Teamrat A. Ghezzehei

Teamrat Afewerki Ghezzehei is a Professor of Environmental Soil Physics at the University of California, Merced. He specialises in soil physics, agroecology and environmental stewardship.

Early life and education Ghezzehei was born in the Province of Eritrea in Ethiopia. He attended the University of Asmara, where he earned an undergraduate degree in 1995. His senior thesis considered the use of prickly pears as compost to reclaim degraded soil. As a graduate student Ghezzehei, took an interest in nature photography, and spent his spare time in the national parks of Wyoming. After earning his doctoral degree, Ghezzehei joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow.

Research and career

Ghezzehei was eventually promoted to Affiliate scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In particular, Ghezzehei looked to understand the impact of winter cover crops on soil water depletion and carbon capture.

Ghezzehei works in California, a region well known for its dangerous wildfires. Whilst it had long been assumed that prescribed burns and low-severity wildfires were not dangerous to the soil below, Ghezzehei showed that they can weaken the soil structures. Soil comprises mineral particles bound by organic matter and other components to form aggregates. In severe fires, the organic materials burn, but the same is now true in low-severity fires. Ghezzehei has shown that fire increases the pressure within the aggregates due to the vaporisation of water; weakening the aggregates and overall soil structure. The damage was worse if the soil was more wet. He went on to study the stability of these soil aggregates, performing simulated burn experiments and monitoring the amount of organic carbon released to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.

In 2019, Ghezzehei was made Chair of the Life & Environmental Sciences Department at the University of California, Merced. At UC Merced, Ghezzehei worked with Berhe to investigate the production of biochar and how it can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ghezzehei and Berhe designed mobile biochar units, which convert biomass from agriculture and forestry to biochar.

Select publications

Personal life Ghezzehei is married to Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, a fellow soil scientist and director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced. The couple met in Eritrea. He has continued to take photographs of nature.