From creating personalized maps of Alzheimer’s risk and designing next-generation cancer therapeutics to advancing AI-driven materials discovery and recovering nitrogen contaminants from water resources, the five projects that received this year’s Incentives for Large Grant Awards from the College of Letters and Science exemplify how UC Davis research is transforming science and society.

From Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter will hold its annual meeting at UC Davis. The conference, focused on the phenomena of emergence, will include a variety of talks and roundtables featuring distinguished experts in soft, biological and quantum matter.

Seven early career faculty members at UC Davis are being recognized with awards from the university and the UC Office of the President that highlight their research and creative exploration.

With support from a UCOP Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award, sociologist Tina Law is constructing and analyzing a database of more than 50,000 YouTube videos to learn how they contribute to the general public’s understanding of AI and the potential for broader oversight.

Welcome to Books of the Month: The list kicks off with a newly published collection by Zinzi Clemmons, associate professor of English and director of creative writing at UC Davis. "Freedom: Essays" was published on June 9, 2026, just a month ahead of the 250th birthday of the U.S.