Meet Our Team

Our interdisciplinary team brings an extraordinary array of expertise to bear on the study of the visual system.

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Our Research

CVS is committed to the expansion and growth of the vision research community, both in terms of faculty recruitment and new research facilities.

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CVS Symposium

Each Year the Center for Vision Sciences hosts a one-day symposium dedicated to basic and translational science in vision at UC Davis.

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Supporting CVS Research

The Center for Visual Sciences benefits greatly from donations.

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Contact Us

Any questions? Find the contact information.

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The primary goal of the Center for Vision Sciences (CVS) is to foster collaborative interactions between and among clinical and basic scientists from across the campus to advance our understanding of the visual system, and how to use that knowledge to improve clinical care.
goal and mission

Mission Statement

The University of California at Davis is home to one of the largest and most successful assemblies of Vision Research faculty, and Ophthalmic Care providers in the nation. Faculty are drawn from 16 departments in 5 schools and colleges, including the School of Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Biological Sciences, and College of Engineering. This team includes a wide array of expertise including molecular biologists, psychologists, physiologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians, engineers, and clinical ophthalmologists from both human and veterinary medicine. The UC Davis Center for Vision Science was created to catalyze interactions between and among researchers and clinicians from different disciplines to advance our understanding of the visual system, and how to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases of the Visual System.

Award Winning Faculty

CVS faculty have earned many national and international awards for their research including the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Award (aka the "Genius Grant"), the Proctor Medal and Cogan Awards from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences, a Howard Hughes Assistant Investigator position from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Jules and Doris Stein Professorship from Research to Prevent Blindness, four Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship Awards, E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind, Pew Scholars program in the Biomedical Sciences, Merck Scholar's Award, Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award, Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award, two U.S. Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, Klingenstein Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences, McKnight Scholar Award, Humboldt-Preis Award, MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging, Pisart Vision Award from Lighthouse International, the Hellman Family Foundation Fellowship, and the Lifetime Career Award from the American Veterinary Foundation, among others.

Research Support

UC Davis' Center for Vision Science comprise one of the largest and most successful vision science programs in the nation. In recognition of UCD's strength in Vision Research, UCD was awarded a National Eye Institute Core Facilities Grant (now in its 26th year), and a National Eye Institute Training Grant (now in its 21rst year), making the UCD CVS one of the few vision science programs in the nation to hold both awards. The NEI Core Facilities Grant supports Structure-Function Module, Software Engineering, Large Animal Imaging, Molecular Construct and Packaging, and Small Animal Ocular Imaging modules (detailed under Resources). The NEI Training Grant supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows studying many aspects of vision research from all sectors of the campus. The goal of this training program is to provide Trainees a rigorous foundation in both the fundamental scientific basis and the clinical relevance of vision science, in order to broaden the perspective and skills of future vision scientists.