Center Directors

Elizabeth Mitcham, PhD, Center Director
Telephone: (530) 752-7512
Email: ejmitcham@ucdavis.edu

Beth Mitcham has served as Director of the Postharvest Technology Center since 2010. She maintains a very active program which also includes serving as Associate Director of the Horticulture Collaborative Reswearch Support Program (HortCRSP), and as a Postharvest Pomologist and Cooperative Extension Specialist with the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. The focus of her research and extension program is the postharvest biology and technology of fruits, especially apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, as well as almonds and walnuts.

In addition to studies on harvest maturity, storage conditions and flavor quality, her program focuses on regulation of fruit ripening and cellular regulation of calcium deficiency disorders. Additionally, her program is actively developing strategies for postharvest insect control in harvested and exported commodities, including citrus and table grapes.

Carlos H. Crisosto, PhD, Associate Director
Phone: (530) 752-7549
Email: chcrisosto@ucdavis.edu

Carlos Crisosto began serving as Associate Director of the Postharvest Technology Center in 2011. His active program is based out of both the Kearney Agricultural Center as well as the UC Davis campus. The focus of his research and extension program is the postharvest biology and technology of fruits, especially peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, table grapes, figs, kiwifruits, olives, and persimmons, as well as pistachios, almonds and walnuts.

The goal of his research program is to develop a better understanding of the orchard factors and postharvest factors that control fruit flavor and shelf life and to develop technology to overcome fruit industry problems. He is applying genomic techniques to identify gene(s) responsible for fruit sensory attributes (both desirable and undesirable), and investigating physiological disorders such as chilling injury.