graduate students

Profile photos of David Liu and Paula Hammond

23rd Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium to be Held In-Person for First Time Since Pandemic

  • by Greg Watry
  • March 21, 2023
Mark your calendars because the R. Bryan Miller Symposium returns this April for its first in-person event since 2020. Featuring a stellar lineup of high-profile speakers and leading-edge researchers in chemical biology, organic, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, the 23rd annual symposium creates a pipeline between academia and industry, allowing students to network, present their research and learn skills pivotal to their future professional careers. The free event is scheduled for April 13 and 14 at the UC Davis Conference Center.
A classic California view — fog rising from the Pacific Ocean as seen from Mount Tamalpais.

Climate Trends in the West Today and 11,000 Years Ago

  • by Kat Kerlin
  • February 27, 2023
People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word. A study from the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences synthesizes climate trends across the Western U.S. during a relatively young and lesser-studied period of Earth’s history — the Holocene Era, which stretches from the present day to the past 11,000 years.
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.
Goabaone Jaqueline Ramatlapeng, a doctoral candidate at UC Davis. She looks directly at the camera and has long black hair, glasses and wears a gray sweater.

Doctoral Fellow Solving Botswana Water Scarcity Crisis

  • by Greg Watry
  • June 09, 2022
Goabaone Jaqueline Ramatlapeng can vividly remember when she would go without water from domestic pipes for days. Growing up in Kopong, a rural village in Botswana, Ramatlapeng and her family faced a plight that those in surrounding villages knew as well: water scarcity. And when the water did flow, it was salty. Ramatlapeng’s research could help inform the development of sustainable water management policies in the region.
UC Davis graduate student Jessica Ortiz-Rodríguez is standing in front of a tree and wearing a gray checked shirt.

Alternative Energies, Mentorship and Building Community at UC Davis

  • by Greg Watry
  • June 07, 2022

The spark for science was always within Jessica Ortiz-Rodríguez. As a child growing up in Puerto Rico, she loved visiting the Discovery Channel Store. And when the holidays rolled around, Ortiz-Rodríguez’s parents always knew there’d be something there that they could gift their daughter. Telescopes, microscopes, chemistry sets, the list went on and on. 

Ph.D. student and author Tom Lin is this month’s guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)

A Writer Goes West

  • by Cody Kitaura
  • March 30, 2022
Tom Lin, who came to UC Davis in 2019 to study literature, joined Chancellor Gary S. May on this month’s installment of "Face to Face With Chancellor May" to talk about his debut novel, "The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu."
Electric power transmission lines with sun on horizon, glowing pink against a dark blue sky.

Industry Group Creates UC Davis Energy Economics Fellowship

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • January 28, 2022
Energy economics studies at UC Davis recently received an investment in its future with a power industry group’s creation of a graduate student fellowship. The Western Power Trading Forum (WPTF), a Sacramento-based association that advocates for competitive market rules in Western states, funded the fellowship for five years to help cultivate the next generation of energy thought leaders.
painting of Native American woman carrying baby on back with river of migrating salmon behind her.

Graduate Student Symposium Celebrates Indigenous Scholarship Around the Globe

  • by Jeffrey Day
  • April 24, 2021

To celebrate and connect Indigenous activist-researchers across the hemisphere, UC Davis Department of Native American Studies graduate students are holding their ninth annual research symposium April 26-29. The theme this year is “From Red Power to Wallmapu Libre and Land Back” and the event will feature a lineup of Indigenous scholars and activists, as well as 25 graduate student researchers from UC Davis and beyond who represent a multitude of disciplines and collaborate with numerous Indigenous communities.

Subscribe to graduate students Content