Services are set Sunday afternoon for Professor YangQuan Chen, whose contibutions to UC Merced's School of Engineering and to the university as a whole will endure through programs he helped build, the research he advanced, and the many students and colleagues he inspired.
Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering, died April 27. He was 59.
Chen joined UC Merced in 2012. He was the director of the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab and was a respected scholar, educator and innovator whose contributions to UC Merced and the broader field of engineering left a lasting mark.
"Professor Chen was widely known for his cross-disciplinary collaborations spanning all three schools," School of Engineering Dean Rakesh Goel said. "He was also highly regarded across numerous campus offices, including the Office of International Affairs, Student Affairs and others."
Before working at UC Merced, Chen served on the faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Utah State University, where he also directed the Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems.
His work spanned advanced control systems, robotics, mechatronics and intelligent systems. Chen helped shape UC Merced's engineering programs and advanced the fields of control systems and mechatronics. As the founder and director of the MESA Lab, he cultivated a dynamic research environment that brought together students and collaborators to explore cutting-edge technologies and real-world applications. His work was widely recognized and influential, contributing to the advancement of engineering knowledge and innovation on a global scale.
Chen was the author of more than 1,000 scholarly works and was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics from 2018 to 2021. He shared his passion for unmanned aerial systems, fractional calculus and engineering service learning, inspiring students to see engineering not merely as a discipline, but as a means to serve the world.
Chen mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students, guiding them not only in their academic pursuits but also in their professional and personal development. Students and colleagues knew him as generous with his time, deeply knowledgeable, and committed to fostering curiosity, creativity and excellence.
Chen was an engaged and valued member of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS). A 2016 Seed Funding recipient, he served on the CITRIS faculty advisory committee at UC Merced, contributed to the CITRIS Aviation Working Group and mentored UC Merced student teams participating in the CITRIS Aviation Prize competition. He also shared his expertise through the CITRIS Research Exchange and other public programs, helping to connect research, education and real-world applications across the institute's four campuses.
He earned his B.S. in industrial automation from the University of Science and Technology of Beijing, his M.S. in automatic control from the Beijing Institute of Technologyand his Ph.D. in advanced control and instrumentation from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
A viewing is set at 1 p.m. Sunday, followed by a service at 2 p.m. at Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home, 1490 B St. More information is available at the memorial website .
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