Awards & Laurels

Siobhan Brady, a professor in the Department of Plant Biology and Genome Center, has been selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. The prestigious Investigator program, which Brady describes as “life changing,” will provide her with roughly $9 million in research support over a seven-year term, with the option to renew.

The college is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 CBS Faculty Teaching and Research Awards. These two prestigious awards honor faculty members who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to teaching and research, and highlight the integral role each plays in advancing the frontiers of biological sciences. 

Venkatesan Sundaresan, a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Plant Biology and Plant Sciences, has been awarded a 2024 Wolf Prize in Agriculture for key discoveries on plant developmental biology of relevance to crop improvement.

Each year the college recognizes the importance of mentorship in the continued growth of both the undergraduate and graduate communities by awarding CBS Dean’s Mentorship Awards to graduate students. Funded by contributions to the CBS Dean’s Circle, the awards are open by faculty nomination to graduate students who have played a significant role in the growth and development of the younger generation of scientists. 

Each year, the college’s top graduating seniors are recognized for their outstanding achievements at an awards ceremony attended by friends, family, mentors and donors. This year’s graduating senior and university award recipients were honored for their academic excellence, commitment to fostering community, service to campus and their peers and for exceptional research efforts. 

The 2024 winners of the library’s Lang Prize were announced on Thursday, May 30. Now in its eighth year, the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research recognizes students who make exceptional use of library resources and services — such as primary source materials and special collections, online databases and journal articles, interlibrary loan services, or consulting with a librarian.

Three UC Davis students, including two from the College of Biological Sciences, have won the highly prestigious and competitive Barry Goldwater Scholarship. 

Every year, the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation honors fewer than 500 undergraduate second- and third-year students from across the country with scholarships recognizing their science, technology, engineering and mathematics research accomplishments and future potential.

Three professors from the University of California, Davis, have been elected as members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are among 120 new members and 24 international members announced by the academy April 30. 

Members are elected in recognition of their contributions to original research. Membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve.

Joel Ledford, an associate professor of teaching in the Department of Plant Biology, has received the 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award from the Associated Students, University of California, Davis (ASUCD). The annual award celebrates teaching faculty for their dedication to students and undergraduate education. 

“Getting an award like this from students means a lot to me,” Ledford said. “It’s an inspiring thing, and it makes you want to be a better teacher.”

Ten faculty from UC Davis are among 502 newly elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the society announced today (April 18). AAAS fellows are scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements in science, including research, teaching, administration and science communication. 

In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024, released earlier this week, UC Davis ranked 35th in the world in the broad category of the life sciences and medicine. Previous rankings, in 2023, placed campus at 38th globally in the same category. 

Distinguished Professor Walter Leal has made history as the first UC Davis faculty member to be honored by the Academic Senate with all three of its awards, which celebrate outstanding teaching, public service and research.

In 2020, the Academic Senate awarded Leal the Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching, and in 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award. Known internationally for his groundbreaking work in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, Leal's achievements have now earned him the 2024 Faculty Distinguished Research Award.

Celina Juliano, an associate professor of molecular and cellular biology who studies the regenerative capabilities of Hydra vulgaris, a small, freshwater relative of the jellyfish, has been named a UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow. This year's fellows are experts in everything from linguistics to law, from the economics of climate change to the reliability of software. These nine faculty members — eight associate professors and one professor — are UC Davis’ newest class of Chancellor’s Fellows, a title given to early career academics doing exemplary work.

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis, has been awarded the prestigious National Academy of Science Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences for 2024. Ross-Ibarra was awarded the prize in recognition of his “pioneering studies on the evolutionary genetics of maize, a key crop species for global food production.”

When Professor Jay Stachowicz heard that UC Davis’ chancellor needed to speak to him urgently, he worried he had done something wrong.