Energy & Environment

UC Merced Aerial Picture
From Soil to Climate Solutions: Berhe Leads Sierra Nevada Research Institute into its Next Chapter
September 11, 2025
When Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe arrived at UC Merced in 2009, she and her husband, Professor Teamrat Ghezzehei, were leaving major research institutions to join a brand-new campus in California’s Central Valley. It was a leap of faith... Read More
Research into Hidden Chemistry Shaping Future Air Quality Earns Zhang an NSF Award
September 8, 2025
As nations cut emissions that once fueled urban smog, scientists are discovering unexpected chemistry taking place in the atmosphere. UC Merced Professor Xuan Zhang is leading a project to uncover how these chemical shifts could affect the... Read More
Hellman Fellowships Welcome Three New Members from UC Merced
September 4, 2025
As the Hellman Fellowships celebrate their 30th year, three more researchers, one from each of UC Merced’s schools, have joined the prestigious ranks of recipients. Electrical engineering Professor Qian Wang, sociology Professor Meredith... Read More
Damaging Lightning-Caused Wildfires Likely to Increase in a Few Years, Researchers Find
September 3, 2025
Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square miles by Wednesday morning. The... Read More
UC Merced Agricultural Experiment Station Adds Fire, Insect and Soil Researchers
September 2, 2025
Three professors are joining UC Merced’s Agricultural Experiment Station this fall, bringing more expertise and resources to the 3-year-old research center. Management of complex systems Professor Crystal Kolden will focus on the... Read More
UC Merced’s Berhe Joins Scientists in Warning of Global Land Mine Crisis
July 24, 2025
More than 100 million land mines remain buried around the world, posing a threat in approximately 70 countries and territories, and killing or injuring about 5,000 people, most of them civilians, every year.  As the world’s geopolitical... Read More
Professor Dives with Crocs, Displays Megalodon Expertise During Shark Week
July 17, 2025
Shark Week starts Sunday and Professor Sora Kim will be featured again this year in a special airing at 9 p.m. Monday, titled “Jaws vs. Mega Croc,” and the filming allowed her to swim with a Nile crocodile. “I flew to Florida and learned... Read More
UC Merced Breakthrough Could Transform How California Monitors Toxic Algae
July 10, 2025
San Luis Reservoir in Merced County - one of California's largest artificial lakes - not only irrigates Central Valley farmland and supplies drinking water across Silicon Valley and the South Bay, but also draws swimmers, boaters and... Read More
UC Merced's Smart Farm Abuzz with Activity
June 25, 2025
At UC Merced's biggest lab, students work from before sunrise to well after dusk. They are operating the university's Experimental Smart Farm, 40 acres of dirt and plants, research and experiments. They study everything from pollinators to... Read More
From Strawberries to Smart Farm: Alum Adamaris Alvarez Grows Passion into a Career Path
June 18, 2025
Growing up in Watsonville, a vibrant agricultural community on California's Central Coast, Adamaris Alvarez always knew she wanted to work in agriculture. She worked on her family's berry ranch, Alvarez Farms, where she grew a deep... Read More