Keith Fraga won a Office of Science Graduate Student Research award, which gives Ph.D. students the opportunity to conduct research at a DOE national laboratory. Mary-Francis LaPorte won the DOE’s Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, which helps train next-generation leaders in computational science.

After 20 years, Donna Olsson, executive assistant dean for finance and administration, is retiring. While not a scientist, Olsson’s approach is the kind of career-cumulative, data-driven inquiry that a biologist might become renowned for.

As a Ph.D. student in the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Group, Yulong Liu investigates the cellular mechanisms underlying female reproductive development in the lab of Associate Professor Bruce Draper. For his research, Liu was recently awarded the UC Davis Dissertation Year Fellowship.

The Genentech Foundation has donated $2.5 million to the University of California, Davis, College of Biological Sciences — the college’s largest single gift ever — to fund a program that will help biology students transferring from community college.

Congratulations are in order for undergraduates Jayashri Viswanathan and Naomi Murray. Both join the 2020-2021 class of Goldwater Scholars, a prestigious undergraduate award program that encourages students to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.

UC Davis Assistant Professor Lucas Smith was selected by The Hartwell Foundation to receive the prestigious 2019 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award. The award will support Smith’s research on finding promising therapies that can improve mobility and quality of life for children with cerebral palsy.

The research could lead to the development of innovative treatments for disease in both medicine and agriculture.

Mental health research at the University of California, Davis, has received dedicated endowed support thanks to Bryan Cameron ’80, director of research and senior vice president at Dodge & Cox Investment Managers.

Professor Jonathan Eisen, named the first Aggie Hero of 2019-20 for calling out science meeting organizers for gender and racial imbalance among presenters, last week landed on a Time magazine list of 16 people and groups “fighting for a more equal America.”

The award recognizes outstanding teaching and dedication to student success. Leal will be honored with other Academic Senate and Academic Federation award recipients at a ceremony in the spring.