From never leaving the country to studying human rights in Chile and conducting fieldwork in Rwanda, Chely Saens transformed her UC Davis experience into a global journey of purpose. Through study abroad and hands-on work with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, she discovered how education, sustainability, and policy intersect across cultures. Read how her travels are shaping a future in data analytics—and beyond.
When it comes to resilience, Andrea Solis Olguin clearly embodies it. As a recent UC Davis graduate with a B.S. in civil engineering and a minor in sustainability in the built environment, Solis carries the weight and strength of various identities: she was a reentry student, an international student, and a transfer student. She is also an engineer, a photographer, a storyteller, and a mosaic of lived experiences.
Fulbright Chile and the University of California, Davis, are pleased to announce the continuation of their joint sponsorship program for Fulbright Chairs, which has been running annually since 2022. Applications will be accepted until December 18, 2025.
Elmira Louie, a Ph.D. candidate and associate instructor in Comparative Literature, strives to build an interconnected world that bridges cultures. Her Ph.D. dissertation, tentatively titled “Resisting the Periphery: Global South Borderlands in Turkish and Persian Literature,” looks at cultures, languages and people on the periphery in Turkish and Persian novels. The global nature of Elmira’s research has enabled her to seek out global experiences and ethical sources for a well-rounded project.
This year’s 13 Seed Grants for International Activities projects bring together more than 34 researchers across UC Davis and partner institutions worldwide, fostering collaborations to advance groundbreaking discovery.
UC Davis MBA student Myrna Robles Couch and Allison Judy participated in a week-long MBA International Study Trip (IST) to Santiago, Chile, including a visit to UC Davis Chile.
It was a single note that reached Angélica Mendoza de Ascarza after her son Arquímedes was taken from her home by soldiers in Peru’s military. In faint cursive on a scrap of deeply creased brown paper, he wrote that he was being held at an army barracks and asked her to find a lawyer and money and any way possible to get him to a trial.
When Yayoi Takamura, professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Davis, traveled to Santiago, Chile, last fall, she was amazed at how similar it was to the Sacramento area.
