Davis Plant Breeding Academy Graduates Class VIII
Congratulations UC Davis PBA Class VIII on your Graduation in September 2023
The UC Davis team extends their warmest wishes for a journey filled with successes and joy in the world of plant breeding. Our appreciations goes to all students, our UCD PBA Core instructors: Kendra Armstrong, Jay Patel, Allen Van Deynze, Kent Bradford, Jovan Djordjevic, and all illustrious guest presenters who contributed to PBA VIII’s success.
Special thanks to all collaborators and plant breeding exchanges during guest presentations and field visits: Tomato Genetics Resource Center with Roger Chetelat and the Walnut Orchard with Pat Brown, both from UC Davis. Syngenta and Bayer at Woodland, and a presentation from David Stelly on chromosomal basis of inheritance. Morning Star packing facility in Williams and the UC Davis Foundation Plant Services with Maher Al Rwahnih, and a guest presentation from Kidist Kibret about transcriptomic application and a panel discussion featuring plant breeders Franco Asoro, Morgan Echeverry, Rakesh Kumar, Ken Owens and our own Core Instructors. MARS Cacao Greenhouses and Lab, the Ralph M. Parsons Plant Transformation Facility with David Tricoli at UC Davis, and the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility with Luca Comai at UC Davis; presentation from Eduardo Blumwald about engineering biological nitrogen fixation in cereals. Lark Seeds Woodland and the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding, with Mitchell Feldmann plus a TILLING presentation from Luca Comai from UC Davis. Sakata Woodland Innovation Center and HM.CLAUSE field visits, plus an IP protection presentation from Travis Bliss & Stephany Small from Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP, Apomixis research from Imtiyaz Khanday, UC Davis, a CPPSI presentation from Phyllis Himmel, UC Davis, and a tomato breeding presentation from Jaap Hoogstraten all the way from the Netherlands.
The class’s final week concluded with a Graduation ceremony and reception on September 15, 2023, commemorating the achievements of the 18 graduates. The Graduation event included a memorable speech by 2023 Outstanding Student Award winner, Ellen Evans, HM.CLAUSE. (View her speech here)
We wish all the best to our PBA VIII class and we look forward to seeing all you accomplish. We also look forward to welcoming the new students of PBA IX in February 2024.