Topics
Contact Us
- 250 Mrak Hall
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Tel: (530) 752-0650
Fax: (530) 752-6222
Learn why graduate studies at UC Davis are a notch above the others.
Recent Awards for Ecology Grad Students
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) Mercer Award went to Ecology graduate group alumnus Rick Lankau (and Professor Sharon Y. Strauss) for Rick’s dissertation, “Mutual feedbacks maintain both genetic and species diversity in a plant community.” For more information about the award program, go to http://www.esa.org/aboutesa/awards.php.
Graduate Student Researcher Shawn Kefauver has been awarded a competitive three-year NASA Earth Sciences Graduate Fellowship. Shawn is currently working on his master’s thesis on the hyperspectral remote sensing of air pollution impacts on forest health using bioindicators in Yosemite and Kings Canyon National parks. For more information about the fellowship program, go to http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external.
Lauren Garske was awarded a Nancy Foster Scholarship from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – a competitive and prestigious scholarship in oceanography and marine biology that will fully support Lauren’s studies. The Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program provides support for outstanding scholarship and encourages independent graduate-level research in oceanography, marine biology, or maritime archaeology, particularly by women and members of minority groups. For more information about the scholarship program, go to http://fosterscholars.noaa.gov.
Andy Chang has been awarded a Smithsonian Institution postdoctoral fellowship. Andy’s Research interests include biological invasions, estuaries, and community ecology. His current project: Functional diversity and salinity stress effects on estuarine community assembly, stability, and invasion resistance. For more information about the fellowship program, go to http://www.si.edu/ofg/fellowopp.htm.
Victory Gardens Make a Comeback
Scientists' Drill Hits Magma: Only Third Time on Record
Food on the Street – Agricultural Ecology Doctoral Candidate Discusses Taco Trucks
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award Winners
Students Harvest Fruit Trees for Food Bank
UC Davis Doctoral Survey Will Provide Insight into Low Retention Rates
Student Choreographers To Present Their Annual Showcase
New Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies
We would like to welcome Dr. Richard Shintaku, our new Assistant Dean, to the Office of Graduate Studies. Rich will have overall responsibility for the management and operation of the department. His broad background in university management, program development and leadership, and graduate teaching and advising will be valuable as the department moves forward with initiatives to strengthen the contributions of graduate education and postdoctoral training to UC Davis.
Rich holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of California, Los Angeles, a M.A. from Michigan State University and a B.S. from UC Davis. Rich brings broad experience in higher education administration and has had progressively increasing responsibilities at UC Davis, Willamette University, Oregon State University and most recent as Dean of Student Services and Enrollment Management at Cosumnes River College. He has also served as a faculty member and department chair at Oregon State in the area of adult education and higher education leadership. Rich’s academic and professional interests center on promoting the synergies inherent in academic, institutional and multicultural excellence.
Welcome aboard, Rich!
2009 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award Winners
Researchers Identify Protein That May Help Breast Cancer Spread
Researchers Discover that Behavior and Markings Often Keep Carnivorous Critters from Being Chomped On
Professor Fuses Math and Physics to Unlock Biology’s Secrets
Digital World Not Just for the Guys – Biostatistics Grad Promotes Math and Sciences to Teen Girls
It's Official – UC Regents Approve New School of Nursing First Up – Doctorate and Master’s Degree Programs
Engineering Student Wins Snowboard National Championship
Ah, What a Sweet Bouquet... Viticulture and Enology Student Awarded Internship to Coveted Burgundy Estate
Ecology Grad Wins Conservation Grant
Grad Student is Serious Cyclist
Doctoral Fellow Invents Wheelchair Control Device, University Submits Patent Application
UC Davis Graduate Student is Candidate to Be the First White House Farmer – On to Obama
Alum Creates Software Tool to Measure Eye Orbital Volumes
Alumna and Davis Scientists to Study Biodiversity in Indonesia
UC Davis geology graduate student Bekah Shepard piloted a mini-submersible into the depths of Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, as part of an expedition to map strange life forms that could give clues to the history of life on Earth and other planets.
$586M in Research Funding: Record-breaking year and fourth straight one topping half-billion-dollar mark.
Researchers study giant eddy off NorCal coast.
Study: Nature corridors need to be natural-looking.
2009-10 Grant and fellowship opportunities.
Windsurfing and playing the ivories are a must for music composition grad student.
Local tech bigwigs, grad student team for A/C booster startup.
UC Davis researchers test sky divers to study effect of stress on memory.
Grad student and professor finds that family conflict is a significant predictor of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among Asian Americans, independent of depression, low income or gender.
Researcher receives prestigious National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Training Grant.
Alumnus recognized by the California Department of Fish and Game for his work in the field of conservation of wild sheep in North America.
Doctoral candidate in History is making change in Chile.
Grad student pilots mini-sub in exploration of strange life forms.
Graduate Students Excel in Community Service
Congratulations to two recipients of the UC Davis HumanCorps' 2007-2008 Community Service Awards. The Graduate Student Community Service Committee (GSCSC), with over 350 collective service hours contributed during the last school year, was the proud winner of a Group Award. Brandy Wiegers, doctoral candidate in Applied Math, earned the distinction of Outstanding Graduate Student for her work with the GSCSC and the Explore Math program. For a complete list of honorees, see the HumanCorps Web site.
AAUW Awarded to Cultural Studies Grad Student
For the third year in a row, a Cultural Studies grad student has been awarded the prestigious American Association of University Women (AAUW) dissertation fellowship. Big congratulations go out to Winnie Tam! (And “great job” to her dissertation director, Michael P. Smith.)
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Awards 2008
Congratulations on winning the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for 2008:
- Cassandra Brown, Anthropology
- Patrick Dragon, Mathematics
- Benjamin Fell, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Laura Z. Hall, Nutritional Biology
- Mary Frances Keller, Entomology
- Vannarith M. Leang, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- Laurence Lemaire, French
- Eric O’Brien, English
- Christopher Schaberg, English
- Brant Schumaker, Epidemiology
- Lisa Sperber, English
- Eva Strawbridge, Applied Mathematics
- Diana Webb, Mathematics
- Hongtao Xie, Biomedical Engineering
The Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award recognizes the contributions of graduate students to teaching and learning at UC Davis.
UC Davis Collaboration Helps West African University Student Make History
We’ve known all along that our support of graduate education reaches far beyond our own UC Davis campus, and Robert (Bob) Gilbertson’s recent trip to Mali, West Africa is one example of our global collaboration and impact.
Bob (Professor, Plant Pathology) was in Mali participating in the Ph.D. dissertation defense exam of student Moussa Noussourou. Bob was a co-adviser of Moussa, along with Dr. Rick Foster of Purdue University and Professor Hamidou Maiga of the University of Bamako.
When Moussa passed his examination on March 13, he not only received his well-earned doctoral degree, he also made history – his Ph.D. degree is the first one granted by the Department of Biology at the University of Bamako. “We are all so very proud of Dr. Noussourou and what he has accomplished,” says Bob.
The title of Moussa’s thesis: The complex of viruses infecting tomatoes in Mali: Characterization of the virus species involved, identification of tolerant and resistant tomato varieties and the effect of a host-free period on disease development in the irrigated perimeter of Baguineda, Mali.
The support Moussa received from Bob and his colleagues is an example of the collaborative research partnership between UC Davis and Mali – addressing a critical agricultural issue impacting the Malian people. This research also benefits the people in California and throughout the U.S., as these same viruses impact crops grown in our country and the results from this important research in Mali can be applied to these viruses.
This research was supported by a grant from the USAID as part of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP).
Top picture from left to right: Bob Gilbertson, Dr. Hamidou Maiga (Moussa's adviser at the University of Bamako), and graduate Dr. Noussourou.
Bottom picture shows Dr. Noussourou along with his University of Bamako advisors, family, Bob Gilbertson, and Rick Foster of Purdue University.
Alumna Honored in Fellow Publication
UC Davis graduate student alumna Dr. Emily Prieto was highlighted in the spring 2008 issue of “ADELANTE!”, a newsletter created by National Hispanic Science Network (NHSN) and the Summer Research Training Institute (SRTI) and distributed to their Fellows.
Emily attended SRTI in 2004 when she was a doctoral student at UC Davis. While at UC Davis, Emily won the Walker Award for Outstanding Academic Staff Adviser in 2005. Her graduate work focused on HIV interventions for hard-to-reach populations in Mexico.
In July 2007 she received her doctorate in education with a specialization in language, literacy and culture. Currently, Dr. Prieto is the Director of the Latino Resource Center at Northern Illinois University. Emily says, “One of the most critical aspects of my position is ensuring that there is a welcoming and supportive environment for the Latino campus community and to develop program initiatives that enhance the undergraduate experiences of Latino students, including areas of service learning and community activism.”
The J. Robert Oppenheimer Goes to UC Davis Postdoc
Congratulations to UC Davis postdoc Dr. Moran Wang, who has been awarded the prestigious J. Robert Oppenheimer (JRO) Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
The JRO fellowship is awarded to individuals who display extraordinary ability in scientific research and show clear and definite promise of becoming outstanding leaders in the research they pursue.
After receiving his Ph.D. degree in Engineering Thermophysics from Tsinghua University in China, Moran spent one and a half years working as a postdoc in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Johns Hopkins University. He then came to UCD and joined the research group of Professor Ning Pan, a faculty member in Textile & Clothing, Biological & Agricultural Engineering, NEAT and Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, to continue his work on computational modeling of multi-physical behaviors of complex materials systems. In less than two years, Moran has published more than 10 scientific research papers focusing on transports and properties of various porous media, composites, functional gradient materials, and multiphase material systems.
UC Davis Graduate Student Wins National Council of Graduate Schools "Distinguished Dissertation Award"
UC Davis Graduate Student, Cristobal Uauy, was awarded the national “Distinguished Dissertation Award” by the Council of Graduate Schools and University Microfilms International. Cristobal’s dissertation, “Positional Cloning of Gpc-B1, a Wheat Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Senescence and with Pleiotropic Effects on Grain Protein, Zinc, and Iron Concentration,” was the sole winner under the Biological and Life Sciences field category.
The distinguished award was presented to Cristobal at the Council of Graduate Schools’ annual meeting, held on December 6 in Seattle, Washington.
Cristobal was also the 2007 Allen G. Marr Prize winner— awarded through the Office of Graduate Studies for dissertation excellence and presented to Cristobal at the June 13, 2007 Graduate Studies commencement ceremony.
About Our Own CREATE IGERT Program and Team
The Complete CREATE Team
View the Abstract from the Winning Proposal
IGERT Awarded
Due to the strong effort of a multidisciplinary faculty team - lead by Karen McDonald, College of Engineering Associate Dean and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, with the assistance from Office of Graduate Studies and the Office of Research - we are proud to announce that the campus has received a new Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award from the National Science Foundation.
The award was based on the team's project: "Collaborative Research and Education in Agricultural Technologies and Engineering" (CREATE). This multi-institutional IGERT establishes a research and educational partnership between UC Davis, Tuskegee University, University of Ireland, Maynooth and the Teagasc Oak Park Research Center in Carlow, Ireland.
Out of 443 IGERT pre-proposals received this year, 98 full proposals were selected, and out of those only about 20 will receive the prestigious award. This award is a continuing grant and will be awarded $600,000 in the first year and up to $3.1 million over the five-year period.
Last Updated: July 1, 2009