Students

International Women’s Day Spotlight on Fizza Usmani

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering recognizes women in engineering, their journey to and in the field, and how they promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.

Meet Fizza Usmani, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and learn how she inspires inclusion in engineering.

Chemical Engineering in the Real World

UC Davis chemical engineering students get an up-close look at the processes of pharmaceutical manufacturing during a tour of AMPAC Fine Chemicals, turning theory into reality and giving a glimpse of what a day in the life of a career in chemical engineering could look like.

2023 Graduate Student Excellence Awards

The College of Engineering is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Graduate Student Excellence Awards: Isabella Loureiro Muller Costa, Peifen Lyu, Patrick Cunningham and Tanner Finney.  

UC Davis Team Takes Next Big Step in Wine Research

For the first time on a commercial scale, researchers from UC Davis have controlled the redox potential during a wine fermentation, an important step in making winemaking more efficient and reproducible and paving the way for a new generation of experiments in viticulture, microbiology and fermentation. 

Dr. Jovana Veselinović Receives the 2022 Zuhair A. Munir Award

Dr. Jovana Veselinović is the 2022 recipient of the College of Engineering's Zuhair A. Munir Award for best doctoral dissertation. She conducted groundbreaking interdisciplinary work on using nanoporous gold to detect biomarkers of disease while falling in love with Davis. She is the third straight chemical engineer to receive the honor.

Student Spotlight: Stephan Alfaro

In high school, fourth-year biochemical engineering major Stephan Alfaro never could have seen himself as a biochemical engineer, but through lab experience, mentorship and taking advantage of resources at UC Davis, he fell in love with the field and looks forward to making a difference.

Lettuce Could Protect Astronauts’ Bones on Mars Trip

Astronauts might one day grow and eat genetically modified plants to ward off disease associated with long spaceflights. Researchers at the College of Engineering have developed a transgenic, or genetically modified, lettuce producing a drug to protect against bone density loss in microgravity. Kevin Yates, a graduate student working with Professor Karen McDonald and Adjunct Professor Somen Nandi at the UC Davis Department of Chemical Engineering, developed the lettuce that expresses a fusion protein combining PTH with part of a human antibody protein. The fusion protein is designed to be stable in the bloodstream and to allow astronauts to potentially purify the drug from plant extracts, Nandi said.

Ph.D. Student Jared Stimac Receives DOE Graduate Student Research Award

Fourth-year Chemical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate Jared Stimac recently received a Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award. The award supports graduate students to conduct part of their thesis research at a DOE national lab while providing them training and access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources.

Ph.D. student Toby Mea wins Best TA Award

Toby Mea, a rising fourth year Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis, has been recognized for his teaching efforts with a Best Teaching Assistant Award in chemical engineering from the UC Davis College of Engineering.

Student Spotlight: Kyla Leacox

As a Division I swimmer and a fourth-year biochemical engineering major, Kyla Leacox is a master of balance. She has made the most of her time at UC Davis as a standout swimmer and an undergraduate researcher and tutor in the chemical engineering department.