Mechanical 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...

Photo depicts students describing their product, an irrigation sensor, at the Innovate to Grow event at UC Merced.

Creative Solutions Win at Innovation Event

Imagine you're a farmer who uses a drip irrigation system on your crops. On watering day, you open the valve from the canal, then go to your orchard, maybe a few acres away, and wait. Once enough...

UC Merced Student’s Photography Joins Exhibit of Young Valley Talent

Zachary Silva’s camera escorts us to extraordinary places. We see UC Merced from high above, the land around the campus warped by a fisheye lens. We look straight down a pole at a fluttering U....

Three Engineering Programs Ranked in Top 100 by U.S. News

UC Merced’s School of Engineering and its programs continue to be recognized by U.S. News & World Report as demonstrated in the release today of its 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings....

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...

Finalists Vie for Campus Grad Slam Champion Title During Research Week

Each spring, master’s and doctoral students across UC Merced’s 18 graduate groups are invited to contend in the campus’s Grad Slam Finals. They are given three minutes and one...

Postdoctoral researcher Derek Hollenbeck and mechanical engineering Professor YangQuan Chen are pictured.

Researchers Developing New Tools in Fight Against Methane Emissions

UC Merced researchers are taking part in a comprehensive, multi-agency effort aimed at efficiently measuring and mitigating methane emissions. IBM and Los Alamos National Laboratory are leading...

Image depicts a scene of grass, sidewalks and a large UCM at UC Merced.

Sensor Provides Cheap, Smart Way to Monitor How Much Water Crops Need

As water becomes an ever more precious and unpredictable resource, particularly in the Central Valley, finding ways to precisely irrigate crops is a valuable tool in the fight against climate change...

Photo depicts Professor Debora Lyn Porter and a blue and gold background.

Grant Funds Research into Fungal Structures

Mushrooms are pretty amazing. They are light and porous yet have a high strength-to-weight ratio. They are absorbent. They can serve as filters. Manufacturing a material that mimics mushrooms and...

graduate student wearing black presenting to the group

Inaugural Mechanical Engineering Graduate Symposium Celebrates Student Research Excellence

UC Merced’s Department of Mechanical Engineering held its first Graduate Symposium on Nov. 2, marking a successful day of research presentations and community engagement. Graduate students...