News | Big Ideas at UC Davis

Developing New Technologies to Extend Care to All Families Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Autism, Community and Technology Big Idea will pioneer a first-of-its-kind lifespan approach for everyone living with autism.

Health

Reclaiming and Reaffirming Education Starts Here

In the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood of Tripoli, Lebanon, refugees and residents who have seen recent conflict worked together to sign up for the Article 26 Backpack in September.

Via UC Davis Magazine

Education

Designing a World for Healthy Aging

After helping to guide UC Davis Health’s growth, two top leaders are shifting gears to focus on America’s fast-growing senior population. The Healthy Aging in a Digital World ‘Big Idea’ leverages the university’s strengths in telehealth, gerontology and interdisciplinary expertise to empower healthier aging via technology.

Via UC Davis Health Magazine

Health

A Lifespan Approach to Autism

Currently, one in 59 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder — triple the number of families affected in 2000 — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Effective treatments for ASD are not widely available, leaving many families without access to care, especially those in rural, low-income and underserved areas. In addition, services are limited for adults with ASD.

Via UC Davis Magazine

Health

Despite an Opioid Crisis, Most ERs Don’t Offer Addiction Treatment

Patients are now encountered a still-unusual approach of treating addiction in the emergency room. At the core of this work is a straightforward idea: treating addiction like any other medical condition, and building treatment for addiction into the rest of the health care system.

Via Vox

Health

Educating the Global Citizen

Finding ways to give students global experience through trips to other U.S. communities, local internships with multinational companies or diverse living arrangements on campus will play a major role in the Global Education for All initiative, said Joanna Regulska, vice provost and associate chancellor of Global Affairs.

Via UC Davis Magazine

Education

Driven to Teach

With the goal of designing cars, Kornbluth studied engineering before working for General Motors. Now, he is the founding director of the UC Davis Program for International Energy Technologies, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and the champion for the Sustainable Campus, Sustainable Cities initiative.

Via UC Davis Magazine

Sustainability

Nearly 40,000 People Died From Guns in U.S. Last Year, Highest in 50 Years

Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency medicine physician who is the director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, said that the rise in firearm deaths was a result of “a national unwillingness to take this problem seriously.”

Via The New York Times

Health

First-Ever UC Davis Millennium Fellows Creating More Awareness of UN Goals on Campus

In April 2017, United Nations Academic Impact, in partnership with Millennium Campus Network, launched the Millennium Fellowship, a selective undergraduate leadership development program that engages students in creating more awareness of and action upon the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at universities worldwide.

Via Global Affairs

Education

Refugees Reclaim a Human Right with Technology

Jawad Kaysaneya was in his first year of college, studying to be a civil engineer like his father, when he fled eastern Ghouta shortly after the war started. War derailed his dreams, and continues to do so in Lebanon, where he’s lived since 2012. But dreams have a way of persisting, especially with a little help. The web-based platform where these young Syrian adults are uploading their documents aims to remove obstacles to their aspirations.

Education

UC Davis Veterinarians Honored For Saving K-9 Officer’s Life

This past March, seven-year-old K-9 Haakon was taken to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Hospital for a ruptured bladder. A special ceremony recognized the lifesaving work of the UC Davis doctors.

Via CBS Sacramento

Health

How Virtual Reality is Transforming Autism Studies

Autism therapists and researchers often use virtual reality to help autistic people rehearse stressful encounters. Peter Mundy, a psychologist with UC Davis developed an application that lets autistic children practice public speaking in a virtual classroom with an audience of eight avatars.

Via Spectrum News

Health

Gene Network Lets Plant Roots Handle Nitrogen

With robotics, computers and advanced genetics, researchers at the University of California, Davis, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have established a core set of genes that help plants metabolize nitrogen, the key to plant growth and crop yield.

Via College of Biological Sciences

Sustainability

Experts Design World Where People Age Better

Experts design world where people age better

Health

Heat is a Serious Threat to Dairy Cows – We’re Finding Innovative Ways to Keep Them Cool

Dairy farmers use fans and sprayers to cool cows in their barns, but there is a substantial need for better options. Existing systems use a lot of energy and water, which is costly for farmers. And climate change is raising temperatures and stressing California’s water supplies.

Via The Conversation

Sustainability