LAURELS: Desert Tortoise Council pays tribute to Brian Todd

IN THIS COLUMN
- Brian Todd, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Susan M. Kauzlarich, college of letters and sciences
- Carlito B. Lebrilla, college of letters and sciences
- Philip P. Power, college of letters and sciences
- Ashlee Hauble, college of letters and sciences
- Geoffrey Attardo, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Erin “Taylor” Kelly, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Gwendolyn “Gwen” Erdosh College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Fernanda S. Valdovinos, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Emilie Roncali, School of Medicine and College of Engineering
- Kathy Keatley Garvey, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Russ Hovey, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Victor Preciado, College of Biological Sciences
- Rosaiela Rodriguez, school of education
- Laurent Worrel, College of Engineering
The Desert Tortoise Council recently honored Professor Brian Todd and two other researchers for giving endangered turtle species a head start in life, that is, breeding them in captivity until they are large enough to survive in the wild.
Todd, of the Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, shares the Robert C. Stebbins Research Award with Principal Investigator Tracey Tuberville and Senior Research Associate Kurt Buhlmann at Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. Todd is an alumnus of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and the Savannah River Lab.
Ken McDonald, Chairman of the Board of the Desert Tortoise Council, congratulated the trio for “exemplary research and contributions to the conservation of desert tortoises.”
“Specifically,” he wrote in a letter to researchers, “your collaborative efforts have provided valuable new information on options for raising hatchling turtles to sizes likely to be less susceptible to predators, rapid growth methods, potentially effective locations (microhabitats) for release into the nature, survival in different conditions after liberation, and many other topics.
“Without your leadership and efforts, the science of good start would not have reached the level it has reached today.”
Stebbins (1915-2013), after whom the prize is named, was a renowned herpetologist, professor at UC Berkeley and curator of the university’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. He “played a big role in lobbying the California Sens. Alan Cranston and Dianne Feinstein to set aside the Mojave Desert as a reservation,” according to the obituary prepared by Berkeley’s media relations team.
Three chemistry professors and a graduate student are among the recipients of the 2022 awards presented recently by the American Chemical Society, or ACS:
- Professor Emeritus Susan M. Kauzlarich — ACS National Award in Inorganic Chemistry
- Professor Emeritus Carlito B. Lebrilla — Frank H. Field and Joe L. Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry
- Professor Emeritus Philip P. Power — Mr. Frederick Hawthorne Prize in Inorganic Chemistry from the main group
- Ashlee Hauble from the Kauzlarich Lab—Winner of the Graduate Student Poster Award for Solid State Chemistry in the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the ACS
assistant professor Geoffrey Attardo and two students from the Department of Entomology and Nematology recently received awards from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America.
- delay, a medical entomologist-geneticist — Medical, urban and veterinary entomology prize
- Medecine studient Erin “Taylor” Kelly of the Attardo laboratory — Student Leadership Award
- First cycle Gwendolyn “Gwen” Erdosh from the Louie Yang Lab — Dr. Stephen Garczynski’s first undergraduate research fellowship
Read this article in Entomology and Nematology News.
The Ecological Society of America, or ESA, has elected Fernanda S. Valdovinos as an Early Career Fellow. The Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy will retain the title for five years.
Valdovinos was selected for his major contributions to the ecological theory of food webs and the study of webs in ecology. She has also made a major contribution to the promotion of underrepresented groups in ecology.
ESA Early Career Fellows are members within eight years of completing their doctoral training who have advanced ecological knowledge and applications and who promise to continue to make outstanding contributions to a range of fields.
Emilie Roncali was named the recipient of the Tracy Lynn Faber Memorial Award, given annually by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging to support the advancement of women in the medical imaging sciences.
An appointed assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at UC Davis Health and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Roncali works on two fronts: basic research on imaging technology to improve image quality and translational research to clinic to determine the optimal effective radiation dose for patients treated with radiotherapy.
Faber (1960-2012) was a medical imaging scientist and biomedical engineer who made significant and significant contributions to the development of processes, techniques, algorithms, software, and protocols for quantitative modeling, display, and analysis in research and clinical nuclear cardiology.
The award is given either to an individual who has significantly promoted the advancement of women in medical imaging sciences, or, as in Roncali’s case, to an early or mid-career woman who has brought or more significant contributions to medical imaging science. .
Communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey from the Department of Entomology and Nematology is once again a recipient of the Association for Communication Excellence, or ACE, International Awards Program.
She won a gold medal (first place) in the “writing for newspapers” category, for a report on Rebecca Jean “RJ” Millena, published in March 2021, a few months before Millena obtained her bachelor’s degree in entomology. .
The story, “An Amazing PhD Opportunity Few Receive,” centered on Millena’s full four-year doctoral fellowship from the American Museum of Natural History.
Garvey won a second place for his photo report entitled “The Flight of the Bumblebee”, published on June 14, 2021, on his daily newspaper (Monday to Friday) bug squad blog on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources website.
Learn more about rewards.
NACADA Region 9, “the global academic advising community,” recently presented four awards to UC Davis faculty and staff. Region 9 includes California, Nevada, Hawaii, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.
UC Davis Award Winners:
- Russ Hovey, Professor, Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences — Excellence in Counseling Award in the Educational Counselor Category
- Victor Preciado, Academic Advisor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neurobiology, Physiology and Behaviour, Biology Academic Success Center, College of Biological Sciences — Award for Excellence in Counseling in New Advisor Category
- Rosaiela Rodriguez, Associate Director, Capital Area North Doctorate in Educational Leadership, or CANDEL, School of Education — Certificate of Merit in the Consulting Director Category
- Laurent Worrel, Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering—Advisory Excellence Award in the Principal Role of Adviser Category
Dateline UC Davis welcomes faculty and staff award news for publication in Laurels. Send the information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.