College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

2019

• UC Riverside opens largest research facility on campus with MRB, the Multidisciplinary Research Building
  
   

2014

• Breakthrough in Drought Tolerant Crop Research

 

2013

• Center for Integrative Biological Collections established

 

2011

• Physics PhD Program 50th Anniversary
• New Materials Science & Engineering Building opens to instruction. First major building devoted to Nanotechnology
• Tango Mandarins appear in produce aisles

 

2010

 

• Chemistry PhD Program 50th Anniversary - read more about it
• Major remodeling of Geology Building completed
• Western Water Research Archives moves to UCR and Cal State

 

2009

 

• Construction completed on the Genomics Building

 

2008

• Water Science & Policy Center created

 

2007

 

• 100th Anniversary Celebrated

 

2006

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

 

2005

• Grand Opening of the Chemical Sciences Building
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Alumnus Richard R. Schrock
• DePaoli asparagus developed

 

2003

• Science Laboratories I building dedicated

 

2002

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

 

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 (now Orbach Science Library) opened

 

2000

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

 

1998

• Center for Conservation Biology established

 

1994

• Entomology Research Museum completed

 

1993

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

 

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

 

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

 

1989

• New protein structure, parallel beta-helix, discovered

 

1988

• Graduate program in toxicology established

 

1987

• USDA George Brown Salinity Lab established

 

1985

• Nematode Quarantine Facility established

 

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

 

1981

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

 

1980

• Oroblanco and Melogold grapefruits patented

 

 

1977

• Citrus Clonal Protection Program established, based on the 1957 Citrus Variety Improvement Program

 

1975

• Tissue Culture Laboratory established
• Shoot-tip micrografting, the most efficient and currently used worldwide citrus therapeutic technique, is developed

 

1974

• College renamed Natural and Agricultural Sciences
• Statistics Building opened

 

1973

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

 

1972

• Exocortis, the first citrus viroid—one of smallest known plant pathogens—is discovered

 

1970

• National Society of Nematology meeting held at UCR

 

1968

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

 

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

 

1965

 

• Department of Nematology 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

 

1962

• Department of Biochemistry created

 

1961

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

 

1960

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

 

1959

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

 

1957

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

 

1956

• Biometrical Laboratory created

 

1955

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

 

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

 

1951

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

 

1950

• Study of citrus replant problem begins; soil fumigation is developed
• First use of hydroponics to diagnose mineral deficiencies in citrus and avocado

 

1949

• Entomology Annex constructed

 

1947

• Division of Biological Control established

 

1946

• Disease-resistant Troyer citrange rootstock identified as solution to citrus tristeza virus, saving California citrus industry
• First edition of landmark work The Citrus Industry published

 

1945

• The first efficient indexing/diagnostic technique for citrus viral diseases is developed

 

1944

• How smog damages plants discovered

 

1939

• Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture discontinued

 

1937

• Psorosis Freedom Program, the first citrus nursery program, is established

 

1934

• Nucellar embryony, the first means of freeing citrus from viruses, is discovered. Specific viruses do not pass from infected parent trees into their progeny via seed.

 

1933

• First biochemist hired
• Psorosis, the first viral disease of citrus, is identified

 

1932

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

 

1931

• First Insectary Building constructed

 

1924

• Summer undergraduate instruction in subtropical horticulture instituted

 

1923

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

 

 

1918

 

• Citrus Experiment Station Box Springs site dedicated, March 27

 

1917

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

 

1916

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

 

1915

• Dept. of Entomology founded

 

1914

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

 

1913

• Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture organized

 

1912

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

 

1910

• Citrus Variety Collection established

 

1907

 

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