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Posts Tagged: December 2017

Names in the News

Emma Fete
Fete joins 4-H as advisor for San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties

Emma Fete joined UCCE as an area 4-H youth development advisor for San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties on Dec. 4, 2017.

For five years prior to joining UCCE, Fete taught and developed various courses including online and hybrid variants as an instructor for the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. As a part of an interdepartmental team, she evaluated general education requirements for undergraduates. Fete also served on the Diversity Committee, analyzing and recommending departmental policies, hiring and recruiting strategies, and implementing training programs to best represent and serve diverse populations.  From 2010 to 2012, she worked as an assistant language teacher for the Hiroshima Board of Education in Japan, where she taught and developed coursework in three prefectural high schools and a special needs school. From 2007 to 2010, Fete worked at WOSU Public Media, where she helped manage WOSU radio programming, fundraising and development efforts, and the station's community activities. She also has experience in local and state government as well as child-focused local non-profits. Fete is a dedicated horsewoman who was an enthusiastic 4-Her in her youth and continues to coach 4-H participants today.

Fete earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in communication at The Ohio State University and a B.A. in broadcasting from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.

Fete is based in Stockton and can be reached at (209) 953-6118 and emfete@ucanr.edu.

Kate Wilkin
Wilkin named area forestry/fire science and natural resources advisor 

Katherine “Kate” Wilkin joined UCCE on Sept. 18, 2017, as an area forestry/fire science and natural resources advisor in Sutter, Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties.

Prior to joining UCCE, Wilkin was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley where she developed techniques for the California Air Resources Board to better estimate wildfire emissions and collaborated on an ecosystem services project, including water and carbon, of restored fire regimes. From 2011 to 2016, she was a graduate student researcher at UC Berkeley, and at Cal Poly from 2007 to 2009. Wilkin also worked at Yosemite National Park, National Park Service's Inventory and Monitoring Program, California State Parks, and The Nature Conservancy on complex environmental issues including forest health, wetland restoration, fire management, visitor-use, and mine reclamation. She has been a member of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council since 2011.

Wilkin completed a Ph.D. in environmental science, policy and management from UC Berkeley, an M.S. in biology from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and a B.S. with a double major in biology and interdisciplinary studies (environmental science) from The College of William and Mary.

Wilkin is based in Yuba City and can be reached at (530) 822-7515 and kwilkin@ucanr.edu.

Oguns joins ANR as financial analyst

Tayo Oguns

Tayo Oguns has joined Resource Planning and Management Office as a financial analyst.

He serves a critical role in strategic planning for future UC ANR staffing and personnel initiatives.

Prior to joining ANR, Oguns was a financial analyst at UC Berkeley.

He earned a bachelor's degree in finance at University of Massachusetts – Amherst and an MS in business analytics at Saint Mary's College of California.

Oguns is based at UCOP and can be reached at (510) 987-9028 and Tayo.Oguns@ucop.edu.

Pete Goodell
UC IPM members win international awards

Three of the twelve awards announced for the upcoming International IPM Symposium will be given to UC Integrated Pest Management Program members.  

Peter Goodell, UC IPM advisor emeritus, and Frank Zalom, professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and former Statewide IPM Program director, were selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The European Grapevine Moth Team was selected for an IPM Team Award for achieving the eradication of European grapevine moth only six years after its discovery in 2009. Team members helped growers in infested counties to monitor the pest and apply control measures on a timely basis. The team's research and extension efforts helped growers avoid losses to the pest every year until it was finally eradicated in 2016.

Frank Zalom
The European Grapevine Moth Team includes Lucia Varela, UC IPM advisor for the North Coast; Monica Cooper, UC Cooperative Extension viticulture advisor in Napa County; Walter Bentley, UC IPM entomologist emeritus; Larry Bettiga, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Monterey County; Kent Daane, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management; Rhonda Smith, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sonoma County; Robert Van Steenwyk,  UC Cooperative Extension specialist in UC Berkeley ESPM; Joyce Strand, UC IPM academic coordinator emeritus; and Zalom.

Goodell started his IPM career in 1981 as an area IPM specialist during a time when farmers sprayed their fields based on a calendar date. Determined to reduce the use of broad-spectrum pesticides being used while still increasing yields, Goodell worked with growers, other IPM experts and organizations including the Natural Resource Conservation Service to promote the use of scouting for pests and the reliance on thresholds and degree-day models to determine when to treat.­­­

Zalom, extension entomologist at UC Davis, also has an impressive record of furthering IPM. Zalom began in 1980 as the IPM Coordinator in California. Although he was responsible for advancing IPM in the state, Zalom championed the idea of promoting IPM on a regional and even national level. For 16 years, he co-chaired the American Public Land-grant University National IPM Committee, leading to the development of the Regional IPM Centers. Zalom believes that the science and implementation of IPM will reduce the impact of pests and pest management on agriculture and the environment.

One of Zalom's most successful projects was IPM implementation in almonds. Because of his research on navel armyworm, damage from the pest fell from 8.8 percent in 1978 to less than 1.5 percent in 1990, with a 40 percent reduction in insecticides.

The winners will receive their awards and recognition at the 9th International IPM Symposium March 19-22, 2018, in Baltimore, Md. 

From left, Bob Van Steenwyk, Lucia Varela, Rhonda Smith and Frank Zalom of the European Grapevine Moth team show in 2016 accepting a UC ANR Distinguished Service Team Award.

CAL FIRE honors Quinn-Davidson

Lenya Quinn-Davidson

Lenya Quinn-Davidson, UCCE fire advisor in Humboldt County, has been selected to receive a CAL FIRE Partnership Award.

“As one of the team members helping work towards the statewide goals for using prescribed fire, your work with CAL FIRE, local cooperators and other stakeholders has created invaluable partnerships and expanded the training opportunities that many agencies were previously unable to access,” Ken Pimlott, CAL FIRE director, wrote to Quinn-Davidson. “It is important to CAL FIRE to work collaboratively with our partners to achieve our common goals. In this instance, your cooperative approach produced results which exceeded the normal expectations. I thank you for your efforts to further the mission of CAL FIRE.”

Yana Valachovic, UCCE director and forest advisor in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, said, “This is an incredible achievement for someone early in their career and it is strong evidence of her leadership skills and all around excellence!”

Quinn-Davidson will receive the award on Jan. 8 at a ceremony at the California Highway Patrol Academy in Sacramento.  

Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 3:39 PM

California Grown Rice Endowed Chair open for applications

Applications are being accepted through Jan. 31, 2018, from individuals who wish to be considered for the UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for California Grown Rice.

Through a funding partnership between the California Rice Research Board and the UC Presidential Endowment program, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources has established a $1 million UC Cooperative Extension Presidential Chair for California Grown Rice. The endowed chair will provide a UCCE scientist a dedicated source of funds to support scholarly activities focused on improvement of California rice production and quality. The chair will be awarded by UC ANR to a distinguished UC Cooperative Extension specialist or advisor currently working in the area of California-grown rice research.

Through a competitive selection process, a chair will be selected to hold a five-year term. 

Application and selection details, including timeline and submission guidelines, are available at http://ucanr.edu/sites/anrstaff/files/275834.pdf.

Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 11:25 AM
Tags: December 2017 (15), Rice (3)

2017 UC ANR Competitive Grants Program/High Risk, High Rewards recipients announced

I am pleased to announce funding decisions for the 2017 UC ANR Competitive Grants Program/High Risk, High Rewards Program. As in past years, the number of requests received exceeds funding available. With 45 competitive grant proposals requesting over $7 million and six high-risk high-reward proposals requesting over another $500,000, we are pleased to be able to support around 25 percent overall.

I want to thank the Strategic Initiative Panels for their work in screening letters of intent and the Technical Review Panels for their efforts reviewing proposals for technical merit, feasibility and extension prior to the review by Program Council. Program Council then reviewed proposals against all the criteria and had the difficult task of making recommendations to me how best to distribute the finite resources available. I commend the principal investigators and their teams for their submissions. While each submission represented important work, not all proposals could be funded.

I am particularly pleased to see that funded proposals represent each of the Strategic Initiatives and have as principal investigators advisors, specialists, academic administrators and AES faculty from each of the AES campuses, our county academics, and our UC ANR statewide programs. The partnering in each of the proposals illustrates one of the principles of our ANR Promise.

The Strategic Initiative Leaders will be sending review comments out to all applicants over the next few weeks.

Congratulations to all of the awardees. The list of funded proposals is below and also posted on the 2017 funding opportunities web page.

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

Title                                                                                  Principal Investigator              Award Amount

Pathways to Your Future: Destination UC                                    Shannon Horrillo                      $200,000

Massive tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada:                               Jodi Axelson                             $200,000
Consequences for forest health

Reducing nitrate leaching to the groundwater by accounting         Daniel Geisseler                       $199,978
for the soils' capacity to supply N through mineralization

Advancing urban irrigation management to enhance water           Amir Haghverdi                        $199,975
use efficiency                                                                          

The California Master Beekeeper Program: Development of a        Elina Nino                               $199,949
continuous train-the-trainer education effort for CA beekeepers                                                                       

Silent straws: understanding water demands from woody             Lenya Quinn-Davidson             $199,937
encroachment in California's oak woodlands                              

Impact of a warmer and drier future on rangeland ecosystems      Jeremy James                         $199,831
and ecosystem services                                                          

Closing the adaptive management loop for sustainable                 Leslie Roche                            $199,502
working rangelands                                                         

Developing a culturally relevant civic science approach to             Steve Worker                           $194,768
improving scientific literacy for Latino youth                  

Creating cyst nematode suppressive soils by managing                James Borneman                      $100,000
indigenous populations of the hyperparasitic fungus
Dactylellaoviparasitica (High-risk/High-reward)                                                

Smart Farming: Monitoring the health of chickens                        Maja Makagon                           $81,293
(High-risk/High-reward)

Recruiting the next generation of extension professionals             Jennifer Heguv                           $11,030

Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 8:46 AM

Assistant vice provosts named

Darren L. Haver
Darren Haver and Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty have accepted assistant vice provost appointments.The assistant vice provosts are 25 percent positions to oversee special projects and serve as the coordinators for the Research and Extension Council (expanded from the former CD Council).

Darren Haver has been appointed to a two-year term as Assistant Vice Provost – RECs, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Haver has served as the interim associate director of the Research and Extension Center system since Oct. 1, 2017. In addition to his assistant vice provost appointment, he is a UC Cooperative Extension water resources advisor in Orange County, director of South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine since 2009, and director of UC Cooperative Extension in Orange County since 2011. Haver joined UC ANR in 2002.

Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty
Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty has been appointed to a two-year term as Assistant Vice Provost – County Directors, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Schmitt-McQuitty joined UC Cooperative Extension in 1996 as a 4-H program representative in Butte and Placer counties and at the State 4-H Office. In 2001, Schmitt-McQuitty became the youth development advisor in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, and added San Benito County to her appointment in 2012 as the youth development advisor and county director.

“Lynn and Darren bring a wealth of experience to these inaugural appointments and will help shape the work of the assistant vice provost appointments as support for and under the direction of the Vice Provost – Research and Extension (search underway),” said Wendy Powers, associate vice president. “The Vice Provost – Research and Extension serves as the first point of contact for REC directors and county directors. While we continue our efforts to fill the vice provost position, the UC ANR associate vice president will be that first point of contact.”

Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 8:34 AM

PAC discusses innovation and advocacy

President Napolitano, center, jokes with PAC chair Don Bransford, left.

Kicking off the meeting by expressing sympathy for everyone affected by wildfires – including the ANR members and Master Gardener volunteers who lost their homes – UC President Janet Napolitano met with the President's Advisory Commission (PAC) at their biannual meeting Dec. 13 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Emeryville.

President Napolitano focused her remarks on the challenges that remain with our food system, saying that she sees endless possibilities for ANR to bring food and ag together with science and technology for agricultural innovation. She also praised ANR for expanding access to its programs and achieving parity in participation of Latino youth in 4-H activities.

PAC member Craig McNamara, left, talks with Anne Megaro.
Asked about UC's role in production of the state's newly legal crop, Napolitano asked for a report from a systemwide group studying how UC can get involved in cannabis research without running afoul of federal law. VP Chief of Staff Jan Corlett, who represents ANR in that group, offered to relay the PAC's comments at their next meeting.

Napolitano invited the PAC members to join the UC Advocacy Network, or UCAN, to keep informed about state and federal issues that impact the university.

VP Glenda Humiston introduced Anne Megaro, governmental and community relations director. Megaro, who has a Ph.D. in animal science and was the California State Senate Committee on Agriculture's consultant for five years, spoke about her background and discussed how she is working with academics to cultivate relationships with elected officials by sharing stories about their work.

“Every legislator should know ANR because we're in their district,” Megaro said.

“How can I help you talk about ANR?” she asked the PAC members, who responded positively.

Gabe Youtsey discussed ANR's agriculture innovation strategy.

Gabe Youtsey, chief innovation officer, described how the Internet of Things, data analysis, robotics, artificial intelligence, drones and plant biotechnology are helping farmers cope with challenges, including workforce shortages, water scarcity and pest pressure. The Apps for Ag hackathons have produced useful tools, but poor rural connectivity is limiting the benefits. 

Dean Lairmore snapped a selfie with President Napolitano
“If we don't solve rural connectivity,” Youtsey warned, “We'll have ag brick instead of ag tech because it won't work.”

He also described the recently launched The VINE, which is designed to catalyze a statewide system to support innovation, entrepreneurship, expand economic opportunities and develop new technology for agriculture, natural resources and rural communities. Youtsey said food and agriculture need “patient capital” investors because venture capitalists desire a fast return on their investment.

Associate Vice President Wendy Powers briefed the commission on ANR's strategic plan. Our “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” is for every Californian to recognize the positive impact ANR has in their lives. The actions will be guided by UCANR's core values: excellence, community, innovation, inclusion, collaboration and integrity. Public value statements are being developed to shape our efforts and “they will give us the elevator speech to articulate who we are and what we do,” Powers said.

Dean Uhrich posted a selfie with President Napolitano on Instagram.
Powers also updated the PAC on recent successes, including boosting Giving Tuesday donations by 24 percent over 2016. She announced that 4-H increased its statewide youth enrollment by 18 percent and number of 4-H volunteers by 15 percent and that ANR has completed a salary equity program for staff and advisors and continues to improve internet speeds in county and REC facilities.

In the deans' updates, Keith Gilless announced that in June he will be stepping down as dean of the College of Natural Resources after 11 years to return to his academic work in fire research. Deans Helene Dillard of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Kathryn Uhrich of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Michael Lairmore of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Gilless shared news of awards and large grants received and major projects underway in their respective colleges and school.

In wrapping up the meeting, Humiston announced that Mike Mellano, Dina Moore and Jean Marie Peltier will represent California in Washington D.C. for the CARET (Council on Agriculture Research, Extension and Teaching) meeting in March to advocate for agricultural research and the Farm Bill.

She invited the PAC members to meet next in April in Ontario, in conjunction with the ANR statewide meeting.

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