Energy & Environment

UC Merced Aerial Picture
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
Hurricanes Create Powerful Changes Deep in the Ocean, Study Reveals
June 6, 2025
With careful planning and a little luck, researchers found a surprising upside to hurricanes after a Category 4 storm disrupted their expedition off the coast of Mexico. The team was able to sample the ocean right after the storm passed... Read More
Students Awarded Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
June 4, 2025
Two UC Merced graduate students and an alum from the School of Natural Sciences were recently awarded fellowships from the highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This year, NSF awarded 1,000... Read More
Study Indicates Human-caused Dust Events are Linked to Fallow Farmland
June 2, 2025
An average of more than 1 million acres of idled farmland a year is a significant contributor to a growing dust problem in California that has implications for millions of residents’ health and the state’s climate. A new study published in... Read More