Outreach Adventures
Summer 2014
On behalf of the Soils and Biogeochemistry Graduate Group, SBG Chair Toby O’Geen along with the Associate Dean Jan Hopmans and five SBG graduate students organized an outreach event at a Congressional reception in Washington, DC to highlight the importance of soil science and graduate education. Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and the UC Davis Chancellor’s Office also provided assistance for this event. The five graduate students, Stewart Wilson, Deidre Griffin, Gordon Rees, Hannah Waterhouse and Jordon Wade, discussed the importance of soil science in water management, agriculture, climate change and air quality at meetings with Congressional staff and members. In total, they met with six Congressional offices: Garamendi, Matsui, Bera, Swalwell, Farr and Thompson.
At a Congressional reception co-sponsored by UC Davis, the Soil Science Society of America and the Wine Institute, over 20 members of Congress and 200 staffers learned about relationships between soil and wine. In preparation for the event, and with Stu Wilson’s leadership, graduate students visited the five California wineries that were being served at the reception and took samples of the soil in order communicate concepts of how differences in soil (texture, color, structure) may effect on the taste, look, and smell of the wine. The group produced posters and four, one-page documents with tasting notes, soil notes, an analysis of the wine growing region, and facts about the particular soils found in that region. Below is an example.
