Among the Academies Content

Among the Academies: A Fresh Look at Food

Cody Kitaura — February 24, 2026 - 12:00pm

Stroll through a grocery store and pick up a plastic container of strawberries. How do manufacturers know where to put holes in the clamshell for the best airflow?

Questions like those have been at the heart of food engineer R. Paul Singh’s research at UC Davis for the past 50 years, but the answers aren’t always easy to find.

“Food is actually a very, very complex material,” Singh said.

Among the Academies: The Physician Changing How We Understand Violence

Cody Kitaura — January 27, 2026 - 10:30am

Garen Wintemute’s distinguished research career shows that violence is not only a public safety issue — it’s also a health problem.

“It has turned out empirically that violence behaves as if it were a health problem, whether we want to consider it one or not,” said Wintemute. “As such, it can be studied and approached in ways that have concrete benefits. So, if violence is a health problem, then the decision to participate in violence is a health behavior.”

Among the Academies: Tackling the World’s Challenges

Jose Antonio Vadi — December 16, 2025 - 8:00am

Jonna Mazet arrived at UC Davis as an undergraduate curious about veterinary medicine in 1986, and is retiring four decades of groundbreaking campus initiatives later, having built a legacy of cross-discipline innovation on global health problem-solving, particularly regarding emerging infectious diseases and conservation challenges.

Among the Academies: Engineering With Nature, Not Against It

Cody Kitaura — November 25, 2025 - 9:00am

Some forms of engineering deal with predictable, controlled environments. Ross Boulanger deals with the kind that can change from place to place and day to day.

He is a distinguished professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, focusing on geotechnical earthquake engineering, a field where decisions can be shaped by the unique geologic conditions found only in the location where a dam, bridge or other project is being built.

Among the Academies: A Vision for One Health

Cody Kitaura — October 21, 2025 - 9:29am

In recent decades, the global landscape of health has shifted dramatically. Pandemics, climate change, food insecurity and emerging zoonotic diseases have highlighted intricate connections between animals, humans and the environment, underscoring the fact that veterinary medicine is not just about the care of animals — it is essential to the health of people and the planet.

Among the Academies: A World Living Beneath Our Feet

Jose Antonio Vadi — September 23, 2025 - 8:29am

There is a whole world inside soil, shaping our everyday existence.

“Soil is fundamental to the functioning of Earth,” explained Kate Scow, who described soil as “alive” and “among the most biodiverse environments on the planet.”

Among the Academies: Studying How Plants Adapt

Cody Kitaura — August 26, 2025 - 11:30am

How can plants adapt to their environment, and how will they be able to adapt to climate change? Those are among the biggest questions Johanna Schmitt has sought to answer during her career as a plant geneticist and evolutionary ecologist.

Among the Academies: A Holistic Approach

Jose Antonio Vadi — July 29, 2025 - 8:34am

An invisible ecosystem of checks and balances exists within our bodies. But what happens when disease throws a wrench in these works?

Distinguished Professor Andreas Bäumler is a leader in the study of microbial physiology. He is particularly known for his holistic research on the role of the host’s environment and the microbial composition of an organ, specifically the gut’s microbiota.

Among the Academies: Building Stronger Bones and Brighter Futures

Cody Kitaura — June 24, 2025 - 9:53am

Physician-scientist Nancy Lane says you have to understand a disease before you can intervene.

“Research really allows us to carefully evaluate where we are and how we can do better,” she said. “It helps me to treat my patients because I understand the mechanisms of their diseases. Research and science are the building blocks of everything.”

Among the Academies: Leading the Total-Body Imaging Revolution

Cody Kitaura — May 27, 2025 - 11:30am

If he’d pursued his first love, Simon Cherry might be unraveling the mysteries of the universe through astronomy instead of developing new types of medical imaging technology.