News

Picnic Day 2025 brought excitement, innovation, and hands-on learning to Ghausi Hall, where students, faculty, and visitors gathered to celebrate engineering in action. The day featured a series of engaging exhibits and interactive experiences both inside and outside the hall.

The festivities kicked off at 9:00 AM outside the front of Ghausi Hall, where guests enjoyed morning activities, student showcases, and refreshments in a relaxed, social atmosphere.

Now you have yet one more reason to clean your house. In recent work, former UC Davis postdoc Christoph Moschet and Prof. Tom Young showed that household dust contains hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, and organofluorine compounds. Around 90% of the chemicals they identified are human-made. Prof.

Dr. Edward Schroeder, a beloved UC Davis professor of environmental engineering for 34 years, recently passed away. 

The water quality of Clear Lake — California’s largest natural freshwater lake — suffers from low-to-no-oxygen conditions that contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs) and other issues, according to a report from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the U.S. Geological Survey and that was led by Civil & Environmental faculty and researchers.

Lei Zhou is a PhD candidate at UC Davis specializing in performance-based multi-hazard engineering with a focus on structural aging and climate change. Under the mentorship of Dr. Michele Barbato, Lei is dedicated to advancing research and education in structural engineering. His work integrates innovative methodologies to address critical challenges in building resilience and sustainability.

The Safety Star Program was implemented to recognize campus employees who are making contributions to improve the safety culture at UC Davis. The award is quarterly, and nominees are eligible for three voting periods (9 months). Winners receive an engraved paper weight and are honored in the DSC Update newsletter and at the DSC quarterly meeting.
 

Construction materials such as concrete and plastic have the potential to lock away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study by civil engineers and earth systems scientists at the University of California, Davis and Stanford University. The study, published Jan. 9 in Science, shows that combined with steps to decarbonize the economy, storing CO2 in buildings could help the world achieve goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Producing materials such as steel, plastics and cement in the United States alone inflicts $79 billion a year in climate-related damage around the world, according to a new study by engineers and economists at the University of California, Davis. Accounting for these costs in market prices could encourage progress toward climate-friendly alternatives.