Each year, the Society awards a number of research grants to UC Davis graduate and undergraduate students to carry out work that aligns with the broad goals of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium and/or the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory.

The grants are funded from three sources:

1. Gifts designated for this purpose by Society members through the annual membership drive, and by others through this webpage: Davis Botanical Society Student Grants Program Fund.
2. The Jack Major Endowment (College of Biological Sciences) was established in 2002 in memory of the pioneering plant ecologist and professor. This fund (#122236) is actively growing through gifts from friends, former students and staff. An anonymous gift of $20,000 in December 2024 was a welcome infusion to this fund.
3. The Larry and Charlotte Mitich Endowment (College of Biological Sciences). Larry was a Weed Scientist at UC Davis, a founder of the Society and a nationally recognized expert on cultivating succulent plants. This fund (#122194) is also active.

Projects eligible for funding:

1. Field-oriented botanical research projects in taxonomy, systematics, conservation, evolutionary biology, ecology, and/or floristics of plants in California or globally (DBS and Jack Major Student Grants).
2. Research projects related to the maintenance of living diversity collections or cultivation and propagation of succulents (Larry and Charlotte Mitich Student Grant).

Criteria:

Applications are evaluated based upon the fit of the student’s proposed research with the goals of the Davis Botanical Society and the individual endowments, the student’s qualifications, the appropriateness of their budget, and the letter of support from their Major Professor.

To Apply:

DBS Student Grants Announcement 2025

Applications DUE March 3, 2025, at 5:00 PM PST.

2025

• Jenny Cribbs: Seeing the forest through the trees: How do patterns of drought and fire influence overstory and understory species composition?
• Chenjiao Deng: Phylogenomic and species delimitation studies of the genus Sidalcea (Malvaceae)
• Jeffrey Groh: The genetic control of dichogamy mating types in big-leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
• Will McMahan: Developing a Toolkit for Community-based Education using Traditional Hmong Plants
• B’Elanna Pho: The X-factor in Orcutt grass germination
• Nikki Williamson: Mapping arctic plant nutrient dynamics using multispectral imaging
• Zoe Wood: Ecological interactions and the impacts of global change on an alpine sticky plant (Hulsea algida)

2024

• Katherine Brafford: Drivers of seed germination and seedling success in medusahead (Elymus caput-medusae) dominated grasslands.
• Sabine Dritz: The functional response of bumblebee pollination in diverse floral landscapes.
• Jeffrey Groh: Mating ecology and genetics of heterodichogamy in the walnut genus (Juglans).
• Daisy Huang: The phylogeny and biochemistry of the genus Gardenia and investigating the role of volatile phenolic compounds in Gardenia.
• Deva Hollima: Integrating patterns of microbial variation to understand local adaptation in the marine foundation species Zostera marina.
• Rebecca Wynd: Assessing the impact of grazing and fire disturbances on native forb composition.

2023

• Anjum Gujral: Investigating the role of plant functional traits in explaining demographic shifts driving community assembly in mixed-conifer forests.
• Daisy Huang: Relatedness of phylogeny and specialized metabolites in Gardenia.
• Reed Kenny: Delineating species boundaries between Juncus saximontanus s.l. and J. ensifolius
• Will McMahan: Whole genome duplication, diploidization, and the domestication of Corchorus.
• David Mitchell: Improving success of riparian tree and shrub restoration by ameliorating stressful soil conditions and enhancing mycorrhizal symbioses.
• Rebecca Nelson: The effects of plant invasion on serpentine plant-pollinator mutualisms.
• Zoe Wood: Phenological shifts in insect herbivory on common herbaceous plants along elevational gradients in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountains of California.

2022

• Katherine Brafford: Rapid evolution of native and non-native grassland species to changes in water availability.
• Kandiss Dowdell: Coevolution of Salix and Euura determined through a phylogenetic analysis of North American Salix.
• Ann Holmes: Bees, flowers and burned trees: Characterizing pollination networks in a burned forest using environmental DNA metabarcoding.
• Will McMahan: Whole genome duplication, diploidization and the domestication of Corchorus.
• Mickie Tang: Response of urban trees to elevated heat in Sacramento, CA.
• Brooke Wainwright: Can drought strategies inform grassland management?

2021

• Danielle De La Pascua: Testing intraspecific growth-defense and constitutive-induced plant defense trade-offs within a native California wildflower.
• Chenjiao Deng: Investigating the Identities of Populations of Castilleja (Orobanchaceae) in the Vicinity of Mt. Lassen.
• Ashley Gruppenhoff: Plant community response to increased fire frequency in northern California chaparral.
• Reed Kenny: A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Placement of Juncus Sections Caespitosi and Graminifolii.
• Jason Liu: Integrating biosynthesis and pollination to understand evolution of floral volatiles in a phylogenetic framework.

2020

• Emily Brodie: Patterns of postfire diversity in subalpine forests of the Sierra Nevada.
• Megan Christensen: Exploring the impact of flower-associated microbes on pollen germination across plant species.
• Alexandria Igwe: Comparative analysis of polar metabolite production and rhizosphere microbial community structures in serpentine and nonserpentine soils.
• Maxwell Odland: Effects of Repeated Prescribed Fire and Thinning on Understory Diversity in Mixed Conifer Forests.
• Maureen Page: Investigating the impacts of honeybee introductions on the pollination of native plants in the Tahoe National Forest.
• Elena Suglia: The Impact of Snowmelt on Phenology and Population Genetics of Streptanthus tortuosus.