51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

Graduate students from around 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ are bound for the state Capitol on Wednesday (March 16) to meet with lawmakers for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Graduate Research Advocacy Day. The students will be talking up the important and audacious research that is taking place every day across 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ campuses and graduate programs — research that is relevant in California and beyond.

Here are the 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis representatives:

Jacqueline Barkoski, doctoral student in epidemiology, is investigating a possible link between a common household pesticide and an increased risk for autism. She’s testing 170 pregnant women for traces of pyrethoid pesticide, a common substance in household and industrial sprays, to see if the women’s exposure to the pesticide while pregnant has an effect on their unborn children, in terms of them having an increased likelihood of developing autism.