Lorena Anderson

New Center Offers Opportunities to Observe and Learn about Natural Resources

April 1, 2024

A rendering of the new Field Education Center shows how it will provide shelter.

Even though the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve (MVPGR) is adjacent to campus, it's an area that can be daunting to access. Last year, more than 2,000 people visited the campus to learn about this unique habitat and the animals and plants that are protected there. Guided visitors...

Professor Sarah Kurtz, center, poses with graduate students Aaron Wheeler and Dalia Martinez behind a solar panel.

Kurtz’s Latest Publication Examines Renewable Energy Expansion

Finding creative solutions to lessen humans’ impact on the environment and reduce reliance on fossil fuels is a core tenet of the renewable energy field, something engineering Professor Sarah...

Fourth-graders at a Merced elementary school are introduced to agriculture-related sciences by undergrads in the FARMERS program.

USDA Grant Supports Diverse Ag-related Learning and Training for Students

Students at UC Merced and those who might someday become Bobcats are the focus of FARMERS, Professor Rudy M. Ortiz’s training program funded again for $1 million by the U.S. Department of...

Study Shows Climate-Driven Forest Fires on the Rise

An upside of the increase in forest fires in the West is that they reduce the amount of fuel available for other burns. That might provide a buffering effect on western fires for the next few decades...

Professor Josué Medellín-Azuara is heading up a new study of drought's effects on agricultural communities.

Researchers to Study, Report on Impacts of Drought on Agriculture and Communities

Just because there has been rain lately doesn’t mean California is drought-free. A new $1.5 million research grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture is supporting School...

Professor Rebecca Ryals, left, talks to students in her lab.

Research is Clarifying Benefits of Transforming Human Waste into Useable Resources

Human waste isn’t a topic most people want to talk about. But environmental systems Professor Rebecca Ryals embraces the subject, especially when it comes to mitigating climate change,...

From left, professors Tom Harmon, David Strubbe, Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Michael Scheibner, Sayantani Ghosh and Mehmet Baykara

NSF Grant to Help Grad Students Find Solutions to Environmental Challenges

Graduate students and a convergence of physics, engineering and environmental science could result in not only the next generation of solutions to pressing environmental challenges, but a new group...

Professor’s Side-Blotched Lizards Become Latest Campus Inhabitants

Every faculty member has to set up their lab when they join a new campus. But Professor Danielle Edwards literally built a key component of hers from the ground up. The outdoor component of El...

HIV Preventative Developed in LiWang Lab Takes One Big Step Forward

An HIV-inhibiting silk film designed to advance prevention and help end the AIDS epidemic in countries in Africa, developed by UC Merced Professor Patti LiWang, has met recent success at the...

Professor Stephen Hart, left, Professor Martha Conklin, right, and researcher Jian Lin, seated.

Researchers Investigate Land Management Role in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Carbon Sequestration

A group of UC Merced researchers are working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to find out how much greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced just through land-management strategies....