A Message from the Dean - May 2026
May was such a whirlwind!
This month we celebrated the grand opening of the Resnick Center for Agricultural Innovation — a bold new hub for discovery and collaboration that will redefine research, teaching and outreach while driving breakthrough solutions for the future of food systems, sustainability and healthy communities. We enjoyed an afternoon of celebration with the Resnicks, members of the Wonderful Company, partners, alumni, donors, and friends of the college, with tours of the facility and a ribbon cutting at the new space. The 34,000-square-foot facility revolutionizes hands-on learning in an innovative and immersive environment that connects education to outreach and discovery.
Experts across disciplines will work in labs designed to develop robotics, sensors, data science and to explore effective use of artificial intelligence — technologies transforming how innovation is managed and scaled. Research efforts will focus on making agricultural and environmental systems more resilient, developing advanced technologies, maximizing sustainability through water and energy efficiencies, and expanding development of nutritious foods for people and animals. We can’t wait to share the space with everyone and look forward to when the building is officially open this fall!
This month we’ve spent quite a bit of time out in the field engaging with students at Picnic with the Dean, planting crops, sharing our field operations with Chancellor May and attending conferences and symposiums with a variety of faculty and staff. I love learning about all the different ways we are partnering and collaborating with policy makers, scientists and industry leaders across the state and around the world to bring our science to communities! Everywhere I go, I hear amazing examples of how our work has supported and inspired people.
Speaking of great science, we have several examples of fascinating research to share with you this month. From the secret behind moldy bread to tracking barn owls over vineyards, our researchers have so much to share. After the Altadena and Pacific Palisades fires, trees were sometimes all that people had left on their properties where houses once stood. In this story, video and podcast, we see how UC Davis and partners are working to understand tree casualty and recovery so that the community can rebuild, replace what was lost and plan for the future.
A new study finds gray mold, commonly spotted on berries and bread, can detect which plant it is infecting and thereby adjust its attack strategy, helping explain why it is so difficult to control. We have a Ph.D. student who is outfitting American barn owls with tiny GPS “backpacks” to study how nighttime vineyard noise, including tractor activity, influences where these nocturnal hunters forage. The research could help growers better support owls as a natural and native form of rodent control.
Xiaoli Dong, an associate professor with the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, has appeared in more than 400 news clips explaining climate modeling research that shows 7-16% of plant species could lose more than 90% of their habitat by the year 2100. A new wildfire economics study is also making headlines for showing that every dollar spent on fuel reduction treatments like prescribed burns and forest thinning saves about $3.75 in avoided damage.
We’re excited about a recently launched initiative to repurpose fallow fields on campus to grow corn silage for dairy cattle, improving on-farm sustainability. And we’re also proud to see our own Pam Ronald featured in the campus-wide “Among the Academies” series, highlighting her groundbreaking work in developing flood-resistant rice that has improved food security for millions in South Asia.
It’s awards season and kudos to two outstanding graduate students who have earned top CA&ES awards this year: Gayatri Ganesh is this year’s recipient of the Neal Van Alfen and James MacDonald Graduate Student Award and Ellie Bolas is this year’s recipient of the Kinsella Memorial Prize. Congratulations to our graduate students!