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...

National Science Foundation Funds San Joaquin River Research

MERCED, Calif. — People talk about climate change all the time. But researchers at the University of California, Merced, are working to find out exactly how it will affect the millions of people who...

Campus Diners Pioneering Zero-Waste Take-Out System

Campus diners who take out their meals are helping save the environment one container at a time. UC Merced is the first campus west of the Mississippi to use the new OZZI container-recycling system,...

River Project Promises Clarity, Security for State Water Resources

MERCED, Calif. — Researchers at UC Merced are taking an important step toward a statewide water-monitoring system by installing wireless sensors across the American River basin. The system, which is...

UC Merced Plasma Lab Turning Leftovers into Cleaner Energy

There’s a reason the UC Merced plasma lab is isolated behind a locking fence near the entrance to campus. There’s some serious heat being produced down there. Engineering professors Gerardo Diaz,...

Korean Students Get UC Solar Experience

They traveled nearly 20 hours by plane and bus across 5,700 miles to spend three weeks in the Central Valley sun. Fifteen engineering students from Dankook University in Yongin, Gyeonggi, South Korea...

Report: Central Valley Makes Modest Environmental Improvements

California’s Central Valley environment is getting healthier, but not fast enough. Its air quality is still among the worst in the nation, according to a report released today. The Sierra Nevada...

Researchers Spend Summer Working on Projects Near and Far

From the caves of Belize to laboratories in Japan, UC Merced faculty members and students are abroad conducting research this summer across the globe. Though the semester ended in mid-May, the campus...

'Dynamic Duo' Wins Systemwide Award for Sustainability Efforts

Making an entire campus sustainable takes a lot of planning, education and work. But those efforts are what earned two of UC Merced’s sustainability leaders systemwide recognition. Former Director of...

Park Leaders Collaborate, Learn at UC Merced Institute

At a time when Californians are dismayed about closures of state parks, and protected lands around the globe are under increasing stress from reduced government resources, an innovative institute is...