Graduate Student Success

Stephanie Fallas — Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of Communication and Department of Linguistics — has been honored with the 2026 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award from the Office of Graduate Studies. “Stephanie has been an invaluable advocate for graduate students, consistently going above and beyond her formal duties,” said Skyler Jove Reese, Ph.D. ’25 in linguistics, who praised Fallas’ “unwavering” support of students, both professionally and personally.

Doctoral candidate Carla-Cristina “CC” de Melo Edwards of the lab of medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the newly selected recipient of the 2026 Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology (MUVE) Student Recognition Award in Medical Entomology for a PhD Student from the Entomological Society of America (ESA). 

Graduate Studies and Graduate Council are thrilled to honor two extraordinary faculty members with this year's Distinguished Graduate and Postdoctoral Mentorship Awards. These awards shine a light on the power of mentorship in shaping the academic and professional journeys of UC Davis graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.

We are thrilled to announce Anusha Bishop, Erin Huiting, and Jeremy Yeaton, have been selected as three of the 33 early-career postdoctoral researchers from UC Davis for the Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF). This record-breaking class is the largest in LSRF’s history, making 2026 a truly historic year for the Foundation. This milestone was made possible through the extraordinary generosity and continued partnership of LSRF’s sponsors, whose investment in exceptional early-career scientists is helping shape the future of biomedical research.

From smartphones to solar panels, today’s technology relies heavily on silicon. The next generation of electronics, like wearable sensors and foldable screens, may depend on an entirely different class of materials: organic semiconductors. 

On June 5, 2026, Walker Hall was transformed into a comprehensive exhibition of graduate student art, research and scholarship to culminate a yearlong celebration of 100 years of graduate education in Davis. 

Congratulations to the UC Davis Graduate Class of 2026! More than 1,000 graduate students were honored at Graduate Studies Commencement on Thursday, June 11 at the University Credit Union Center on campus. In order to celebrate these graduates more personally, two distinct ceremonies were organized by degree type. The Master's Ceremony began at 10 a.m., and the MFA and Doctoral Ceremony began at 3 p.m. 

Here at UC Davis, there are endless opportunities for students to make a global impact. A living testament to this is Judi Eppele, a current graduate student in the Community Development Graduate Group. Most central to Judi’s character and pursuits is her passion for climate and environmental education and community sustainability.

Grad Slam is almost here! (Register to attend in-person Friday, April 3, 2026).

Few people know the challenges for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars better than Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor.

As a professor of history and UC Davis associate dean for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, she teaches and coaches them through both common challenges, like how to connect with a faculty advisor, and very thorny ones that don’t always have clear solutions.