the months when Santa Ana winds increase.
| | The Pacific Palisades Fire near Malibu, California, which started on January 7, 2025. Adobe stock photo. | |
Weather and Climate Influences on the January 2025 Fires Around Los Angeles
All the experts interviewed for this article emphasized that climate influences on this event went beyond temperature. Management of Complex Systems Professor, John Abatzoglou, a fire and climate expert with the Department of Management of Complex Systems at University of California, Merced, described the situation as a “trifecta” of extremes that produced a “perfect storm”: extra vegetation growth following two wet years, a terribly dry–in some cases historically dry fall—and a “capstone strong Santa Ana” wind event.
| | Photo Credit: Karl Mondon / Bay Area News Group (via Mercury News) | |
Cal Fire Adds Huge New Firefighting Plane as Summer Fire Season Approaches
The retrofitted C-130 cargo plane can fly farther, faster, and carry more fire retardant than other Cal Fire aircraft. "It’s great to have more resources for suppression, but the real battle is prevention," said LeRoy Westerling, a climate and fire scientist at UC Merced.
| | Electrical Engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz is featured as an expert on solar energy. | | Christine Nemec Long Endowed Chair in Agricultural Technology | |
UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees member Christine Long (pictured above), a longtime business owner and leader, is the latest campus advocate to create a chair to expand research capacity and excellence. | The newly established Christine Nemec Long Endowed Chair in Agricultural Technology will be housed in the School of Engineering and is UC Merced’s first chair in the ag-tech field. | |
Power of Endowed Chairs Driving Research Excellence at UC Merced
Chair endowment funding allows university leaders to direct support where it is most needed, including research and academic programming. Professor Sarah Kurtz, the inaugural recipient of the Reno Ferrero Family Chair in Electrical Engineering, said the support has been “tremendously helpful in creating and promoting the electrical engineering program” at UC Merced. The new major launched just as Kurtz was named to the chair. “As a relatively young university, UC Merced has very few resources of this type,” Kurtz said. “They are precious as we build a university that serves a unique population.”
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School of Engineering's current endowed chairs:
- Professor Sarah Kurtz | Reno Ferrero Family Chair in Electrical Engineering
- Professor Ashlie Martini |Monya Lane and Robert Bryant Presidential Chair in Excellence in Engineering
With the addition of the Christine Nemec Long Chair in Agricultural Technology, the School of Engineering now has three (3) endowed chairs.
| | | | UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS | | CITRIS Aviation Prize competition Team Advances In Aviation Prize Contest | | Four teams are competing in the second phase of the competition. | | A team of UC Merced students and their adviser entered the second phase of the 2024-25 CITRIS Aviation Prize design contest. Students Yael Xavier Andujar, Monica Cruz Gaspar, Ana Hernandez, Kyra Ruiz, Randy Serrano and mechanical engineering Professor Francesco Danzi will compete against three other teams in the competition, which tasks the teams to develop air operations | | Designing Student Success | | Capstone Project with Almond Board | | Photo: Off-ground harvest with a catch-frame harvester (Photo courtesy of Sebastian Saa). | | New Research Underway to Reassess Off-Ground Harvesting for Almonds | |
The Almond Board of California (ABC) approved a project with Dr. Stefano Foresti, Director of Innovation, at UC Merced to understand how to manage stockpiling, do demonstrations, and they’re piloting different ideas with different growers around the valley, as well as hullers.
A new study is examining the updated economics of off-ground harvesting in almonds to reflect changing economic conditions in the orchard and the market. Research was done six years ago to determine if off-ground harvest really makes sense from an economic standpoint.
| | Projects That Solve Problems Win Awards | | A project aimed at reducing harvest dust was among the winners | | Innovate to Grow, or I2G as it's known on campus, is a twice-a-year showcase for UC Merced engineering and computer science students to demonstrate projects they have been developing. Teams of students work to address challenges presented to them by clients, then present their results to judges who are experts from around California. | | GRADUATE PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS | | Engineering Graduate Programs Rise in U.S. News Grad Rankings | |
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GRAD SLAM FINALISTS
6 out of 9 Finalists represent Engineering Grad Programs!
1) Michael Difrieri (ME) |Advisor: Professor Venkat Ayyaswamy
2) Alex Hartzler (ME) |Advisor: Professor Ashlie Martini
3) Dong Yoon Lee (EECS) | Advisor: Professor Shijia Pan
4) Shubham Rohal (EECS) | Advisor: Professor Shijia Pan
5) Zachary Malone (ES) | Advisor: Professor Rebecca Ryals
6) Demitrius Zulevic (ME) | Advisor: Professor Venkat Ayyaswamy
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Saima Sumaiya (Ph.D. ’22) was a mechanical engineering graduate student in Professor Mehmet Baykara’s lab and now works at Bruker, a manufacturer of scientific instruments for molecular and materials research and industrial and applied analysis. She also joined the Mechanical Engineering External Advisory Board, remaining an engaged Bobcat.
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Carlos Diaz Alvarenga (Ph.D. ’24), a researcher in Professor Stefano Carpin’s robotics lab, married Rocio Medrano Calderon (B.S. ’17) and landed a faculty position in Cal Poly’s computer engineering department. | Annaliza Perez Torres (B.S. ’19), a materials science and engineering major, is an engineer with Lockheed Martin and has received a Rising Technical Contributor Award from the Society of Women Engineers. | | Founding Faculty Roland Winston Remembered for Pioneering Solar Energy | | Distinguished Professor Emeritus Roland Winston, a pioneer in solar energy, engineering and physics, died February 8th at the age of 88 at his home in Merced. A founding faculty member in the schools of Natural Sciences and Engineering at UC Merced, Winston also founded and directed the intercampus collaborative Advanced Solar Technologies Institute, known as UC Solar | | Recognizing Late Professor Emeritus Ariel Escobar's Contributions | | |
Professor Ariel Escobar joined UC Merced in 2008. His laboratory developed new optical, micro-mechanical and electrophysiological techniques for studying key aspects of striated muscle physiology. Prof. Escobar used these tools to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the development of cardiac arrhythmias.
Friends described him as an avid scientist with a special talent for solving intricate technical problems that involved understanding calcium dynamics in muscle. He served as the chair of the Department of Bioengineering and was a member of the National Research Council of Venezuela.
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