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UC Davis Grad Studies

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Home to 100+ graduate and professional degree programs. We're cultivating the best learning experience for @ucdavis graduate students and postdocs!

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Student Spotlight: Bryan Estrada MBA 27 | Navigating Two Cultures, Growing as a Leader

First Gen student Bryan Estrada MBA 27 reflects on his growth at UC Davis and strong family roots that helped him get to where he is today. His parents’ journey from Guanajuato, Mexico to California’s Central Valley continues to inspire his education and approach to leadership.

“I have classmates who share my story. We are vessels for our families’ histories and futures, carrying the weight of breaking cycles while honoring the sacrifices of our parents, grandparents and cultures.”

Halfway through the Part-Time MBA program, Estrada says he’s grown as a leader in ways he didn’t expect. Read his student spotlight @ blog link in bio.

Photo Description: Estrada is pictured with classmates during a class at Gallagher Hall. They are indoors in front of a presentation screen, waving or giving a thumbs up in a group photo with Lecturer Doy Charnsupharindr in the center.

#LatinxHeritageMonth #FirstGen #ourUCDavis #UCDavisMBA taken in UC Davis Graduate School of Management by @ucdavisgradstudies

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2 days ago

🔬 For Postdoc Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting the researchers whose work advances veterinary medicine and human health. Meet Ana Ripolles-Garcia, DVM, Ph.D.! During her time at UC Davis, Ana contributed to research advancing our understanding of inherited optic nerve disease.

Her work focused on analyzing ophthalmic imaging and functional data to investigate a mutation in the OPA1 gene associated with autosomal dominant optic atrophy, an inherited condition that can cause vision loss. This research offers valuable insights into the disease and may help inform future treatment development.

Ana has since begun a comparative ophthalmology residency at North Carolina State University. We’re grateful for her contributions to research at UC Davis and proud to celebrate her work and the many postdoctoral scholars advancing discovery in veterinary medicine and human health!

#PostdocAppreciationWeek #UCDavisVetMed #VeterinaryResearch

Image Description: A portrait-oriented photo shows Dr. Ripolles-Garcia on the right with her mentor and supervisor, Dr. Sara Thomasy, at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference. A portrait-oriented photo shows Dr. Ripolles-Garcia on the right with her mentor and supervisor, Dr. Sara Thomasy, at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference.

Dr. Thomasy, on the left, wears a black jacket over a patterned skirt. Dr. Ripolles-Garcia, on the right, wears a light beige blazer over a white top and black pants. Both wear conference lanyards and badges. by @ucdavisgradstudies

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We continue our #GraduateImpact series with Jeevan Mann, a first-year MD-PhD student, who began an intersectional project at UC Davis to bring a new branch of rare disease research known as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).🦓

Mann was first diagnosed with EDS at UC Davis. After his diagnosis, he was inspired to get into the field of nonprofit work, advocacy, and science.

Jeevan Mann is now working within the Dr. Zhao Research Lab alongside postdoc Ana Sandoval-Castellanos and Min Zhao to research the development of improved diagnostics and therapeutics.

💙 Help support their research through the Vision Science Lab Support Fund at the link in our bio.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis @careforconnective

Image Descriptions:

1: Jeevan Mann wears a lab coat while pipetting a purple liquid into a vial.

2: Jeevan Mann, Drs. Sandoval-Castellanos and Zhao gather around a computer looking at bright field images of skin cells.

3: Jeevan Mann, Drs. Sandoval-Castellanos and Zhao stand around a white board discussing results from ophthalmology experiment. taken in UC Davis by @ucdavisgradstudies

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Ph.D. candidate Andre Anderson-Thompson has received an @aera_edresearch 2026–27 Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Research! As a fellow, Andre will continue work on his dissertation, “Black Boy Innocence: A Portrait of the Public Waldorf School Model within Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD).” Congratulations! Smiling man wearing a paint-splattered denim jacket and a navy blue shirt. by @ucdavisgradstudies

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4 days ago

New and returning faces at this year’s Academic Year Kick-Off Reception! 📸 Thanks for helping us celebrate a fresh year of learning at UC Davis. We’re so glad you’re here!

Photo Descriptions: Pictures of people enjoying an outdoor reception, dressed in professional business attire with many wearing nametags. They are standing around tall tables at a courtyard on the UC Davis campus.

#ourUCDavis #AggiePride #FallQuarter #Networking taken in Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science by @ucdavisgradstudies

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7 days ago

The 2027-2028 Graduate Admissions Application is now open at @ucdavis! Head to grad.ucdavis.edu/apply or to the link in our bio to learn more and apply.

#GradStudies #Apply #OurUCDavis

Image Description: A blue sign that reads "Graduate Center at Walker Hall" with a left arrow sign and in the background a student is walking past a Walker Hall lecture building. taken in Walker Hall by @ucdavisgradstudies

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11 days ago

For nearly nine years, Thiago Braga, a recent anthropology Ph.D. graduate and current postdoctoral research associate at the UC Davis Global Tea Institute, has been unraveling the geopolitical history underlying the traditional tea revival across China and Taiwan. 🫖

For some of the people who Braga has interviewed, the diversity of tea art is just like the diversity of political opinion, becoming symbolic for Taiwanese democracy. For others, it’s a historical tie that emphasizes a deep connection to mainland China.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis #GraduateImpact @ucdlands

Image Descriptions:

1: Thiago Braga in a traditional Gongfucha tea preparation setting.

2: Thiago Braga giving a traditional tea-processing demonstration.

3: Thiago Braga hosting a tea-tasting and giving a Chinese Tea Ceremony class.

4: Thiago Braga representing the UC Davis Global Tea Institute and speaking to an audience inside a lecture hall with presentation reading “Chinese Tea Ceremony. Kung Fu Tea/Gongfucha, Tea Art.” taken in UC Davis by @ucdavisgradstudies

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14 days ago

Natalia Valadez (cred. '10, M.A. '11) has been teaching social studies at Norwalk High School for 15 years, where she has helped expand civic learning opportunities for students through programs, clubs, mock elections, guest speakers, and other hands-on experiences.

Last month, Norwalk High received the California Civic Learning Award, one of the state’s highest recognitions for excellence in civic education, for activities spearheaded by Natalia and her colleagues.

Natalia graduated from UC Davis with her bachelor's degree in political science and Spanish and a minor in education in 2008, then returned for her credential and master's in 2010-11.

"As a proud UC Davis alumna, it is especially meaningful to me to receive this recognition for work that grew out of my passion for political science, education, and civic engagement that I developed while at UC Davis," she said. Group of adults and teens from Norwalk High standing in a gym with a purple and gold balloon arch behind them, one holding the California Civic Learning Award. by @ucdavisgradstudies

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15 days ago

Associate Professor Brett Poulin and Taylor Evinger, a Ph.D. candidate in Poulin’s lab, had set out to the last frontier to study the abrupt onset and persistent downstream effects of acid rock drainage on rivers across Northwest Arctic Alaska. 🏔️

The new study, recently published in the journal AGU Advances, found that these metals can travel far and become more toxic as they go. Poulin and colleagues previously attributed the rusty-colored water to thawing permafrost, turning it orange and threatening water quality for plants, wildlife and people.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis #GraduateImpact @ucdavisaee

Image Descriptions:

1: Taylor Evinger holds Igning water sample. (Brett Poulin/UC Davis)

2: Taylor Evinger filtering seep sample. (Brett Poulin/UC Davis) taken in Alaska, USA by @ucdavisgradstudies

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15 days ago

Three UC Davis Health researchers awarded state grants to advance health equity through precision medicine.

Swipe to see all the UC Davis grant recipients:

🩻 Joseph Morrison, a medical student in the dual-degree M.D./Ph.D. program who is in the doctoral phase of his studies with the biomedical engineering graduate group. Morrison’s award will allow him to focus on his doctoral research of plans to use machine-learning to review X-rays and doctor’s notes to help determine why some people’s broken bones fuse back together and others don’t.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis #GraduateImpact

Image Description: Joseph Morrison wearing lab coat and smiling.

🧠 Nikita Mohapatra, also an M.D./Ph.D. program student who is also working towards her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. Mohapatra’s doctoral thesis will explore how cumulative social and environmental stress affect recovery after traumatic brain injury.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis #GraduateImpact

Image Description: Nikita Mohapatra wearing lab coat and smiling.

🫀 Luis Carvajal-Carmona, associate vice chancellor and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. Carvajal-Carmona is teaming up with Ampla Health to screen for hereditary cancer and heart disease in rural, medically underserved populations north of Sacramento.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis #GraduateImpact

Image Description: Luis Carvajal-Carmona in lab smiling. taken in UC Davis by @ucdavisgradstudies

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16 days ago

What makes a great cup of coffee? ☕️

As we celebrate National Coffee Day, meet three @ucdaviscoffeecenter graduate researchers working to better understand how we measure coffee quality, identify defects and experience the coffee in our cup.

🔬 Alice Dien studies more accessible ways to measure coffee quality, including whether smartphone images can replicate laboratory standards. She recently gave a TedxUCDavis talk titled "It takes a world to make your coffee."

🤖 Willian Klippel Huber uses computer vision and AI to detect and classify coffee defects, with the goal of making grading more precise and consistent.

🧠 Daniel Schoonbrood investigates how our coffee-drinking habits and experience influence the way we perceive and identify defects.

Their research is helping tackle challenges across the coffee industry and could bring a better cup of coffee to your table in the future. Happy National Coffee Day!

Learn more about their research at https://ow.ly/Jkex50ZSNmS

#UCDavisEngineering #NationalCoffeeDay #CoffeeResearch #CoffeeScience

Image descriptions:
1: Dien carefully inspects multiple glasses of coffee with another person indoors.
2: Two of the grad students pose by a World of Coffee San Diego 2026 sign indoors.
3: Dien takes a selfie of herself and three others indoors at the Coffee Center. A yellow roaster is seen in the background.
4: Schoonbrood's research is shown - a row of stainless steel coffee urns with labels on a wooden counter in one of the Coffee Center research rooms. Dien carefully inspects multiple glasses of coffee with another person indoors. taken in UC Davis by @ucdavisgradstudies

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17 days ago

We continue highlighting #GraduateImpact with Chang-il Hwang, an associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, and Suyakarn (Sonia) Archasappawat, a graduate student in his lab as they study why cancers become resistant to a promising class of anti-tumor drugs.💊

Their new research reveals how cancer cells evade BET inhibitors, pointing to a potential combination therapy that could help prevent drug resistance across multiple cancer types.

👉 Are you a Graduate student or Postdoc at @UCDavis? DM us for a chance to highlight your research on our socials!

#GradStudies #OurUCDavis @ucdavisbiology

Image Description: Chang-il Hwang (right) and Suyakarn (Sonia) Archasappawat (left) examining a 96-well microplate. (Katrina Huynh / UC Davis) taken in UC Davis by @ucdavisgradstudies

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