Patty Guerra

Can AI Help Predict and Manage Drought? UC Merced Researchers Explain in New Book

After a couple of years of sufficient water, much of California is showing "abnormally dry" conditions in spring 2026, according to the state drought monitor.

And as climate change adds more swings between wet and dry conditions, researchers are working on ways to better identify, predict and manage drought.

Toward that end, a UC Merced team contributed a chapter on "Artificial Intelligence for Multiscale Drought Modeling and Decision Making," in the new book "Global Drought and Sustainability."

Celebration of UC Merced and CITRIS Looks Both Back and Forward

A recent celebration marked important anniversaries for two partners in research and innovation, but both emphasized that the most exciting events still lie ahead.

The commemoration at UC Merced on Main marked 25 years of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute and 20 years of UC Merced, one of its member institutions.

"Together these anniversaries tell a shared story - rooted in innovation and access and public impact," UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said.

Commencement Celebrates UC Merced's History, Looks Ahead to Future

Smiling even as she cried, Nancy Rodas De Leon stood in UC Merced's University Plaza, accepting hugs, flowers, stuffed animals and cards from extended family.

"These are happy tears," said Rodas De Leon, who previously earned both her undergraduate and master's degrees at UC Merced. The eldest of five children, she said it was hard to believe she was now a doctor of psychological sciences.

"I'm incredibly grateful I got through," she said. "I can't imagine doing anything that would have led to more growth."

Remembering YangQuan Chen, Mechanical Engineering Innovator and Mentor to Many

Services are set Sunday afternoon for Professor YangQuan Chen, whose contibutions to UC Merced's School of Engineering and to the university as a whole will endure through programs he helped build, the research he advanced, and the many students and colleagues he inspired.

Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering, died April 27. He was 59.

State's First Solar Canal Project Moves from UC Merced Lab to Real World

What started as a premise in a UC Merced lab culminated with a commemoration of Project Nexus, California's first solar canal project.

On Wednesday, state leaders gathered at the Project Nexus sites in Hickman and Keyes to celebrate the completion of the construction pilot, which demonstrates how covering operational irrigation canals with solar panels can help save water, generate clean energy, and conserve natural lands.

Is Growing Agave a Good Fit for California? UC Merced Aims to Find Out

As crops go, agave holds a lot of promise for the northern San Joaquin Valley. The succulents thrive in hot sun, don't require much water and can be grown in the region's sandy soils. And though agave, mainly grown in Mexico, is best known as the source of tequila and mezcal, it has other uses that range from nutritional supplements to fabrics.

Project Aims to Put AI to Work Reducing its Own Energy Needs

It's no secret that artificial intelligence uses a lot of electricity.

A standard ChatGPT query consumes approximately 0.34 watt-hours - roughly 10 times more than a Google search. According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. data centers consumed 183 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024 - more than 4% of the country's total electricity consumption - roughly equivalent to the annual electricity demand of the entire nation of Pakistan.

UC Merced's Study Abroad Program Among the Country's Best

Frida Quinto Ruiz went to Sweden with a curious mind. She came home with a plan.

"Studying abroad completely reshaped the direction of my college career in ways I never expected," she said. "I went to Sweden already curious about the world, but I came back with a much clearer sense of where I want to go."

During a tour of the European Union in Brussels, Quinto Ruiz learned about the Fulbright Binational Business Program. The fourth-year economics major applied to the program and recently interviewed to join it after she graduates in May.

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