UC Merced saw broad gains in the U.S. News and World Report 2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings with graduate programs rising in national standing, reflecting the campus’s growing academic and research profile.
UC Merced’s School of Engineering broke into the top 100 in the rankings, securing No. 99 in the Best Engineering Schools and ranked in the top 12 among California universities. Engineering rose seven spots since last year and is up 41 positions since debuting in the U.S. News rankings in 2015, alongside institutions such as the University of Oklahoma, University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), University of Missouri and University of Nebraska (Lincoln).
“Earning a top 100 spot 11 years after first entering the U.S. News rankings, and 20 years after the campus opened, is a significant milestone for UC Merced’s School of Engineering,” Dean Rakesh Goel said. “It reflects the extraordinary dedication of our faculty, staff and students, and indicates the strong upward momentum of our programs as we continue to expand our impact and reputation nationwide.”
Six of Engineering's seven graduate programs made the rankings list again this year. Environmental Systems (Best Environmental Engineering) climbed four spots to No. 82, earning a shared ranking with New Mexico State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and University of New Mexico. ES is interdisciplinary, spanning all three UC Merced schools.
Other ranked programs include the Materials and Biomaterials Engineering Graduate Group (Best Materials Engineering Programs) at No. 101; the Bioengineering Graduate Program (Best Biomedical/Bioengineering Programs) at No. 126; computer engineering (part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Graduate Group) and the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Group, both positioned at No. 103; and electrical engineering (part of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Graduate Group) at No. 125.
Recent highlights for the School of Engineering include:
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Computer science and engineering professors Dong Li and Xiaoyi Lu earned Amazon Research Awards to delve deep into artificial intelligence using AWS Trainium, a chip purpose-built for high-performance deep learning training of generative AI models.
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Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Pengfei Su received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award for his research on cross-layer performance tuning to enhance deep learning model efficiency.
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Electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his distinguished contributions to the field of computer vision, particularly for visual tracking, low-level vision and visual learning. Yang appeared on Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited list of the world’s most‑cited researchers.
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Climate experts John Abatzoglou, a professor in management of complex systems, and Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the campus’s Fire Resilience Center, also appeared on the Clarivate’s 2025 Highly Cited list.
Graduate programs in the School of Natural Sciences posted some of the largest gains in this year’s U.S. News rankings. The Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Group made the largest jump, up 18 spots to No. 118. The Quantitative and Systems Biology Graduate Group (Best Biological Sciences Programs) ranked No. 131, up 13 spots from last year, and the Physics Graduate Program rose nine spots to No. 104.
"These rankings reflect the strength and momentum of graduate education across UC Merced. In the School of Natural Sciences, we’re especially proud to see significant gains across chemistry, biology and physics,” Dean Michael Findlater said. “These areas are central to the university’s research mission and represent the School’s unofficial motto that we do research ‘From the Valley to the Stars.’ Together with our colleagues in engineering and the social sciences, this progress highlights the depth and breadth of scholarship being built across the campus."
Highlights for the School of Natural Sciences include:
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Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe was named a 2025 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her distinguished contributions to soil sciences and for her exemplary leadership in scientific organizations, leading to a more equitable and innovative scientific culture. Chemistry Professor Henrik Larsson received a prestigious Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, becoming the first faculty member from UC Merced to earn the honor.
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Biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang received a $1.2 million grant from the William M. Keck Foundation to support his work to explain how bacteria, and potentially many other organisms, adapt to changes in temperature.
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Cosmology Professor Anna Nierenberg received an NSF CAREER award for a project that will vastly improve the study of the nature of dark matter in the universe.
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The National Institutes of Health renewed Professor Clarissa Nobile’s Maximizing Investigators' Research Award grant for an additional five years and $2.5 million to help her understand the mechanisms by which microbes form biofilms, specifically those that can be hazardous to human health.
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Professor Xuan Zhang received an NSF CAREER Award to support her project to uncover how chemical shifts in the atmosphere could affect the air we breathe and the climate.
U.S. News ranks business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine graduate programs annually, while other disciplines and specialties in the sciences, social sciences, humanities and other areas are ranked periodically. More information about how U.S. News rankings are weighted is available on its website.
Three Ph.D. programs in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts earned spots in last year’s U.S. News rankings. The Sociology Graduate Program made a strong debut in the rankings at No. 64 in the nation, tied with UC Riverside, Temple University, the University of Florida and Washington State University. The Political Science Graduate Program ranked No. 52, up 11 positions from its debut in the 2022 rankings, and the Psychological Sciences Graduate Program ranked No. 95, up 63 spots since debuting in 2015.
The U.S. News rankings are designed to help prospective students research more than 2,000 graduate programs, weighing factors such as reputation, research activity and student selectivity.
“These rankings reflect the progress we are making and the future we are building as a leading public research institution,” Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Hrant Hratchian said. “They highlight academic strength, research excellence and our unwavering commitment to graduate education.”
Brenda Ortiz
Senior Public Information Representative
Office: (209) 228-4203
Mobile: (209) 628-8263
