Undergraduate Stories

It wasn’t until Dustin Lower returned to college after more than a fifteen-year break that he finally found his niche, and a long sought-after green thumb. 

Each year, the college’s top graduating seniors are recognized for their outstanding achievements at an awards ceremony attended by friends, family, mentors and donors. This year’s graduating senior and university award recipients were honored for their academic excellence, commitment to fostering community, service to campus and their peers and for exceptional research efforts. 

The 2024 winners of the library’s Lang Prize were announced on Thursday, May 30. Now in its eighth year, the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research recognizes students who make exceptional use of library resources and services — such as primary source materials and special collections, online databases and journal articles, interlibrary loan services, or consulting with a librarian.

Three UC Davis students, including two from the College of Biological Sciences, have won the highly prestigious and competitive Barry Goldwater Scholarship. 

Every year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation honors fewer than 500 undergraduate second- and third-year students from across the country with scholarships recognizing their science, technology, engineering and mathematics research accomplishments and future potential.

The UC Davis Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP@UC Davis) promotes diversity in biomedical sciences, preparing scholars for success in Ph.D. programs. 

A chance observation in an undergraduate laboratory class has shed light on a key cleaning and recycling process carried out by all eukaryotic cells. Autophagy breaks down organelles, proteins and other molecules so their components can be reused and plays a protective role in preventing disease. However, when autophagy doesn’t work correctly, it’s associated with cancer and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s. Previous research has uncovered how cells activate autophagy, but little is known about how it is switched off.

BioBoosters, the student club that organizes the ever-popular sales of College of Biological Sciences apparel is back and gearing up for a quarter of swag sales, social events and networking activities.

Best known to the college community for their swag sales, which are held at pop-up booths around campus, the club sells hoodies, vests, caps, shirts and more emblazoned with the CBS logo. Proceeds help BioBoosters organize community-focused gatherings, connect with peers, and—most importantly—continue to supply comfortable, affordable swag for students, faculty and staff!

College seniors don’t get assigned “what I did last summer” essays for homework, but if they did, Amrit Bains’s summer would have the whole class envious. Bains—a pre-med biological sciences major who is a member of the Phi Sigma Honor Society—traveled to Milan with a program called Doctors in Italy, which lets undergraduates shadow physicians abroad.

Each year, undergraduates in the College of Biological Sciences with exceptional academic performance are invited to join the Phi Sigma Honor Society’s Delta Gamma chapter. First started in 1984, the Gamma Delta chapter has long been a marker of excellence for UC Davis students.

UC Davis junior Caroline Donohew watched the everyday power of biology in just five minutes during her summer session class at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory, or BML, a coastal research and education facility about 100 miles west of campus. 

While observing a mussel’s muscle through a microscope, “I saw it create a byssal thread in real time,” said Donohew, who is from San Anselmo. “And it was just so cool.”