University News

Rankings Recognize Global Leadership of UC Davis

Julia Ann Easley — March 12, 2025

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025 rank UC Davis second in the world and first in the nation for veterinary science and agriculture and forestry.

Project Helping Instructors Improve Accessibility

Julia Ann Easley — March 11, 2025

A UC Davis education specialist is designing and leading a course to equip instructors with the tools to make digital course materials more accessible.

Sue Ebeler Wins 2024 Women & Philanthropy Impact Award

Anila Mary Lijo — March 11, 2025

For Sue Ebeler, M.S. ’85, Ph.D. ’93, the most rewarding part of her career isn’t the research awards or the international recognition — it’s the students whose lives she has changed.

As a professor of viticulture and enology and associate dean of Undergraduate Academic Programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Ebeler has spent more than 30 years at UC Davis building a culture of belonging, mentorship and opportunity. Her leadership has empowered countless students — especially women — to find their place and thrive.

Academic Senate and Federation 2025 Awardees

Jose Antonio Vadi — March 10, 2025

Presenting their top academic honors for 2025, the Academic Senate and Federation recognize and showcase faculty not just for their expertise, but also for their impact across campus, mentorship roles, excellence in teaching and overall public service.

The full list of winners, with profiles submitted by awards committees from the senate and federation, follow:

The Societal Role of Health and Aging

Jose Antonio Vadi — March 10, 2025

A packed audience at the Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre gathered Tuesday, March 4 for a presentation by Arline T. Geronimus, author of the 2024-2025 selection of the UC Davis Campus Community Book Project, Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society.

Awareness of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Saves Lives

Katherine E Kerlin — March 06, 2025

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a bacterial infection spread by biting ticks to humans and dogs. Found on every continent except Antarctica, the infectious disease has been spreading since the early 2000s, most notably in Mexico and Brazil. Of the cases reported, more than half of infected people and dogs die.

A paper led by the University of California, Davis, highlights one of the most effective but often missing solutions to surviving this preventable, deadly disease: awareness. Most fatal cases stem from delays in diagnosis and treatment.

UC Davis Media Sources on Trade, Supply Chain

Karen Michele Nikos — March 05, 2025

UC Davis sources for media on tariffs and trade policies

Construction Managers Come Full Circle at Aggie Square

Anila Mary Lijo — March 04, 2025

For Joshua Chavez, working on Aggie Square was something of a homecoming, even though he’d only passed by the site of the Sacramento innovation district.

A 2021 graduate of UC Davis who majored in managerial economics, Chavez helped to manage some of the early, pivotal work on the Aggie Square site in 2023 — such as bringing power, water and sewer lines to the 11-acre site, which is a partnership between the �ԹϺ�� and Wexford Science & Technology LLC.

UC Davis Achieves Reaccreditation for 10 Years

Anila Mary Lijo — March 04, 2025

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission cited UC Davis’ “shared purpose, professional pride, and inclusive belonging that fosters active engagement and shared governance across the �ԹϺ��” as the regional accreditation agency renewed the �ԹϺ��’s accreditation for 10 years.

What Explains the Increase in Online Hate Speech?

Jocelyn C Anderson — March 04, 2025

Over the past few years, there have been extensive changes in content moderation policy on social media platforms. As companies like X and Meta loosen these policies, users have reported an increase in hate speech. So what caused this shift?

UC Davis to Celebrate Alumni and Friends at 52nd Alumni Awards Gala

Anila Mary Lijo — March 04, 2025

The University of California, Davis, Cal Aggie Alumni Association has announced the recipients of its 2025 Alumni Awards, celebrating extraordinary alumni and friends who have made a lasting impact on their communities and the �ԹϺ��.

This year’s honorees are trailblazers in their fields — driving innovation, championing equity, and transforming the future of science, technology and veterinary care. They are also committed to supporting students by providing mentorship, resources and opportunities for success at UC Davis and beyond.

UC Davis Launches 'From Labs to Lives' to Highlight Federally Funded Research

Julia Ann Easley — March 03, 2025

The University of California, Davis, has launched a website and video series titled, “From Labs to Lives,” to highlight federally funded research, describe how the research benefits the public, and share the consequences to the public if funding is reduced or eliminated.

3D Genome Structure Guides Sperm Development

Andy Fell — March 03, 2025

How 3D folding of DNA inside germ cells sets them on the path to become sperm.

Meet The 2024-2025 Chancellor's Fellows

Jose Antonio Vadi — March 03, 2025

Meet the eight faculty members who comprise the newest class of Chancellor’s Fellows, given to early career academics doing exemplary work in their fields.

Burning Question: How to Save an Old-Growth Forest in Tahoe

Katherine E Kerlin — March 03, 2025

On the shores of Lake Tahoe at Emerald Bay State Park grows what some consider to be the most iconic old-growth forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Giant ponderosa pines — some of the last remaining in the area — share space with at least 13 other tree species.

Restoring Voices and Identity with Neuroengineering

Andy Fell — February 27, 2025

Lee Miller vividly recalls the day in 2021 when he met a woman who had lost the function of her vocal cords. In hoarse, whispering tones she explained how her voice had been instrumental to her vocation. Losing it, she said, undercut her life’s purpose. Her words were faint, but the lesson was powerful.

California Rice and Wildlife Report Released

Katherine E Kerlin — February 27, 2025

How many acres of rice are needed to support wildlife? UC Davis outlines a conservation footprint for the state's rice in a report for the California Rice Commission.

Fish Teeth Show How Ease of Innovation Enables Rapid Evolution

Andy Fell — February 26, 2025

It’s not what you do, it’s how readily you do it. Rapid evolutionary change might have more to do with how easily a key innovation can be gained or lost rather than with the innovation itself, according to new work by biologists at the University of California, Davis, who studied how teeth in certain fishes evolved in response to food sources and habitats.

Their work was published Feb. 26 in Nature.

Alum Receives Early Career Fellowship

Jocelyn C Anderson — February 25, 2025

Victoria Watson-Zink, Ph.D. ’22, a postdoctoral evolutionary marine biologist, received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Hanna H. Gray Fellowship last month. This year’s fellowship supports the transition of 25 early-career scientists to leading labs and becoming tenured faculty.

‘Face to Face’: Davis Students Launch Seizure-Prediction Startup

Anila Mary Lijo — February 25, 2025

On this month’s Face to Face With Chancellor May, meet Simran Lallian and Jaya Athuluru, two ambitious undergraduates at UC Davis behind the medtech startup, EpiSense, a seizure prediction system that utilizes a recording of brain activity, an electroencephalogram (EEG) and machine learning.