The UC Davis – Mars Symposium is a day-long event to explore scientific discovery, innovation and collaboration in food, agriculture and health. 

Innovation Institute for Food and Health ceremony
Linda P.B. Katehi (Chancellor, UC Davis) and Harold H. Schmitz (Chief Science Officer, Mars, Incorporated)

Presentation: African Orphan Crops Consortium, An Uncommon Collaboration
Howard-Yana Shapiro (Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars, Incorporated)
Allen Van Deynze (Director of Research, Seed Biotechnology Center, UC Davis) 

Panel discussion: “Solving agriculture’s greatest challenges”
Moderator: William Clark (Professor of International Science, Harvard Kennedy School)
Howard-Yana Shapiro (Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars, Incorporated)
Benjamin D. Santer (Climate researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Alan S. Rudolph (Vice President for Research, Colorado State University)
Jason Clay (Senior Vice President of Food & Markets, World Wildlife Fund)

Panel discussion: “The role Venture Capital can play in driving innovation clusters and solving grand challenges at the nexus of food, agriculture and health”
Moderator: William Clark (Professor of International Science, Harvard Kennedy School),
Geoffrey Smith (Managing Director, Mars Grand Challenges Ventures, Mars, Incorporated),
Jagdeep Singh Bachher (CIO, UC Board of Regents),
Holden Thorp (Provost and Professor of Chemistry and Medicine, Washington University in St Louis),
Carl Schramm (University Professor, Syracuse University)  

Moderator’s summary and wrap-up of the panel discussions:
William Clark (Professor of International Science, Harvard Kennedy School)
 
Ceremony:
Appointment of Howard-Yana Shapiro (Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars, Incorporated) as a Mars Advanced Research Institute Fellow
Harold H. Schmitz (Chief Science Officer, Mars, Incorporated)
Alan Bennett (Distinguished Professor, Plant Sciences, UC Davis)
Stephen Badger (Mars, Incorporated)
Ralph Jerome (Vice President, Corporate Innovation, Mars, Incorporated)  

Closing comments by co-emcees:
Harold H. Schmitz (Chief Science Officer, Mars, Incorporated) and Heather Young (Associate Vice Chancellor for Nursing; Dean, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, UC Davis)