The following is a list of awards, honors, and announcements about Viticulture and Enology Faculty, Staff, Students, Executive Leadership Board members & UCCE Advisors.

Please join me in congratulating Chenxi Guo, a second year Ph.D. student in Dr. Luxin Wang’s Lab, for winning first place in the student poster competition at the Northern California Institute of Food Technologists (NCIFT) annual meeting held on April 23, 2024. 

The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, has selected a University of California, Davis, collaboration to receive $1.98 million in funding as one of 49 projects aimed at decarbonizing the industrial sector and moving the nation closer to a net-zero economy.  

Presenting our Product Development Team Finalists for 2023-2024! We're proud of them for making it to the final level, and we wish them well in their respective competitions.  You can read about each competition below. Congratulations, teams! 

The idea to participate in the UC Davis Little Bang! Pitch + Poster Competition started from a very casual conversation between Brittany Greenwood and Shruti Parikh, grad students in Chris Simmons’ lab, which focuses on waste degradation and sustainable agricultural practices. With a shared background in microbiology and interest in biotechnology, there was no question that a partnership would produce something fruitful. Their “PlasticEaterPro” team was one of eight teams that won a prize of $1000 in the competition, held February 1, 2024.

The Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis has almost completed the process of becoming licensed to sell wine and will do so under the entity Hilgard631. 

We invite all current undergraduate and graduate UC Davis students, as well as the Department of Viticulture and Enology faculty and staff, to take part in an exciting contest to help design the labels for these bottles. 
 

1. You may submit a design for one of the three options:

Congratulations to all students who received scholarships and awards this year. The Department is grateful to the generous donors who make these opportunities possible.  

American Vineyard Scholarship 
Gabriela Sinclair 

Harry Baccigaluppi Scholarship 
Bainian Chen 

Robert Balzer Lawrence Scholarship  
Steven Smith 

Harold Berg Memorial Fund 
Steven Smith 

The UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology Broadening Horizons Program was recently selected as one of the Gérard Basset Foundation 2023 grantees. The Gérard Basset Foundation supports global diversity, equity, and inclusion for wine, spirits, and hospitality professionals by funding education, learning, and career-enhancing programmes. 
 

Congratulations to UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Professor of Cooperative Extension in Enology, Anita Oberholster. On Wednesday, August 30, 2023, Representative Mike Thompson presented a $1.2 Million check to Anita to help fund her Smoke Exposure Research!