Energy

New AI Institute Expands UC Merced’s Smart, Sustainable Agriculture Effort

July 29, 2021

A machine developed in Professor Reza Ehsani's lab improves almond harvests by reducing the amount of dust stirred up as the nuts are gathered from the ground.

With a new $20 million federal grant, UC Merced becomes part of a multi-institutional research collaborative to develop artificial intelligence — or AI — solutions to tackle some of agriculture’s biggest challenges related to water management, climate change and integration of new...

Ph.D. Student Named Underrepresented Chemist of Color by Merck

Chemistry and Chemical Biology graduate student Ali Abou Taka is one of 12 students to receive the inaugural Merck Research Award for Underrepresented Chemists of Color. Abou Taka, a Ph.D. student in Professor Hrant Hratchian’s lab, studies...

Energize UC Merced 2021 Offers Students, Community Inspiration on Renewable Energy

The campus community and its partners can learn more about the importance of renewable energy at this year’s Energize Merced conference, an annual event hosted by UC Merced’s Solar Energy Association (SEA). The association is a student-led...

Covering California's canals in solar panels could save 63 billion gallons of water annually, which is comparable to the amount needed to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland.

Solar Panels Over Canals Can Save Money, Energy and Water, Study Shows

Covering the 4,000 miles of California’s water canals could save billions of gallons of water and generate renewable power for the state every year, according to a new study. The study was published in the journal Nature...

Selina Brinkmann, who will graduate in May with a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, is UC Merced’s first student to earn a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Mechanical Engineering Student Named the Campus’s First Rhodes Scholar

UC Merced master’s student Selina Brinkmann has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for study at Oxford University — a first for the campus. “A Rhodes Scholarship being awarded to one of our UC Merced engineering students is an amazing...

Chemistry Professor Tao Ye and his students gathered on campus.

Chemical Biology Lab Creating DNA-based Nanomachines that can Self Assemble

Professor Tao Ye and colleagues have received a $1.18 million grant from the Department of Energy to study how DNA molecules can arrange themselves into nanostructures that could form the basis of nanoelectronic circuits. All living things are the...

UC Merced Named Top 5 ‘Cool School’ by Sierra Club and Makes 'Green College Honor Roll'

UC Merced’s national reputation for sustainability continues to grow, with the Sierra Club naming the university No. 5 on its 2020 “Cool Schools” list and The Princeton Review placing it on its Green College Honor Roll. Sierra...

Freeing the state from its dependence on fossil fuels means finding the right combination of renewable solutions, as well as efficient, low-cost energy storage.

New Project Shining a Light on Energy Storage

California’s leaders want the state to reach 100 percent clean energy in the future, including being 60 percent powered by renewable energy by 2030 and being free of fossil fuels entirely by 2045. But if the state wants power without fossil...

New Bridge Program Involves Incoming Students in the Future of Agriculture

Incoming first-year and transfer students will have a new resource for success and an introduction to research starting next summer, thanks to a four-year, $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Civil and environmental engineering...

UC Merced Wins Best Practice Awards for Sustainability Efforts

UC Merced is the only campus to win three best practice awards in the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference ’s 2020 energy and sustainability competition. The annual conference, to be held virtually July 6-10, highlights...