Global Film Highlights Faculty Voice on the Future of Soil

A leading expert in soil biogeochemistry and environmental engineering, UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, brings her research and perspective to a global conversation about the future of our planet.

Berhe, the Ted & Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology and director of the UC Merced Earth Institute (formerly Sierra Nevada Research Institute), is one of the scientists interviewed in the new documentary “Groundswell.”

Heat Waves Making Wildfires Worse in the Western United States

Key points:

• Researchers found that heat waves are a critical enabler and driver of wildfire-burned areas across the western U.S.

• The findings suggest that heat waves contribute not only to increased flammability, but to longer burn periods and increased lightning.

• Burned area in forests during the summer more than doubled between 2001 and 2024. Most of this recent increase - 64 percent - occurred during heat waves.

Regional Answers Best Option to Address Global Water, Energy Problems

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for the U.S. Department of Energy to develop innovative technology and infrastructure at the intersection of the nation's water and energy systems.

The country's energy and water systems are profoundly interconnected, and disruptions can cascade rapidly across both, says the report from the Committee on Enabling DOE Regional Energy-Water Technology Pilots.

New Study Urges Earlier Detection of Valley Fever as Cases Climb

Key Points:

  • Valley fever is widely underdiagnosed and often mistaken for common respiratory illnesses, leading to delayed diagnosis and unnecessary antibiotic use.

  • Cases are rising and spreading geographically, driven by climate patterns, soil disruption and population growth, making the disease a growing public health concern.

  • The study promotes the COCCI framework, which emphasizes early testing, exposure assessment and structured clinical decision-making to improve outcomes and reduce complications.

Elephant Dung Piles are Crucial to Biodiversity, Study Shows

Key Points:

  • Elephants function as a keystone species, producing large amounts of nutrient-rich dung that sustain diverse dung beetle populations and support wider ecosystem health.

  • A 15-year field experiment showed that removing elephants leads to sharp declines in dung beetle abundance, biomass, and species diversity, and other herbivores cannot replace their role.

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."

W.M. Keck Foundation Expands Investment in UC Merced’s Bold Scientific Research

The W.M. Keck Foundation has awarded UC Merced nearly $1.8 million in new grants that fuel ambitious research and give early-career scientists a crucial boost at a pivotal stage of their careers.

One of the nation’s most prominent private supporters of basic science, the Los Angeles–based foundation is directing $600,000 to a newly launched bridge funding initiative designed to protect faculty and doctoral researchers from disruptions in federal grant support. An additional $1.2 million will propel the laboratory research of chemistry and biochemistry Professor Andy LiWang.

Five UC Merced Faculty Members Earn Early Career Research Awards

Five UC Merced faculty members are among the first awardees of a UC-wide honor given for exemplary research in budding academic careers.

The Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards, launched last fall, support commitment to scholarship and creative activity across the 10-campus system. The awards build on a range of programs and initiatives across the system designed to support thriving faculty careers at UC. 

UC Merced Project Aimed at Making Autonomous Cars Safer with NVDIA

Road changes such as lane shifts, new signs and speed-limit modifications can be confusing to drivers, both human and mechanical.

A human driver can quickly perceive and understand new or temporary changes to road conditions. A new project at UC Merced aims to deliver that same swift processing power to autonomous cars.