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...

New Magnetic Resonance Lab Opens on Campus

Looking at molecules just got easier for UC Merced researchers, now that Professor Erik Menke, Professor Jason Hein and other colleagues have opened a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) lab. “It’s a...

Academic Trailblazers to Address UC Merced’s 10th Graduating Class

The University of California, Merced, has spent the past decade blazing a trail as the nation’s first research university of the 21st century, and its students are no different. In May, the campus’s...

Relax: Benefits of Leisure Go Beyond the Moment

Doing the things you enjoy can be good for your health, according to a new study by Professor Matthew Zawadzki, a health psychologist with the University of California, Merced. The study,...

Study: Moral Decisions Can Be Manipulated by Tracking Eye Gaze

Moral decisions can be influenced by tracking moment-to-moment movements of the eyes during deliberation, according to new research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of...

Mostern in D.C. to Advocate for Humanities Research

Professor Ruth Mostern, chair of the Interdisciplinary Humanities graduate group, is in Washington, D.C., today and tomorrow (March 16 to 17) to advocate for the humanities. Mostern is attending the...

Professor Contributes to Research on Oil Spills

Researching oceanic oil spills can be difficult when you work at a landlocked university like UC Merced. But thanks to a large consortium of researchers from around the country, that’s exactly what...

Research Week 2015 Competition Winners Announced

Each year, the Office of Research and Economic Development sponsors Research Week. Researchers from all corners of campus are encouraged to display their work and show visitors the important work...

New Hybrid Courses Combine Live Learning with Online Enhancements

For the past two semesters, Introduction to Earth Systems Science — a large lecture and lab course at UC Merced — has been morphing into a hybrid of live lab and online “lecture.” The course is a...

Downtown Business Incubator Partners Community with Campus

The link between UC Merced and downtown Merced will grow stronger this spring with the opening of a new business incubator. The partnership between the city and the campus’s Office of Research and...