Charlie Brummer, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, will lead a program that seeks to recruit two doctoral and two master’s students in plant breeding from underrepresented groups. Maeli Melotto, associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, has instituted a program entitled Leadership Excellence Across Practice and Science, or LEAPS.
The Barbara D. Webster Scholar Award has been launched and will provide an annual grant of $20,000 to support the scholarship of an eligible faculty member within the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
Paul Gepts, distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, received the International Crop Science Award from the Crop Science Society of America. The award recognizes positive changes realized for crops at the international level with an emphasis on creativity and innovation.
The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, or FFAR, has awarded a Seeding Solutions grant to the University of California, Davis to study how the microbial community hosted by the Sierra Mixe corn variety provides atmospheric nitrogen to the plant. Seeding Solutions grants are awarded annually in six different challenge groups recognized by the FFAR, with this one falling under “Next Generation Crops.” The grant was matched by Benson Hill for a total investment of $1,855,162
Two professors in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis have been elected in this year’s class of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society. Part of their cohort were nine other UC Davis professors, bringing the campus-wide total of elected AAAS fellows to 11.
This year, Crisosto received recognition for his decades-long research program and released a book, alongside his wife Gayle Crisosto, a retired specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences, that is positioned to be the foundational text on the postharvest handling of Mediterranean fruit and nut trees.
The award will provide support for faculty members in the Department of Plant Sciences who represent excellence in their field, present unique and transformative perspectives, exhibit the leadership ability to impact their discipline, and advance representation of women in plant sciences.
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.”
“As a master’s degree graduate student at UC Davis, I study nutrient management in rice systems,” said Campbell. “I work to help improve our understanding of important soil-nutrient interactions that can greatly affect the ability of our soils to produce food. California rice is an important global commodity, and growers need information on producing it more sustainably and economically.”
Giulia Marino, a crop physiologist, is the new UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Specialist in Orchard Systems, and a faculty member in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). She is primarily based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, California, and has a second office in Wickson Hall at UC Davis.
