Back in high school, I had no doubt that college was the next step. However, the pressure of choosing a major was colossal! It felt like choosing the rest of my life when asked to select a major. I knew I wanted to do something creative, but I didn’t want to throw away all of my hard-earned A’s in physics, chemistry, and biology. After switching the major option about a hundred times, I finally registered under Undecided - Fine Arts for UC Davis.

For every juicy tomato or crunchy almond California grows, there’s a pile of pulp, hulls or scraps that often goes to waste. A new online tool, created by University of California, Davis researchers, tracks those agricultural byproducts aiming to find innovative ways to put them to use.

The food science and technology major offered at UC Davis is a well-rounded mix of theory and practice, with a hands-on learning approach being both effective and expected at California’s No.

Over a decade ago, researchers at UC Davis noticed something unusual while studying yeast: tiny oil droplets sinking to the bottom of a flask. The strain of yeast was producing a natural compound with soap-like properties, and now it’s being developed as an ingredient in cleaning products that are gentle on skin and environmentally friendly.