Graduate Student Success

Congratulations to the UC Davis Graduate Class of 2026! More than 1,000 graduate students were honored at Graduate Studies Commencement on Thursday, June 11 at the University Credit Union Center on campus. In order to celebrate these graduates more personally, two distinct ceremonies were organized by degree type. The Master's Ceremony began at 10 a.m., and the MFA and Doctoral Ceremony began at 3 p.m. 

Here at UC Davis, there are endless opportunities for students to make a global impact. A living testament to this is Judi Eppele, a current graduate student in the Community Development Graduate Group. Most central to Judi’s character and pursuits is her passion for climate and environmental education and community sustainability.

Grad Slam is almost here! (Register to attend in-person Friday, April 3, 2026).

Few people know the challenges for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars better than Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor.

As a professor of history and UC Davis associate dean for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, she teaches and coaches them through both common challenges, like how to connect with a faculty advisor, and very thorny ones that don’t always have clear solutions.

The presidencies of UC Davis student governments and hired advisors to the chancellor and the dean of Graduate Studies are among the most high-profile student positions on campus. Among the five featured who’ve taken on the roles this year, two are graduate students.

Luna Loganayagam (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis)

Luna Loganayagam, a fourth-year doctoral student in English, leads the Graduate Student Association, representing about 5,000 graduate academic and professional students.

Miguel Craven, a current graduate student at UC Davis, is stepping into one of the most influential student leadership roles in the University of California system: student regent-designate. He is this month’s guest on Face to Face With Chancellor May.

Seongmin Yoo identifies as an “Aggie” in every sense of the word. Though she grew up in South Korea, she says Davis is “home.”

Yoo has been working with the Davis Mural Team for the last three years and has helped paint five different murals downtown. She is passionate about helping the local art scene thrive.

Imagine walking into a field, plucking a leaf off a grapevine, scanning it and knowing within seconds if the plant is healthy, needs fertilizer or is showing signs of stress.

A team from the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of California, Davis, has done just that.

Meet the Leaf Monitor, a mobile tool paired with a handheld spectrometer backed by artificial intelligence and predictive modeling that could revolutionize how farmers monitor and manage crop decisions by providing real-time nutrition and trait information in the field.

When Nicole O’Shea came to the University of California, Davis, she was embarking on a new path away from her background in English and toward engineering. Not knowing exactly where her journey would take her, she has put down roots in the materials science field and grown a passion for inspiring and informing the next generation of materials researchers.

Graduate Studies established the GradPathways Institute for Professional Development (GPI) in 2004 to support an enhanced professional development ecosystem at UC Davis for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.