UC Davis, Department of Plant Sciences tomato crops grown in the greenhouses
Plant Sciences

Plant-centered research for a resilient future

Federal Funding Matters

Federal research funding turns lab work into real help. Continued funding means faster treatments, cleaner air and water, safer families and stronger businesses. When funding freezes, progress slows and costs rise. Learn more about the many UC Davis research programs dependent on federal funding at the From Labs to Lives website.
From Labs to Lives

Academic Employment Opportunities

Plant Sciences is recruiting for faculty positions:
Associate/Full Professor of Tree Breeding and Genetics
Assistant Professor of Postharvest Horticulture
The department also has a variety of other academic positions available.
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Michelle from International Agricultural Development

Undergraduate Programs

Plant Sciences offers three diverse majors that prepare students for a broad range of exciting post-graduate jobs or graduate school.

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Plant Sciences graduate student working in the field.

Graduate Programs

Plant Sciences manages two graduate programs and is involved with eight campus graduate groups leading to Ph.D. and master's degrees.

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plant sciences research in a fume hood

Research and Facilities

Our faculty works to advance, evaluate and communicate knowledge of plant sciences from lab to field, rangeland, forests, waterways and beyond.

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Group of visitors at field day

Outreach Programs

We partner with growers, ranchers, consumers and communities to understand regional and global needs and provide research-based solutions.

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Latest News

Students wearing coats and excavating waist-high trench at the edge of a woods with bare trees, one person inside the trench, others wearing yellow hard hats. UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences

Beech co-leads groundbreaking soil competition

  • by Ava-Rose Beech and Adelaide Martin
 

Two years after the UC Davis soil judging team earned their first-ever qualification for the national competition, the university will host the regional contest next year in another first.

Ava-Rose Beech co-led the undergraduate soil judging team at the 2025 National Collegiate Soils Contest. She is a Ph.D. candidate in the lab of Leslie Roche, a professor of Cooperative Extension in the Department of Plant Sciences. This year, Beech is back at it – leading the 2026 team in competition and in hosting.

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