Management & Technology

Boosting AI and Science: NSF Invests $600K in OpenDOTA Project at UC Merced

August 12, 2025

Photo depicts Professor Xiaoyi Lu on a blue and gold graphc background.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $600,000 to support a groundbreaking project at UC Merced aimed at accelerating the future of artificial intelligence and scientific research. Professor Xiaoyi Lu from the electrical engineering and computer science group in the School of...

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

Championing the Transition to Clean Energy

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...

Stock image depicts an electronic flight board with multiple delays at an unnamed airport.

Disruptions in the Digital Supply Chain Can Have Major Physical Impacts

Last July, a glitch in a software upgrade by a cybersecurity company impacted 8.5 million computers, resulting in the cancellation of 2,800 flights and delays for 11,000 more. In an increasingly...

Photo depicts the blue and gold UCM art installation and professors Chih-Chun Chien, left, and Xiaoyi Lu

UC Merced Directs Program to Train Quantum Science Workforce

A new program led by UC Merced in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aims to train graduate and undergraduate students to work in the rapidly growing industry of quantum...

Photo depicts a firefighter and flames from the 2020 Apple fire in California.

How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Fuel Record-Breaking Wildfires in 2020? New Study Explains

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many facets of life, including health care, schools and the work environment. A new study by UC Merced researchers shows evidence that the pandemic...

Depicted are two electric vehicle charging stations at UC Merced.

Researchers Make the Case for Charging Cars During the Day

Many people with electric vehicles drive them to work during the day and then charge them overnight after returning home. But a simple reversal of that schedule could make it cheaper and easier to...

Photo depicts electrical engineering and computer science Professor Ming-Hsuan Yang on a blue and gold background.

Computer Vision Researcher Honored for Work in AI

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the premier scientific society dedicated to advancing the understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior...

Photo depicts a sepia-toned image of Albert Einstein transformed into Cubist art.

High School Student Part of AI Art Project at UC Merced

Here's a nifty use for AI: Turning photographs and other images into Cubist art. A team of UC Merced researchers developed a project to do just that, using artificial intelligence to transform...

Photo depicts graphic blue and gold background and Efosa Omorogieva, a third-year computer science and engineering major at UC Merced,.

UC Students Tackle Tech-Centered Challenges in CITRIS Summer Internships

Efosa Omorogieva, a third-year computer science and engineering major at UC Merced, spent her summer using data to help transform items such as stalks and husks leftover after harvest into usable...

3 New Majors Meet at Crossroads of Communication and Science

Information – how it is shaped, delivered and received – is a thread that runs through three dynamic new majors at UC Merced. Communication and media; neuroscience; and science,...

Research