Mechanical Engineering

UC Merced Alum, Now a Robotics Expert for Amazon, Advises Students to Get Their Hands Dirty

January 6, 2026

Kevin Arrieta is pictured speaking to an electrical engineering class at UC Merced.

Kevin Arrieta got into robotics to avoid getting into trouble. Arrieta said he joined the robotics club at his Compton high school after the teacher who ran it gave him an ultimatum. "I had gotten in with the wrong crowd," he said. "I had a physics teacher who told me, '...

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...

CITRIS Aviation Prize Delivers Connections, Prizes

What would it take to connect the University of California's campuses in Merced, Berkeley, Davis and Santa Cruz with a safe and sustainable system of air taxis that ferries students, faculty,...