Engineering

Researchers Apply Materials Science Equation to Broader Real-World Issues

June 27, 2025

Photo depicts UC Merced Professor Christopher Viney and graduate researcher Kiana Shirzad on a blue and gold graphic background

At first glance, a mathematical model that describes how quickly materials transform from one phase to another might seem to have few other practical applications. But what if this kind of model could be adapted to predict the spread of the next pandemic? Two UC Merced researchers have been...

New Grant to Help Prepare Grad Students for Faculty Careers

UC Merced is one of only seven universities nationwide to receive a grant from the Council of Graduate Schools to develop new approaches for enhancing graduate student skills for assessing...

Program Gives Students a Window on the Nano World

More than two dozen UC Merced undergraduates spent the summer exploring a tiny but hot topic — materials 100,000 times slimmer than a human hair that are poised to revolutionize sensing, data...

Graduate Student Finds Unexpected Home in Merced

Zhijiang “Justin” Ye wasn’t expecting to attend the newest campus in the UC system. He just wanted to work with Professor Ashlie Martini. When Ye, then a student at University of Minnesota, connected...

Robotics Society Navigates Uncharted Courses

Sometimes, all you need is a little push, even if it comes from a mechanical arm. That was the case with the UC Merced Robotics Society, which began in 2008 but languished after its founders...

Korean Students Get UC Solar Experience

They traveled nearly 20 hours by plane and bus across 5,700 miles to spend three weeks in the Central Valley sun. Fifteen engineering students from Dankook University in Yongin, Gyeonggi, South Korea...

'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...