Teams of students stood at their cooking stations at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, pots and thermometers in front of them, most about to make cheese for the very first time.
Sacramento City College Instructor, Jessica Coppola acknowledged the nerves that come with walking into a new space and told everyone to settle in. Then she got straight to it, “I think we just jump in.”
A quarter-century after its founding, the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is a place of groundbreaking discoveries, collaborations and educational offerings attracting top-notch students, scholars and researchers.
Last month, we lost a dear friend of the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis, and the wine industry. Walter “Walt” Klenz passed away on July 20, 2026, at the age of 81. Walt invested more than 50 years in the global wine industry, earning a well-deserved reputation as a humble, trustworthy, and kind leader.
What do cereal mascots and atomic absorption spectroscopy have in common? Both are fair game in the annual College Bowl Competition hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association, or IFTSA. Started in 1985, College Bowl is a team-based quiz competition about food science spanning universities throughout the United States and Canada.
In July, a team of five proudly represented UC Davis at the national finals in Chicago, Illinois.
The Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein (iCAMP) at UC Davis focuses on developing transformative knowledge and innovation to accelerate the commercialization of alternative proteins, address global food system challenges, and strengthen food security.
This year’s selection of student-made and UC Davis-labeled wines is now available. The next sale date is Friday, June 26, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, with more dates throughout the summer and fall. Six wines were created by viticulture and enology students as part of the post-fermentation class held each spring.
On the evening of May 22, 2026, five student teams gathered in the Robert Mondavi Institute's Food Innovation Lab with one shared ingredient, KARANA GROUND jackfruit, and five very different ideas about what to do with it.
The academic year is coming to a quick end with students preparing for final exams and commencement ceremonies on the horizon. The Robert Mondavi Institute closes out the term with two amazing sold-out events.
On Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, 83 students, faculty and staff from UC Davis gathered at the RMI Sensory building for the first Student Symposium on Food Justice. This gathering sought to unite students who are dedicated to a food system that nourishes both people and the planet and support our collective efforts to advance justice in our food system.
At the end of January, the Robert Mondavi Institute hosted Coffee Unfiltered: Thinking Outside the Cup, where coffee industry experts spoke to the coffee-curious about coffee’s origins, history and perception over the decades, and offered their predictions for the future. While pondering what could be next for coffee, what was clear above all was the deep connection coffee enthusiasts have with this beloved beverage, not only as a drink, but as a culture.
Our first two programs of the year have been successful and well-received, selling out quickly and drawing a full crowd to the Robert Mondavi Institute Sensory Theater.
On a crisp autumn morning in Davis, the scent of malt and hops drifted through the Anheuser-Busch InBev Pilot Brewery. Among the gleaming stainless steel, for the first time, all three UC Davis brewing professors stood side by side in the new brewery to celebrate a program that has shaped the modern beer world.
When winemakers press grapes, they're after the juice. But what happens to the skins, seeds, and stems that make up nearly 30% of the harvest?
At Terra Madre Americas in Sacramento in September 2025, two UC Davis researchers revealed how this "waste" is becoming the wine industry's next frontier of innovation.
As the new RMI Student Writer covering food science and RMI-related events, I had the opportunity to attend Terra Madre Americas, which was new to me. Having recently been passed the student writer baton by my now graduated food science mentor (thanks, Gwen!), I was excited at the prospect of attending and writing about Terra Madre Americas.
