School of Engineering

From Soil to Climate Solutions: Berhe Leads Sierra Nevada Research Institute into its Next Chapter

September 11, 2025

When Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe arrived at UC Merced in 2009, she and her husband, Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei, were leaving major research institutions to join a brand-new campus in California’s Central Valley. It was a leap of faith — one made easier by the Sierra Nevada Research...

Group Offers Encouragement, Support to Women in STEM

A new organization at UC Merced is working to close the gender gap by engaging, supporting and mentoring women in fields traditionally dominated by men. WSTEM — or Women in Science, Technology,...

Student Engineering Team Rewarded in International Competition

The federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recognized this year’s team of UC Merced engineering students for its design of a device that cools high-powered electronics aboard...

Student Team Makes the Cut in Global ‘Hyperloop’ Competition

A small team of undergraduate students from UC Merced is gaining major exposure in a global competition to design portions of what could be the next big innovation in transportation. Elon Musk, the...

Day of Giving Nets More Than $310K for Scholarships

UC Merced employees and alumni were loud and proud supporters of the #GiveTueUCM campaign, part of the international day of charity known as Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1. Including matching funds, the...

MACES Event Highlights Energy, Sensing Research

More than 70 people learned about the research and education opportunities offered by UC Merced’s new Merced nAnomaterials Center of Energy and Sensing (MACES) during an open house Dec. 4. MACES,...

Spatial Analysis Center Expands Training, Research Tools

UC Merced’s innovative Spatial Analysis and Research Center is mapping the next chapter in its development with a new faculty co-director and efforts to show imaginative uses for geographic...

Four Students Win Dan David Solar Fellowships

Four students from diverse disciplines have been named Dan David Solar Fellows through the University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar), headquartered at UC Merced. The...

Gasification Projects Could Benefit the Environment, Economy

Two overlapping research projects involving UC Merced professors could have big implications for the region’s economy and effects on renewable energy, water and wildfires. Professor Gerardo Diaz,...

Engineering Professor and Students Team Up with Chevron

Professor Ashlie Martini is one of only a few university researchers in the country who work on tribology — the study of friction, lubrication and wear. Her work and her willingness to develop...