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Our Mission

The Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) was established in 2007 as the first Organized Research Unit (ORU) at UC Merced.

The San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevada regions of California are legendary for their vast natural resources, physical and biological diversity and cultural heritage. These regions lead the nation in agricultural production and in several natural resource and recreation industries. However, rapid population growth, competition for natural resources, air, water and soil pollution, climate change and competing land uses pose serious threats to the sustainability of these regions.

Faculty, researchers and students at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute (SNRI) conduct basic and applied research on these issues, using the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevada as their "outdoor laboratory." Currently 46 UC Merced faculty are members of SNRI.

Research Areas

Recent News

A sign posted on a tree in Eastern Europe warns of active land mines.
July 24, 2025

More than 100 million land mines remain buried around the world, posing a threat in approximately 70 countries and territories, and killing or injuring about 5,000 people, most of them civilians,...

Instructor Kristen Hogue works with a class of high school students in New York City.
May 28, 2025

Recently, more than 150 students at 10 high schools in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C. completed Climate Justice, a UC Merced course , through a unique partnership between the...

Flames, the beach and the ocean are depicted in a scene from the January 2025 Palisades fire.
April 22, 2025

Pictures accompanying Professor John Abatzoglou's presentation on the 2025 fire season were blurry. That was intentional, he said, because so much about wildfire is unpredictable. "There's a lot that...

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