Environmental Engineering

Innovative Solutions Turn Rural Energy Challenges Into Opportunities

January 21, 2026

Photo depicts an attendee speaking into a microphone to ask a question at the Rural Energy Summit at UC Merced.

One of the biggest hurdles facing local farmers is the rising cost of doing business. However, some innovative solutions are in the works, as highlighted at the Central Valley Rural Energy Systems Workshop at UC Merced in early December. Hosted by the UC Merced Energy Center and the...

UC Merced Honors PG&E with Inaugural Vanguard Award

MERCED, Calif. — UC Merced honored the Pacific Gas and Electric Company with the School of Engineering’s inaugural Vanguard Award today with a special ceremony to thank the company for all it has...

Senegal Shrubbery Research Could Bear Fruit for Many

Shrubs blooming in a specific area of Africa might hold the answers to feeding millions of people on that continent, and possibly others. UC Merced Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei, his doctoral student,...

Snowy, Sandy Research Explores Climate Change

From the white, sugary sands of Hawaii to the white, powdery slopes of the Sierra Nevada, Natural Sciences Professor Stephen Hart has his eye on climate change. For the past two years, the professor...

River Project Promises Clarity, Security for State Water Resources

MERCED, Calif. — Researchers at UC Merced are taking an important step toward a statewide water-monitoring system by installing wireless sensors across the American River basin. The system, which is...

UC Merced Plasma Lab Turning Leftovers into Cleaner Energy

There’s a reason the UC Merced plasma lab is isolated behind a locking fence near the entrance to campus. There’s some serious heat being produced down there. Engineering professors Gerardo Diaz,...

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...

Scientists Propose Thinning Sierra Forests to Enhance Water Runoff

Runoff from the Sierra Nevada, a critical source of California’s water supply, could be enhanced by thinning forests to historical conditions, according to a report from a team of scientists with the...

Researchers Unveil Innovative Solar Cooling Project

Using solar thermal energy to power an air conditioning unit can be difficult and expensive. But a team of researchers at the University of California, Merced, have added a game-changing advance to...

Impact: Engineers Building Sustainable Solutions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thl53DGexFk UC Merced graduate student Brandi McKuin recently returned from a trip to India, where she spent time studying the energy needs of rural villages that have...