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...

Chevron Selects Engineering Student for Summer Internship

Jose Garcia, a fourth-year student, will spend next summer as the only intern in Chevron Oronite’s Tribology division, with a small group of researchers who delve into lubricants, additives and the...

Regents’ Scholarships Assure College Dream for Exceptional Students

But those financial worries disappeared once Gamboa learned she’d been awarded a UC Merced Regents’ Scholarship. The scholarship bridges any gap between financial aid and parental contributions —...

UC Merced Students Excel at National Science Conference

Two University of California, Merced, students – Viridiana Murillo and Alexandro Perez-Tovar – won first prize in their divisions at the recent Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos &...

Aspiring Architect Earns PG&E Internship

At a conference of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, Jessyca Kamel, a junior from Los Angeles, wore her UC Merced shirt on her morning coffee run. “I bumped into one of the PG&E...

Impact: MESA Lab Researching Friendly Drones

Former UC Merced Students Travel Entrepreneurial Path to China

Three entrepreneurs with UC Merced roots are trying to revolutionize the biking experience. UC Merced graduate Seena Zandipour, and former students Tony Belmontes and Kenneth Gibbs, are developing...

Founding Faculty Member Honored with NSF Grant for Excellence

A five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation is helping Professor Alberto Cerpa develop the next big breakthrough in wireless sensor networks – an autonomous, self-learning system...

Service Learning Team Working to Increase Kids’ Enthusiasm for Science

One group of engineering students is focusing on tiny ways to make big strides in education. A 10-member Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) team is developing a piece of...

Professor and Students Study Deformations to Increase Health

People don’t often think of deformation as a good thing. But when it comes to biofilaments – such as strands of DNA – it’s not only good, it’s necessary for the biofilament to complete its functions...