Faculty

From improving the performance and efficiency of solar cells to using solar technology to speed up fruit drying, a wide array of topics were covered by distinguished scientists at the UC Solar Research Symposium at UC Merced on Dec. 9.

Government, for better or worse, hasn't changed all that much in two millennia.

http://www.ucmerced.edu/sites/www/files/news/images/111122sacnasfeature.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 863px; " title="Undergraduates David R. Jones, Jessica Sood and Janna Rodriguez were awarded outstanding student presentation at the annual SACNAS conference held last month in San Jose.

http://youtu.be/eT4dckdP-Nc

At UC Merced, preparing students for success goes well beyond the classroom. The ability to conduct hands-on research is extended to students from the moment they step foot on campus.

“Coming to UC Merced set me above the rest,” alumnus Randell Rueda said. “Here, we are able to learn how to contribute to the world. The faculty here at UC Merced are special, because they truly reach out to their students and they make sure that all opportunities that you can have as an individual are offered to you.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8wzG0QWw80A group of students working with Professor Benoit Dayrat learned first-hand this summer about the field research opportunities available to undergraduates at UC Merced.

Researchers with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) at the University of California, Merced, have received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand on a prototype system that uses a network of wireless sensors to track snowpack depth, water storage in soil, stream flow, and water use by vegetation in the Sierra — information that is key to efficient usage of such a scarce resource.

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.

Professor Jason Hein was lured to UC Merced because of the opportunity to pursue his research, even if it crosses into other branches of chemistry, physics, biology and engineering.

Researchers with the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Merced will examine the effectiveness of state and local antismoking programs across the United States in an effort to make sure health authorities are able to use their increasingly limited resources to support and defend the most effective approaches.

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.