Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis

There's lots of celebratory joy out our way... our PREP scholars have made decisions about their destinations for next year.

As of 9 April, the sites linked below still are accepting applications. For some, the website says that the deadline has passed. The directors say to apply anyway. Others close in mid or late April. Either way, do not procrastinate.

Count 'em, four.

We are proud and happy (i.e., giddy and thrilled) to announce (i.e., shout to the world) that four PREP@UCD scholars from the 2023-2024 cohort received fellowships from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. And one affiliate who joined partway through the 2022-2023 program year received an Honorable Mention. 

Every year for the past 20-ish years, the T32 Training Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology hosts an annual retreat at Fallen Leaf Lake to foster cohesiveness and community.  In October 2023, we joined the UC Davis T32 graduate students and faculty on their retreat.  

A brisk 3.5-hour drive to Fallen Leaf Lake, a smallish lake near Lake Tahoe, took us to a cabin-style conference center (and resort where Stanford alumni spend their summers) that has stood for more than a century. Over this retreat weekend, I took in the wooded scenery and intriguing science.

Need a few minutes to close your eyes or just chill? Check out the Nap Map, starring Cleo the Cow. Curated by undergrads and supported by the UC Davis Health Education and Promotion unit.

Cow??? Why a cow?

Professor Joanna Chiu, PREP director and and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has received the 2024 Distinction in Student Mentoring Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA).

Theanne Griffith, Assistant Professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology at UC Davis, has been named a 2024 Sloan Fellow! Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually to early-career scientists to reward their creativity, innovation, and research, and to recognize their accomplishments as the next generation of leaders in STEM. She joins PREP mentors and previous Sloan Fellows Elva Diaz and Megan Dennis in receiving this honor.

Celina Juliano, a PREP@UC Davis trainer who uses the aquatic invertebrate Hydra vulgaris as a model organism in her developmental biology research, has been named as one of the 2024 UC Davis Chancellor's Fellows! This honor is awarded annually to 10-20 early career faculty to recognize their exemplary research.

At campuses of the University of California, Junior Specialists are entry-level researchers with a two-year cap on employment in this position. UC Davis faculty have begun advertising these openings. 

Go to https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/apply and look for Junior Specialist positions with an "apply by..." date in the future. New positions will appear probably through mid summer.

From time to time (often coinciding with the drafting of our annual progress report...), we'll post an update on scholars' work resulting from their research as PREP scholars.

Cameron Vasquez from the 2023 cohort recently published a preview article with his mentor, John Albeck

During my time as a PREP scholar at UC Davis, I have had the opportunity to meet amazing scientists who've visited Davis to give seminars. This fall, these included two speakers from the Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences series.

In November, the PREP@UCD scholars made our annual pilgrimage to ABRCMS for a few days of science, networking, professional development, and reconnecting with alumni, friends, and colleagues. Since 2018, ABRCMS has been an important part of our fall program, and this year was no exception. 

It's become an annual tradition.

It's official!

Dan Starr, former director of PREP@UC Davis, has ascended to an administrative position in the College of Biological Sciences Dean's office. You can read all about it and enjoy photos of Dan in his natural habitat.

Congratulations, Dan!

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a science philanthropy that seeks to advance basic biomedical research and science education to advance humanity, today announced the 2023-2024 cohort of HHMI Gilliam Fellows. This program recognizes graduate students and their advisors for outstanding research and work to increase inclusion in science.