- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ready for 15 minutes of aim? Not fame--aim?
The 14th annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle is set for 3 p.m., Friday, July 21 on the Briggs Hall lawn.
Last year 40 participants, including professors, researchers, graduate students, staff, students and family members, tossed 3000 water balloons in 15 minutes on the thirsty Briggs Hall lawn, as the temperature soared to 97 degrees. As the supply dwindled, they dumped the remaining water from the buckets on each other.
Bruce Hammock, a distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, launched the annual event in 2003 as a form of camaraderie and as a means of rewarding the lab members for their hard work. The international Hammock lab researchers, postdoctorates, graduate students, visiting scholars, staff and undergraduates.
Coordinator Christophe Morisseau says 2000 water balloons will be filled and tossed. Balloon filling starts at 1 p.m. on the north side of Briggs Hall. "Our policy: no filling, no throwing! BYOB--bring your own balloons!" Morisseau said.
Highly honored by his peers (but a target at the annual water balloon battle), Hammock is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, which honors academic invention and encourages translations of inventions to benefit society. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He directs the campuswide Superfund Research Program, National Institutes of Health Biotechnology Training Program, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Combined Analytical Laboratory.
For more information, contact Morisseau at chmorisseau@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's about all it takes to toss 2000 water balloons.
The annual event, coordinated by researcher Christophe Morisseau of the Hammock lab, begins at 3 p.m., Friday, July 22 on the north lawn of Briggs Hall, Kleiber Hall Drive.
Tabbed the alliterative "Bruce's Big Battle at Briggs," the water balloon battle draws professors, researchers, visiting scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and undergraduate students and their friends and families in showcasing what the internationally known Hammock lab does for camaraderie and fun.
Temperatures are expected to reach 97 degrees.
Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, launched the water balloon fest in 2003 as a way to build camaraderie and gain relief from the heat.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, he directs the campuswide Superfund Research and Training Program, an interdisciplinary program funded by the National Institute of Environmental Sciences (NIEHS) that has brought in almost $60 million to the UC Davis campus. The Hammock lab is also the home of the National Institutes of Health Training Grant in Biomolecular Technology. The lab alumni, totaling more than 100 graduates, hold positions of distinction in academia, industry and government as well as more than 300 postdoctorates.
Balloon filling starts at 1:15 in Room 82 of Briggs Hall. All are invited to participate, but "no filling/no throwing," Morisseau said. Many are expected to watch.
The event was canceled last year due to the severity of the drought.
In 2014, the water warriors took drought-conservation precautions.
“We did try filling the balloons differently this year to conserve water,” Hammock lab program manager Cindy McReynolds said that year. “We devised a filling station out of drip line and valves so we could fill the balloons outside and also turn off the water when not in use. Water conservation was a big topic surrounding the event, so we also used it as an opportunity to discuss ways we have changed our daily routines to conserve water."
As an extra bonus, the annual battle provides a little water for the thirsty Briggs Hall lawn, which is used by campus wildlife, including ducks, turkeys, squirrels, birds, butterflies and bees.
