Faculty

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...

UC Merced Researchers Gathering Data to Tackle California’s Water Crisis on Multiple Fronts

Note: This story originally ran in the Fall 2015 issue of UC Merced Magazine. By Joel Patenaude California, long envied by the rest of the country for its climate, beauty and natural resources, is...

Despite Constraints, UC Merced Enrollment Continues to Grow

Enrollment at the University of California, Merced, this fall has climbed to another all-time high of 6,685 students — an increase of 6.7 percent over Fall 2014, according to headcount figures...

Humanities Center Aims to Bring Depth to Water Issues

Open any newspaper — or news website — and you’re likely to see at least one article about California’s water crisis. From climate change to wildfires to groundwater to El...

From Africa to the Arctic, Scientist Carries Interdisciplinary Spirit

Professor Marilyn Fogel went from the heat of Africa to the chilly fjords of Norway this summer to lend her biogeochemical perspective to two international, interdisciplinary, intercollegiate...

New Engineering Dean Brings Experience to School, Campus

New School of Engineering Dean Mark Matsumoto is not new to UC Merced. In fact, he’s not even new as the engineering dean, having served in the interim between founding Dean Jeff Wright and Dean...

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...

Study: In China, Misinformation Skews Views of Government

Chinese people who have overly rosy views of socioeconomic conditions in the western world tend to have more negative views of their own government — but when their misconceptions of foreign...

Study: Smoke-Free Zones, Higher Taxes Deter Youth Smoking

Banning smoking in the workplace and increasing taxes on cigarettes have discouraged teens and young adults from taking up smoking, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco and UC ...

‘Light Up the Lantern’ to Raise Funds for At-Risk Youth

The UC Merced Police Department will host its annual Light Up the Lantern event on Sept. 19 to support the campus’s Police Mentor Program. In 2006, UC Merced police officers formed a partnership with...