Patty Guerra

UC Merced Alum, Now a Robotics Expert for Amazon, Advises Students to Get Their Hands Dirty

January 6, 2026

Kevin Arrieta is pictured speaking to an electrical engineering class at UC Merced.

Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble. Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at his Compton high school after the teacher who ran it gave him an ultimatum. "I had gotten in with the wrong crowd," he said. "I had a physics teacher who told me, '...

Photo depicts Professor Debora Lyn Porter and a blue and gold background.

Grant Funds Research into Fungal Structures

Mushrooms are pretty amazing. They are light and porous yet have a high strength-to-weight ratio. They are absorbent. They can serve as filters. Manufacturing a material that mimics mushrooms and...

A child and a health worker are shown giving a high five.

Grant Will Cover Tuition for Community Health Worker Program

A new program aimed at training people to be community health workers has already gotten an important boost: a grant to cover scholarships for some attendees. The Community Health Worker ...

New faculty members pictured are Josué Medellìn-Azuara, Rebecca Ryals, Safeeq Khan and Reza Ehsani.

A Major Step Forward for UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station

The first four faculty members named to UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station look to make a big impact on farming in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond. Mechanical engineering Professor...

Robert Galliano, a forester designing and tracking the fuels treatments for the French Meadows Partnership, is shown talking to a crowd of people.

Agencies, Local Stakeholders Must Collaborate to Restore Wildlands

As wildfires grow in intensity and frequency, it's vital that agencies and local stakeholders work together to rehabilitate and restore resilience to wildlands in California. This finding is...

UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz moderates a panel featuring California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian, University of California President Michael Drake and California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia.

Summit Aims to Ease the Path for Transfer Students

Between 70% and 80% of students who start classes at community colleges plan to transfer to four-year universities. But only between 20% and 30% do. In California, that number is closer to the...

The Science and Engineering 2 Building is pictured.

Engineering Majors at UC Merced Grow to Meet Workforce Demands

When it comes to jobs in engineering, the possibilities are growing exponentially. And UC Merced is meeting the challenge by growing its engineering majors to produce the skilled workforce needed for...

UC Merced political science Professor Christopher Ojeda displays a slide showing people say they feel depressed in polls taken after elections.

Stressed Out by the Election? Political Scientists Explain Why and Offer Tips

If it seems anxiety around elections is at an all-time high, then political groups have done their jobs. "It's very conscious, it's very calculated," said UC Merced political...

The cover of the October edition of Science is depicted in front of a UC Merced sign and palm trees.

Western US Fires Getting Faster, More Dangerous, Study Shows

Fast-growing fires were responsible for nearly 90% of fire-related damages despite being relatively rare in the United States between 2001-2020, according to a new study. "Fast fires,"...

A graphic displays the calculation of structures used in a course-based research project.

Professor Brings Course-Based Research Experiences to Physics

Conducting research can be daunting. UC Merced, like its sister University of California campuses, prides itself on the opportunities it provides its students to conduct research as part of their...