UC Davis

Dr. Khush received  Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of California, Davis, in 1960.  He was a postdoctoral scientist at  UC Davis for seven years and worked on tomato genetics. In 1967, he joined IRRI as a Rice Breeder.  After he retired from IRRI in 2002, he returned to his alma mater and accepted an Adjunct Professor position in the Plant Sciences Department.  He is now an Adjunct Professor Emeritus.

UC Davis Medal Recipient

Professor Emeritus Gurdev Khush, of the Department of Plant Sciences, received the UC Davis medal (2018), which is the highest honor the university bestows on individuals. Details of the announcement can be obtained from this link to the  Plant Sciences Department site. 

Plant Breeding for Food Security

On  May 28th, 2018 the Plant Breeding Center, in collaboration with the Confucius Institute, hosted the Plant Breeding for Food Security symposium. The symposium focused on the global impact of plant genetics to rice production in honor of the work of UC Davis Alumnus and Adjunct Professor, Dr. Gurdev Khush. Over 200 guests came from all over the world to attend the day-long symposium to discuss the advances of global production in rice, wheat, and tomato, the future obstacles that face an ever-growing world population, and the technologies that will revolutionize farming and food production.

The symposium concluded with a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the Gurdev Khush Conference Room in the Plant Reproductive Biology building. Several members of the Khush family attended, along with many of Dr. Khush’s colleagues and fans. UC Davis faculty spoke at the dedication, including Chair of the Plant Sciences Department, Chris van Kessel, Drs. Kent Bradford and Alan Bennett, and Gurdev Khush himself. (Amanda Pietras)