2023 Spring Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm, seminars delivered via live stream and in person
- April 5 | Prof. Dr. Monika Egerer | Technical University of Munich Germany | Urban oases: the ecological and social value of urban green spaces
- April 12 | Chris Wong | Postdoc/Plant Optics lab | Plant Optics: Bridging remote sensing and plant sciences for phenotyping applications
- April 19 | TBD
- April 26 | David Garo | Wonderful Co./College Success lead coach | TBD
- May 3 | No seminar
- May 10 | Renaud Rincent | French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) | Phenomic selection as a low-cost and high-throughput alternative to genomic selection
- May 17 | CANCELLED
- May 24 | Dr. Olivier Rodrigues | Purpan Engineering School, France | Stomatal movement in response to stress: A story of channels.
- May 31 | Tom Buckley | Understanding how ecophysiological traits drive responses to environmental stress and change | Video *
- June 7 | Louise Ferguson | Thirty Years of Pistachio Salinity Research and Other Applied Solutions in California Tree Crops
2023 Winter Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm, seminars delivered via live stream and in person
- January 11 | Dr. Laura M. Bogar | Plant Biology UC Davis | Symbiosis under stress: Exploring cooperation between tree roots and soil fungi in a changing world | Video
- January 18 | Dr. Maryam Saffariha | Plant Sciences/ Leslie Roche Lab | Application of artificial neural network on plant distribution | Video
- January 25 | Dr. Sharon Tusiime (smbabazi85@gmail.com) and Dr. Isaac Dramadri Onziga (onzigaisaac@gmail.com) | Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement -Uganda | Functional Seed Systems for Effective Delivery of Improved Crop Varieties in Uganda / Application of Molecular Breeding Techniques in African Context: A case of Cowpea and Sorghum | Video*
- February 1 | Dr. David Greene | Humboldt State University | The interaction of the timing of seed production and of fire as a lottery determining subsequent canopy composition | Video
- February 8 | Dr. Santos Barrera Lemus | World Coffee Research - Colombia | Using tepary beans as a genetic source to improve the common beans' ability to resist abiotic and biotic constraints | Video
- February 15 | Dr. Rachel Bezner Kerr | Cornell University | Agroecological approaches as a transformative approach to climate change | Video
- February 22 | TBD
- March 1 | Dr. Nathan Pumplin | Norfolk Healthy Produce | Developing and commercializing the ground-breaking bioengineered Purple Tomato | Video
- March 8 | Dr. Justin C. Luong | Postdoc Plant Sciences UC Davis | Lessons learned from an interdisciplinary evaluation of 37 restored coastal grasslands in California | Video
2022 Fall Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm, seminars delivered via live stream and in person
- September 21 | Alessandro Ossola | UC Davis Plant Sciences | Advancing urban plant science under climate and social change | * Video
- September 28 | Astrid Volder | UC Davis Plant Sciences | Impact of root order on the rhizobiome | * Video
- October 5 | Eduardo Blumwald | UC Davis Plant Sciences | Engineering Nitrogen Fixation in Cereals | Video
- October 12 | Undergraduate Research Flash Talks | UC Davis Plant Sciences | N/A
- October 19 | Luis Cisneros-Zevallos | Texas A&M, Horticultural Sciences | N/A
- October 26 | Cameron Pittelkow and Santiago Tamagno | Integrating priorities for agronomy with environmental efficiency indicators to reduce tradeoffs | * Video
- November 2 | Christine Diepenbrock/Sassoum Lo/Jonathan Berlingeri | UC Davis Plant Sciences | Pre-Breeding and Genomics for Tandem Improvement of Productivity and Quality in Nutritional Security Crops | * Video
- November 9 | Troy Magney/Mukund Rao | UC Davis Plant Sciences | Oak trees do not grow through the growing season | * Video
- November 16 | Amanda Crump/Isha Poudel | UC Davis Plant Sciences | The impact of compounding disasters on marginalized farmers and food security | Video
- November 30 | Rachel Spaeth | Genomic Characterization, Relatedness, and Analysis of Luther Burbank’s Plum (Prunus sp) Introductions using Genotyping by Sequencing (GBS) | Video
- December 14 | Kalyn Diederich, PhD Candidate | Comparative Multifunctionality of Dryland Annual and Perennial Grain Production Systems in a Mediterranean Climate | * Video
2022 Spring Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm, seminars delivered via live stream and in person
- March 30 | Xiaoxiao Shi and Ella Katz | UC Davis | In-person + live stream | New Paradigms for the Physiology and Genetics of Photosynthesis and Nitrogen Metabolism | Video
- April 6 | Adrian Dauphinee | SLU Sweden | In-person + live stream | Leveraging chemical genetics to unravel plant autophagy signaling mechanisms | Video
- April 13 | Jan Graefe | Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops | In-person + live stream | Water flow to randomly distributed and clustered roots - a new analytical approximation method | Video
- April 20 | Roger Chetelat | UC Davis (High-level Merit) | In-person + live stream | Genetic mechanisms of reproductive barriers in tomato wide crosses | Video *
- April 27 | Katie Murphy, Saarah Kuzay, Mwaura Livingstone Nganga, Cody Bekkering, Paul Kasemsap | UC Davis | In-person + live stream | Life outside the lab— how immersive opportunities enhance grad school experience
- May 4 | Troy Magney | UC Davis (Promotion) | In-person + live stream | Plant Optics: Counting Photons to Inform Plant Productivity, Stress, and Resilience | Video *
- May 11 | Ruthie Angelovici | University of Missouri | Virtual Only | Can Multi-Omics Integration Help Uncover Seed Amino Acid Homoeostasis Regulation? | Video
- May 18 | Ulli Seibt | UCLA | Virtual Only | Carbon-water coupling in tropical photosynthesis through the lens of carbonyl sulfide
- May 25 | Mark Lundy | UC Davis (Promotion) | In-person + live stream | From measurement to modeling to management: Improving agronomic efficiency in California small grain crops | Video*
- June 1 | Arnold Bloom | UC Davis (Promotion) | In-person + live stream | The future of food production and quality: Doom and Gloom in the Bloom Zoom Room | Video
- June 8 | Mary Cadenasso | UC Davis (Promotion) | In-person + live stream | Multi-scale research for understanding cities as co-produced social-ecological systems | Video *
- June 15 | Dr. Aude Tixier | INRAE - UMR Agroecology, Dijon, France | In-person + live-stream | Ecophysiology of Rhizodeposition in Legumes
2022 Winter Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm
- January 13 *Thursday* | Menachem Moshelion (Hebrew University of Jerusalem; & https://www.plant-ditech.com/) | Diurnal stomatal apertures and density ratios affect whole-canopy stomatal conductance, water-use efficiency and yield. Host: M. Gilbert Video
- January 19 | Neil Mattson (Cornell University) | Urban controlled environment agriculture: Optimizing plant quality, environmental, and socioeconomic outcomes. Host: Yufei Qian
- January 26 | Pat Heslop-Harrison (University of Leicester) | Saffron: the most valuable plant in the world – genetics and genomics - past and future. Host: Gail Taylor
- February 2 | Grey Monroe | Mutation bias reflects natural selection in Arabidopsis thaliana Video
- February 9 | Andrea Basche (U. Nebraska-Lincoln) | Considering the “who” and “how” to achieve sustainable intensification goals. Host: Amelie Gaudin
- February 16 | Isaac "Ike" Sohn Leslie (University of New Hampshire) | Queering Food Systems for Justice and Sustainability | Co-hosted by Feminist Research Institute Video
- February 23 | Anna Stepanova (North Carolina State University) | Building a SynBio toolbox to monitor and control plant hormone activity. Host: Amanda Agosto Ramos Video
- March 2 | Colleen Iversen (Oak Ridge Nat. Lab) | Linking below ground plant traits with ecosystem processes: A multi-biome perspective. Host: Jen Funk
- March 9 | Julian Hibberd (Cambridge University) | Molecular events associated with the convergent evolution of C4 photosynthesis.
Hosts: M. Gilbert & G. Taylor
2021 Fall Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm
- October 6 | Abhaya Dandekar, Renata Assis | Walnut Exposome: A precision analysis of bacterial blight disease
- October 13 | Mary Cadenasso, Working Group Chairs | Get involved: departmental DEI working groups
- October 20 | No seminar this week
- October 27 | Gail Taylor, Caspar Donnison | Having your cake and eating it: can Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) combat climate change without trade-offs for society and the environment?
- November 3 | No seminar this week; previously scheduled seminar now occurring November 24
- November 10 | Tom Buckley, Marshall Pierce | The effect of leaf hairs on leaf boundary layer conductance
- November 17 | Steven Knapp, Mitchell Feldmann | Complex traits and candidate genes: assumption-free estimation of genetic variance components
- November 24 | Mark Lundy, Taylor Nelsen | Leveraging measurements, modeling and the world wide web to optimize N fertilizer management in California small grains | Video
- December 1 | Allen Van Deynze, Oon-ha Shin | Nitrogen use efficiency in spinach | Video
- December 8 | Andrew Latimer, Joan Dudney | Disentangling drought and climate change effects on a plant disease range shift
2021 Spring Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm
- March 31 | Stephanie Zullo | Developing genetic resources and exploring mechanisms of biotic stress resistance in lima bean
- April 7 | Dr. Elizabete Carmo-Silva | The balancing act of Rubisco regulation in plants
- April 14 | William Patzoldt | Deep learning and robotics are enabling the next era of weed management | Video
- April 21 | Amanda Crump | International Learning, Equity and Social Inclusion in Agriculture | Video
- April 28 | Dr. Rubén Rellán-Álvarez | Teosinte introgression modulates phosphatidylcholine levels and induces early maize flowering time
- May 5 | Jen Funk | Trait-based Approaches to Understanding Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Management | Video*
- May 12 | Barbara Blanco | Improving Crop Quality and Reducing Postharvest Losses through Fruit Biology Research | Video
- May 19 | Pat Brown | Genomics-assisted tree breeding for a sustainable future | Video
- May 26 | Brian Bailey | High-Resolution Measurement and Modeling of Plant System Structure and Function from Leaf to Globe | Video
- June 2 | Bruce Lampinen | Yield constraints in almond and walnut
- June 9 | Daniel Runcie | The Future of Quantitative Methods for Studying the Genetics and Evolution of Complex Traits in Plants
2021 Winter Promotions Seminar Series
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm
- January 20 | Sue Ebeler, Mary Cadenasso, Troy Magney | Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in classroom and community
- February 3 | Wakana Azuma | Mechanisms of hydraulic homeostasis realized in tall, old trees on an individual-to-molecular scale
- February 10 | Ana Caicedo | Re-inventing the wheel? Mechanisms of convergence and adaptation in weedy rice
- February 17 | Mallika Nocco | Informing irrigation and encouraging inclusion with plants
- February 21 | Alireza Pourreza | Mapping High-Resolution canopy light interception by drone
- March 3 | Amity Wilzek | A plant's-eye view of climate: life cycle timing and adaptation in response to warming
- March 10 | Sieg Snapp | Agroecology, smallholder farmers and a warming planet
2020 Fall Promotions Seminar Series - Organized by Maeli Melotto
Wednesdays, 12:10-1:00 pm
- August 19 | Diane Beckles | Integrative approaches to studying plant responses to challenging environments: from seed to postharvest
- August 26 | Georgia Drakakaki | Plant cell dynamics and cell wall development during plant growth and stress response
- August 28 | Li Tian | Unraveling and leveraging phenolic and carotenoid metabolism for crop improvement
- September 2 | Maeli Melotto | Cross-kingdom molecular battles in the phyllosphere
- September 9 | Cameron Pittelkow | Towards systems-level sustainability in agronomy: balancing production and environmental goals
- September 16 | Allen Van Deynze | Breed local and have global impact
- September 23 | Heiner Lieth | Horticultural Crop Production in Partial Shade of Solar Photovoltaic Panels
- September 30 | Carlos Crisosto | A Flavorful Career, 30 Years From Fruits to Nuts
- October 7 | Brad Hanson | Weed Management Research and Extension (everywhere I go, I see weeds)
- October 14 | Mingcheng Luo | Reference sequence assemblies for large and complex wheat and highly heterozygous walnut genomes.
- October 21 | Steven Knapp | Genome-Informed Strategies for Increasing Genetic Gain and Accelerating Cultivar Development in Strawberry
- October 28 | Patrick Brown | Nitrogen Management in Perennial Agroecosystems: Biological Principles, Regulatory Guidance and Barriers to Change
- November 4 | Gail Taylor | Environmental Plant Sciences to address the global challenges of food and energy security in a changing climate
- November 11 - University Holiday - Veteran's Day
- November 18 | Kelsey Wood | PhD Exit Seminar: Effector prediction and resistance gene identification in the lettuce-lettuce downy mildew pathosystem
- November 25 | Mengyuan Xiao | PhD Exit Seminar: Isolation and characterization of Tg1 (tenacious glume1), a primary domestication gene in wheat
- December 2 | Stefan Petrach | Genetics of strawberry postharvest fruit quality and resistance to necrotrophic fungi
- December 9 | Dr. Lior Blank, ARO, Israel | Data driven and multi-scale approach for disease and pest management
- December 16 | Dominique Pincot | Exit Seminar | The geneology of the cultivated strawberry and host resistance in strawberry-vascular wilt pathosystems
* Friday
Winter 2020
- January 15 | Lucy Kerhoulas, Humboldt State University | "Crown-scale Physiology and Ecology of Tall Sitka Spruce"
- January 29 | Thomas Tai, USDA-ARS Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Unit & UC Davis Plant Sciences | "Generation and characterization of novel genetic variation in rice"
- February 5 | David Acker, Iowa State University | "How Can School Gardens Contribute to Student Success? A Case From Rural Uganda"
- February 12 | Mohsen B. Mesgaran, Department of Plant Sciences | “A deeper look at weeds with deep learning”
- February 19 | Juan M. Debernardi, Postdoc, Department of Plant Sciences | “ A new technology that greatly improves regeneration efficiency of transgenic plants in multiple species”
- February 26 | Celine Caseys, Postdoctoral researcher working with Dan Kliebenstein | “Plants vs Botrytis: Quantitative interactions drive the disease outcome across the plant kingdom”
- March 4 | Mengyuan Xiao, Department of Plant Sciences | "Pepper Breeding for Fruit Size and Sunscald Tolerance in Organic Environments"
- March 11 | Ella Katz, Post doc, Department of Plant Sciences | "Genetics, Geography and Environment shape glucosinolatevariation in Arabidospisthaliana" | Video
Fall 2019
- September 11 | Amélie Gaudin | "Cross-scale insights into the development of sustainable and resilient agroecosystems"
- September 25 | Dr. Astrid Volder, Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant Sciences and Courtney Nichols, Ph.D. student, Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group | “Current Research in Root-Soil Dynamics”
- October 2 | Dr. Arnold J. Bloom - Distinguished Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Dr. Xiaoxiao Shi - Postdoc, Dept. Plant Sciences | “Dangerous Ideas about Plant Carbon/Nitrogen Relations”
- October 16 | Dr. Amanda Crump, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Dept. Plant Sciences and Ana Zepeda, Graduate Student, International Agricultural Development | “Learning About Resilient Communities”
- October 23 | Dr. Amélie Gaudin - Assistant Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Jennifer Schmidt - PhD Student, Horticulture and Agronomy | “Conducting the Rhizosphere Symphony: How Plants Change Their Tune”
- October 30 | Dr. Steve Knapp, Professor, Dept. of Plant Sciences and Dr. Michael Hardigan, Postdoc, Dept. of Plant Sciences | "Genome-Informed Breeding in Strawberry"
- November 6 | Dr. Richard Michelmore - Distinguished Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Dr. Kyle Fletcher - Postdoc, Dept. Plant Sciences | "The Influenza Paradigm for More Durable Disease Resistance: So Many Genomes…So Many Genes…So Little Time...”
- November 13 | Dr. Valerie Eviner - Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Evan Batzer - PhD Candidate, Ecology | “Unraveling ecological complexity: Improving our ability to understand, predict and manage plant communities and ecosystems”
- November 20 | Dr. Mary Cadenasso - Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Jasmin Green - PhD Student, Ecology | “Turf wars: Implications of drought tolerant landscaping for water conservation and heat in Sacramento”
- December 4 | Dr. Troy Magney - Assistant Professor, Dept. Plant Sciences and Eliot Meeker - PhD Student, Chemical Engineering | “Shedding a New Light on Global Photosynthesis: From Satellite to the Leaf”
Spring 2019
- April 10 | Ecophysiologists in PLS | "Future research, collaborations (and cries for help); flash talks by ecophysiologists in Plant Sciences"
- April 17 | Gislene Ganade | "Across scale restoration strategies for tropical dry lands"
- April 24 | Tom Buckley-Dongliang Xiong | "Adventures in irreproducibility: stomatal responses to water status in ABA mutants"
- May 1 | Various | "Plant Sciences grad students flash talks (5 mins) and Graduate Research Presentation Award"
- May 8 | Michael Rawls | "Effects of dormant drought stress on Almond (Prunis dulcis) bloom; Or, What if it doesn’t rain in the winter?"
- May 15 | Astrid Volder | "Perennial root systems: how the upside affects the downside"
- May 22 | Gary Muehlbauer | "Genetics of tillering and leaf patterning in barley"
- May 29 | Katie Driver | "Bearded Sprangletop Control in California Rice"
Winter 2019
- March 13 | Dr. Marcia DeLonge, Union of Concerned Scientists | "Turning research into advocacy: Case studies in agroecology"
- March 6 | Dr. Julie Dawson, University of Wisconsin - Madison | "Seed to Kitchen: evaluating culinary quality in organic variety development"
- February 20 | Dr. Atena Haghighattalab, University of Minnesota | "Crawling out of my silo: High-throughput phenotyping of large breeding nurseries"
- February 6 | Steffen Abel, Director, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry | "Phosphate-metal interactions govern root development"
- January 23 | Dr. Oliver Dong, Ronald Lab, Dept. of Plant Pathology, UC Davis | "Marker-free carotenoid-enriched rice generated through high-efficiency targeted gene insertion using CRISPR-Cas9"
Fall 2018
- December 12 | Allen Van Deynze and Theresa Hill | "Mechanical harvesting is essential for the processing industry"
- December 5 | Maeli Melotto & Cristian Jacob | "Breeding for enhanced crop safety: A case study of lettuce and human pathogens"
- November 28 | Lucas McKinnon & Philip Day | "Factors involved in the targeting, assembly and processing activity of chloroplast membrane proteins" | * From the laboratory of the late Prof. Kentaro Inoue
- November 13 | Bruce Linquist & Daniela Carrijo, Plant Sciences | "Irrigation management in rice for multiple environmental outcomes"
- November 7 | John Yoder and Yaxin Wang, Plant Sciences | "Subterranean signaling between host and parasitic plants: the role of redox reactions"
- October 31 | Ken Shackel & Vadim Volkov, Plant Sciences | "Nanoporous silicon water potential sensors: Have we found the Holy Grail?"
- October 24 | Mohsen Mesgaran & Maor Matzrafi, Plant Sciences | "Exploitation of sex for weed management"
- October 18 | Jorge Dubcovsky, Plant Sciences | "Unraveling hidden variation in polyploid wheat using sequenced mutant populations" | Juan M. Debernardi | "Using mutants and transgenic plants to understand wheat spike development"
- October 10 | Georgia Drakakaki & Michel Rosquete, Plant Sciences | "Endomembrane dynamics in cell wall build-up and plant stress response"
- October 3 | Professor Zvi Peleg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "Saving roots for rainy days"
- September 26 | Professor Graham D. Farquhar, Australian National University | "Optimal water use and the intersection of photorespiration and N metabolism"
- September 19 | Valerie Eviner, UC Davis | "Improving our ability to understand and manage ecosystems by linking population, community, ecosystem and landscape ecology"
Summer 2018
- September 12 | Leslie Roche, UC Davis | "Sustaining working rangelands"
- August 29 | Markita del Carpio Landry, UC Berkeley | "High aspect ratio nanomaterials enable delivery of functional genetic material without DNA integration in mature points"
Spring 2018
- June 6 | Markus Stetter, Plant Sciences | "Genetic constraints hindered amaranth domestication despite convergent trait evolution"
- May 30 | Joanna Solins, Plant Sciences | "Riparian vegetation to urban stream conditions"
- May 23 | Blandine Nacoulma, UC Davis | "Why do elephants attack baobab (Adansonia digitate L.) in protected areas of Burkina Faso? Towards a strategy for species conservation"
- May 16 | John McKay, Colorado State University | "Commercializing genetic discoveries for maximizing sustainable production of Cannabis and Maize"
- May 9 | Paula Rodrigues Oblessuc, Plant Sciences | "New insights in the growth-defense tradeoffs in plants"
- May 2 | Bruce Lampinen, Plant Sciences | "Understanding limitations to yield of almond and walnut"
- April 25 | Tom Buckley, Plant Sciences | "Using models as research tools in plant ecophysiology"
- April 18 | Dan Kliebenstein, Plant Sciences | "The illusion of simplicity in nutrition breeding"
- April 11 | Jorge Dubcovsky, Plant Sciences | "Using sequenced mutant populations for wheat breeding"
Winter 2018
- March 14 | Tim Brodribb, University of Tasmania, Australia | "Visualizing Drought-induced Hydraulic Failure in Leaves, Stems and Roots, in Real Time"
- March 7 | Elisabeth Forrestel, UC Davis | "Evolutionary Perspectives on Grassland Structure and Function"
- February 28 | Emilio Laca, UC Davis | "A Practical Model of Grazing Management to Control Invasive Plants"
- February 21 | Leonie Bentsink, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University and Research | "How Does Nature Regulate the Seed Life Span?"
- February 14 | Bob Hutmacher, UC Davis | "Fusarium Resistance Challenges in Cotton, and Drought and Salinity Research at West Side REC"
- February 7 | Kent Bradford, UC Davis | "Understanding Biological Variation"
- January 31 | Dave Grantz, UC Riverside | "Effects of Particulate Air Pollutants on Plant Water Relations"
- January 24 | Charlie Brummer, UC Davis | “Can We Improve Alfalfa Yield? Lessons From Breeding and Genomics”
- January 10 | Eduardo Blumwald, UC Davis | “Roles of NHX-type Cation/H+ antiporters in cellular ion and pH homeostasis”
Fall 2017
- Sept 6 | Matthew Gilbert, UC Davis | "How can we adapt crops to water limited environments"
- October 25 | Parsa Tehranchian, Postdoc research Associate, Marie Jasieniuk | "Multiple herbicide resistance in California Italian ryegrass"
- November 1 | Annabelle Damerum, Ph.D. Student, Gail Taylor lab | "Improving the shelf life and nutritional quality of lettuce"
- November 8 | Elizabeth Arnold, Ph.D. student, Gail Taylor lab | "Manipulating the leaf microbiome for improved leafy salads"
- November 15 | Mariano Gallo, Ph.D. student, Al-Khatib/Hanson lab | "Walnut response to simulated rice herbicide drift"
- November 22 | Libby Rowland. Ph.D. student, Gail Taylor lab | "Improving Quality and Shelf Life of Culinary Herbs via Irrigation Scheduling"
- November 29 | Jeff Dahlberg, Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension (KARE) Director | "Sorghum in California? Why the Interest?”
- December 6 | Feras Almasri, Ph.D. student, Al-Khatib Lab | "Towards the search for Methyl Bromide alternatives"