- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Our newest fellows represent the very best of UC Davis and I congratulate them,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in announcing the new fellows in a UC Davis news release. “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.”
Eleven of the 13 are associate professors and two are professors. Vannette is the only Chancellor's Fellow selected in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Of the 13, five represent the College of Letters and Science.
"An international leader in microbial ecology, she studies interactions between plants, insects and microbes," according to the news release. "Her research projects focus on the chemical an microbial ecology of plant-pollinator interactions and how microbes influence plant defense and resistance against insect pests. For example her research found that microbial species on plants contribute to floral scent and influence the attractiveness of nectar to pollinators."
"It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Vannette is a rising star in the biological and agricultural sciences at UC Davis," said Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The 2022-23 Chancellor's Fellows:
Marcela Cuellar, associate professor, School of Education
Melanie Gareau, associate professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine
J. Sebastian Gomez-Diaz, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Rana Jaleel, associate professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, College of Letters and Science
Wilsaan Joiner, professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences
Xiaodong Li, associate professor, Department of Statistics, College of Letters and Science
David Olson, associate professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Letters and Science
Caitlin Patler, associate professor, Department of Sociology, College of Letters and Science
Jessica Bissett Perea, associate professor, Department of Native American Studies, College of Letters and Science
Zubair Shafiq, associate professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering
Karen Shapiro, associate professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine
Aaron Tang, professor, School of Law
Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Vannette, who holds a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology (2011) from the University of Michigan, was selected a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2018.
"All plants are colonized by microorganisms that influence plant traits and interactions with other species, including insects that consume or pollinate plants," she says. "I am interested in the basic and applied aspects of microbial contributions to the interaction between plants and insects. I also use these systems to answer basic ecological questions, such as what mechanisms influence plant biodiversity and trait evolution."
The Vannette lab is a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects.
“Much of the work in my lab focuses on how microorganisms affect plant defense against herbivores and plant attraction to pollinators,” Vannette related. “For example, we are interested in understanding the microbial drivers of soil health, which can influence plant attractiveness to herbivores and the plant's ability to tolerate or defend against damage by herbivores. In addition, we are working to examine how microorganisms modify flower attractiveness to pollinators. This may have relevance in agricultural systems to improve plant and pollinator health.”
Her recent research grants include two from the National Science Federation (NSF). One is a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, titled “Nectar Chemistry and Ecological and Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation to Microbes and Pollinators.” The other is a three-year collaborative grant, “The Brood Cell Microbiome of Solitary Bees: Origin, Diversity, Function, and Vulnerability.”
"UC Davis has named 191 faculty members as Chancellor's Fellows over the program's 23-year history, with philanthropic support from the UC Davis Annual Fund, Davis Chancellor's Club and the UC Davis Parents Fund," according to the UC Davis news story.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology earlier celebrated two Chancellor's Fellows:
2019: Molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, then associate professor and now professor and vice chair of the department
2015: Pollinator ecologist Neal Williams, then associate professor and now professor
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Dyer was selected the recipient of the honorable mention award, or second place, in the highly competitive service award category of the Citation for Excellence program, for his service to the Bohart Museum, Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the public. He was nominated by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, and Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (See Bug Squad blog)
Berks received a Staff Assembly scholarship to work toward her master's degree in cybersecurity at National University. A member of the Phoenix Cluster Information Technology (IT) team since December 2018, she recently accepted a promotion to join the Campus Information and Educational Technology (IET) Security Operations Center. Her last day with the Phoenix Cluster IT team was Sept. 2.
The annual Staff Assembly Award presentation took place Monday, Sept. 12 in the Alpha Gamma Rho Hall of the Walter J. Buehler Alumni Center. Awards presented included citations of excellence, a faculty and staff partnership award, and staff and staff dependent scholarships. (See list of award winners)
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May congratulated the recipients.
In his remarks, Chancellor May told the crowd: "This is truly an exciting time for UC Davis. I hope you heard that we were ranked #2 nationally among public universities in Washington Monthly's 2022 Guide and Rankings. On top of that, UC Davis retained its No. 4 public university ranking in America's Top College List 2022 by Forbes. In some places UC Davis is the top, such as No. 1 for sustainabilty. UC Davis is also ranked No. 1 in the nation for diversity, inclusiveness and internationalization. And, we recently set a university record by attracting more than $1 billion in annual research awards. Fewer than 20 universities in the country can claim this."
"I could go on," the chancellor continued, "but the fact of the matter is that we are doing great work at UC Davis, and each of you are a part of this effort. I know how important your expertise, experience and institutional memory are to advancing the university's success. It's sometimes difficult to appreciate how our individual contributions make a difference in the 'big picture.' But every day, the work of staff are critical to our university projects, our operations and our campus environment."
The chancellor pointed out: "These behind-the-scene efforts are what keep UC Davis humming and in tune with our mission of excellence in teaching, research and public service. They are a big part of what your university and Staff Assembly recognizes and thanks you for today. The individuals and teams we honor this afternoon have gone 'above and beyond' all expectations to make UC Davis a more enjoyable, creative, inclusive and invigorating place to work.
He added: "I am proud of all UC Davis staff, but the individuals and teams we honor this afternoon have gone above and beyond in contributing to the university's success. Thank you so much for your outstanding contributions to UC Davis. Our university is a better place today because of your accomplishments, because of your hard work and because of your inspiring dedication to excellence."
In all, the UC Davis Staff Assembly awarded individual honors in five categories for its Citation of Excellence program: innovation, mentorship, service, supervision, and teaching, as well as a team award and a faculty and staff partnership award. The Staff Assembly also awarded scholarships to campus and UC Davis Health staff and staff dependents.
Jennifer Jackson, chair of the UC Davis Staff Assembly, and Jana Avila, chair of the UC Davis Health Staff Assembly, welcomed the crowd. Jackson serves as the Academic Program analyst in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Dean's Office, and works with undergraduate student data for the college. Avila is the Affiliate Network manager.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
COVID-19 vaccines--in addition to saliva tests and sewage tests--will be covered at the UC Davis COVID Symposium on Wednesday, Jan. 13.
The new addition to the panel is UC Davis Health physician Stuart Cohen, chief of the Division of infectious diseases and director, Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, "who is running vaccine trials will answer your questions about vaccines," said UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, the organizer and moderator.
Registration is underway at https://bit.ly/2Li9pnV. The public is invited to submit advance questions and also may ask questions during the symposium via the Zoom chat.
“Dr. Cohen is leading a Phase 3 clinical trial of the Novavax vaccine called NVX-CoV2373,” said Leal. “This vaccine has a subunit from the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and it's combined with an adjuvant, a boosting agent to improve the body's immune response to the vaccine."
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May will deliver the opening remarks. UC Davis scientists Richard Michelmore, Nam Tran and Heather Bischel will explain the COVID tests underway at UC Davis and the Davis community and answer questions. A new addition to the panel is UC Davis Health physician Stuart Cohen, chief of the Division of infectious diseases and director, Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, "who is running vaccine trials will answer your questions about vaccines," Leal said.
Free COVID-19 saliva tests are being administered by appointment to the Davis community--those who live in Davis or work at UC Davis--at testing kiosks on campus. It is a rapid, comprehensive laboratory-developed test that detects whether a person is currently infected with the coronavirus. The UC Davis Genome Center processes the saliva samples. Technically, the test uses a high throughput, real time, quantitative polymerase chain reaction protocol run on machines repurposed from the agricultural genetics industry.
The symposium also will cover how the COVID-19 tests administered in an hospital emergency room or at bedside can distinguish between whether a patient has COVID-19 or the flu. In addition, wastewater surveillance tests, also known as sewage tests, are underway to detect the virus.
Viewers also will learn about “Healthy Davis Together,” a program partnering UC Davis with the City of Davis to prevent the spread of the virus and “to facilitate a coordinated and gradual return to regular city activities and reintegration of UC Davis students back into the Davis community.”
Short Bios
Chancellor Gary May, Ph.D.
He became the seventh UC Davis chancellor on Aug. 1, 2017. A native of St. Louis, Mo., he received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1985 and his master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley in 1987 and 1991, respectively. Prior to becoming the UC Davis chancellor, he served as the dean of the Georgia Tech College of Engineering from July 2011-June 2017 and as the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering from May 2005-June 2011. His resume also includes executive assistant to Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough from 2002-2005.
Heather Bischel, Ph.D.
Bischel holds degrees in civil and environmental engineering. She received a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in 2005, a master of science degree from Stanford University in 2007, and a doctorate from Stanford University in 2011. She served as a postdoctoral scientist at the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Reinventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure (2011-2012) and the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (2012-2017).
Richard Michelmore, Ph.D.
Nam Tran, Ph.D.
Stuart Cohen, M.D.
He received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1974 and his medical degree from Chicago Medical School in 1978. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of New Mexico from 1978-81 and a fellowship in infectious diseases at the UC Davis Medical Center, 1981-1983. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease.
This is the fourth in a series of COVID-19 symposiums that Leal has organized and moderated since April. A query from one of Leal's students prompted the Jan. 13 symposium.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Herd immunity refers to the proportion of a population required for the rate of disease spread to equal zero,” says UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. “This occurs at the point when each infected person is infecting only one rather than multiple susceptible persons.”
"For example, the potential rate of spread of new cases per infected person is 10 for mumps and 3 for COVID-19. Therefore, early in a pandemic when few are infected, these diseases can grow by 10-fold and 3-fold, respectively. However when 9-of-10 and 2-of-3 persons in each of these populations have either had these diseases or been vaccinated, then the infected person has only one new person in each case to infect so the rate per case is simply replacement. This is the point when the herd immunity threshold is met.”
Carey, who shared his expertise on scientific modeling and demographics at the UC Davis-based COVID-19 virtual symposium on April 23, updated his presentation April 27 to include herd immunity.
His updated presentation, “Actuarial Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is at https://youtu.be/aid69khJftU.
“The true COVID-19 fatality rate is of great importance because it is needed to estimate the number of persons who will die under different mitigation scenarios and along with death statistics how close we are to achieving herd immunity,” says Carey, co-author of the newly published book, Biodemography: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods. (See news story.)
"With the so-called reproductive rate, R=3 for COVID-19, and therefore the herd immunity threshold equals 2/3, this means 220 million out of the 330 million in the U.S. population are required to reach the threshold herd immunity. This is why the fatality rate estimation is so critical. If the fatality rate is only 1 out of 100 or 1 percent, then the 50,000 deaths in the U.S. implies that there are only 100 times more or 5 million who are immune. However, if the fatality rate is 1 out of 1000 or 0.1 percent, a rate suggested by the recent studies in both northern and southern California regarding seroprevalence of antibodies (albeit highly controversial yet), then the 50,000 deaths suggest that 1000 times more are immune or 50 million persons. This is nearly a quarter of the 220 million needed in the U.S. to reach heard immunity."
The virtual symposium, organized and moderated by UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, is online at https://bit.ly/2VurK3Z. It drew viewers from 10 countries: United States, Germany, Brazil, France, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and Slovakia.
The symposium opened with an introduction by UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, and included presentation by UC Davis physician-scientists Emanuel Maverakis, Stuart Cohen and Nathan Kuppermann; UC Davis veterinarian-scientist Nicole Baumgarth; and pediatrician State Sen. Richard Pan, District 6 chair, Senate Committee on Health.
Davis resident and COVID-19 survivor Marilyn Stebbins, a pharmacist who works at the UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy, told her story in a pre-recorded interview with Leal.
Online interviews also included Michael B. A. Oldstone, M.D., of Scripps Research Institute; professor emeritus Niels Pedersen, DMV, of UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Anne Wyllie, PhD., Yale School of Medicine; and You-Lo Hsieh, UC Davis distinguished professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and an expert on textiles and clothing.
As of 4:30 p.m., April 27, nearly 3000 had viewed the COVID-19 presentation on YouTube.
An unsolicited comment to Leal about the symposium:
“I just wanted to thank you! You are my heroes."
“This give me a sense of hope and calmed my anxiety like nothing else,” letter writer Kim Allen continued. “Part of what has been so hard is all the disinformation and complete lies and contradictions that are happening daily. To hear people, real doctors and scientists who are so knowledgeable talk about what is going on and why, is so appreciated. We need to know what we are contending with to fight it and be safe. You are all so much appreciated!”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, is organizing and moderating the public awareness project.
The public is invited to submit advance questions here, https://bit.ly/2z4ULdw, where they can also register to attend via Zoom. Registrants will be provided a link to the free symposium and a reminder. The COVID-19 project also will be live-streamed free on Leal's Biochemistry Channel on YouTube at http://covidactionplan.com/
“It is heartbreaking to hear the number of people dying every day,” said Leal, who also coordinated a 2016 public awareness symposium on the UC Davis campus on the mosquito-borne Zika virus. “We have well-qualified people to address questions from the populace, so I thought I would put my organizing skills and experience with modern teaching technologies at the service of the public.”
Chancellor May, who has served as chancellor since Aug. 1, 2017, leads the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. He regularly updates the campus community on the coronavirus pandemic/. Globally, the research-oriented Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, Baltimore, maintains a Covid-19 dashboard on its website.
The main speakers are UC Davis physician-scientists Emanuel Maverakis, Stuart Cohen and Nathan Kuppermann; UC Davis veterinarian-scientist Nicole Baumgarth; physician Ron Chapman, Yolo County Health Officer; and pediatrician State Sen. Richard Pan, District 6 chair, Senate Committee on Health.
Maverakis is a professor in the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and Dermatology, UC Davis School of Medicine. A fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, he is known for its work in the field of predictive modeling, as well as for the development of novel analysis tools for immunogenetics. He received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama.
Cohen is professor and chief of Division of Infectious Diseases and director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, UC Davis School of Medicine. He specializes in clinical infectious diseases and infection control in the hospital environment.
Chapman, the Yolo County Health Officer, is also a health strategist consultant focused on helping health departments build quality improvement and performance management systems. He earlier served as director and State Health Officer, California Department of Public Health.
Kuppermann, an emergency physician for UC Davis Health, is professor and chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine. The recipient of the Academic Senate's 2020 Faculty Research Award, Kuppermann is member of the National Academy of Medicine and principal investigator of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network.
Baumgarth is a professor in the Center for Comparative Medicine, and the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The Baumgarth laboratory investigates the basic immunological mechanisms that regulate and control immunity to pathogens.
State Sen. Pan, who represents the Sacramento region and chairs the Senate Health Committee is in close contact with the California Department of Public Health and monitoring the response to novel coronavirus outbreak. "Public health is about keeping our neighborhoods safe and healthy," he said in a press release on his website. "The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the cost of not having a robust public health system in place. Our leaders need to be listening to public health experts and sharing accurate health information to save lives. Everyone deserves to live a long and healthy life in a safe environment."
In addition to the main speakers, presenters will provide information on such topics as face masks and modeling systems. You-Lo Hsieh, distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and an expert on textiles and clothing, will explain the differences between regular masks, surgical masks, and N95 masks, plus what the public can do when masks are unavailable. She researches polymer chemistry, fiber engineering and bio-based materials.
James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and an authority on population biology and scientific modeling, will share his expertise. He served as the principal investigator of a 10-year, $10 million federal grant on “Aging in the Wild,” encompassing 14 scientists at 11 universities. Carey co-authored, with Deborah Roach of the University of Virginia, the newly published book, Biodemography: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods<, published Jan. 7 by the Princeton University Press. It is described as “an authoritative overview of the concepts and applications of biological demography.” (See news story.)
Leal, a former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology), is the newly selected recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching, given by the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, sponsored by the UC Davis Academic Senate.
