Over the past 50 years, our Department has grown to be a world-class venue for research and education in Environmental Toxicology. Our numerous graduates have progressed into diverse and influential careers in academia, government, non-profits, and the private sector. As public awareness of the impacts of pollution on wildlife and humans has increased, so has the visibility and influence of our small but mighty program. Our research has illuminated how chemicals move into and through the environment, how they are transformed along the way, and how they impact health across the tree of life. In 2024, we celebrated our 50th anniversary of the founding of the Environmental Toxicology department.
A recording of remarks made during the event, by Helene Dillard, Ron Tjeerdema, Bob Rice, Michele La Merrill, and Andrew Whitehead, is available here.
It was really wonderful to reconnect with our diverse community. Many participants expressed interest in contributing to the program in multiple ways. As we look to the future of the ETOX program, and if you have the means and the interest, please consider these opportunities to advance the educational and research missions of ETOX.
1. ETOX Career Seminar Series. We offer an ETX-190 seminar that introduces students to careers in Environmental Toxicology, where professional toxicologists spend 50-minutes with our undergraduate students describing their jobs and their career paths. We also plan on hosting annual job fairs. If you would like to support the education of our students and expand their professional networks by participating in these events, then please contact Andrew Whitehead (ETOX Professor and Chair, awhitehead@ucdavis.edu).
2. ETOX Undergraduate research support fund. Learning science by doing science enriches the educational experience, it is inspiring, and it builds skills and networks of relationships that can open doors. But many students cannot afford to volunteer time in a research lab while studying at UC Davis. We seek to create equitable opportunities for participation, so we are promoting a fund to pay undergraduates to contribute to research. If this mission resonates with you, please consider contributing to this fund (https://give.ucdavis.edu/AETX/ETXGIF2).
3. ETOX Infrastructure support fund. Advanced research instrumentation, and the facilities that house it, are important for our teaching mission, and shared equipment also facilitates our research mission. This equipment and infrastructure is expensive to maintain. Our department is unique insofar as we offer small and intensive laboratory classes that provide advance analytical training and experimental research training for our majors. If supporting this infrastructure is attractive to you, please consider contributing to this fund (https://give.ucdavis.edu/AETX/ETXGIF1).
Copied below are some posters that were prepared for, and displayed at, the 50th Anniversary celebration. These include posters that highlight current faculty, our multiple affiliated research units (Bodega Marine Laboratory, Marine Pollution Studies Lab, and IR4), and that honor our donors and highlight ways to support our mission.
