Ardeshir Damania has won the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources. A longtime scientist collecting and evaluating wheat genetic resources, he became a research associate in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences -- but not before saving the world's wheat genebank.
Doctoral students Danyelle Forte and Jonathan Berlingeri have been named fellows to the UC Davis Professors for the Future program, a year-long journey that prepares outstanding candidates for careers in academia and other fields.
UC Davis’ Postharvest Research and Extension Center is expanding industry partnerships, launching new courses, enhancing research, and offering free online resources. The goal is to support produce quality, safety, and innovation worldwide.
UC Davis alumnus Gurdev Khush won a $250K VinFuture Prize for co-developing disease-resistant rice strains now widely grown in Asia. His work has boosted global food security and cut pesticide use in tropical rice farming.
Leena Tripathi is director of the Eastern Africa Hub of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, based in Kenya. She’ll be taking about engineering disease resistance in banana, a key food security crop for Africa.
UC Davis welcomed U.S. Special Envoy Cary Fowler to explore partnerships for global food security. Discussions centered on soil health, climate resilience, and indigenous crops, highlighting UC’s role in shaping VACS.
UC Davis and La Salle University in Colombia won a federal grant to create the “Cacao Innovation Rural Youth Lab,” helping underrepresented students explore cacao farming, sustainability, and global trade through hands-on learning.
The African Plant Breeding Academy, hosted by UC Davis, kicked off its spring session in Nairobi with 40 scientists from 22 African nations. The program, focusing on crop improvement, aims to combat malnutrition and boost food security.
A short documentary about agricultural innovations supported by University of California, Davis, researchers in Cambodia has picked up three awards at the 42nd Annual Telly Awards. It was a collaborative production between the Horticulture Innovation Lab, the Office of Strategic Communications and Max Video Productions in 2019.
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.
Gepts, a renowned plant geneticist, has led many international projects and collaborations that focus on the domestication of the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. In fact, more than 40 percent of his published research has involved an international co-authorship.
