Botanist Daniel Potter is the new chair of the Department of Plant Sciences, overseeing graduate and undergraduate programming, 60 faculty members, several emeriti professors and many greenhouses, labs and teaching facilities.
When interviewed to become a University of California Cooperative Extension specialist in environmental horticulture, Lorence “Loren” Oki was asked what kind of research he wanted to conduct. In response, he showed the hiring committee a photo of a residential gutter. “Water is a big concern, and I found very little research on runoff from homes,” said Oki. Studying residential runoff is what “started his career” with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources back in 2002.
Richard Michelmore, founder of the UC Davis Genome Center, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Michelmore is a molecular biologist and distinguished professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences who pioneered saliva-based COVID-19 testing for large-scale use, among other key contributions.
During his 20-year tenure as founding director of the UC Davis Genome Center, Richard Michelmore, recruited more than 20 faculty members, led the center to prominence as a hub of technology-driven biology and made national headlines by implementing an innovative, community-scale, saliva-based COVID test. Quite the legacy for someone who never wanted the job in the first place.
After chairing the Department of Plant Sciences for seven years, Gail Taylor has taken a new appointment as the dean of Life Sciences, University College London. She will start her new role later this year.
Truman Young retired as a professor and restoration ecologist from the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. His work has taken him to Africa and beyond, helping communities restore and manage landscapes.
Robert Hutmacher retired in 2022 as professor of the University of California Cooperative Extension, based in the Department of Plant Sciences. He is also the director of the UC West Side Research and Extension Center. His research has focused on cotton, primarily in California's San Joaquin Valley and other cotton-producing states.
Kent Bradford retired in 2019 as a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Plant Sciences. He was the founding director of the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center. His research has focused on the development, maintenance and expression of seed quality.
John Yoder retired as a professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences after building a career focused on parasitic weeds and developing crops that resist them.
Heinrich Lieth retired as a professor and University of California Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences. His work has focused on growing plants in greenhouses and similar protected structures.
