Engineering

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

October 15, 2025

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 Group Achievement Award as part of the 2024-25 NASA Honor Awards. A new documentary also showcases...

As climate warms, the snowline, or rain/snow transition elevation, moves to higher elevations, placing some historically snow-dominated sites in the rain zone. Photo by Roger Bales at Crane Flat in Yosemite National Park

Warming Climate Pushes Rain to Higher Elevations, Raising Flooding Risks

A new study co-authored by UC Merced researchers assesses the effect of a warming climate in pushing the elevation of snow to rain higher during a storm, increasing runoff and the risk of flooding...

A portrait of electrical engineering assistant teaching professor Ayush Pandey

Can AI Increase Air Traffic Safety?

Air traffic controllers sort out three-dimensional space at 600 miles per hour while keeping your flights safe and on time. But as challenges in air traffic increase, the Center for Information...

Photo shows tree mortality in Sierra National forest, taken by Margot Wholey, December 2015.

Having a Mix of Tree Heights Enhances Drought Resilience in Sierra Nevada Forests

In a paper published in Nature Communications, UC Merced Professor Roger Bales, collaborating with an international team, found that the height of neighboring trees strongly influenced whether...

Researcher Among the World's Most Highly Cited for the Fourth Straight Year

Distinguished Professor Martin Hagger from the Department of Psychological Sciences has been awarded one of this year’s Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher awards. He is one of four...

The spring 2022 I2G showcase is displayed.

I2G Highlights Students' Solutions to Real-World Problems

Using magnetic resource imaging, or MRI, to harmlessly detect seeds in Mandarin oranges. Identification of pathogens in an image library with artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose plant disease....

Professor Colleen Naughton is pictured with students in the Summer Bridge program.

Naughton Honored as One of '40 Under 40' by Engineering Organization

UC Merced civil and environmental engineering Professor Colleen Naughton has been included in the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists' (AAEES) 40 Under 40 Program....

New Partnership Offers Ph.D. Students a Path to Pedagogical Excellence

Graduate student Samuel Leventini comes from a long line of educators, and the tribology researcher thinks he might want to follow in those footsteps. Thanks to a new supplemental grant from the...

Latest CAREER Award Funds Research into Building Climate Control

UC Merced Professor Wan Du has received a CAREER award for his research on energy efficient building management. He is the 36th researcher from UC Merced to earn a CAREER award from the...

Researchers Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez, Stephen Hart and Roger Bales.

Grant Funds Research into Wildfire Behavior and Ecological Effects of Fuel Treatments

A grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund a project led by a UC Merced researcher looking into predicting behavior of wildfires. Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez is leading a team...