Seed Central hosts
the California Seed Association's Spring Student Tour
for lunch and a networking career fair
With support from Hartnell College

With 100+ students from UC Davis, Cal-Poly, California State University Chico/Fresno /Monterey Bay, Hartnell College, Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas and King City High School.

• 12:00 - 1:00
  Lunch + Industry Panelists Testimonials: transitioning after graduation, the decision to work in industry, experiences in the first job, career path, advice to new talents.

Panelists
Maria Alfaro Sales Representative & Product Development Headstart Nursery	Gerardo van den Hoek Vegetable Variety Selector Syngenta Vegetable Seeds	Alexandra Imperial Greenhouse Supervisor Vilmorin-Mikado	Bryan Cardona Local Product Promoter Vilmorin-Mikado	Maria Fraile-Reyes Product Development Specialist Rijk Zwaan
Darren Ma Seed Operations manager American Takii	Benjamin Carter Seed Physiology Assistant Scientist Sakata Seed America	Ali DeSantis Edwards Germplasm Development Scientist, Iceberg Lettuce Syngenta Vegetable Seeds	Tarek Joobeur Breeding Technology Lead United Genetics Seeds

• 1:00 - 1:50
  Networking Career Fair

Featuring:

Location: : Hartnell College, Salinas, California

Click here to register

4:30 - 6:00 Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

6:00 - 7:00  Featured speaker

• Xiaofei Zhang
  Assistant Professor
  Genetics and Breeding of Small Grains Crops
  Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
  
  Dr. Zhang's research program aims to address the needs of small grains crop growers and consumers both nationally and internationally. It will be focusing
  on 1) Yield Increase beyond the Green Revolution; 2) Nutrient Use and Environmental Footprint; 3) Nutrition and Health; 4) Breeding Technology and Genetic Gains.

Location: Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis

4:30 - 6:00 Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

6:00 - 7:00  Featured speaker

• Charlie Brummer
  Professor
  UC Davis
  Professor Brummer will speak about recent work in alfalfa breeding and about his PNAS paper on changing paradigms for future plant breeding for resilient multi-cropping systems.
  
  (The presentation by Barbara Blanco-Ulate and Irwin Donis-Gonzalez about the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center had to be postponed and will be rescheduled in 2026)
   

Location: ARC Ballrooms, UC Davis

Special event
at the USDA/ARS Sam Farr
Crop Improvement and Protection Research Center
1636 E Alisal St.
Salinas, California

9:00 to 12:00 - Research & breeding updates
12:00 to 1:00 - Networking lunch

Click here to register

Photo taken at the June 2024 meeting:

4:30 - 6:00 Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

6:00 - 7:00  Featured speaker

• Mitchell Feldmann
  Assistant Professor
  Director of the University of California, Davis Strawberry Breeding program and Research Group

Location: Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis

4:30 - 6:00

Special brainstorming session on future funding of graduate students

With industry and campus panelists.

UC Davis Professor Charlie Brummer describes this long-term and crucial issue that can only be resolved by having all parties collaborating on solutions:

"Costs are rising for all aspects of research, from land rent on research stations, to equipment, to personnel. While all personnel salaries continue to rise, often substantially, the cost of graduate students has dramatically increased following the strike several years ago. Although some graduate student projects can be transferred to postdocs or to research staff as a way to hold some costs in check, graduate education is a key component of the university and having a critical mass of graduate students in plant breeding is essential to be able to offer a compelling curriculum and to foster an environment of learning among a cohort of students.

Further, because graduate students are engaged in research programs for 2+ years (MS) or 4-5 years (PhD), the likelihood of having projects completed by a graduate student is often greater than with a postdoc, who may leave for a full-time position after one or two years. A continual need for new plant breeding talent exists in the private and, to a lesser extent. the public sectors, and training graduate students is essential to keeping this pipeline full. Importantly, many students are hired directly into industry without doing a postdoc, further emphasizing the importance of graduate education as opposed to postdoc mentoring. Because many graduate students from UC Davis end up employed in industry positions, keeping this pipeline flowing is important to the continued strength and innovation of the seed and nursery industries.”

6:00 - 7:00  Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

Location: Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis

Open to all

Seed Central hosts
the California Seed Association's
Fall Student Tour
for lunch and a n

With some 100 students from UC Davis, Cal-Poly, California State University Chico / Fresno / Monterey Bay, Woodland Community College, and Woodland high schools.

• 11:30 - 12:30
  Lunch + Industry Panelists Testimonials: transitioning after graduation, the decision to work in industry, experiences in the first job, career path, advice to new talents.
   
• 12:30 - 1:30
  Networking Career Fair

Location: : Woodland Community College, Woodland, California

Focus on artificial intelligence and recent research at the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS) @ UC Davis

4:30 - 6:00 Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

6:00 - 7:00  Featured speakers

• (TBA)

Location: Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis

Special joint Seed Central / Protein Central event
Launched by the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein, the quarterly ‘Protein Central’ event includes a seminar and time for networking/discussion, often with alternative meat/protein products available for tasting.
The Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein (iCAMP) leads the way in developing transformative knowledge & innovation to accelerate the commercialization of alternative proteins and sustainably fulfill all global need predicted by 2050.

4:30 - 6:00 Networking social with the TALENTS CORNER

RAFFLE: 3 students or postdocs will win a Meal with Industry (TBA).

6:00 - 7:00  Featured speaker

• (TBA)

Location: , UC Davis

At the Conference Center, UC Davis

12:00 to 12:45 PM - Exhibits set up
1:00 to 3:15 PM - Pitch session
3:30 to 6:00 PM - Networking exhibits