These are the hard-working researchers, agronomists, economists that continually keep the UC Davis Olive Center as the gold standard for olive research.
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Javier Fernandez Salvador
(530) 752-5170 Javier Fernandez Salvador is the director of the UC Davis Olive Center, overseeing education, outreach, products and strategy. He served as an assistant professor in the extension service of Oregon State University (OSU) where he led a multi-disciplinary team investigating olive propagation, cold-hardiness and fruit production. He has had extensive experience in developing research strategies with growers and processors in many crops. He is fluent in Spanish and in the final stages of receiving a PhD from OSU. |
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Adele Amico Roxas
(530) 752-4284 Adele Amico Roxas is the Program Assistant at UC Davis Olive Center. Adele completed her Doctorate in her home city of Palermo, Italy, where she studied the physiology of pistachio under drought stress. She also worked on olive field management and production, milling and sensory aspects of oil and table olives. Adele’s strong organization skills and attention to detail makes her a great addition to the Olive Center’s Team. She has 8+ years of Program and Lab Management Experience and is fluent in English and Italian. |
Faculty and Research Specialists
Diseases
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Dr. James Adaskaveg Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, UC Riverside
Research: Epidemiology and management of olive knot
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Dr. Maher al Rwahnih Project Scientist, Foundation Plant Services
Research: Olive viruses
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Dr. Elizabeth Fichtner UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Tulare County
Research: Epidemiology and management of olive knot, alternate-bearing cycle of olive.
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Dr. Mohamed Nouri UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, San Joaquin County
Research: Neofabraea
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Dr. Florent Trouillas UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Parlier
Research: Neofabraea
Fermentation/Microbiology
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Dr. Kyria Boundy-Mills Curator, Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
Research: Starter cultures for fermented olives
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Dr. Linda Harris Extension Specialist and Chair, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research: Microbiological food safety of olive oil processing
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Dr. Maria Marco Professor and Microbiologist, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research: Causes and solutions for defects in Sicilian-Style olives
Pests
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Dr. Kent Daane UCCE Extension Specialist, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley
Research: Olive fruit fly parasitoids, black scale management
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Dr. Emily Symmes UC Cooperative Extension Statewide IPM Advisor
Research: Olive fly management
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Dr. Kris Tollerup UC Cooperative Extension IPM Advisor
Research: Olive fly management
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Dr. Houston Wilson UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Kearney Agricultural and Extension Center
Research: Tree crops IPM
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Dr. Frank Zalom Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Entomology
Research: Olive fruit fly management
Orchard Management
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Dr. Khaled Bali UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Kearney Agricultural and Extension Center
Research: Irrigation in olives
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Dr. Patrick Brown Professor, Department of Plant Sciences
Research: Plant nutrition
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Dr. Louise Ferguson UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences and Co-Chair, UC Davis Olive Center
Research: Mechanical harvesting of table olives
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Dr. Brad Hanson UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences
Research: Weed Management
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Dr. Peter Larbi UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences
Research: Spray principles and techniques
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Dr. Giulia Marino UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, Kearney Agricultural and Extension Center
Research: Irrigation in olives
Byproducts
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Dr. Ed DePeters Distinguished Professor, Department of Animal Science
Research: Nutritional value of olive mill byproducts in animal feed
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Dr. Peter Green Professional Research Engineer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research: Olive mill waste management
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Dr. Amanda Hodson Professional Research Engineer, Assistant Researcher, Department of Entomology/Nematology
Research: Soil nutrition of olive mill pomace
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Dr. Annie King Professor, Department of Animal Science
Research: Examining impacts on shelf life of processed meat through feeding olive mill byproducts to hens
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Dr. Juliana Maria Leite Nobrega de Moura Bell Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research: Olive Pomace
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Dr. Nitin Nitin Professor and Engineer, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research: Olive oil byproducts and extracts
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Dr. Zhongli Pan Adjunct Professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Research: Infrared heating for drying olive mill byproducts
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Dr. Christopher Simmons Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
Research: Treatment of olive wastewater via microbial fuel cells
Health
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Dr. Roberta Holt Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Nutrition
Research: Health impacts of olive oil consumption
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Dr. Bruce German Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology and Director, Foods for Health Institute
Research: Health impacts of olive oil in the diet
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Dr. John Newman Research Chemist, USDA Western Human Nutrition Research Center
Associate Adjunct Professor, UC Davis Department of Nutrition
Research: Health impacts of olive oil consumption
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Dr. Francene Steinberg Professor and Chair, Department of Nutrition
Research: Health impacts of olive oil consumption
Sensory and Consumer Testing
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Dr. Jean-Xavier Guinard Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, Interim Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science
Research: Sensory analysis and consumer testing of table olives and olive oil
Economics
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Dr. Travis Lybbert Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Research: Economic analysis of new California olive oil standards and production systems in developing nations
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Dr. William Matthews Assistant Project Scientist, Agricultural Issues Center
Research: Economic analysis of the olive market in the United States
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Dr. Daniel Sumner Executive Director, Agricultural Issues Center and Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
Research: Economic analysis of the olive market in the United States
Processing
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Dr. William Ristenpart Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Research: Electromagnetic response of oil droplets in table olive processing
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Dr. Justin Siegel Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
Research: Developing novel enzymes for biosensor for olive oil rancidity and olive debittering
In this section
The UC Davis Olive Center is a self-supporting university/industry partnership that seeks to do for olives what UC Davis did for wine.