October 2018

Viticulture and Enology’s Anita Oberholster and Linda Bisson honored in Wine Business Monthly

Anita Oberholster, UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialist in enology, is listed among the Wine Business Monthly’s 2018 list of the 50 most influential leaders in the wine business. Retired professor Linda Bisson was listed as an influential leader in the magazine’s “Hall of Fame.”

The magazine acknowledged Oberholster, who joined the Department of Viticulture and Enology in 2011, for “making wine research useful.” Her research focuses on the influence of viticultural practices and environmental factors on grape ripening and wine quality.

Student spotlight: DEVO president Jordan Axe

Jordan Axe is in her third year as an undergraduate in the Viticulture and Enology program.  She grew up in Walnut Creek, California where she enjoyed the downtown atmosphere and watching her favorite East Bay sports teams play. Growing up so close to wine country, she often accompanied her parents as they went wine tasting on weekends to Napa, Sonoma, and sometimes Monterey.  She had always admired the sophisticated mood in the tasting rooms and watched as people swirled a beautiful assortment of colors and tilted their glasses to their noses to smell all the different aromas.

FST Alumna named Director of the Western Regional Research Center

Congratulations to Dr. Tara McHugh, who has been selected as the new Center Director for the Western Regional Research Center (WRRC)!  Dr. McHugh is the Research Leader of the Healthy Processed Foods Research Unit at WRRC and has been serving as Acting Center Director since last July.

Dr. McHugh, who has received her PhD from from U.C. Davis in Food Science, is an internationally recognized expert in innovative food processing, edible films and nanoscience and a leader in high impact technology transfer.

NSF Grant Will Fund Food and Tech Study

Technological innovation is transforming agriculture and a UC study funded by a $492,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will explore the booming connections between new technologies, agriculture and food. Charlotte Biltekoff, associate professor and chair of the UC Davis College of Letters and Science’s American studies program, is part of the multi-campus study team.

Professor Ben Montpetit leads study awarded $1M Keck Foundation grant

 

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Alberta, Canada, have made preliminary discoveries about how Zika and hepatitis C viruses reproduce at the cellular level, providing new insight into a family of viruses that also includes West Nile and dengue. Now their cutting-edge research will be supported by a $1 million grant from the prestigious W.M. Keck Foundation. The foundation primarily focuses on pioneering efforts in the areas of medical research, science and engineering, and undergraduate education.

Distinguished Professor Charlie Bamforth to be honored at College Celebration

FST's Distinguished Professor of Brewing Sciences, Charlie Bamforth, is going to be honored with an Award of Distinction at it's 30th annual College Celebration on October 12.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences bestows the Awards of Distinction at College Celbration each year at harvest time to celebrate the advancement and accomplishments of our college and its impact on agriculture and the environment.  

View a write up on Charlie and the other award recipients at the link below.

Congratulations to Dr. Bamforth!