This week saw rain here in Davis. After a week of 90-degree heat, we’d gotten used to summer feeling closer. Seasons seem to last only a few days at a time now. It’s more like winter again, and though campus is on alert because of recent events in our community, I am glad to say that our spring quarter has seen many notable achievements.

For those of you who are podcast fans, the college was especially well covered by recent campus podcasts, the first of which featured Rachael Bay, an assistant professor of evolution and ecology, who recently sat down with Chancellor May as part of his Face-to-Face series. They discussed the future of ocean life. I hope you'll take a look.

The second podcast, which is actually created and run by UC Davis students, featured Jonathan Eisen, a professor of evolution and ecology, and a core faculty member of the Genome Center. Professor Eisen sat down with the students to discuss the role of microbes in our lives, open sourcing in academia, and the importance of equity and diversity in higher education. I recommend both episodes!

And speaking of students, I was especially pleased to see that not one but two CBS graduate students landed the first and second-place prizes at this year’s UC Davis Grad Slam competition. My congratulations to both of them.

Next month’s Biome will be the last of this academic year. I expect it will come with a few more big announcements, which I look forward to sharing.

In the meantime, I hope you stay safe.