Mechanical Engineering

Team Advances In Aviation Prize Contest

April 25, 2025

Photo depicts a rendering of a drone flying above the heads of people below.

A team of UC Merced students and their adviser has entered the second phase of the 2024-25 CITRIS Aviation Prize design contest. Students Yael Xavier Andujar, Monica Cruz Gaspar, Ana Hernandez, Kyra Ruiz, Randy Serrano and mechanical engineering Professor Francesco Danzi will compete...

Ashlie Martini is the associate director for the Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry.

UC Merced Among Institutions Awarded $20 Million NSF Investment for Mechanical Chemistry

Understanding the atomic-scale mysteries of "crushing" chemistry is the goal of an expanding research center with a newly awarded $20 million investment from the U.S. National Science...

Members of the UC Merced team at the Design/Build/Fly drone competition in Tucson, Arizona.

UC Merced Drone Team Soars to New Heights in Global Competition

After seven months of working for hours each weekend to design, build and fly a drone, it all came down to a nervous moment for UC Merced students taking part in a worldwide competition. Their...

Mechanical engineering Professor Ashlie Martini

Science Publishes Mechanochemistry Research by UC Merced Professor

Most organic reactions involve use of a solvent and heat, resulting in chemical manufacturing waste that can be toxic. Mechanochemistry, applying mechanical force to influence chemical reactions,...

Scholars Explore Future Careers at National Labs Day

UC Merced’s Graduate Division hosted its third National Labs Day on April 21. The goal of the day-long event is to connect graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with researchers from...

UC Merced graduate programs in the natural sciences and engineering are included in the newest U.S. News rankings of 2023-2024 Best Graduate Schools.

UC Merced’s Graduate Programs Rank Among Best in the Nation

UC Merced continues to be recognized nationally, with some programs leaping forward, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 edition of Best Graduate Schools released on April 25...

A student poses with several soccer balls on an athletic field.

A Day in the Life of a First-Year Student at UC Merced

First-year student Edwin Casillas found everything he was looking for in a university — and more — at UC Merced. Nearly a year after the Sonora native said he "felt at home...

Professor Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez, front, and her students study heat transfer in fire in her lab.

Experts Recommend a New, More Innovative Approach to Wildfire Research

Fire scientists typically respond to agency opportunities and conduct research in response to past wildfires. But it is time they take more proactive, integrative, predictive approaches toward...

A recent demonstration of how biochar is created

Research Reveals an Easy Way Dairy Farmers Can Dramatically Reduce their Climate Impact

Adding even a small amount of biochar — a charcoal-like material produced by burning organic matter — to a dairy’s manure-composting process reduces methane emissions by 84%, a...

Professors Joshua Viers, left, and Tom Harmon share oversight of the new smart farm being constructed next to campus. The farm will be UC Merced's AES site.

UC Merced Gains Prestigious UC Agricultural Experiment Station Designation

UCs Merced and Santa Cruz became the newest campuses in the system to be named an agricultural experiment stations (AES), UC President Michael Drake announced at today’s Regents’...