Venkatesan Sundaresan, a UC Davis expert in rice reproduction and microbiomes, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for groundbreaking research on clonal seeds and drought-tolerant crops.
UC Davis named Eduardo Blumwald a 2023 Innovator of the Year for his team’s gene-editing discovery that reduces fertilizer use in cereal crops like rice by enhancing nitrogen-fixing bacteria—cutting costs and pollution globally.
UC Davis’ Joshua Hegarty received an $800K USDA grant to breed triticale with better bread-baking qualities while maintaining high yields and low input needs, aiming to boost food security and value for farmers worldwide.
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.
Louise Ferguson, a professor at UC Davis, has been named a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science for her leadership and contributions to horticulture. She also founded the ASHS Leadership Academy to train future leaders.
Five retired faculty from the Department of Plant Sciences will be honored for their outstanding scholarship, the global impact of their contributions to their fields, their service, their expansive teaching and their generous mentoring.
Alessandro Ossola, UC Davis Assistant Professor, received the 2022 New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award for his project on using big data to develop climate models for urban tree crops, aiding climate-resilient food systems.
Brad Hanson, UC Davis Cooperative Extension weed scientist, was named a fellow of the Western Society of Weed Science, its highest honor, recognizing his research, outreach, and leadership in solving agricultural weed issues.
Maeli Melotto, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences specializing in plant immunity, has been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
Jorge Dubcovsky of UC Davis was awarded the Frank N. Meyer Medal for his pioneering work on wheat genetics, including the development of germplasm and wheat varieties that improve yield, nutrition, and climate resilience.
