Gov. Schwarzenegger and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet presided June 12 at a UC Davis signing ceremony that renewed the decades-old California-Chile partnership in research and education.

The dignitaries took a brief tour in a university vineyard before their 15-car motorcade sped along closed-off roads to the heart of campus. Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef and an audience of 200 people awaited in Freeborn Hall, where the chancellor opened the signing ceremony by commenting on the "40-year foundation of academic, business and governmental collaborations between the people of California and the people of Chile."

Research, teaching connections

Vanderhoef and Dean Neal Van Alfen of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences joined Chilean officials in signing two memoranda of understanding for UC Davis collaboration with Chile on research and teaching in grape growing and winemaking, and crop genetics and breeding.

California and Chilean officials signed two other memoranda of understanding, one for cooperation between California and Chile on ecosystem management and water conservation, and the other an educational partnership with the California State University system.

Later, during a private luncheon at the chancellor's residence, Vanderhoef presented Bachelet with the UC Davis Medal, the highest honor the campus accords. It acknowledges contributions to the university or the broader community of learning.

Schwarzenegger said the new agreements "solidify the already strong relationship" between California and Chile that goes back to 1963 and the Kennedy presidency. Two years later, the UC system and the University of Chile launched a convenio, or agreement, that sent UC Davis professors to Chile and brought Chilean graduate students to UC campuses.

Vanderhoef said UC Davis has been "at the center of those collaborations from the very beginning." He noted the importance of such global outreach and cooperation: "Students, scholars and researchers of the world truly are so important in turning boundaries into bridges."

Under the convenio, more than 50 Chilean students came to UC Davis for graduate training in the agricultural sciences in the 1960s and '70s. They became known in Chile as the "Davis boys," and are widely credited with helping to develop their country as one of the world's leading exporters of fresh fruit — a transformation that contributes to the South American nation's rising standard of living.

The "Davis boys" included Carlos Fernandes, who today directs Chile's agricultural research division and who accompanied Bachelet on her visit to campus. Fernandes studied at UC Davis from 1973 to 1978, when he received his doctorate in plant physiology.

"To see this agreement signed today, I can see that many of the younger professionals in my country are going to take the same pathway that I was fortunate to take," Fernandes said. He called the renewed partnership "fantastic" and said he is eager to see Chilean and California scientists working side by side.

'Good partners'

Bachelet told the Freeborn Hall audience that the Chileans are not asking for help, as they did 40 years ago, but are offering themselves as "good partners" in the agricultural and wine sectors, and in new areas of collaboration: energy development and climate change.

Earlier, in the Hopkins Vineyard west of Highway 113, viticulture and enology major Alysha Stehly and Professor Andrew Walker escorted the governor and president through a vineyard featuring grape varieties from around the world.

Stehly, who visited Chile last summer with the Davis Viticulture and Enology Organization, or DEVO, a student group, said her meeting with the president capped her college career — coming three days before her graduation.

She said the California-Chile partnership exemplifies UC Davis' mission "to find the next new thing, to be on the cutting edge of research and development, so the wine industry can keep moving forward and thrive."

Indeed, Walker and Professor Andrew Waterhouse, chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology, noted how Chile offers researchers the opportunity to collect twice as much data in half the time. "One of the advantages is, their growing season is six months out of sync with ours."

Chile and California are in opposite hemispheres, so summertime in California is winter in Chile, and vice versa. Climate and topography is similar in Chile and California, and they grow similar crops, so "we can easily replicate our experiments," Waterhouse said.

Walker described one area of research: developing grape plants that can better withstand high salinity in irrigation water. Salinity is not a problem when irrigation water is plentiful, because the water flushes away the salt. But, with water supplies dwindling, and farmers irrigating less, more salt sticks around.

'Thinking big'

An overarching problem, Bachelet and Schwarzenegger agreed, is the need for infrastructure improvements, in particular water projects to satisfy greater demand and to deal with drought, such as the state is coping with now — as evidenced by the governor's recent drought disaster declaration.

The leaders said they discussed infrastructure while driving from Sacramento to Davis — and both talked about "thinking big."

Bachelet said government must deal with all the "urgent issues, but not forget about the big things." As Schwarzenegger put it: "Big visions solve problems."