For a paper published in 1997, James Wilen recently received the Publication of Enduring Quality award from the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

Wilen joined UC Davis in 1979; he is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, and director of the Center for Natural Resource Policy Analysis.

He shared the award with Frances Homans of the University of Minnesota, for “A Model of Regulated Open Access Resource Use,” published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. The paper showed how the dynamics of resource exploitation are driven by the interplay among biological mechanisms, economic incentives and regulatory behavior.

The association presents the Publication of Enduring Quality award annually for a work of seminal value and lasting impact on the profession. “A Model of Regulated Open Access Resource Use” provided “surprising conclusions that change the prevailing view, together with an elegant explanation for the mechanisms at work that lead to new views about important policy issues,” according to the association.

The award presentation took place in early June in Seattle, during the association’s inaugural summer conference.

•••

ASM International announced that Subhash Mahajan, distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, will receive the society’s Albert Easton White Distinguished Teaching Award.

The award’s namesake was a founding member of the society and served as president in 1921 when it was known as the American Society for Steel Treating. Subsequently it became the American Society for Metals and then, simply, ASM.

The award recognizes unusually long and devoted service in teaching as well as significant accomplishments in materials science and engineering, and an unusual ability to inspire and to impart enthusiasm to students. Indeed, the society cited Mahajan as “an inspiring teacher who develops critical thinking in classrooms and deftly guides his research students”

The society presents the White award to one person a year — and selected Mahajan as the recipient for 2013. The presentation is planned during the society’s annual meeting that year.

Mahajan, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, joined the UC Davis faculty in 2010, coming from Arizona State University, where he served as the chair of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering and then as the founding director of the School of Materials.

He is a fellow of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, and received its educator award in 2004.

•••

The Ecological Society of America has recognized Donald Strong for his long and distinguished service to the society and the larger community of science.

Strong, a professor of evolution and ecology, specializes in research on the feeding relationships in ecosystems; salt marsh ecology; and the ecology, ethics and policies related to biological controls. He began his work with the society almost a decade ago, serving as editor-in-chief of its flagship journal, Ecology.

The society noted that he “has shepherded this journal through controversial changes and difficult times, while maintaining high quality and substantially increasing its efficiency for authors and reviewers.”

The award presentation is set to take place in August in Austin, Texas, during the society’s annual meeting.

•••

Professors James Carey and Diane Ullman have been elected fellows of the Entomological Society of America.

The 6,000-member international society bestows this honor on no more than 10 people a year, in recognition of outstanding contributions in one or more of the following categories: research, teaching, extension and administration.

The 2011 fellows are due to be inducted in November in Reno, during the society’s annual meeting.

Carey, who joined the Department of Entomology faculty in 1980, is considered by many to be the world’s foremost authority on arthropod demography, and is an expert on the demography and invasion biology of fruit flies, particularly the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Ullman joined the entomology faculty in 1995, and her research revolves around insects that transmit plant pathogens, particularly plant viruses. She is a former department chair and now serves as associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Read more about Carey and Ullman.

•••

After serving for a year as president-elect, Peter E. Sokolove, professor and vice chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Emergency Medicine, has assumed the leadership of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

With more than 2,600 members, the chapter represents about 80 percent of California’s board-certified emergency physicians.

“This is a challenging time for emergency medicine and for patients who rely on California’s emergency departments,” said Sokolove, who becomes the chapter’s primary political voice. “I look forward to seeking solutions to those challenges and improving emergency care for California’s patients.”

Sokolove specializes in the treatment of critically ill and injured patients and has lectured widely on a range of topics, from the diagnosis and management of medical and traumatic emergencies to the hazards that emergency health care workers face while delivering care.

He received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Education in 2009 and the California Emergency Medical Residents Award in 2008.

•••

The nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization recently recognized the UC Davis Medical Center as a leader in health care equality, based on the quality of health care services and policies affecting sexual minorities and their families.

In its 2011 Healthcare Equality Index, the New York-based Human Rights Campaign Foundation gave “leader” status to 27 medical centers around the country, citing them for putting their values of inclusion into practice by protecting LGBT patients and employees from discrimination, ensuring equal visitation access and providing all staff with training on LGBT cultural competence.

Notably, the UC Davis Medical Center educates its health care staff on the critical importance of discussing sexual identity and orientation with their patients.

“Just as it is helpful for a clinician to know a patient’s race, ethnicity and preferred language,” said Ann Madden Rice, chief executive officer, “knowing a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity provides health care professionals with important insights into their patients’ lives, which in turn allows them to make well-informed diagnoses and recommendations.”

In addition, UC Davis is working to include sexual identity and gender information in patients’ electronic health records. The coordinated effort to use technology to enhance health and reduce health disparities is the first of its kind in the United States, Rice said.

•••

Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.