Students and education

‘Plant Diversity’ topic of this year’s Plant Sciences Symposium

This year, we are excited for the 2024 UC Davis Plant Sciences Symposium to represent work across the plant sciences with the theme, “Plant diversity from genes to ecosystems.”

The event is this Friday, April 11, in the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center. Registration and coffee start at 8 a.m., with the event opening at 8:45 a.m. Jason Rauscher will speak; he’s the R&D academic relations lead for our event’s core partner Corteva Agriscience. The day includes speakers, poster sessions and networking.

Students learn to advocate for ag research

Doctoral student Matt Davis traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to experience first-hand the intersection of agricultural science and federal policy-making.

“We were there to learn about careers in government and policy,” Davis explained. “We learned how to communicate with legislators and went to the legislators’ offices to talk about the 2024 Farm Bill and the importance of funding agricultural research.”.

What does the science say? Students learn to translate research

Graduate student Paige Kouba discussed her research with California legislators as part of a program to train scientists to better communicate with policy-makers. Kouba met with Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D-Winters) and other legislative leaders at the state Capitol recently. Her goal is to inform science policy coming out of Sacramento.