This Saturday, April 21, we celebrate 104 years of campus traditions with Picnic Day. If you are joining us, please check out the Picnic Day website and download the Picnic Day app to maximize your time on campus.

We’re also continuing a new tradition that started last year: UC Davis Give Day. Give Day is a 29-hour fundraising event that begins at noon on Friday, April 20 and ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 21.

Support the College of Biological Sciences on Give Day to move us one step closer to unlocking 12 giving challenges established by generous donors. No amount is too small, because together, Aggies add up! Please watch this video from alumnus Ernesto Sandoval about why he supports the College of Biological Sciences. 

Go Ags!

Congratulations to Professor Judy Callis, recognized with the university's highest teaching honor, the UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. Chancellor Gary May stopped by her class for the surprise announcement.

In a new study, UC Davis plant biologists demonstrate the strategic ways plants fight off microbial invaders. A recent discovery has the potential to help bolster crop immune systems and improve their development and growth.

For her long-term contributions to the plant biology field, Neelima Sinha was recently honored by the American Society of Plant Biologists with a Fellow of ASPB Award, which recognizes distinguished members who have contributed to the society for at least 10 years.

Integrative Genetics and Genomics Ph.D. student Cassie Ettinger identifies and characterizes seagrass microbial communities to understand how the role of these microbes could reveal new information about seagrass help cycle sulfur through the ecosystem.

Risk is inherent in the world of entrepreneurship. For Deborah Neff, chief executive officer of Evanostics and principal at DJN Consulting, risk can mean opportunity. For more than 30 years, Neff has been a player in the life sciences industry.

As a communications consultant and founder and executive chair of the Capital Science Communicators, Ben Young Landis strategizes methods to communicate science to general audiences and other groups from non-scientific backgrounds.