Engineering

Using solar thermal energy to power an air conditioning unit can be difficult and expensive. But a team of researchers at the University of California, Merced, have added a game-changing advance to the process that could make it much simpler, less costly and more effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thl53DGexFk

UC Merced graduate student Brandi McKuin recently returned from a trip to India, where she spent time studying the energy needs of rural villages that have been told by their government that they’ll never get electricity.

http://youtu.be/bWfh28B-hv0

UC Merced's computer graphics lab, with body sensors, motion-capture cameras, and a giant movie screen is straight out of Hollywood. But instead of producing blockbusters, a group of UC Merced researchers are working to create more realistic human motions for virtual reality avatars. The movements are analyzed to create more lifelike virtual characters, which will have multiple applications.

In a remarkable outdoor laboratory in the Sierra, a team of researchers led by UC Merced hydrologist Roger Bales is using sensors to gather a mother lode of data to greatly improve ecological measurement and hydrologic forecasting.

Mix up a few buckets of goo, and what do you have?

A messy and fun science lesson for local schoolchildren — courtesy of UC Merced students who help the community through an innovative engineering service learning program.

Unlike many other schools, UC Merced allows freshman students to enter with a major of "engineering - undeclared." For Matt Nelson, now looking back on his freshman year more than five years down the line, the option proved a distinct advantage.

There is no factor in a building that uses up more energy at a greater cost than heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Yet HVAC systems do not take advantage of technology that could make them much more efficient, according to a UC Merced engineering professor.

Three UC Merced alumni — two from Southern California and one from Ohio — are working toward starting a business and making a difference right here in the San Joaquin Valley.

A team of researchers led by IBM, including a pair of professors from the University of California, Merced, unveiled today a new generation of experimental computer chips designed to emulate the brain's abilities for perception, action and cognition. The result could be processors that use much less power and far less space than those found in today's computers.

Researchers at the University of California, Merced, have devoted years of hard work to finding solutions to some of the world's most challenging problems.

The campus' Office of Research has released a publication that showcases many of those solutions, from technologies that increase the efficiency of solar energy collectors to medical developments that could limit the reproduction of the hepatitis C virus or the spread of HIV to materials that could improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.