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 Daniel Hirleman.
Professor YangQuan Chen has many reasons to be proud of his Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab.
Besides being extremely popular — so popular the lab has to turn away applicants — the lab now has nine Federal Aviation Administration certificates to fly unmanned aerial vehicles around the Central Valley.
There are more than a few new faces on campus this year. In addition to new first-year, transfer and graduate students, 12 tenure-track professors have chosen the University of California’s newest campus as their professional home.
This year’s crop of new faculty members will play a key role in the university’s plan to support up to 10,000 enrolled students by 2020, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Tom Peterson said.
UC Merced is the only university in the country to have all of its buildings certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. That body of work was honored at the spring conference of the group’s Central California chapter, where UC Merced was recognized for having the most LEED-certified buildings in the region.
The summer might mean an extended break for some in the campus community, but UC Merced researchers are busier than ever. Whether here or abroad, many professors and students are taking advantage of the time off to pursue important research projects.
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 Daniel Hirleman.
By Andy Murdock
Mark Matsumoto has been named dean of the 
