Welcome to the CNAS Blog

If you love your major, enjoy connecting with people, and want to make an impact beyond the classroom, this is your moment. The CNAS Science Ambassador program is now accepting applications—and it’s one of the most meaningful ways to get involved at UC Riverside. As a Science Ambassador, you don’t just represent CNAS—you bring it...

The CCB-SEEDS Mentorship Program is recruiting mentors for the Spring 2026 cohort! Please sign up by Wednesday, April 15, 2026 if your research is in the fields of Ecology, Evolution, and/or Conservation Biology, and you have a desire to foster undergraduate interest in your field. No previous experience is required and grad students of all...

The Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) hosted its annual Women’s Day Forum on March 10 at the Moreno Valley Conference Center, bringing together more than 200 attendees from across the Inland Empire for a half-day of connection, reflection, and inspiration. Centered on the theme “Give to Gain,” the event highlighted the power of collaboration...

Panel and dinner conversations highlight the breadth of opportunities available to science graduates. Students, alumni and campus partners gathered Feb. 18 at the UC Riverside Alumni and Visitors Center for “Dinner with Alumni: Science Careers Beyond Healthcare,” an evening designed to broaden career exploration and strengthen connections across the Highlander network. Hosted by the Student...

On February 27, CNAS Science Ambassadors served as volunteer judges at the Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair at the Riverside Convention Center, joining educators, industry professionals, and community partners in supporting the region’s next generation of scientists. Hosted by the Riverside County Office of Education, the fair represents the culmination of months of student...

On January 29, 2026, UC Riverside's HUB 302 was filled with an uncommon mix of people: high school students seeing a research campus for the first time, undergraduates imagining what might come next, graduate students reflecting on how far they’ve come, and faculty and campus leaders eager to meet them where they are. The occasion...

Students looking to take the next step in their academic journeys had the opportunity to connect directly with faculty, graduate students, and campus partners during the R’STEM Find Your Research Match event, held on February 3, 2026, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in HUB 302. A collaborative effort between the College of Natural and...

On January 22, 2026, REACH Leadership STEAM Academy in Riverside hosted its annual science fair, welcoming students, educators, and community partners for a late-afternoon event that highlighted curiosity, experimentation, and discovery. UC Riverside’s College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) participated by sending graduate students to serve as judges and mentors, reinforcing the college’s commitment...

The story of how one chemistry teacher— Michelle Hampton—at Riverside Unified School District’s (RUSD) Martin Luther King High School (MLK) reached out to faculty at UC Riverside with an idea of giving her chemistry students practical experience in a bona fide research lab exemplifies the old idiom: nothing ventured, nothing gained. But in this case...

Maritssa Nolasco, a fourth-year Mathematics for Teachers of Secondary School (MTSS) major at the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences and a Digital Agriculture Fellowship (DAF) participant, has been awarded the 2025 National Student Recognition award. Co-sponsored by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and the...

Sreenidhi Surineni, a neuroscience major with a minor in philosophy in UC Riverside’s College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS), has been named a 2025 Goldwater Scholar with the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, one of the most prestigious national honors awarded to undergraduate researchers in the STEM fields.​ Surineni was...

To say that Adler R. Dillman is fascinated by a particular ubiquitous organism best viewed through a microscope is a bit of an understatement. A Professor of Parasitology & Nematologist as well as the Chair of the Department of Nematology at UC Riverside, Dillman is “all about” parasitic nematodes...although, to be sure, he had never...

The UC Riverside departments of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology, Botany and Plant Sciences, and Environmental Sciences hosted the inaugural Southern California Conference on Ecological Change on February 14. The inaugural event was organized in response to the effects of warming climate, larger and more frequent fires, urbanization and land development, and invasive species on...

Two UC Riverside undergraduates working with faculty mentors at the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) won Best Undergraduate Research Poster awards at the 2025 California Plant and Soil Conference in Visalia, CA. David Ranai, an Electrical Engineering major working with Amir Verdi, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Urban Water Management in the CNAS...

Lucy Delaney, Assistant Professor of Teaching in the UC Riverside Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology (EEOB), focuses her work at the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) on improving the teaching and learning of biological sciences, with an added emphasis on understanding evolutionary theory. Professor Delaney’s own career evolutions have...

When asked how she's enjoying UC Riverside's Research in Science & Engineering (RISE) program this summer, Riverside City College student Kat McVeigh doesn't hold back. "It's been a great experience!" she says. "Being in an actual lab [and] getting to know the other people in the lab has been pretty cool. Meeting new people is...

Like many students before him, Nicolas Sanchez '24 has learned that finding the proper outlet can circumvent the pressure of a tough academic course load. For Nicolas, who graduated from the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences with a Biochemistry degree with an emphasis in Medical Sciences, that outlet was music. “I wanted...

To say that twin sisters Assal and Sadaf Sadighian are used to long commutes would be an understatement. The twins, who will graduate next spring with Biology degrees, live “a very short drive” away from campus, and will readily tell you that using Google Calendar is an immeasurable help in ordering their days and, metaphorically...

For the past year and a half, Briana Baldovinos has worked at the “Happiest Place on Earth”...Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, where she dances in the Main Street Parade. Before enrolling at UC Riverside, she used to dance ballet, jazz and tap – “everything” – for an average of five hours a day. She’s been dancing...

Andrea Barajas, a fourth-year Environmental Sciences student at the UC Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS), has been awarded the National Student Recognition award in recognition of her work with the Digital Agriculture Fellowship (DAF) by the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and the Soil Science...