College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences |

29,000

acres and more serve as a real-life laboratory for plant research

36,683

alumni and counting making a difference

Nobel Laureates and 18 National Academies members on the faculty

2025 Turfgrass and Landscape Research Field Day

Thursday, September 11th, 2025, at UC Riverside
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CNAS Welcome Week

New Family Welcome
New Student Majors Welcome
CNAS New Student Welcome
and more!
September 21 – September 26, 2025

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CNAS Homecoming

The Future of #UCRscience: Shaping Tomorrow, Today, Together
Saturday, November 8, 2025
11:30am to 1pm
Student Success Center (SSC)

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Gardening for Butterflies

Join Master Gardener Docents in the Butterfly Garden to
learn about Gardening for Butterflies | UCR Botanic Gardens
April - October, 1st & 3rd Sundays, between 9am and noon

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Prospective Students

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Student Research Opportunities

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CNAS Learning Communities

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Graduate Student Careen Khachatoorian in the Talbot Lab

Graduate Programs

Opportunities for graduate students abound at CNAS

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CNAS by the Numbers

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Pursuing Advanced Degrees at CNAS

CNAS’ graduate degree programs for M.S. and Ph.D. students

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Career Resources

CNAS Students and Alumni learn more about STEM opportunities

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CNAS marketing materials, Drupal website tutorials, room schedules, and more are available here for students, faculty, and staff. Login required.

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I chose UCR due to the collaborative atmosphere, countless research opportunities, and student support programs ...

Joel, biochemistry major

I am motivated by my desire to understand life ... and to educate the next generation of scientists ...

Xuemei Chen, Distinguished Professor of Plant Cell and Molecular Biology

A large part of the UCR community is the support you receive from both your peers and professors.

Oscar, biochemistry major

CNAS Science News

Aerial shot of the rust-colored Salmon River

September 08, 2025

Orange rivers signal toxic shift in Arctic wilderness

Scientists say the warming climate is triggering chemical reactions that leach toxic metals into once-pristine Arctic waters, degrading fish habitat, water quality, and life for local people.

August 25, 2025

How to build larger, more reliable quantum computers

UC Riverside scientists link multiple quantum chips to grow quantum systems

August 21, 2025

Using exoplanets to study dark matter

More than 5,000 planets have been discovered beyond our solar system, allowing scientists to explore planetary evolution and consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Now, a UC Riverside study published in Physical Review D suggests that exoplanets, which are planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, could also serve as tools to investigate dark matter.

August 18, 2025

Trees in the tropics cool more, burn less

More trees will cool the climate and suppress fires, but mainly if planted in the tropics, according to a new UC Riverside study.

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A Message from Dean Peter Atkinson

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students from the College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences at UC Riverside, I welcome you to our college and campus.

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Catalyst research of UCR Nobel Laureate groundbreaking ceremony

August 26, 2025

Catalyst Research of UCR Nobel Laureate is Key in Construction of Innovative New Plant

Nobel Laureate, Richard R. Schrock, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Riverside College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, recently returned from Hungary where he attended a groundbreaking ceremony to build a new facility that will manufacture metathesis...

RUSD Earth & Space Sciences Symposium at UC Riverside

August 21, 2025

UCR Hosts Symposium on Earth and Space Sciences for Teachers from RUSD

In a day-long symposium on August 6, a panel of researchers from UC Riverside’s (UCR) College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) expounded on the earth and space sciences to an audience of high school and middle school science teachers...

Research in Science and Engineering Program (RISE)

July 29, 2025

Riverside Students RISE to the Occasion in Summer Research Program at UCR

Well into its 10-week run, the Research in Science and Engineering Program (RISE) at UCR, not only benefits current UCR students, but also Riverside City College (RCC) students in ways that could shape their academic futures. RISE is designed for...

June 17, 2025

For the CNAS Class of 2025, One Journey Ends and Another Begins

CNAS Dean Peter Atkinson had some special wisdom he wanted to impart to students making up the college’s 71st graduating class during commencement ceremonies held on June 16 at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, CA. “Science matters,” he said, “and...

College News Archive

Dr. Barry C. Barish

2017 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN PHYSICS

Meet the Faculty

Dr. Richard R. Schrock

2005 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN CHEMISTRY
UCR ALUMNUS

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Inside UCR

August 27, 2025

UCR professor wins rare soil science medal

Soil Science Society of America recognizes William Jury

August 14, 2025

UCR professor studying tiny, ant-killing wasps earns big honor

Entomological Society of America elects John Heraty as fellow

July 17, 2025

Epilepsy research rewarded with fellowship and grant

Viji Santhakumar’s lab is the recipient of both

July 16, 2025

NASA grant to allow in-depth study of cosmic microwave background

Physicist Steve Choi will analyze satellite data to focus on reionization, one of the least understood epochs in cosmic history

More "Inside UCR" CNAS News

looking through a digital microscope, Dr. Manuela Martins-Green

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CNAS in the Media

September 09, 2025

'Astounding:' Alaska researchers make alarming discovery in Arctic rivers

SFGATE - When John McPhee and his ragtag crew first kayaked into the pristine Alaskan wilderness in 1975, they were awestruck. The author, who chronicled his reconnaissance trip in the literary classic “Coming into the Country,” was surrounded by an...

September 05, 2025

And then there were three: New termite species identified in California

ENTOMOLOGY TODAY - In southern California, subterranean termites in the genus Reticulitermes are a common scourge, responsible for significant economic damage in that part of the state. Early studies of these termites indicated that only two pest species existed—Reticulitermes hesperus...

September 05, 2025

Will the James Webb telescope lead us to alien life? Scientists say we're getting closer than ever.

LIVE SCIENCE - Imagine a planet twice as wide as Earth, covered in an ocean that smells like sweet cabbage. Every day, a faint red star warms this ocean world and the uncountable masses of hungry, plankton-like creatures that inhabit...

August 31, 2025

Dark matter could turn some planets into tiny black holes

SCIENCEALERT - Giant worlds beyond the Solar System could be the probe we need to figure out how dark matter manifests in the Universe. According to a new study, one particular dark matter model could see the mysterious mass accumulating...

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CNAS Blog

Marie-Rose Osei and Claire Van Der Linden with UCR Professor Viji Santhakumar - UCR Department of Molecular Cell and Systems Biology

August 28, 2025

A Tie That Binds

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...

May 30, 2025

CNAS student Maritssa Nolasco wins 2025 ASA/CSSA/SSSA National Student Recognition Award

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...

May 08, 2025

UC Riverside Neuroscience Major, Sreenidhi Surineni, Named 2025 Goldwater Scholar

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...

April 15, 2025

Finding Nematodes with Adler Dillman

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...

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