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University of California, Merced

UC Merced opened Sept. 5, 2005, as the 10th campus in the University of California system and the first American research university of the 21st century. Situated near Yosemite National Park, the campus significantly expands access to the UC system for students throughout the state, with a special mission to increase college-going rates among students in the San Joaquin Valley. It also serves as a major base of advanced research, a model of sustainable design and construction, and a stimulus to economic growth and diversification throughout the region.

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Many of the people caught in the wildfire that swept through Paradise, Calif., in 2018 were older adults. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Wildfire risk is soaring for low-income, elderly and other vulnerable populations in California, Washington and Oregon

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University and John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced

Alarmingly, about half the people exposed to wildfires in Washington and Oregon were those least able to afford to protect their homes, evacuate safely and recover.
Megalodon would have dwarfed today’s great white sharks. Christina Spence Morgan

Megalodon sharks ruled the oceans millions of years ago – new analyses of giant fossilized teeth are helping scientists unravel the mystery of their extinction

Emma Kast, University of Cambridge; Jeremy McCormack, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, and Sora Kim, University of California, Merced

Megalodon, the world’s largest known shark species, swam the oceans long before humans existed. Its teeth are all that’s left, and they tell a story of an apex predator that vanished.
Stefan Doerr

Climate change: wildfire risk has grown nearly everywhere – but we can still influence where and how fires strike

Stefan H Doerr, Swansea University; Cristina Santín, Instituto Mixto de Investigación en Biodiversidad (Universidad de Oviedo - CSIC); John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced; Matthew William Jones, University of East Anglia, and Pep Canadell, CSIRO

Fire weather reason – when wildfires are most likely to strike – has expanded almost everywhere.
Building solar panels over water sources is one way to both provide power and reduce evaporation in drought-troubled regions. Robin Raj, Citizen Group & Solar Aquagrid

These energy innovations could transform how we mitigate climate change, and save money in the process – 5 essential reads

Stacy Morford, The Conversation

From pulling carbon dioxide out of the air to turning water into fuel, innovators are developing new technologies and pairing existing ones to help slow global warming.
Banana plantation workers in Panama find shade under a vehicle during a break. Jan Sochor/Latincontent/Getty Images

Heat waves hit the poor hardest – calculating the rising impact on those least able to adapt to the warming climate

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced, and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The risk from heat waves is about more than intensity – being able to cool off is essential, and that’s hard to find in many low-income areas of the world.
Heat and dryness are leaving high mountain areas more vulnerable to forest fires. David McNew/Getty Images

Western fires are burning higher in the mountains and at unprecedented rates as the climate warms

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced, and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, McGill University

As the risk of fires rises in areas once considered too wet to burn, it creates hazards for mountain communities and for downstream water supplies.
Heat and dryness are leaving high mountain areas more vulnerable to forest fires. David McNew/Getty Images

Western fires are burning higher in the mountains at unprecedented rates – it’s a clear sign of climate change

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced, and Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, McGill University

As the risk of fires rises in areas once considered too wet to burn, it creates hazards for mountain communities and for downstream water supplies.
Dry conditions across the West follow a hot, dry year of record-setting wildfires in 2020. Communities were left with scenes like this, from California’s Creek Fire. Amir Aghakouchak/University of California Irvine

Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S., and the drought-stricken region is headed for a water crisis

Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine, and John Abatzoglou, University of California, Merced

Drought conditions are so bad, fish hatcheries are trucking their salmon to the ocean and ranchers are worried about having enough water for their livestock.
The California Aqueduct, which carries water more than 400 miles south from the Sierra Nevada, splits as it enters Southern California at the border of Kern and Los Angeles counties. California DWR

Installing solar panels over California’s canals could yield water, land, air and climate payoffs

Roger Bales, University of California, Merced and Brandi McKuin, University of California, Santa Cruz

Installing solar panels over California’s 4,000 miles of canals could generate less expensive, renewable energy, save water, fight climate change – and offer a solution for the thirsty American West.
A mixed-conifer forest in the central Sierra Nevada after restoration, with unthinned forest in the background. Roger Bales

Restoring California’s forests to reduce wildfire risks will take time, billions of dollars and a broad commitment

Roger Bales, University of California, Merced and Martha Conklin, University of California, Merced

Restoring western forests – thinning out small trees and dead wood – is an important strategy for reducing the risk of massive wildfires. But these projects aren’t fast, easy or cheap.

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