Lorena Anderson

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 — one made easier by the Sierra Nevada Research...

Winston Feted for Golden Anniversary of Landmark Discovery

Fifty years ago this year, while a freshman faculty member in the University of Chicago Physics Department, Roland Winston published a paper introducing a new field he called nonimaging optics. In it...

Professor’s Findings Help Illuminate the Human Immune System

Professor Anna Beaudin is just starting up her lab at UC Merced, but a paper she recently published already has some big implications for understanding autoimmune disease, allergies and rejection of...

Research Breakthrough Could Help Diagnose, Treat Biofilm Infections

Biofilms — colonies of microorganisms living inside a protective coating — are everywhere, from the plaque we scrub off our teeth each day to the slimy green masses that form on rocks in streams....

Winston’s Innovative Project Highlights UC Solar Symposium

UC Merced Professor Roland Winston will deliver details on a groundbreaking hybrid solar collector he’s working on that simultaneously generates electricity and very-high-temperature heat at the...

Mind and Body Join Robotics in New Research Project

Three UC Merced researchers are connecting eye-tracking hardware with a robotic exoskeletal arm to further understand the mind-body connection and, someday, to help people with disabilities have...

Researcher’s Solar-Powered Water Heaters Could Save Energy and Money

UC Merced Professor Gerardo Diaz is developing solar-powered water heating technology that could reduce the demand for natural gas in businesses and homes and lower the costs for business and ...

Engineering Students Find Success, Passion and Possible Lifesaver in Research Lab

A team of UC Merced engineering students — plus one from a nearby state university and two from a local high school — made progress this summer on prototypes of portable machines for diagnosing...

New Research Center to Leverage High-Performance Computing Hardware

Faculty members from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Mechanical Engineering groups are forming the newest research center at UC Merced, seeking the...

Professor’s Early Career Work Recognized With Award

Professor Jessica Blois is the newest recipient of the International Biogeography Society’s MacArthur & Wilson Award recognizing early career work and contributions to biogeography. Blois, a...