News | Department of Plant Sciences

Ph.D. student Philip Day and Professor Steven Theg, Department of Plant Biology, work on protein sorting in plant chloroplasts. (David Slipher/UC Davis)

The Late Professor Inoue Would Be Proud

Students Finish His and Their Research, Earn Ph.D.s By Kristin Burns

Four years after plant sciences professor Kentaro Inoue was struck and killed while riding his bike, the last three graduate students from his lab are ensuring his scientific legacy lives on through their published research, careers in industry and academia, and mentoring of future science students.

Two Plant Sciences Students Awarded Borlaug Graduate Scholars Awards

Congratulations to Plant Sciences students Saarah Kuzay and Abelina Jackson, who have been named 2020 Borlaug Graduate Scholars by the National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB).

Awards and rankings

UCCE Sutter-Yuba-Colusa Continuing Education Seminars: Sept-Oct 2020

University of California Cooperative Extension Sutter-Yuba-Colusa is holding a series of webinars in September and October to provide research updates on some of the major crops in the Sacramento Valley. The classes are relevant to growers throughout California and are primarily focused on pest management and pesticide safety.

Cooperative Extension

Plant Sciences’ Diane Beckles Awarded Inaugural Chancellor’s Fellowship for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Diane Beckles, associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, has been named an inaugural recipient of the Chancellor’s Fellowship for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Awarded by UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May and the Academic Senate, the fellowship recognizes faculty with an “abiding commitment to reducing opportunity gaps for underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities.”

Awards and rankings

Plant Breeders Honor Fredrick Bliss with Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Fredrick Bliss, professor emeritus in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, was honored with the 2020 National Association of Plant Breeders (NAPB) Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes distinguished long-term service to the plant breeding discipline through research, education, outreach, and leadership. The award will be presented at the 2021 NAPB annual meeting next summer.

Awards and rankings

Video: Mysterious packages of seeds arrived in mailboxes throughout California and across the United States

What should you do if you received them in the mail? UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center Director Emeritus shares his thoughts on the potential harm of these seeds to California crops. Watch the video or read the story.

- Courtesy of KCRA News Channel 3

Invasive species

Steve Fennimore Receives 2020 EurAgEng Outstanding Paper Award

Steve Fennimore, UC Davis Plant Sciences faculty member and UC Cooperative Extension weed specialist, and colleagues received the 2020 EurAgEng Outstanding Paper Award for the paper, “Crop Signalling: A Novel Crop Recognition Technique for Robotic Control,” which was published in Biosystems Engineering.

Mechanization

Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS): Finding the win–wins for energy, negative emissions and ecosystem services—size matters

Press Release

Finding the win-wins for Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) as we move to net zero. For the UK at least, size matters

New research has shown that Drax power station in North Yorkshire is the optimal site for the carbon capture and storage facilities that will be needed reduce carbon emissions and achieve the targets of 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Climate Ready Landscape Plants: $1 million Grant to Expand Program to Western States

Research spearheaded by Loren Oki, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, evaluates landscape plants to determine the best low water-use plants for California. Creating water budgets is required by California’s Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance. A new grant from CDFA/USDA expands this project to other western states to minimize water use.

Awards and rankings

UC Davis Plant Sciences Joins the Center for Bioenergy Innovation as a Full Partner

The Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, has become a full partner with the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. CBI is one of four Biological and Environmental Research Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, with a mission to advance the use of biomass for biofuel and bioproduct development as part of the emerging bioeconomy.

Department news