Sustainability

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...

Okoli to UC Merced Students: ‘This is Your Place. This is Your Home’

University students deserve to feel welcome and safe in their home away from home. It’s a responsibility Daniel Okoli assumes without hesitation. He has designed countless physical spaces for...

UC Awards $16.4 Million in Grants to Address Climate, Energy and Health

For the first time, UC Merced faculty members from each of the campus’s three schools have been chosen as principal investigators on some of the 21 exciting new projects that are being funded...

Professors Joshua Viers, left, and Tom Harmon share oversight of the new smart farm being constructed next to campus. The farm will be UC Merced's AES site.

UC Merced Gains Prestigious UC Agricultural Experiment Station Designation

UCs Merced and Santa Cruz became the newest campuses in the system to be named an agricultural experiment stations (AES), UC President Michael Drake announced at today’s Regents’...

UC Merced Shines In Annual Sustainability Report

In the 2022 Sustainable Campus Index, UC Merced placed Top 10 in several categories including a tie for the No.1 spot in research. The annual report published by the Association for the Advancement...

Eco-Friendly Vehicle Makes Pit Stop At UC Merced (Slideshow)

The world’s first ever carbon-neutral vehicle was on display at UC Merced. Students, staff and the public were invited to get an up-close look at the prototype, called ZEM, which was built...

Campus Hosts Governor’s Strategic Growth Council

As one of the leaders for sustainability and equity, UC Merced hosted the first offsite meeting for the Governor’s Strategic Growth Council (SGC) last week. The mission of the council is to...

UC Merced Earns Highest Rating for its Sustainability Efforts

For the first time, UC Merced has been awarded a Platinum rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements under the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (...

Meet Emanuel Armando Angel an incoming first-year student for fall 2022.

Student Innovator to Join Bobcat Family

UC Merced is highlighting incoming first-year students for fall 2022 — a dynamic, diverse and accomplished cohort of new Bobcats. When deciding on a university, Emanuel Armando Angel, known...

Professor Roland Winston and some of his student researchers with a solar collector

In Retiring, Winston Looks Forward to His Busy, Bright Future

Distinguished Professor Roland Winston was among the first eight faculty members at UC Merced in 2003, two years before the campus opened. When he retires July 1, at age 86, he will be the first of...