Honors and Awards

Christina Pasparakis Wins UC Davis Award for Innovation and Creative Vision

Environmental toxicologist Christina Pasparakis, who is an assistant professor based at Bodega Marine Laboratory, is the winner of the 2024 UC Davis Award for Innovation and Creative Vision. 

The prize is funded by Susie and alum Riley Bechtel and supports outstanding non-tenured early career faculty. It comes with a $40,000 research award that Pasparakis plans to use to launch a long-term community-based microplastic monitoring program in the Bodega Marine Reserve. 

Tessa Hill named Rachel Carson Lecture recipient

Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor Tessa Hill is the recipient of the 2023 Rachel Carson Lecture, the American Geophysical Union, or AGU, announced this month. The honor is bestowed upon individuals for meritorious work or service toward the advancement and promotion of discovery and solution science. 

Mandy Rousseau is a 2023 NACADA Global Outstanding Advising Award Recipient

Congratulations to Mandy Rousseau, advisor for the Marine and Coastal Science major, who was selected from a very competitive field for a 2023 NACADA Global Outstanding Advising award.

From the award notification: "Established in 1983, the NACADA Global Awards Program for Academic Advising honors individuals and institutions making significant impact on academic advising. NACADA is a representative and advocate of academic advising and those providing that service to higher education.”

Brian Gaylord Receives 2023 Distinguished Teaching Award

Brian Gaylord, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, part of the College of Biological Sciences, has been awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching. An enthusiastic and passionate lecturer, Professor Gaylord creates a learning environment that supports students tackling difficult topics, together. He emphasizes critical thinking and understanding processes over memorization, and he engages students in effective and thought-provoking ways.

13 Honored as Chancellor’s Fellows

Two professors and 11 associate professors have been honored with an additional title: Chancellor’s Fellow.

“Our newest fellows represent the very best of UC Davis and I congratulate them,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in announcing the new fellows. “The knowledge, expertise and excellence these faculty demonstrate across a range of disciplines positively impacts our university’s mission of research, teaching and public service.”

Dr. Rachael Bay selected by Popular Science as one of “The Brilliant 10”

Congratulations to Dr. Rachael Bay, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at University of California, Davis, who was recently selected by Popular Science as one of “The Brilliant 10: The top up-and-coming minds in science”. 

Bay developed an approach that could help make specific predictions about how at-risk species might evolve over the coming decades. “Injecting evolution into conservation questions is really quite novel,” she says.