Environmental Research

UC Merced Agricultural Experiment Station Adds Fire, Insect and Soil Researchers

September 2, 2025

Photo depicts mugshots of professors Andrea Joyce, Josh Garcia and Crystal Kolden on a background of the Beginnings sculpture at UC Merced.

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 intersection of agriculture and wildfire, public health...

Sun and Salt: How Solar Tech Can Help California’s Drought

By Andy MurdockUniversity of California Newsroom In the midst of California’s ongoing drought, researchers at the University of California Advanced Solar Technologies Institute (UC Solar) at UC...

Sustainability Ideas Lead to Award-Winning Proposal

Undergraduate student Andrew John De Los Santos wasn’t passionate about sustainability until he started sorting through trash as a recycling and composting intern at UC Merced last fall. While...

Climate Scientist Aims to Change National Dialogue, One Story at a Time

Climate scientist Emmanuel Vincent noticed climate change discussions in Europe had become somewhat politically polarized before he left France a few years ago, and found the same situation on a...

Researcher Wins Fulbright Award to Study Himalayan Hydropower

UC Merced researcher David Rheinheimer has seen the Himalayas from many angles — from his home on the Yangtze River, from the foothills as a student in India and from the Nu River in Yunnan’s Three...

Most Americans Could Eat Locally, Research Shows

MERCED, Calif. — New farmland-mapping research published today shows that up to 90 percent of Americans could be fed entirely by food grown or raised within 100 miles of their homes. Professor...

Innovate to Grow Promises Exciting Developments

Innovate to Grow, the annual showcase of UC Merced student creativity, features some amazing teamwork this year, from medical and agricultural devices to mobile applications for saving energy and ...

Future of Humanity Linked to Soil Health in New 'Science' Article

Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the dirt under their feet. But a new article co-authored by UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe and published this week in the prestigious...

Mapping Genomes of Pine Bacteria Yields Unexpected Results

UC Merced Professor Carolin Frank is helping figure out how a certain bacteria helps promote healthy tree growth by studying the bacteria’s genome sequence. In the new paper, published in the open-...

Princeton Review Lists Campus Among Greenest Schools

For the first time, UC Merced made the Princeton Review’s list of the most environmentally responsible colleges. The education services company — known for its test prep and tutoring services, books...