INDEX
- Jay Lund, distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering
- David Olson, associate professor, departments of Chemistry, and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
- Sarah Messbauer, research development specialist, Interdisciplinary Research Support
- William Jackson, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Chemistry
- David Block, professor, departments of Chemical Engineering, and Viticulture and Enology
- Gabriel “Jack” Chin, professor, School of Law
- Jay Rosenheim, distinguished professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology
- Leigh Ann Simmons, professor, Department of Human Ecology
- Kevin R. Johnson, dean, School of Law
- Courtney Joslin, professor, School of Law
- Leticia M. Saucedo, professor, School of Law
- Raquel Aldana, professor, School of Law
Jay Lund recently received an international prize for his work in water management and protection — an award established by the late Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.
Lund is a distinguished professor of civil and environmental engineering, and the director of the Center for Watershed Sciences. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018.
The Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water is given every two years in five categories: water management and protection, surface water, groundwater, alternative water resources and creativity.
The prize council noted Lund’s development of the CALifornia Value Integrated Network, or CALVIN, a water supply optimization model that couples traditional water supply criteria with economic considerations.
“CALVIN was successful in reshaping and optimizing water planning and management in California, with substantial improvements to the public welfare,” the council declared in its overview of Lund. “Other countries around the world, including Mexico and Spain, have developed large-scale economic-engineering optimization models with CALVIN as their backbone.
“His work shows how the natural and social sciences can inform public policy in a challenging political environment and contribute to regional water conflict resolution.”
David Olson, whose research focuses on psychedelic compounds with potential to treat depression, anxiety disorders and addiction, recently received a young-investigator award from the American Society for Neurochemistry.
Nominees for the Jordi Folch-Pi Memorial Award must be no more than 10 years out from receiving their Ph.D.s, The award honors its recipient for a high level of research competence and originality, and for significantly advancing the knowledge of neurochemistry, and showing a high degree of potential for future accomplishments.
Olson, an associate professor, holds joint appointments in the departments of Chemistry, and Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. He was a 2018 Hellman Fellow and has received mentoring awards from the School of Medicine and the University Honors Program.
— Becky Oskin, content strategist, College of Letters and Science
Sarah Messbauer, research development specialist on the Interdisciplinary Research Support team, has been recognized as a 2020 Rising Star by the National Organization of Research Development Professionals, which cited her for “distinctive contributions” to the Member Services Committee and to the organization.
As a leader of the Member Services Committee, she drafted Access Guidelines for Presenters, providing practical steps to make conference sessions and presentations accessible to attendees with permanent or temporary disabilities and/or special needs.
The organization also cited her for co-facilitating a professional development workshop, co-managing the Ambassador Program and New Member Orientation and Networking, and co-hosting a new member networking dinner.
The American Physical Society has chosen William Jackson, distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry, to receive its Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize for 2021. The prize honors “outstanding contributions to physics by a single individual who also has exceptional skills in lecturing to diverse audiences.”
Jackson was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1995. His research on chemical reactions in asteroids and comets provided fundamental information about the universe. In 1996, the Planetary Society named an asteroid in his honor: Billjackson (asteroid 1081 EE37). He is also the recipient of the Arthur B.C. Walker II Award from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
He helped found local and national programs promoting diversity in science, including the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers.
Jackson was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2004 and is a recipient of the association’s Lifetime Mentor Award. He also has received the Catholic University of America Alumni Achievement Award in Science and the Morehouse College Bennie Trailblazer Award.
— Becky Oskin
Newly-elected fellows:
- David Block, American Institute of Chemical Engineers — He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Department of Viticulture and Enology, where he is the Marvin Sands Department Chair and holds the Ernest Gallo Endowed Chair. “It has been important to me in my career to stay connected to the chemical engineering community, even as I focus most of my efforts on viticulture and enology, not a common focus among others in my discipline,” Block said. “It is, therefore, especially satisfying to be recognized by peers in chemical engineering for my research and teaching, as well as my extensive service to this professional society.” — John Stumbos, senior writer, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Gabriel “Jack” Chin, American Bar Foundation — He holds the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Endowed Chair and is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor. He is a scholar of immigration law, criminal procedure, and race and law. Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, established nearly 70 years ago, “comprise a global honorary society dedicated to the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law.” Fellows include attorneys, judges, law school faculty and other legal scholars whose public and private careers have “demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities.” — School of Law
- Jay Rosenheim, Entomological Society of America — A distinguished professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the Center for Population Biology, he is known for his research on the ecology of insect parasitoids and predators, and insect reproductive behavior, and for his work in the application of big-data methods in agricultural entomology. “Jay’s substantial contributions to basic and applied entomology are world-renowned, and clearly merit his election as a fellow of the ESA,” said Steve Nadler, professor and chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology. — Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist with the Department of Entomology and Nematology
- Leigh Ann Simmons, American Academy of Health Behavior — Simmons, professor and chair of the Department of Human Ecology is the director of the Health Equity Across the Lifespan, or HEAL, Lab, and co-director of the Perinatal Origins of Disparities Center. “As a scientist committed to research for social justice, I am grateful for the acknowledgement of my work and for the opportunity to leverage this honor in continued service of our most vulnerable people living in the U.S.,” she said. — John Stumbos
More from the School of Law:
- Dean Kevin R. Johnson, named editor of the SSRN Legal Research Network’s Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Law eJournal. Johnson is the law school’s Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies at UC Davis.
- Courtney Joslin, elected to the American Law Institute, widely considered the nation’s most prestigious nongovernmental legal-reform organization. Joslin is an expert in the areas of family and relationship recognition, with a particular focus on same-sex and unmarried couples.
- Leticia M. Saucedo, elected to College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a nonprofit professional association honoring the leading lawyers nationwide in the practice of labor and employment law.
- Raquel Aldana, appointed chair of the American Bar Association’s Latin America and Caribbean Law Initiative Council, and a member of . the Rule of Law Initiative Board. Her scholarship has focused on transitional justice, criminal justice reforms, and sustainable development in Latin America, as well as immigrant rights in the United States.
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