Alumni and Friends

A dull, metal-infused, quasi-melodic clanking reverberates off the walls of the Graduate Center at Walker Hall with an erratic rhythm. A smile spreads across UC Davis doctoral student Jackson Badger’s face as a small circle of his friends, family and lab mates applaud him. Badger’s shoulders drop as a deep exhale of relief washes over him. He knows that now, with the ringing of this bell, his doctoral degree at UC Davis is complete.

When MRC “Marcy” Greenwood was 19 years old and pregnant, she never thought her career would progress beyond being a cashier at the local grocery store. Greenwood, however, would end up having a notable career in the sciences including being the Dean of Graduate Studies at UC Davis, the Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz and associate director for science at the White House.

From 1928 until 2011, Walker Hall was a place where faculty, staff and students engaged in a wide range of cutting-edge research and development.

UC Davis retirees Ted and Silvia Hillyer are no exception. As a mechanical engineer, Ted joined UC Davis staff in 1974, having been recruited by the chairman of the Department of Applied Science, which was primarily housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Ted was responsible for designing graduate research laboratories at Walker Hall.

As a UC Davis alumnus/a, you have probably heard of the UC Davis Internship and Career Center (ICC). But, what you may not know is that the ICC is not just for undergraduate students and alumni. It also serves master’s and doctoral degree students, postdoctoral scholars and advanced degree alumni. It’s not typical of a university to provide these services to the graduate community, but it is how things are done at UC Davis.  

Wade Zeno, Ph.D. ’16 always knew he wanted to be a professor — to have his own research lab and to teach. Ever since he was a child, Zeno has enjoyed the classroom setting and as an undergraduate student, he often worked as a tutor, which only solidified his desire to pursue a career in academia.

But then, as he progressed his academic career toward obtaining a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, Zeno began to realize something was missing from his academic career.

Graduate alumni and students connect and thrive through new mentorship program.

This spring quarter, Graduate Studies launched a new speaker series that is gaining tremendous traction and helping better connect UC Davis graduate alumni with current graduate students, professional students and postdoctoral scholars.

Environmental and lifestyle factors can have a big impact on a person’s health.

It is a truth that UC Davis Professor Emeritus Ellen Gold, Ph.D. has dedicated her career to investigating as a nationally renowned epidemiologist. It also is what inspired her to create a fellowship for generations of UC Davis epidemiology graduate students and to make other gifts to ensure graduate students’ basic needs are met.

Destiny Garcia ’14, Ph.D. ’19, a former foster youth, earned Ph.D. at UC Davis and now works at Apple.

Prem Jain, M.S. ’77, tech entrepreneur and 2017 Graduate Studies Commencement speaker, is among this year's CAAA honorees. Jain will be formally presented with the Distinguished Achievement Award at the virtual  “A Night at the Aggies" event on  Friday, May 7. All alumni and community members are invited to attend, free of charge. CAAA will announce at a later date how people can watch the online event.

Alumna Kim Budil has been named Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s new principal associate director for Weapons & Complex Integration (WCI), Director Bill Goldstein announced on Tuesday.