Brett Snyder, a professor and chair of the MFA program in design at UC Davis, is both a teacher and an active practitioner whose work helps to reimagine spaces people know intimately while also collaboratively discovering what’s possible.
Adele Zhang, the manager and curator of the Jo Ann C. Stabb Design Collection, recently shipped 134 of the collection's objects to London, where they will be exhibited for the first time internationally. To make it happen, Zhang worked with partners across UC Davis and launched a successful crowdfunding campaign.
Seed Grant projects foster long-term international research collaborations, create innovations in internationalizing the curriculum in support of the Global Education for All initiative and grow or build global partnerships.
Damien Mitchell made a splash with his innovative, sustainable, thoughtful and stylish footwear designs during his time as a graduate student in the Design M.F.A. program at UC Davis. Now, as a faculty member himself, he is making an impact on design students in his home state of Louisiana.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony held on January 26, 2025 marked the culmination of a vision made possible by philanthropist Maria Manetti Shrem through her transformative gift of over $20 million to the arts at UC Davis.
Since the first iteration of “Design in Europe," a study abroad program at UC Davis, students have kept visual journals of their travels – six to eight pages per day – that are a mix between a scrapbook, sketchbook, travelogue, collage and diary. The journals have been exhibited in Iceland, Scotland, England and the Netherlands. Now, for the first time, these journals are being exhibited all together right here in Davis, Calif.
As society explores alternative and renewable energy sources, the California Lighting Technology Center aims to be a guiding beacon, showcasing through research and design the best ways to integrate efficient and human-centric energy systems into new and existing infrastructure.
The imaginative life of 15th century artist, inventor, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci takes center stage in Ken Burns' latest documentary. The two-part documentary titled Leonardo da Vinci premiered Nov. 18 and 19 on PBS stations. UC Davis Associate Professor of Design James Housefield and art studio alumna Julia Couzens (M.F.A. ‘90) led a discussion on da Vinci at an advanced partial-screening of the documentary at PBS KVIE in Sacramento on Nov. 14.
While pursuing a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of California, Davis, Erik Contreras, whoalso received a Master of Fine Arts degree from UC Davis' Department of Design felt a need to reconnect with the "why" behind their engineering efforts. In this Q&A, Contreras talks about their venture into the world of design and centering humanity in their engineering research.
By creating a board game designed to simulate a wildfire evacuation, UC Davis Associate Professor Thomas Maiorana and his team hope to help communities at-risk for wildfires think-through evacuation strategies in a low-stress environment, long before their lives are in danger. The prototype, "Tomales Resilience," was recently tested in the community that inspired it.
