Civil and Environmental Engineering

UC Merced Sees Strong Gains in U.S. News Grad School Rankings

April 7, 2026

Top 100 Best Graduate Schools ranking, two students in a lab

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...

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at UC Merced

Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at UC Merced. “The perk is being able to pursue my...

Depicted are students holding an oversized check against a blue UC Merced background.

Turner Construction Foundation Gifts Future Engineers

A company UC Merced has invested in to help build out its campus in turn is investing in the university's students. The foundation run by Turner Construction this week gave a $5,000 donation to...

Photo depicts an attendee speaking into a microphone to ask a question at the Rural Energy Summit at UC Merced.

Innovative Solutions Turn Rural Energy Challenges Into Opportunities

One of the biggest hurdles facing local farmers is the rising cost of doing business. However, some innovative solutions are in the works, as highlighted at the Central Valley Rural Energy Systems...

Photo is a mugshot of Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara depicted on a blue and gold background.

Report Reviews How California's Water Projects Balance Needs of People and Endangered Species

A National Academies committee that includes a UC Merced researcher recently released its findings from a review of the science behind the operations of two massive California water projects....

Photo depicts Professor Siddaiah Yarra accepting a plaque on a blue and gold graphic background.

Engineering Professor Earns Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award

The American Society of Civil Engineers has awarded civil and environmental engineering Professor Siddaiah Yarra the Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award for Region 9. The ASCE San Francisco...

Professor and Environmental Champion Bales Retires, But Research and Advocacy Continue

Professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin arrived in Merced in 2003, the first non-administrative faculty members at UC Merced. They came with a vision: to create a research university that would...

Photo depicts trees that survived a fire, surrounded by ash on the ground.

Thinning, Burning Forests Provide Multiple Benefits, Some of Them Surprising

Wildfires are growing more frequent and severe across the western United States, and California's Sierra Nevada is ground zero. Decades of fire suppression have left these forests overstocked and...

Multinational Effort to Map South Africa’s Biodiversity from the Air Earns NASA Award

BioSCape, a multinational research project co-led by UC Merced, the University at Buffalo and the University of Cape Town, which monitored Earth’s biodiversity from the air, has received a...

Photo depicts smoke over a wildfire burning through a forest.

Forest Carbon: Store it or Burn it? Actually, Both is Best

Storing carbon in forests is an essential, nature-based buffer against climate change. Yet forests packed with too many trees increase the threat of severe wildfires, which are becoming all too...