IN THIS COLUMN
- We’re the 1st in the nation to earn reaccreditation for landscape management and operations
- Stacey Harmer wins Faculty Research Award in College of Biological Sciences
- Frank Zalom is 1st entomologist in 50 years to receive B.Y. Morrison medal from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service
- Professor H.L. Shivaprasad inducted into American Association of Avian Pathologists’ Hall of Honor
- Professor Steven George elected a fellow of Biomedical Engineering Society
- Marie Heffern, assistant professor, among chemistry’s “Talented 12”
Grounds and Landscape Services is definitely keeping up the good work!
Three years ago, UC Davis earned recognition as one of the first three universities in the United States — and the only one in Ƶ — to receive accreditation from the . Now, UC Davis has become the first university to win PGMS reaccreditation for landscape management and operations.
“We were the first campus to receive four out of four stars, and we were reaccredited as a four-star campus.” said Cary Avery, who leads . and is a PGMS-certified grounds manager.
“Reaccreditation validates our continuing efforts to nurture a sustainable and environmentally friendly landscape, and to do so in an economical manner.”
His 62-person crew — gardeners and irrigation specialists, sports turf specialists and arborists, groundskeepers, laborers, equipment operators and a mechanic — has a lot of ground to cover, day in and day out, in all kinds of weather.
They have responsibility for the campus’s 14,000-plus trees (100 species), in and out of the arboretum; and 300 acres of lawn and turf, 50 acres of shrubs and 25 acres of groundcover around the central campus, including the residential areas. For irrigation, the team maintains around 80,000 sprinkler heads, 7,000 valves and 300 zone controllers connected to a centralized control system that saves the campus 16 million gallons of water annually.
Grounds and Landscape Services also collects trash and recyclables, and cleans miles of walkways and acres of parking lots.
Put everything together, from the walkways to the lawns and turf, and the plants and trees, and you end up with the campus’s iconic beauty. “I cannot say enough about our team,” Avery said. “It’s because of them that people have pride in how our campus looks.”
Stacey Harmer, professor of plant biology, is the recipient of the College of Biological Sciences 2016-17 Faculty Research Award for her work on the circadian clocks of sunflowers.
Based on faculty nominations, the award acknowledges the exciting, innovative and significant advances in research in the College of Biological Sciences, as reflected in a published article — in this case describing how sunflowers track the sun, beginning each morning with their heads facing east, slowly swinging west throughout the day and then resetting eastward at night.
“It’s the first example of a plant’s clock modulating growth in a natural environment, and having real repercussions for the plant,” said Harmer, the paper’s senior author.
Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar, professor and chair, Department of Plant Biology, said: “This is a very interesting and groundbreaking paper and answers a century-old mystery: why and how sunflowers track the sun. It is remarkable that Dr. Harmer and her colleagues designed experiments in challenging field settings to show that the plants internal clock influences solar tracking to promote growth.”
Harmer is a member of the American Society of Plant Biologists and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. She was named a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow from 2011 to 2016.
Frank Zalom recently gave the B.Y. Morrison Memorial Lecture, as the first entomologist to be accorded the honor since the Agricultural Research Service established the lectureship in 1968.
Zalom is a distinguished professor and Cooperative Extension specialist in integrated pest management, or IPM. In choosing Zalom for the lectureship, and the medal that goes with it, the Agricultural Research Service cited him for his work in IPM related to sustainable horticulture production.
He delivered his lecture, “Significance of Integrated Pest Management to Sustainable Horticultural Production — Observations and Experiences,” and received his medal in Hawaii at the annual conference of the American Society for Horticultural Science.
The lectureship is named in honor of the late Benjamin Y. Morrison, the first director of the U.S. National Arboretum, which is run by the ARS.
Professor H.L. “Prasad” Shivaprasad of the School of Veterinary Medicine is among 19 new inductees into the American Association of Avian Pathologists’ Hall of Honor.
“Whether it be in research and development, teaching, collaborating with colleagues, developing new programs or volunteering, these individuals are passionate about their causes, and their dedication inspires others,” said Suzanne Dougherty, executive vice president of the American Association of Avian Pathologists, or AAAP.
Shivaprasad has worked in the Fresno and Tulare labs of the UC Davis-affiliated Ƶ Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System since 1989. He is has traveled to more than 30 countries on invitation prima