In 2026, the UC Merced Climate Institute merged with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, UC Merced’s oldest ORU, creating the UC Merced Earth Institute. The combined institute continues supporting research in hydrology, environmental contamination, sustainable land management, wildfire, precision agriculture, ecology and biodiversity, and also houses three centers and two faculty-led research pillars:
The Equitable Climate Solutions Center addresses challenges at the intersection of human well-being, the natural environment and climate justice. The Fire Resilience Center advances the science, partnerships and solutions needed to help people and ecosystems adapt to a fire-altered world. And the Sustainable Energy Center supports the transition from conventional energy sources to renewable, efficient and low-cost energy systems, tackling the engineering and systems-level challenges of integrating renewables into the broader energy landscape. Two faculty-led research pillars further anchor the institute's structure: Water Resources and Biodiversity and Ecosystems, both of which build directly on SNRI's historic core research areas.
