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.
Wildfires are growing more frequent and severe across the western United States, and California's Sierra Nevada is ground zero. Decades of fire suppression have left these forests overstocked and...
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...
Lightning from thunderstorms rolling through Central California on Sept. 2 ignited numerous wildfires, including several large fires in the Sierra Nevada foothills that had burned more than 19 square...
