I direct the UC Davis Biotechnology Program, which is focused on building public-private partnerships in support of our campus research, training, and service missions. One of our flagship efforts is administration of the Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology doctoral degree program which typically has ~180 PhD students from 29 affiliated graduate programs. We also help research faculty to coordinate training programs and research consortia addressing global challenges in healthcare, agriculture and food science, industrial bioprocessing, environmental resource management, and many other biotech-related areas. On a personal note, my research background is in plant molecular biology and genetics (I know a lot about root parasitic weeds!). I’ve been teaching university science courses and administering programs that bring together life sciences, engineering, and computational sciences for about 20 years. My ultimate goals as a science educator are to: 1) create and lead effective, collaborative research and training programs that cross disciplinary boundaries; 2) mentor and encourage a diverse population of students and faculty in reaching their professional goals in research and research-adjacent roles across industry, academia, government or non-profits; and 3) help non-specialist members of the community understand and rationally evaluate the risk vs. benefit of emerging technologies.