Speaking

To schedule Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe for a speaking engagement (at academic and research insitutions, businesses, general public events, and more), media interview, or other related questions please email support(at)aaberhe.com 

Speaker Bio

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a scientist working at the intersection of soil science, geochemistry, global change science, and political ecology. She is a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry, Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute/Climate Institute, and former Associate Dean for Graduate Education at the University of California, Merced. As the former Director of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science—a Senate-confirmed, Presidential appointment—she has garnered unparalleled expertise in science policy and STEM leadership. Dr. Berhe’s groundbreaking research explores how soil systems regulate Earth’s climate and respond to environmental changes, climate shifts, land-use alterations, erosion, and wildfires. She is a sought-after science communicator and public speaker. She holds the distinction of being an elected member of the United States National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of both the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and she has received many other awards and honors.

Representative list of talks Dr. Berhe has delivered

• TEDtalks
  • [2019] The climate change solution that’s right under our feet. TED 2019: Bigger than us· Vancouver, Canada.
  • [2023] We actually have a shot at stopping the climate crisis. TED Countdown Summit. Detroit, MI
• Falling Walls Berlin
  • [2023] Transatlantic Science Bridge in Key Science and Technology Developments. Falling Walls Circle Plenary Table. Falling Walls: 2023 Berlin Science Week.
  • [2023] Falling Walls Female Science Talents, International Fall Gathering. Berlin Science Week.
• WhiteHouse and US Congress
  • [2022] National Science and Technology Council Roundtable on Preventing Harassment in Isolated Scientific Research Environments
  • [2022] US House of Representatives. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Energy Subcommittee Hearing: Investigating the Nature of Matter, Energy, Space, and Time.
  • [2022] Harnessing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Research and Development (R&D) to Further Societal Goals
• US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine
  • [2025] Building and Maintaining Multi-Sector Partnerships. Fireside chat at the Inaugural Annual Summit of the Action Collaborative on Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech.
  • [2024] International Conference of Young Scientists cohosted by the Global Young Academy and The National Academies. Science Diplomats Breakfast.
  • [2020] Keynote Talk, A special workshop organized by the US NASEM National Committee for Soil Science.
• Royal Society, London.
  • [2024] Role of AI Climate and Environmental Sciences (A plenary panel). AI for Science Forum, hosted by Google DeepMind and The Royal Society.
• Commencement ceremonies
  • [2024] University of California, Berkeley. Earth and Planetary Sciences.
  • [2024] University of California, Merced. Graduate Ceremony.
• Conference/Workshop/Symposium Planary or Keynote talks
  • [2024] Keynote Speaker. 9th International Symposium of Interactions of Soil Minerals with Organic Components and Microorganisms (ISMOM 2024), Tsukuba, Japan
  • [2024] Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, New Phytologist Foundation Keynote.
  • [2024] Bayer Crop Science Fellow Symposium.
  • [2023] Día de la Física. National Society for Hispanic Physicists.
  • [2022] Annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Agency Lecture.
  • [2022] National Society of Black Physicists annual meeting.
  • [2022] The Annual Young Women’s Career Conference. Girls Academic Leadership Academy. Los Angeles.
  • [2021] Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. Halbouty Distinguished Lecturer.
  • [2021] Goldschmidt Conference. Plenary Lecture. Lyon, France
  • [2021] Black in the Environment. Black Planet: Black Environmental Legacies, Present & Futures
  • [2021] Ecological Landscape Alliance Conference.
  • [2011] European Geosciences Union Annual Meeting. Keynote Lecture. Vienna, Austria.
• University and Other Insitutions
  • [2025] The Allure of Soil and African Wildlife Foundation.
  • [2024] Princeton University. Princeton Materials Insitute.
  • [2022] Stanford University. Doerr School of Sustainability
  • [2021] Massachusets Insitute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • [2021] University College London. Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
  • [2021] Columbia University. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory and Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
  • [2021] NASA Kennedy Space Center.
  • [2020] University of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences. The Fred L. and Frances J. Oliver Lectureship in Texas Hydrology and Water Resources.
  • [2020] Johns Hopkins University, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
  • [2016] Technical University of Munich. Department of Soil Science
  • [2016] University of Zurich. Department of Geography.

Prof. Berhe spoke about the role of soils in climate change at the 2019 TED conference in Vancouver, Canada

Thanks to the UC Merced Center for Humanities, and artist Darick Ritter and writer John Gibbs from Sequential Potential, my TEDtalk is now a comic too. Check it out:

Berhe, What’s soil got to do with Climate Change? (4-page comic)

Visit this Youtube link for video recordings of Professor Berhe’s scientific presentations.
see Dr. Berhe’s CV for full list of her invited talks.