Opportunities in Plant Health

Opportunities in Plant Health 

  • by Rama Drwich

Opportunities in Plant Health 

UC Davis is the top agricultural school in the U.S., with many exciting opportunities for students interested in plant health. In this article, you’ll find an overview of programs and resources across campus that showcase what our leading agricultural university has to offer.

  • Internships:
    • Student Internships at the Botanical Conservatory: 
      The Botanical Conservatory offers internships for the students to gain a hounds-on experience in plant care, management, and propagation. The conservatory updates the internships every quarter. You can check them out on their website: Student Internships at the Botanical Conservatory
    • The Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium:
      The Herbarium offers multiple internships for students interested in plant related topics. The students’ expectations, roles and involvement in addition to how to get an internship there can be found on their webpage: UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity Internships  
    • Department of Plant Sciences:
      UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences offers a wide variety of opportunities for all UC Davis students interested in a career in plant health. Visit the linked website to find a list of all the current opportunities as well as the internships details, requirements and contact emails: Department of Plant Sciences Internship. 
    • UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden:
    • UC Davis Arboretum offers the Learning by Leading internship program, which is a leadership experience that allows students to address topics ranging from environmental sustainability, restoration to literacy about the related issues. The internships are offered all year long, you can check the internships descriptions and applications on this webpage: Learning by Leading.
    • Nursery Management: 
      Arboretum also offers students the chance to be involved in managing the Nursery and get hands-on experience in several activities. For more information, visit their website, link: Nursery Management
    • Agricultural and Sustainability Institute:
      The institute offers a Student Farm program, where they create a space for students to work in the field and learn how to maintain a sustainable agriculture and food system. Students can do internships in the Student Farm and help in building a better understanding of agriculture. More information about it can be found on their webpage, link: https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/sf/student-opportunities
    • UC Davis Plant Breeding Center:
      The center offers The Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education (SCOPE) project which is a student-led program for student plant breeders, working with local organic growers under the mentorship of faculty to improve crop varieties for organic farming systems. It offers internship opportunities and the students will be working on the Student Farm. For information on how to get involved, check out their website, link: https://plantbreeding.sf.ucdavis.edu/scope-project
    • Department of Environmental Science & Policy: 
      The department offers opportunities in Environmental sciences that can be directly connected to plants, so it’s worth checking if you’re interested in similar topics. They have a spreadsheet with the offered opportunities and another spreadsheet with the faculty researchers, their research topics and contact emails. 
      Opportunities spreadsheet: Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Ecology and the Environmental Sciences (Responses)
      Faculty researchers spreadsheet: 
      ESP & LAWR faculty research
    • Handshake:
      Handshake offers many internship opportunities that might be directly connected to your topic of interest. You can search and apply for different opportunities using the platform link.

 

  • Volunteer Opportunities:
    • UC Davis center for plant diversity offers opportunities for students interested in volunteering at the Herbarium. For more information, check this webpage
    • UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden offers volunteer opportunities, you can check their requirements here
    • The Botanical Conservatory offers students a volunteering opportunity to help with multiple tasks and enjoy the greenhouse. Check their website for more information.
    • Student Farm accepts volunteers based on the availability and program capacity. Visit their webpage to learn more about the volunteer opportunities and how to sign up for them.
    • The Student Collaborative Organic Plant Breeding Education (SCOPE) project offers volunteer opportunities.  You can learn more about them here

 

 

  • Affiliated Centers:
    • Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Unit is a USDA funded unit, placed in Davis and supports many departments specialized in plants through different projects. Although it’s not explicitly mentioning internships or volunteer opportunities, you still can reach out to the coordinators and the principal investigators involved and ask them to join their programs. More information about the projects and the scientists involved can be found on the website, link: https://www.ars.usda.gov/pacific-west-area/davis-ca/crops-pathology-and-genetics-research/docs/about-us/
    • UC Integrated pest management (IPM): 
      It is a program that works to solve pest issues on agriculture and landscapes while minimizing the risk to people and the environment. It is a statewide system that involves most UC campuses including UC Davis. The program website doesn’t have direct info about internships/volunteers involvement. However, it has the names of the involved faculty from each campus. If you’re interested in pest control you can reach out to the faculty members and let them know that you’re interested in joining this program, more information about the program and the faculty can be found here: UC Integrated Pest Management

 

If you’re passionate about plant health, you’ve come to the right place to explore all the opportunities UC Davis has to offer.
After all, we’re Aggies for a reason! 🌱

 

 

Primary Category

Education

Tags

One Health and GDB