Research Excellence

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 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...

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...

New faculty members pictured are Josué Medellìn-Azuara, Rebecca Ryals, Safeeq Khan and Reza Ehsani.

A Major Step Forward for UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station

The first four faculty members named to UC Merced's Agricultural Experiment Station look to make a big impact on farming in the San Joaquin Valley and beyond. Mechanical engineering Professor...

Robert Galliano, a forester designing and tracking the fuels treatments for the French Meadows Partnership, is shown talking to a crowd of people.

Agencies, Local Stakeholders Must Collaborate to Restore Wildlands

As wildfires grow in intensity and frequency, it's vital that agencies and local stakeholders work together to rehabilitate and restore resilience to wildlands in California. This finding is...

Study of Sugar Pines Reveals Urgent Issue in Protecting Forests from Climate Change

Sugar pines are the tallest pine species in the world, and they only grow along the West Coast of North America. They are a valued source of timber with cones as large as an adult’s forearm....

Ending Health Disparities Starts with Good Data, National Authority Says

Solid and sharable research data must go hand in hand with collaboration and caring to tackle the health gaps that trouble minoritized and underserved populations in the San Joaquin Valley...

New Method of Mapping Proteins Offers Undergraduate Students New Opportunities

Research on cell development has led not only to a more efficient way to map proteins in living cells but also tapped into the research capabilities of UC Merced undergraduate students and brought...

Graphic depicts the dates of the CENVAL-ARC Symposium, March 7 and 10, 2025.

Grant Opens New Research Possibilities for Central Valley Colleges

When regents selected Merced for the newest University of California campus in 1995, the choice brought promise for the entire region: of an improved workforce, advanced technology, economic impact...

The cover of the October edition of Science is depicted in front of a UC Merced sign and palm trees.

Western US Fires Getting Faster, More Dangerous, Study Shows

Fast-growing fires were responsible for nearly 90% of fire-related damages despite being relatively rare in the United States between 2001-2020, according to a new study. "Fast fires,"...

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