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Atmospheric science senior undergraduate Cameron Schmitt was recently announced as a recipient of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences “Dean’s Circle Award” which is given annually to up to three outstanding seniors from across the college.  Mr. Schmitt excelled academically and philanthropically in his time at UC Davis.  He will graduate with a 4.0 GPA while having completed the bulk of his degree in just three years.  Mr.

From a small California winery to a large-scale energy project in China, floating photovoltaics — or “floatovoltaics”— are gaining in popularity. Commonly installed over artificial water bodies, from irrigation ponds and reservoirs to wastewater treatment plants, floating solar projects can maximize space for producing clean energy while sparing natural lands.

In Fairfield, on the northeast edge of California’s Bay Area, there is a spot where the land drops below a gravel parking lot and into a ravine. Ledgewood Creek flows through an underpass, just out of sight from passing traffic and across from a Home Depot. On a hot day in early September 2024, researchers from UC Davis are in the creek, setting up transects to measure its size and shape.

In their third year of competing at regionals, the UC Davis Collegiate Soil Judging Team placed third, earning their first-ever qualification for the prestigious National Collegiate Soils Contest. UC Davis will face off against ~25 other top teams from across the nation in April 2025 at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point.

It’s not your average solar farm.

The glassy panels stand in a meadow. Wildflowers sway in the breeze, bursts of purple, pink, yellow, orange and white among native grasses. A monarch butterfly flits from one blossom to the next. Dragonflies zip, bees hum and goldfinches trill.

From coastal redwoods and Joshua trees to golden poppies and sagebrush, California is a global botanical hotspot. It’s also a place confronted with extreme heat, wildfires and crumbling coastlines. The state’s natural beauty and history of pioneering conservation efforts make it a test bed for protecting biodiversity in the face of current and future climate change, argues a study led by the University of California, Davis.

Soils and Biogeochemistry PhD student Sarah Brickman and postdoctoral researcher Nall Moonilall have been honored with the highest recognition on campus for their outstanding role in mentoring undergraduate research. This award celebrates their exceptional contributions to guiding undergraduate students in research and/or creative activities.
 

by Tiffany Dobbyn May 28, 2024

Weather forecasting is a complex and challenging task. But UC Davis graduate student Allan Lee is up for that challenge.

Dr. Kosana Suvocarev was awarded ~ $3.5m from CAL-FIRE to co-lead the study on redwood’s forest health with Housen Chu from LBNL and other researchers across the two institutions (Holly Oldroyd, Troy Magney, Kyaw Tha Paw U, Sebastien Biraud, and Stephen Chan). The team will establish two forest integrated forest observatories with state-of-the-art measurements to generate continuous dataset of 100+ variables critical for redwoods forest health, management and climate change adaptation.

In March, PhD candidate Erica Edwards was awarded one of 16 Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants for 2024, under the advisory of Drs. Mallika Nocco and Ruth Dahlquist-Willard. The Western SARE Graduate Student Research & Education Program invites students to partner with producers and growers for innovative research, promoting collaborative outreach on key topics in sustainable agriculture.

Kelsey Fenn was selected to receive a Western SARE Graduate Research and Education grant ($29,984) funding her project titled ‘Physical Soil Health and Water Storage Dynamics of a Novel, Perennial Cover Crop in California Almond Orchards’ under the advisory of Dr. Mallika Nocco and Dr. Cristina Lazcano. Her project partners with almond growers in the Central Valley to address emerging changes to structural soil properties and soil carbon pools from a perennial cover crop.

• by Kat Kerlin
• March 08, 2024

Climate change is driving both the loss of biodiversity and the need for clean, renewable energy. It is also shifting where species are expected to live in the future. Yet these realities are rarely considered together. Where can clean energy projects be built without impacting the future habitat ranges of threatened and endangered species?