For Turning Food Waste into Renewable Energy, Professor is Named Climate Crisis Champion
Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Ruihong Zhang has received the 2026 Yolo County Climate Crisis Champion award from Rep. Mike Thompson, who serves California’s fourth congressional district.
Each year, Rep. Thompson gives the award to community members across the congressional district, which spans from Lake County in the north to Yolo County in the south, to honor their outstanding efforts to address the ongoing climate crisis.
Zhang’s research explores how agricultural waste can be diverted into beneficial and productive systems. This includes creating edible products made from mushrooms that feast on food waste to dairy byproducts that serve as the basis for environmentally friendly bioplastics.
In 2014, Zhang spearheaded the development of the UC Davis Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester, or READ, a facility that converts 20 tons of food waste into renewable energy and biofertilizers every day.
“Dr. Zhang has helped transform the ecological health of Yolo County through her research,” Rep. Thompson said. “Through her work developing READ, Dr. Zhang has helped to both protect our climate by disposing of waste sustainably and benefit our economy by providing cheap electricity, fuel and fertilizer. I am honored to name Dr. Ruihong Zhang a Climate Crisis Champion.”
