"The National Science Foundation is honoring UC Merced Professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe with a Faculty Early Career Development Award to support her examination of how soil helps regulate the climate.

The awards are given to junior faculty members who “who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations,” the NSF said.

Berhe gets $479,000 for five years, for a project looking at how fire and erosion affect the soil ecosystem’s ability to store carbon dioxide and keep it from going into the atmosphere."

Read more from UC Merced News. 

Part of Berhe's work at the Southern Sierra CZO focuses on the composition of soil and transported sediment, exploring the impacts on the carbon cycle.