Asmeret Asefaw Berhe

Why you should listen

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is director of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science, on leave from her position as a soil biogeochemistry professor at the University of California, Merced. As director, she has helped launch the department’s Earthshot initiative, among other programs, in a bid to accelerate critical innovations for sustainable living and environmental justice.

An award-winning researcher in the fields of soil science, global change science and political ecology, Berhe has previously chaired the US National Committee on Soil Science and the US delegation to the International Union of Soil Sciences' General Assembly at the World Congress of Soil Sciences. She was also a founding researcher of the ADVANCEGeo Partnership, a program to empower scientists to improve research environments by reducing exclusionary behaviors.