School of Engineering

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at UC Merced

March 31, 2026

Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at UC Merced. “The perk is being able to pursue my undergraduate degree while still having a tie to home. It's been great having the campus here in the...

Professor’s Invention Helps Scientists Win Nobel Prize

Professor Roland Winston has been tracking the Sudbury Neutrino Experiment since it began in the 1980s, because he invented the light collectors the scientists built to detect solar neutrinos. “I...

Engineering Student Making an Impact on Agriculture

Rebecca Quinte is a mechanical engineer who is learning to apply her skills and knowledge in unexpected ways, and that could end up benefitting farmers in the Central Valley and beyond. The UC Merced...

GEM Consortium Brings New Fellowship Opportunities

New fellowship opportunities are available to undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields at UC Merced, thanks to the...

UC Merced Researchers Gathering Data to Tackle California’s Water Crisis on Multiple Fronts

Note: This story originally ran in the Fall 2015 issue of UC Merced Magazine. By Joel Patenaude California, long envied by the rest of the country for its climate, beauty and natural resources, is...

Despite Constraints, UC Merced Enrollment Continues to Grow

Enrollment at the University of California, Merced, this fall has climbed to another all-time high of 6,685 students — an increase of 6.7 percent over Fall 2014, according to headcount figures...

Program Makes Transition Easier for Transfer Students

Four weeks after her move to UC Merced in January 2014, psychology major Valara Villanueva wasn’t sure if she fit in. She felt academically prepared, but the transition from community college to a...

New Engineering Dean Brings Experience to School, Campus

New School of Engineering Dean Mark Matsumoto is not new to UC Merced. In fact, he’s not even new as the engineering dean, having served in the interim between founding Dean Jeff Wright and Dean...

Sun and Salt: How Solar Tech Can Help California’s Drought

By Andy MurdockUniversity of California Newsroom In the midst of California’s ongoing drought, researchers at the University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar) at UC...

Mobile App Challenge Gets a Boost from AT&T

Earlier this month, AT&T presented its Investing in California award to UC Merced’s Mobile App Challenge. The communications company gave $5,000 to support the competition, which is held...