Engineering

Championing the Transition to Clean Energy

June 11, 2025

Image depicts UC Merced mechanical engineering Professor Ricardo Pinto de Castro talking to students near a small robot.

Mechanical engineering Professor Ricardo Pinto de Castro has turned a penchant for systems-level thinking and a longtime love of cars into a climate-resilient research mission. From electric vehicles (EVs) traversing San Francisco's busiest streets to electric appliances such as...

'Dynamic Duo' Wins Systemwide Award for Sustainability Efforts

Making an entire campus sustainable takes a lot of planning, education and work. But those efforts are what earned two of UC Merced’s sustainability leaders systemwide recognition. Former Director of...

Grad Student Focuses Research on Energy Efficiency

It’s no surprise UC Merced graduate student Siyu Wu’s research — rooted in mechanical engineering — has veered toward the environmental. Wu, who grew up in China, was raised by parents who felt...

Racing Team Puts Classroom Lessons to the Test

UC Merced’s Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team built its first racecar and exhibited it at a national competition last June. The student club has crafted a more advanced machine this...

Researcher Aims to Use Social Multimedia for Enhanced Mapping

Mapping what is where on the earth’s surface is currently done primarily through overhead aerial and satellite images. This is useful in many ways but is limited in terms of portraying things like...

Engineering Professor Looks to Make an Impact

Professor Ashlie Martini was looking for the chance to make a difference when she took a post at UC Merced. Martini, now a professor in the UC Merced School of Engineering, was most recently a...

Computer Scientist Earns Prestigious Early-Career Research Award

Engineering Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang of the University of California, Merced, has been named a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to...

Graduate Student at Home with Mountain Water Research

Peter Kirchner may have been born in California’s San Fernando Valley, but his heart and mind have always been close to the mountains. Much of his life has been spent living in Mono County, where he...

Study Shows Sugarcane Ethanol Production Causes Air Pollution

The burning of sugarcane fields prior to harvest for ethanol production can create air pollution that detracts from the biofuel’s overall sustainability, according to research published recently by a...

Innovative Solar Research Highlighted During Symposium

From improving the performance and efficiency of solar cells to using solar technology to speed up fruit drying, a wide array of topics were covered by distinguished scientists at the UC Solar...