Graduate Programs

The Bioengineering graduate program at UC Merced offers individualized research-based programs of study in synergistic areas of Bioengineering. The program's emphasis is on the cellular and biomolecular aspects of bioengineering; areas where our faculty have strong and vibrant research programs that are recognized nationally and internationally.

The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) graduate program offers individualized, research-oriented courses of study. The program is structured to allow students to pursue cutting-edge research in modern fields of electrical engineering and computer science, emphasizing research and preparing students for leadership positions in industrial labs, government or academia.

The Environmental Systems graduate program focuses on understanding the Earth as an integrated system that includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere in order to address the environmental consequences and develop sustainable solutions to providing food, energy and other basic services to the Earth’s ever-growing population. Recognizing that solutions to environmental problems must cross traditional academic departments, we offer an interdisciplinary curriculum that provides a foundation in the fundamental ideas and methods of the earth, environmental and social sciences. 

The Materials and Biomaterials Science and Engineering (MBSE) graduate group offers a multidisciplinary research and training program for doctoral (prioritized) and master-level students at the forefront of the modern revolutions in materials science technology. We have organized our research areas into three emphases: Materials for Sustainability, Materials for Biomedicine, and Materials and Interfaces for Tailored Functionalities.

Mechanical Engineering at UC Merced is dedicated to the education of a new generation of mechanicists and researchers in areas related to mechanical engineering who aim to master the fundamentals of the mechanical sciences — which include disciplines such as continuum mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, and energy conversion — while being exposed to state-of-the-art research techniques, methodologies and equipment to solve problems that are relevant to modern society like green energy, mechanical modeling and synthesis, robotics and mechatronics, control systems, and more.

A common interest among the faculty members is how arrangements of people, organizations, information, technology and the natural world give rise to complex adaptive phenomena that pose difficult — often grand — challenges to society. As such, our program focuses on management strategies that seek balance and alignment among social justice, environmental resources and economic welfare — i.e. toward the long-term sustainability of people, planet and profit (PPP).

The Management of Complex Systems (MCS) Ph.D. program is designed to educate a new generation of management scholars with depth in analytical methods and a focus on complexity as the driving force behind issues in management of human-technology systems and in management of coupled human-natural systems. The program draws upon the multidisciplinary composition of faculty and the interdisciplinary spirit of UC Merced to deliver a distinctive educational experience. As such, the program does not require prospective students to have any particular undergraduate degree.