CNAS

 

Major events in the history of the Agricultural Experiment Center-Citrus Research Center and the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

 

This timeline was compiled in 2007 during the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Agricultural Experiment Station-Citrus Research Center.

 

1907
• Citrus Experiment Station founded in Riverside at the foot of Mount Rubidoux

1910
• Citrus Variety Collection established

1912
• Nematology Lab set up after discovery of citrus nematode in Southern California

1913
• Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture organized

1914
• Cooperative Extension Service founded following passage of the Smith-Lever Act by Congress
• Cultivations Unit established, later named Agricultural Operations

1915
• Dept. of Entomology founded

1916
By now, CES research program has six divisions:
• agricultural chemistry
• plant physiology
• plant pathology
• entomology
• plant breeding
• orchard management

1917
• Citrus Variety Collection replanted on 5 acres at current site with 500 types

1918
• Citrus Experiment Station Box Springs site dedicated, March 27

1923
• State biological control research facility transferred to Experiment Station
• Beginnings of what will become the Entomology Museum established

1924
• Summer undergraduate instruction in subtropical horticulture instituted

1931

• First Insectary Building constructed

1932
• Division of Irrigation Investigations and Practices established
• Entomology Building constructed

1933
• First biochemist hired

1939
• Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture discontinued

1944
• How smog damages plants discovered

1946
• Disease-resistant Troyer citrange rootstock identified as solution to citrus tristeza virus, saving California citrus industry

1946-48
• First edition of landmark work The Citrus Industry published

1947
• Division of Biological Control established

1949
• Entomology Annex constructed

1950
• Study of citrus replant problem begins; soil fumigation is developed

1950s
• First use of hydroponics to diagnose mineral deficiencies in citrus and avocado

1951
• The Lemon, first of landmark biochemistry books, published; series includes The Orange (1961) and The Grapefruit (1972)

1954
• University of California, Riverside established by the Board of Trustees
• Statewide Department of Plant Nematology established at UCR and UC Davis
• Webber Hall built

1955
• Nematode taxonomic collection, with UC Davis, established, largest in world
• Graduate instruction in Plant Biochemistry begins; becomes Department of Biochemistry in 1962

1956
• Biometrical Laboratory created

1957
• International Society of Citrus Virologists holds inaugural meeting on campus
• Herbarium established
• Air Pollution Research Center established

1959
• Economic threshold and economic injury level concepts of integrated pest management developed
• College of Agriculture created

1960
• Graduate programs in agriculture begin
• UCLA agriculture college closes; many staff and research programs move to UCR

1961
• Citrus Experiment Station changed to Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station
• Undergraduate and graduate programs in entomology established

1962
• Department of Biochemistry created

1963
• Gibberellic acid, which slows aging of citrus, is used with 2,4-D, which slows abscission, savings California orange industry millions of dollars annually
• Botanic Gardens established

1965
• Department of Nematology created

1967
• Second edition of The Citrus Industry published
• First International Citrus Congress held on campus
• Vitamin D isolated and described
• Batchelor Hall completed, home to Botany and Plant Sciences

1968
• College enlarged to form College of Biological and Agricultural Sciences
• Department of Biostatistics created; renamed Statistics in 1970

1970
• National Society of Nematology meeting held at UCR

1973
• Biochemistry Department moves into newly opened Boyce Hall
• Role of mycorrhizal fungi in citrus root health identified

1974
• College renamed Natural and Agricultural Sciences
• Statistics Building opened

1975
• Tissue Culture Laboratory established

1980
• Oroblanco and Melogold grapefruits patented

1981
• Discovery that the pathogen Phytophthora is an elicitor of plant defenses leads to biotechnology-based research in agriculture

1982
• A model for predicting movement of compounds through soils-the Jury Transfer function-becomes standard
• USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository for citrus and dates established

1985
• Nematode Quarantine Facility established

1986
• Citrus Clonal Protection Program established, based on a program begun in 1957

1987
• USDA George Brown Salinity Lab established

1988
• Graduate program in toxicology established

1989
• New protein structure, parallel beta-helix, discovered

1990
• Earliest known DNA recovered from 20-million-year-old leaf, with first-ever polymerase chain reaction
• Statistical Consulting Center formed; renamed Statistical Consulting Collaboratory in 2003

1991
• Release of stingless wasp to control ash whitefly pest causing $2 billion in crop damage; release reduced fly population 103, one of the most successful biological control programs ever

1993
• Position of "Cooperative Extension Specialist in Plant Conservation-Natural Resources" established, first in nation

1994
• Entomology Research Museum completed

1998
• Center for Conservation Biology established

2000
• US-China Agricultural Conference, establishes formal relationship between UCR and PRC Ministry of Agriculture
• Gold Nugget mandarin released

2001
• Institute for Integrative Genome Biology: Center for Plant Cell Biology, Biotechnology Impacts Center, Center for Disease-Vector Research established
• Center for Exotic Pest Research created, now Center for Invasive Species Research
• New Science Library opened

2002
• New Entomology Building completed
• New Insectary and Quarantine Facility opened
• Bioinformatics Research Group formed

2003
• Science Laboratories I building dedicated, now Chemical Sciences

2005
• DePaoli asparagus developed

2006
• Biological Sciences Building opened
• Ground broken for Genomics Building
• Tango seedless mandarin developed

2007
• 100th anniversary celebrated

 

Additions or corrections? email sara.clausen@ucr.edu