Civil and Environmental Engineering

Buhach Valedictorian Pursues Environmental Engineering at UC Merced this Fall

August 12, 2025

This is part of a series of profiles of new UC Merced Bobcats enrolled for the fall 2025 semester. Drake Ledford was an exemplary high school student, earning a 4.29 GPA. The Merced Union High School District (MUHSD) recognized him as one of its top scholars. He was also honored as...

Photo depicts Brittany Barreto Martinez pouring liquid into a test tube in a lab.

UC Merced Breakthrough Could Transform How California Monitors Toxic Algae

San Luis Reservoir in Merced County - one of California's largest artificial lakes - not only irrigates Central Valley farmland and supplies drinking water across Silicon Valley and the South Bay...

Instructor Kristen Hogue works with a class of high school students in New York City.

UC Merced Brings Climate Justice Course to Title I High School Students Across the Nation

Recently, more than 150 students at 10 high schools in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. completed Climate Justice, a UC Merced course , through a unique partnership between the...

Photo depicts solar panels mounted on concrete supports over a canal.

Consortium Looks to Expand Solar-Over-Canal Projects Statewide

The first solar-over-canal project in California, which started with research at UC Merced, has begun producing electricity. Plans are now in the works to expand the technology to other areas. A...

Illustration of burning cigarette in test tubes

Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center Enlists Wastewater Tests in Fight Against Smoking

UC Merced's Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center has embarked on an innovative partnership with university researchers who can track an entire community’s health and habits with...

A fluorescence microscope image of one kind of active matter being studied. Image courtesy of Amanda Tan, UC Merced

UC Awards Support Tackling Big Questions in Health, Physics, Agriculture and Climate

Faculty members at UC Merced are taking the lead on four Multicampus Research Program Initiatives (MRPI), working with colleagues around the University of California system to address challenges...

Members of the BioSCape team are pictured with NASA and South African aircraft.

Multinational Research Project Shows How Life on Earth can be Measured from Space

Measurements and data collected from space can be used to better understand life on Earth. An ambitious, multinational research project funded by NASA and co-led by UC Merced civil and...

A student is depicted in front of a poster describing the almonry stockpile project at UC Merced.

Projects That Solve Problems Win Awards at I2G

Helping diplomats navigate new cultures, removing mircroplastics from stormwater and automating raisin processing: These are some of the projects awarded winning scores at UC Merced's fall...

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...