Longtime UC Davis academic coordinator Carole Hom, who retires this year after a quietly influential career, is so beloved that she has two nametags: one bearing her official title, and another with alternates—“Spiritual Leader” and “Chief Guru”—made for her by colleague Rick Grosberg, a distinguished professor emeritus of Evolution and Ecology. 

Three UC Davis students, including two from the College of Biological Sciences, have won the highly prestigious and competitive Barry Goldwater Scholarship. 

Every year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation honors fewer than 500 undergraduate second- and third-year students from across the country with scholarships recognizing their science, technology, engineering and mathematics research accomplishments and future potential.

Jessica Bolivar, a graduate student in the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (BMCDB) Graduate Group, knows firsthand the difference that one person’s mentorship can make. 

During her time at UC Davis, Bolivar has made it her mission to give back and inspire the next generation of scientists by balancing her research with a slew of community-uplifting and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

May is a busy time of year here at UC Davis. Commencement is just around the corner, so our students are hard at work getting through midterms and preparing for finals and life after school. Many will go on to graduate programs, others will enter industry positions. All of them will have accomplished a great deal by the time they cross the commencement stage. You will be able to celebrate them with us next month when we share the names of our award recipients, many of whom are in the graduating class of 2024, on the college website.

Three professors from the University of California, Davis, have been elected as members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are among 120 new members and 24 international members announced by the academy April 30. 

Members are elected in recognition of their contributions to original research. Membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve.

Joel Ledford, an associate professor of teaching in the Department of Plant Biology, has received the 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD). The annual award celebrates teaching faculty for their dedication to students and undergraduate education. 

“Getting an award like this from students means a lot to me,” Ledford said. “It’s an inspiring thing, and it makes you want to be a better teacher.”

The UC Davis College of Biological Sciences champions Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) through the Graduate Student DEIJ Leader Fellowship program. Now in its second year, the program empowers enterprising graduate students committed to enhancing DEIJ within the CBS community by supporting projects aimed at fostering a more inclusive academic environment. 

Plants need to be able to communicate with themselves—by sending signals from their leaves to their roots to their flowers—so that they can coordinate growth and optimize resource use. They also need to communicate with other plants and organisms, which they achieve by releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tiny molecules that are often associated with distinct smells. Scientists know a lot about how plants emit these odorous signals, however very little is known about how they receive and interpret them.

The UC Davis Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP@UC Davis) promotes diversity in biomedical sciences, preparing scholars for success in Ph.D. programs. 

Ten faculty from UC Davis are among 502 newly elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the society announced today (April 18). AAAS fellows are scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements in science, including research, teaching, administration and science communication.