-- UC Davis associate professor Douglas Kelt has been elected to the board of directors of the American Society of Mammalogists. Kelt, of the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, specializes in the study of small-mammal communities in habitats from rain forests to deserts around the world. The American Society of Mammalogists was established in 1919 for the purpose of promoting the study of mammals.

-- Moon S. Chen Jr., professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine and head of the UC Davis Cancer Center's Cancer Control and Prevention Program, has been appointed co-chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Trans-HHS Cancer Health Disparities Progress Review Group. The group is charged with integrating all agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services to eliminate disparities in cancer awareness, prevention, early detection, incidence and treatment nationwide. Chen is also the principal investigator of an $8.5-million NCI-funded project to eliminate disparities in cancer incidence, awareness and early detection among Asian American populations.

-- Emil Rodolfa, director of the UC Davis Counseling Center, has been awarded the 2004 Distinguished Contributions of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training Award by the American Psychological Association. The award recognizes a psychologist for evidence-based applications to psychology and education. The association acknowledged Rodolfa's significant contributions to the applications of psychology through his work with multicultural issues, his accomplishments in professional boundary issues, his leadership roles in professional organizations and his editorial and reviewer skills.

-- Angela Davies, assistant professor of medicine at the UC Davis Cancer Center, was one of four research physicians nationwide selected for a Young Investigators training course offered by the Southwest Oncology Group, one of the largest of the National Cancer Institute-supported cancer clinical trials cooperative groups. Founded in 1999, the honor recognizes the growing need for an infusion of new investigators into the ranks of cancer researchers. Davies worked to develop a trial for advanced non-small lung cancer. The oncology group consists of more than 3,600 physician researchers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

-- The Endocrine Society has selected Phyllis Wise, dean of the UC Davis Division of Biological Sciences, to receive the 2004 Roy O. Greep Award Lecture for outstanding contributions to research in endocrinology. As the award recipient, she will present a plenary lecture at the society's annual meeting next June in New Orleans. Wise's research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating brain function during aging with particular emphasis on protective actions of estrogen during aging and after injury.

-- LaRue Park Child Development Center at UC Davis has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children -- the nation's leading organization of early childhood professionals. Programs are accredited by for a three-year period. To earn the accreditation, LaRue Park CDC conducted an extensive self-study to determine how well it meets the standards. The accuracy of the study was verified during a site visit, and the validated study was reviewed by a national commission.

-- Jennifer Beeman, director of the UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention Program since 1993, has been appointed to the Governor's Task Force on Sexual Assault. From 1984 to 1993, Beeman was the emergency services coordinator for Women Escaping a Violent Environment. She also was appointed by the Commission on the Status of Women to serve as a member of the State Advisory Committee on Sexual Assault Victim and Prevention Service and is a board member and council member of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and a board member of the Technical Assistance Program for Grants to Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women on Campuses.

-- Susan Williams, director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory and a professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy, has been elected a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Williams is an authority on the nutrient cycles, plant-animal interactions and restoration biology of near-shore marine communities, particularly seagrasses, seaweeds, coral reefs and invasive species. The fellows of the California Academy of Sciences govern the academy and are limited to 300. All are eminent scientists recognized for contributions to one or more of the natural sciences.

-- Economic historian Alan Olmstead has received the 2002-03 Arthur H. Cole Prize for the best article published in the Journal of Economic History. Olmstead and his co-author, Paul Rhode, achieved the unprecedented honor of being awarded first and second places. During 2002-03, they published two articles in the journal that topped the competition. "Hog Round Marketing, Mongrelized Seed, and Government Policy: Institutional Change in U.S. Cotton Production, 1920-60," which published in June, was awarded first place; and "The Red Queen and the Hard Reds: Productivity Growth in American Wheat, 1800-1940," published in December, placed second.

-- Leslie Sandberg, chief liaison officer for the UC Davis Health System, has been elected to the board of directors of Sacramento Healthcare Decisions, a non-profit organization committed to involving the public in health-care policy and practice issues. Sandberg will serve a three-year term. Two current projects of the organization are improving end-of-life care and addressing the issue of finite health-care resources. Sandberg serves as chief administrative officer for the Center for Healthy Aging, which provides community education, outreach and clinical care for older adults, and medical education and research in aging.

-- Neuroscientist Kim McAllister has won a 2003 John Merck Scholarship in the Biology of Developmental Disabilities in Children for promising research on mental disabilities. She will receive $300,000 over four years to study cellular mechanisms of mental retardation. McAllister, an assistant professor at the Center for Neuroscience and the Section of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, was among three scientists nationwide selected to receive the research award.