Awards and rankings

Albert Fischer, a professor emeritus of weed ecophysiology in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, was recently named recipient of the Outstanding International Achievement Award by the International Weed Science Society.

Shortly after the award was announced, Fischer passed away on Nov. 22 in Davis, Calif. He was 72. Former student Whitney Brim-DeForest accepted the award on Fischer’s behalf at the society’s quadrennial meeting Dec. 8 in Bangkok.

A multi-state team led by Patrick J. Brown has been awarded nearly $3.8 million over the next four years for a project to improve pistachio production as the industry faces warmer winters and scarcer water.

“We are at this unique point in history where we can do this,” said Brown, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.

Staff and faculty in the Department of Plant Sciences took time to socialize over coffee and celebrate several colleagues who have reached milestones in their employment with the University of California.

“It takes a team to be the No. 1 in the world for plant sciences, and here we honor the long service of our colleagues and staff,” said Gail Taylor, professor and department chair. “Last year, they helped us to submit 250 grant proposals, to win $35 million in external research funding and to run a world-beating stable isotope service.”

For the sixth year in a row, Department of Plant Sciences faculty Eduardo Blumwald has been named a Highly Cited Researcher by an international database of scientific journals. Blumwald, a plant biologist, is among 10 UC Davis researchers to receive the distinction for 2022.

The University of California, Davis, recently announced that philanthropists Lynda and Stewart Resnick, co-owners of The Wonderful Company, have pledged the largest gift ever to the university by individual donors. The $50 million pledge will support the school’s longstanding commitment to address today’s most pressing challenges in agriculture and environmental sustainability.

The Strawberry Breeding Center in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences has landed $6.2 million to study how to use breeding and genetic information to protect strawberry crops from future diseases and pests.

The four-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture will address expanding and emerging threats to strawberries, a popular fruit packed with vitamin C and key to the diets of many Americans.

Succotash lovers, rejoice: UC Davis researchers will lead a national effort to enlarge the resources for breeding tender, buttery lima beans. The project includes looking at key traits that people and growers want, finding where on the lima bean genome those traits are located, breeding and field trials to grow plants with the most desirable qualities, and creating a public database that other breeders can use to create new and better varieties.

A student-led effort in the Melotto Lab has earned a 2022 Lab Safety Award from UC Davis Safety Services office. “Their vigilance and commitment to safety have resulted in zero findings during lab inspections for two years running,” the safety office said.

Matthew E. Gilbert has been honored with a Program Advising and Mentoring Award by UC Davis Graduate Studies for 2022. Gilbert is an associate professor and vice chair of crops and ecosystems in the Department of Plant Sciences.

“Student well-being, both academically and mentally, is so important, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Gilbert. “For that reason, I became chair of the Graduate Student and Post-doctoral Welfare Committee, which is a sub-committee of Graduate Council.

Louise Ferguson has been recognized by the American Society of Horticultural Science for her leadership and contributions. The professor of UC Cooperative Extension assumed the presidency during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she nurtured the organization through its first all-virtual annual conference, a subsequent hybrid conference and back to a fully in-person conference.