UC Merced Faculty interested in working with Mexican undergraduates in the 2026 UC Merced-Mexico Undergraduate Climate Research Program:
Dr. Zenaida Aguirre-Munoz (Cognitive & Information Sciences)
Webpage: https://www.languagelearningandteachinglab.org/
Project title: Talking Climate: Language, Trust, and Impact
Project Description: This project examines how metaphor shapes understanding of climate impacts, alongside communication features that signal relationships, authority, and emotional stance between speakers and audiences. By analyzing how these choices influence trust, clarity, and engagement, the study aims to identify effective ways to communicate climate research across scientific, policy, and community contexts.
Dr. Paul Almeida (Sociology)
Website: https://my.theopenscholar.com/palmeida
Project: Students will compare green energy programs at the local and regional levels in Mexico and California. After identifying major alternative energy programs in various stages from proposals to functioning operations, students will compare the conditions leading to the adoption of a local clean energy program in both Mexico and California. Through a systematic comparison of successful unsuccessful cases we show the major factors that are most likely lead to the transition to green energy at the local level, including public opinion, environmental movements, city officials, and regional economic context. Actual research will involve data collection on regions in Mexico and California, and field visits in California to cities with alternative energy and speak with local officials and tour parts of the electricity grid. Final product will be a policy paper and potential academic publication on the conditions that lead to local green energy adoption on both sides of the border. Learning outcomes: Similarities and differences between paths to green energy in two countries – learning from each country’s experiences.
Dr. Michael Beman (Environmental Systems)
Website: https://bemanlab.org/
Project: Using data gathered previously from field research on a Category 4 hurricane in the Pacific Ocean (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado8335), students will either: 1. Conduct computational analyses of remote sensing data from the eastern Pacific off Mexico, or 2. Analyze DNA sequence data from the research cruise (student suitability to project 1 or 2 will depend on student skills and experience).
Dr. YangQuan Chen (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)
Website: http://mechatronics.ucmerced.edu/digital-twin
Project: Environmental sensing digital twins
Dr. Katrina Hoyer (Molecular & Cell Biology)
Website: https://valleyfever.ucmerced.edu/content/katrina-hoyer
Project: Our lab studies Valley fever, a locally endemic fungal infection and projects include computational and bench studies such as screening plant extracts for inhibition of fungal growth (lab based), fungal and bacterial airbiome composition analysis across seasons within the San Joaquin Valley (computational), genetic tool development for evaluation of fungal growth and anti-fungal resistance (lab based).
Dr. Andrea Joyce (Entomology, Public Health)
Webpage: http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/ajoyce2
Project: options include: 1. Biodiversity and insect pest management in climate friendly agricultural systems, and 2. The impact of climate change on mosquitoes and vector borne disease.
Dr. Min Hwan Lee (Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering)
Webpage: https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/mlee49/
Project: Addressing the climate issues by developing cost-effective devices for hydrogen generation, storage, and use through novel nanoscale engineering. Additionally, probing the possibility of reusing rare earth elements through electrochemical processes.
Dr. Sarah Kurtz (Electrical Engineering)
Website: https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/skurtz/
Project: Use of Agrivoltaics for Green Energy and Reduced Water Use. This project explores agrivoltaics—the co-location of solar energy and agriculture—as a climate adaptation strategy. It evaluates how integrated solar-crop systems can enhance land productivity, improve water use efficiency, and increase resilience of agricultural systems while supporting renewable energy deployment.
Dr. Josue Medellin-Azuara (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
Website: https://wsm.ucmerced.edu/
Project: Irrigated Agriculture under climate extremes. This project examines how California agriculture can adapt water supplies under increasing climate extremes. Using hydro-economic modeling, it evaluates strategies such as groundwater management, water markets, and managed aquifer recharge to assess impacts on production, land use, and rural communities.
Dr. Susana Ramirez (Public Health)
Website: www.susanaramirez.net
Project: Climate–Food Policy Interface: Ultra-Processed Foods, Sustainability Claims, and Regulatory Spillovers in Mexico–U.S. Contexts
This project extends Prof. Ramírez’ ongoing work on food policy diffusion, commercial determinants of health, and communication infrastructure by examining how climate discourse is being strategically integrated into food policy debates. The focus is on how sustainability, climate, and “environmental” claims are mobilized by industry and countered by public health advocates in regulatory arenas (front-of-package warning labels, marketing restrictions).
Students will analyze public documents, news coverage, and policy proposals to answer the following research questions: How are climate and sustainability claims used to support, deflect, or reshape food policy regulation of ultra-processed foods, and how do these claims travel across Mexico–U.S. policy and advocacy networks?
