Environmental Research

UC Merced's Smart Farm Abuzz with Activity

June 25, 2025

Photo depicts UC Merced student Jesse Martinez operating a robot on the Experimental Smart Farm.

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 hydroponics, but there are more than just...

Campus Takes Steps to Stay Green Despite Drought

Don’t be surprised if, as the warmer weather kicks in, you continue to see green lawns at UC Merced. Maintenance crews are not using more water to keep the quad lush. In fact, they are using less....

Professor’s Mercurial Studies Involve Tree Bark, Fish and Water

From the forests of Tuscany, Italy, to the shores of a San Diego reservoir, Professor Marc Beutel is hunting mercury. Beutel, one of the newest professors in the UC Merced School of Engineering, has...

Students Show Climate Impacts, Pitch Solutions in UC-wide Contest

Several students, faculty members and the provost represented UC Merced at the University of California’s recent Carbon Slam event, placing in the presentation competitions and increasing the campus’...

Studying the ’Saurs: New Class is a ‘Gateway to Science’

One of the campus’s newest professors is teaching one of its newest classes on one of the world’s oldest subjects: dinosaurs. But there’s much more to Professor Justin Yeakel’s Natural History of...

Wildfire Increasing in the West Because of Climate Change, Research Shows

The number, size and duration of large mountain forest fires in the Western United States has increased dramatically in the past 40 years, according to research from UC Merced Professor LeRoy...

Campus Getting Greener with New Research Growing Spaces

Everyone knows UC Merced is growing, but pretty soon, the campus will be growing lots of plant specimens for research, too. The School of Natural Sciences is buying a pair of greenhouses that will be...

Greening the Campus Earns Gold in Sustainability Ratings

The UC Merced campus is getting greener and earning gold as it does — gold ratings, that is. UC Merced improved its rating through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher...

UC Merced Student a Winner at Clinton Event

Besides attending Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) with 1,200 other college students from around the world, UC Merced student Hoaithi Dang helped his team win the weekend’s “Code for...

Eat, Hydrate and Learn at This Year’s Earth Day Event

Most people probably don’t think about food when considering how to celebrate Earth Day. But the UC Merced Student Sustainability Council wants to help people understand how what we eat and where it...