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 Professor Sarah Kurtz is seen in a photo.

Kurtz Appointed to Endowed Chair; Establishing New Electrical Engineering Major

Engineering Professor Sarah Kurtz has been awarded the Reno Ferrero Family Chair in Electrical Engineering, making her the second woman to hold an endowed chair in the School of Engineering....

State Budget Allocates Over $100 Million to UC Merced

The state budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom promises tens of millions of dollars for UC Merced to build the next generation of world-class programs and facilities....

Community and Labor Center Benefits from New Annual State Budget Allocation

The UC Merced Community and Labor Center will increase its capacity to conduct research and public service on issue areas affecting low-wage workers and residents, as it shares in California...

Palmer Headed for Capitol Hill as Campus’s First Congressional Science Fellow

UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Palmer, Ph.D., was named as the 2022-23 Congressional Science Fellow by the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS...

Modest’s Work in Radiative Heat Transfer Earns Prestigious Award

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Michael Modest has earned the 2021 Max Jakob Memorial Award, given by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute of Chemical...

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development at the Fore of Chuang’s International Research

Green energy solutions are critical to meet current and future power demands, and while solar and wind power are great, they are also site-specific and intermittent. That’s why researchers...

Adjunct Professor Among Department of Energy Award Winners

Jennifer Pett-Ridge, an adjunct professor with the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences and a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has been honored by the Department of...

Academic Senate Recognizes Outstanding Faculty

Each year, faculty members recognize their colleagues in the Academic Senate for outstanding teaching, research and mentorship, impacts on their fields, and their dedication to diversity and...

Grad Student Awarded Prestigious Department of Energy Fellowship

Environmental Systems Ph.D. student Leila Wahab is one of 80 graduate students to receive the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) highly competitive Office of Science Graduate Student Research (...