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...

AI is for the Birds in a New Computer Science Project

Bird species usually are counted twice a year by wildlife surveyors: once during the breeding season and again during the Christmas Bird Count . New technology, however, is increasing the...

Gopinathan Named Fellow of Leading Physics Organization

Physics Professor Ajay Gopinathan has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). This prestigious recognition is for physicists who have made exceptional contributions in physics...

UC Merced Interdisciplinary Humanities graduate students and faculty will have the benefit of two additional years of funding from the Henry Luce Foundation.

Scholarship and Community Partnerships Continue with Renewed Luce Foundation Grant

It has been two years since UC Merced received the $280,000 Henry Luce Foundation grant, but its community engaged research endeavors are far from over. This fall, UC Merced Interdisciplinary...

UC Merced Brings NSF ‘Computer Science for All’ Program to Merced Schools

The technology world is punctuated by startups, and UC Merced is “starting up” its own program to invigorate computer science education in the San Joaquin Valley. The National Science...

Public Conference Presents COVID-19 From Different Angles

Everyone will have opportunities to learn about collaborative research at the intersections of COVID-19 and topics related to the environment, health and equity through a series of online conference...

ACTIVATE Bringing Telehealth Services to Vulnerable Merced County Residents

(Photo credit: DocBook) Researchers at the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute at the University of California have launched a...

Past Wildfires Offer Future Roadmap for Forest Management’s Effects on Water

Forest restoration is often associated with mitigating wildfire risk and improving ecosystem health throughout the Sierra Nevada. But restoration also dramatically affects water use within forests...

Physics Projects Designed to Expand Quantum Knowledge

Physics Professor Lin Tian looks to tiny quantum objects to answer very big questions. Her research group is pursuing quantum computing and technology project that are helping to expand her...

Professor Tracey Osborne Taking on Complex, Grand Challenges in Climate and Social Justice

The world is a complex place, and humanity faces major challenges. Climate change mitigation might be the most difficult, in large part because of the interdependency of living things and their...