Welcome to Did You Know?, the UC Davis College of Letters and Science research blog. Our posts cover interesting people, projects and events within the college. This is a team blog published by the college's professional writers in marketing and communications, with occasional guest posts from faculty and students.
The African American and African, Asian American, Chicana and Chicano, and Native American studies programs at UC Davis were all conceived in 1969, although full implementation took decades of struggle and sacrifice. Today, they lie at the heart of the college's mission to make a better world.
African American and African Studies
In 1969, 50 African American students, accompanied by the sole African American faculty member on campus, marched to the chancellor's office to demand an African American studies program.
“Comings and Goings: Works on Paper by Rick Bartow” at the C.N. Gorman Museum through March 15. The late artist’s dealer and friend Charles Froelick will give a talk Feb. 27.
“Xicanx Futurity,” co-curated by Chicana and Chicano studies faculty Carlos Jackson and Susy Zepeda, through May 5 at the Jan and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum.
The members of the Ambassadors of Letters and Science (ALAS) are exceptional students who represent the UC Davis College of Letters and Science to prospective students and families, peers, and the campus and community at large. Meet our Ambassadors for 2018-19:
Ellen Chu
Junior
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Researchers around the world are taking advantage of advances in genetic engineering, molecular biology, genomics and horticultural science to develop varieties of tea with less caffeine.
WATCHMAN, an international partnership developing new methods for monitoring nuclear reactors, is now fully funded thanks to nearly $12.8 million (£9.7 million) from the United Kingdom’s Fund for International Collaboration. The project is also sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
No animal alive today looks quite like a duck-billed platypus, a semi-aquatic, egg-laying mammal hailing from eastern Australia. But about 250 million years ago, something very similar swam the shallow seas in what is now China, finding prey by touch with a cartilaginous bill. The newly discovered marine reptile Eretmorhipis carrolldongi from the lower Triassic period is described in the journal Scientific Reports Jan. 24.
Austin Sendek (B.S. physics, ‘12) was named to Forbes annual 30 Under 30 list of individuals making an impact in the field of energy. Sendek founded his own company, AIONICS, which develops machine learning platforms for accelerating new battery designs.
The UC Office of the President has awarded more than $9 million in grants to 16 collaborative research projects across the system. UC Davis College of Letters and Science researchers lead two of the projects and will participate in three others.
