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Statistics Majors Outgrow National Trends

With outstanding growth in statistics majors in the past decade, UC Davis is now among the top five U.S. universities for number of undergraduate degrees granted in statistics, the American Statistical Association recently reported.

Real Memory or Alternate Reality?

Aaron French, a doctoral student in religious studies, recently wrote a piece for The Conversation about "The Mandela Effect," the collective misremembering of common events or details, and a recent movie that gave the phenomenon widespread attention. He writes here about how the effect is connected to studies, research and writing.

Taking the Temperature of Dark Matter

Warm, cold, just right? Physicists at the University of California, Davis, are taking the temperature of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about a quarter of our universe.

Provost Hexter to Step Down

Ralph J. Hexter, provost and executive vice chancellor since 2011, and acting and then interim chancellor for 15 months in 2016–17, will leave his administrative post at the end of the 2019–20 academic year after almost 10 years in Mrak Hall.

Pursuing Undergraduate Research Outside the Lab

Getting research experience as an undergraduate student doesn’t have to mean working in a laboratory. Instead of days spent transferring fluids from one tube to another, math major Tracy Camacho explored matroids, complex mathematical objects with many different uses. 

Dean Spiller to Lead Academic Affairs at Nebraska

Elizabeth Spiller, who as dean led the successful reorganization and financial restructuring of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science, has been tapped as the next executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Alumni and Friends Honored With UC Davis Alumni Awards

Three College of Letters and Science alumni and two supporters will receive UC Davis Alumni Awards. They are among eight alumni and friends being honored by the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) for their contributions in many fields and to the university. The awards will be formally presented at the Alumni Awards Gala on Feb. 7, 2020.

Can You Change Your Personality? Scientists Say ‘Maybe’

It has long been believed that people can’t change their personalities, which are largely stable and inherited. But a review of recent research in personality science points to the possibility that personality traits can change through persistent intervention and major life events.