Congratulations to the class of 2025! We are so happy to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our students. Our graduating class always inspires me. This week we celebrate their efforts and incredible achievements. A degree from UC Davis unlocks opportunities and signifies commitment to a higher level of learning and represents a major milestone. We are so proud of all of our graduates and look forward to hearing about their continued success.

For the first time in its storied history, the University of California, Davis, is selling wines to the public made by students, staff and faculty from grapes they grow in the Napa Valley and around campus in Yolo County.

For years, families in the Bay Area city of Richmond have lived with smoke and chemicals drifting from a nearby oil refinery. That kind of exposure poses serious health risks, but a new report from UC Davis shows how California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 617 is helping residents take a more active role in monitoring and reducing air pollution in their neighborhoods.

Sama Reitzes is all about building stronger communities through good food, sustainable practices and making gardening accessible to everyone. The UC Davis alum earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and environmental education last winter and continues to grow that work on campus, where she’s joined efforts to install a new ADA-accessible garden and make green spaces more inclusive for all.

The wind was whipping across a dark, open field near the southern edge of Yolo County when two small burrowing owls suddenly burst into flight. For a team of birders from UC Davis, the birds marked the 173rd species of the day, breaking a county record that had stood for 25 years.

It was the exciting conclusion of their “Big Day,” a fast-paced birding challenge to find and identify as many bird species as possible in a 24-hour period. Their effort – spanning 150 miles of driving, 17 miles of walking and 41 carefully planned stops – combined careful planning with a love of birds.

Under a canopy of trees, young kids dig for worms in a compost bin on campus. Their little dirt-covered fingertips gently pluck out one they think will be speedy enough to win a “worm race.” Led by UC Davis students, this hands-on activity shows kids how worms play an important role in healthy soil and plant growth. It's just one of many fun lessons in the Kids in the Garden program.

Five UC Davis faculty members, including Jorge Mazza Rodrigues from CA&ES, were selected to address the university’s undergraduate commencements at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento Friday through Sunday (June 13-15).

Zhenglin Zhang, a March graduate known as a gifted researcher dedicated to agricultural sustainability, is the winner of the 2025 Kinsella Memorial Prize.

Zhang, who is now a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, earned his bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. at University of California, Davis, where he researched rice crops and how erratic weather and fallowed fields affected methane emissions and nitrogen cycling. He studied in the lab of Bruce Linquist, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, killing 87% of patients within five years. Previous studies have shown that obesity can increase pancreatic cancer risk by around 50%. In a new study from the University of California, Davis, researchers showed evidence that switching from a high-fat diet to a low-fat diet slowed pancreatic precancer development in mice, even after weight gain and precancerous changes began. The research was published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Caring for a cat with chronic health conditions can be challenging for all involved, from the process of getting to a veterinary clinic to the stress of being in a strange environment with new smells and animals.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, worked with pet owners across the United States and Canada to determine whether video telehealth visits could help improve care and the home environment for cats with feline degenerative joint disease, commonly referred to as feline arthritis.