Science

Chemistry Ph.D. Student Bao Vue smiles at the camera

The Language of Chemistry

  • by Greg Watry
  • January 17, 2023
There’s no word in Bao Vue’s native language for “chemistry.” The science subject is not easily expressed in Hmong vocabulary. In fact, the same can be said for the concept of “science” itself. But when Vue was 9 years old, she and her family fled their home for safety. Today, she's a chemistry doctoral candidate in UC Davis Professor of Chemistry Jacquelyn Gervay-Hague’s lab, which is focused on developing sustainable methods to produce antiviral and anticancer agents from natural products.
A group of students in lab attire gather around a table to investigate aromas associated with whiskey.

UC Davis Professors Bring Chemical Engineering Back to Its Whiskey Roots

  • by Noah Pflueger-Peters
  • January 12, 2023

For UC Davis chemical engineering professor Greg Miller, a new course began with a single sip. 

While tasting whiskey with friends, he noted an unusual peppery flavor and became curious how it was produced. The more he looked, the more he realized that there wasn’t an easy answer, as most whiskey distillers rely on tried-and-true recipes instead of science.  

Justin Siegel

Justin Siegel Elected to National Academy of Inventors

  • December 09, 2022
Chemist Justin Siegel is one of two UC Davis faculty members elected to the National Academy of Inventors’ 2022 class of fellows. Siegel's work in computational enzyme engineering is focused on discovering catalysts that improve health and environmental outcomes. He holds more than 100 global patents and has co-founded eight startups in the last 10 years.
images of one woman, head and shoulders, three times: left in amber light, middle in blue, right in red

Color on the Mind

  • by Jeffrey Day
  • November 21, 2022

Would you feel less nervous being rolled into an MRI surrounded by an amber glow? Get more out of your meditation sessions bathed in blue light?

A family portrait of a father with four children, one a baby on his knee

Resilience and 'La Familia'

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • November 02, 2022
Now in its 16th year, the California Families Project looks at the development of children of Mexican origin and a wide range of characteristics — individual, family, neighborhood, school and culture — that help them succeed in life. The landmark UC Davis study is the most comprehensive longitudinal study of its kind in the United States.
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