The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) is unique among land grant universities nationwide in integrating the biological, agricultural, and physical sciences into one organizational framework. CNAS is the oldest of five colleges and professional schools at UCR.
The teaching and research traditions of the College go back to the founding of the Citrus Experiment Station in 1906, predating the establishment of Riverside as a general campus of the University of Califomia by almost 50 years. Within two decades, the experiment station achieved a reputation as the world's leading research institution in studies of citrus and subtropical horticulture. The establishment of a College of Agriculture in 1960 was followed by steady growth and a series of mergers with other disciplines leading to the 1974 formation of the present College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.
Today, college faculty are renowned not only for agricultural research, but also for their contributions in their biological physical sciences. Riverside's biomedical scientists are widely recognized for elucidating the role of vitamin D in human metabolism, leading to new and effective treatment of diseases of the bone and kidney. The x-ray crystallography group has gained international recognition for its three-dimensional analyses of biological molecules, a technology vital to rational drug design. In analytical chemistry researchers have pioneered methods for the detection of metabolites in biological fluids and in intact cells by magnetic resonance. High energy particle physics research conducted by College physicists, as part of an international collaboration, led to discovery of the long-sought "W" and "Z" particles -- key factors in the quest to understand the forces of nature and the origin of the universe.
Researchers in the College continue to explore new frontiers in agriculture. Tissue culture techniques developed by College faculty laid the foundation for modern plant biotechnology and are now used around the world. Environmental scientists have developed novel strategies for toxic waste cleanup using microorganisms that degrade synthetic and natural compounds. Entomologists have applied genetic engineering to develop new, environmentally safe microbial insecticides. Three College departments -- Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Soil and Environmental Sciences -- have consistently ranked among the nation's top five in their fields.