Graduate Student Success

“Tireless” Advocate Sam Arcement Wins 2024 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator Award

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.

First-Generation UC Davis Graduate Finds a Path to Flourish

After Javier Garcia, Ph.D. ’21 obtained his doctorate, walking into a room was different.

Having grown up in a farm-working community, Garcia said he was accustomed to being with people who had little more than a second or third-grade education, including his own parents.

“I would walk into spaces, knowing I’m the only person in this entire community who has a Ph.D. and being in that space made me think, ‘if I can do it, other people can also succeed on this education path.’” He said. “I felt hope.” 

Ph.D. Student William Turner IV Explores How Weather and Climate Intertwined With Slavery and Conflict

The story was originally published on the UC Davis news site.

El Niño, an oceanic phenomenon that affects worldwide weather patterns, significantly affected the number of enslaved Africans transported from West Africa to the Americas between the mid-1600s and mid-1800s, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. 

Four UC Davis Graduate Students Awarded American Association of University Women Fellowships

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has awarded 2021-22 fellowships to four scholars at the University of California, Davis. Recipients will pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls.
 
•    Sarah Biscarra Dilley, an American Fellowship, is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Native American and Indigenous Studies, Critical Gender Studies, Visual Arts, Geography, and History.  

Biological Systems Engineering Ph.D. Students Recognized in Graduate Paper Competition

This story was originally published on the UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering website.

UC Davis biological systems engineers Chang Chen and Ke Wang placed first and third, respectively, in the 2021 graduate student paper competition hosted by the Association of Overseas Chinese Agricultural, Biological and Food Engineers (AOCABFE, also known as AOC).

Professor Emeritus Ellen Gold Establishes Fellowship to Reduce Stress for Grad Students

Environmental and lifestyle factors can have a big impact on a person’s health.

It is a truth that UC Davis Professor Emeritus Ellen Gold, Ph.D. has dedicated her career to investigating as a nationally renowned epidemiologist. It also is what inspired her to create a fellowship for generations of UC Davis epidemiology graduate students and to make other gifts to ensure graduate students’ basic needs are met.

Neuroscience Ph.D. Candidate Lindsay Cameron Named 2021 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award Recipient

Last month, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center announced the recipients of the 2021 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in graduate studies in the biological sciences. Lindsay Cameron, a UC Davis neuroscience Ph.D. candidate and recent Grad Slam finalist, was among this year's award recipients.