Entomology professor-artist Diane Ullman juried "The Consilience of Art and Science Exhibit" with James Housefield, professor of design at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
DAVIS--Scientists-artists Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, have been invited to present talks at the second annual TEDx programhosted at the University of California, Davis.
The theme of the daylong program, set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 19 in Room 1100 of Social Sciences and Humanities Building, is “The Power of Perspective."
Ullman and Billick are among some 14 speakers invited to discuss their research, discoveries or perspectives, which are meant to inform, enlighten and inspire. Each will speak for 15 minutes.
The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program is a pioneering program in the use of an art-science fusion paradigm in undergraduate education and community outreach.
Billick, a self-described rock artist whose work is exhibited in many countries of the world, will speak on "You See. Manifesting the Nature of Education" at 3:30 p.m. In addition to being the co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, Billick is the director of Billick Rock Art, based in Davis, and the director of Todos Artes in Baja..
Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will be at the podium at 3:45 p.m. on “Journey into the Art/Science Borderland: Transformations in Teaching and Learning.”
Diane Ullman
Ullman, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1995 and a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, researches insects that transmit plant pathogens, in particular plant viruses. She is best known for advancing international knowledge of interactions between thrips and tospoviruses and aphids and citrus tristeza virus. She also made important discoveries regarding host plant resistance to aphids and thrips and regarding the biology and vector competence of mealybugs, leafhoppers and whiteflies. Her contributions played a fundamental role in developing novel strategies for management of insects and plant viruses, ranging from use of induced resistance to RNA interference.
Ullman has authored nearly 100 refereed publications that have been cited 1,724 times in the scientific literature, and has also written for several trade journals and contributed chapters to books. She is known for innovative teaching strategies and has played a fundamental role in developing a Career Discovery Group Program for freshmen at UC Davis. Ullman advises graduate students in both entomology and plant pathology.
Ullman received her bachelor's degree in horticulture from the University of Arizona in 1976 and her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1985. She began her academic career in the Department of Entomology at the University of Hawaii-Manoa in Honolulu, Hawaii, relocating eight years later to UC Davis.
Among her honors and her awards: Ullman received the University of Hawaii Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching (1990), the Hawaiian Entomology Society Entomologist of the Year Award (1992), the University of Hawaii Regent’s Medal for Excellence in Research (1993), the USDA Higher Education Western Regional Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching (1993), and the UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community (2008). Her accomplishments also include distinguished lecturer for the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers.
Artist-scientist Donna Billick with her sculpture, "Miss Bee Haven," at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. She will present a TEDx talk on May 19 at UC Davis. (Photo b
Donna Billick
Billick toyed with a scientific career before opting for a career that fuses art with science. She received her bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master’s degree in fine arts in 1977, studying art with such masters as Bob Arneson, Roy De Forest, Wayne Thiebaud and Manuel Neri.
Billick traces her interest in an art career to the mid-1970s when then Gov. Jerry Brown supported the arts and offered the necessary resources to encourage the growth of art. He reorganized the California Arts Council, boosting its funding by 1300 percent.
The mid-1990s is when Billick and Ullman began teaching classes that fused art with science; those classes led to the formation of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
Billick’s work is displayed in numerous public and private collections, including the Oakland Museum, Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Carborundum Museum in New York, Richmond Art Center; Richard Nelson Gallery at UC Davis, William Sawyer Gallery in San Francisco and Mills College in Oakland.
Billick's work on the UC Davis campus includes "Miss Bee Haven," a six-foot long sculpture of a morphologically correct worker bee in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis; and the facility's colorful ceramic sign that features DNA symbols and almond blossoms. A hole drilled in the sign leads to a bee hive.
Her work in and around the city of Davis includes the whimsical "Dancing Pigs" sculpture and the "Cow Fountain," both in the Marketplace Shopping Center on Russell Boulevard; the "Mediation" sculpture at Central Park Gardens; and the "Frawns for Life" near the West Area Pond.
Billick maintains a compound in Baja, where she teaches three workshops a year called "Heaven on Earth."
TED
Launched in 1984 in Monterey, TED or “Technology, Entertainment and Design,” is a global set of conferences providing “riveting talks by remarkable people.” TEDx, created in the spirit of TED's mission's "ideas worth spreading,” is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. They are intended to spark deep conversation and connections. TEDx sponsors charge an attendance fee for the daylong programs (the UC Davis event will include lunch and demonstrations), but the webcasts may be viewed on the internet for free.
The UC Davis event, limited to 400 persons, was sold out in two hours. It will be livestreamed (free) worldwide and will be a permanent part of the TEDx video programs that can be accessed by all.
Watch and Listen to Their TEDx talks Posted May 19, 2012
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894