Campus & Community

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this fall has seen a great many things come to pass. Whether events on the national stage, or advances in the life sciences, you’ve no doubt had a lot to watch.

If you’ve ever walked by tables of College of Biological Sciences apparel, including soft hoodies, baseball caps, t-shirts, and quarter-zips, chances are you’ve just passed by BioBoosters. The longstanding and popular student club responsible for pop-up swag sales of CBS apparel is back for the 2024-25 year with a slate of student activities, including, of course, more swag sales. 

A bumblebee’s brain is smaller than a sesame seed. But it can still accomplish quite a bit.

“You don’t need a big brain to learn well,” said Felicity Muth, an assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and a National Geographic Explorer who studies cognition in bees and other animals. “Bumblebees are capable of many of the same cognitive feats as many vertebrates.”

Sam Arcement—Director of Graduate Academic Programs for the College of Biological Sciences, and the program coordinator for the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology (MCIP) Graduate Group—has been honored with the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award from the Office of Graduate Studies. This year saw a record number of nominations. “Sam tirelessly ensures that our needs and concerns are heard and addressed,” said one MCIP student, who praised Arcement’s dedication to student advocacy.

It wasn’t long ago that the college welcomed over 2,000 new first-year and transfer students. They joined me on the BioSci lawn to meet one another, their faculty and receive a warm welcome to the college and to UC Davis. Each year, the incoming first-year and transfer classes bring energy, enthusiasm and excitement to the college.

The college was pleased to welcome five new faculty members to its ranks during the 2023-24 academic year. Joining the Departments of Plant Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, and the Center for Neuroscience, each faculty adds breadth and depth to the college’s research and teaching portfolio. 

Marie E. Burns, a professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and Cell Biology and Human Anatomy in the School of Medicine, and a core faculty member at the Center for Neuroscience (CNS), has been appointed the CNS interim director, effective July 1, 2024. 

This really has been a year of celebration. With so many students and their families at commencement this weekend celebrating the great achievement of completing a college degree, it’s easy to feel the buzz of excitement in the warming air. Yes, there are definitely long days and nights, cramming for exams, and lengthy experiments in the lab, but when our students get to cross the commencement stage, it’s all worth it.

Longtime UC Davis academic coordinator Carole Hom, who retires this year after a quietly influential career, is so beloved that she has two nametags: one bearing her official title, and another with alternates—“Spiritual Leader” and “Chief Guru”—made for her by colleague Rick Grosberg, a distinguished professor emeritus of Evolution and Ecology. 

May is a busy time of year here at UC Davis. Commencement is just around the corner, so our students are hard at work getting through midterms and preparing for finals and life after school. Many will go on to graduate programs, others will enter industry positions. All of them will have accomplished a great deal by the time they cross the commencement stage. You will be able to celebrate them with us next month when we share the names of our award recipients, many of whom are in the graduating class of 2024, on the college website.