Issuu

Volume 33, No. 1 Fall 2015

Voices of the

change generation

The vet school’s ‘surfing surgeon’ on finding the perfect balance between work and life

“CK” Chow: from UC Davis to head of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a knighthood in between

Researchers attempt to turn one gallon of water into one gallon of wine

from the chancellor

Rudy Meyers Photography

Dear fellow Aggies, The first edition of UC Davis Magazine was published in the summer of 1983, and for over three decades it has documented the stories of the people, places and events that make our university unique. It has spotlighted breakthroughs in research by our faculty, followed the exploits of our alumni and shown why we have the greatest students in the world. In each edition we see how you and your fellow Aggies are making a difference in California and around the world. With this edition we open a new chapter in the history of UC Davis Magazine. Working across the UC Davis community to gather insight and feedback, we completely redesigned our publication to best meet the needs of our alumni and friends today. You’ve probably already noticed the new look and feel, but in truth the magazine has been rebuilt from the ground up. We’ve retained some of your favorite sections, like “Class Notes,” reworked others and developed an array of new offerings that are both informative and entertaining. As always, UC Davis Magazine represents the very best of our university and why we are all so proud to be called Aggies. I hope you enjoy the newly redesigned UC Davis Magazine and invite you to let us know how you like it and how it can be better. Thank you for being a part of the Aggie community and for all that you do for UC Davis. Sincerely, Linda P.B. Katehi, Chancellor

UC Davis Magazine Editor

Jocelyn Anderson ’98 Art Director

Russ Thébaud Writer

Cody Kitaura Designer

University of California, Davis Chancellor

Linda P. B. Katehi Interim Strategic Communications Lead and Executive Director of News and Media Relations

Dana Topousis

Creative Director

Sunny Teo

Voices of the Change Generation

Karin Higgins, Gregory Urquiaga

min iqu e Gebr

Photographers

These four alums are tackling global issues and using technology to enact the change they envision.

Co urtesy Do

Jay Leek

UC Davis Magazine

Karin Higgi ns / UC Davis

Published by the University of California, Davis, for members of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association, members of the Aggie Parent and Family Association, and many donors and other friends of the campus. © 2015 by The Regents of the University of California, Davis campus. Persons wishing to reprint any portion of UC Davis Magazine’s contents are required to write in advance for permission.

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To update your address: Online: alumni.ucdavis.edu/ get-connected/update-record Email: ais@ucdavis.edu Mail: UC Davis Magazine, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8687. All other email correspondence should be sent to magazine@ucdavis.edu.

Knight of the HKEx

Efficiency is key

UC Davis alumnus and international trade wizard Sir Chung-Kong “CK” Chow is one of the most powerful Chinese men in the Western world.

UC Davis wine and vine experts team up to cut water consumption by targeting the plants, irrigation systems and winery processing methods.

UC Davis Magazine is online at ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu. Phone: 530-752-9841

Departments

recycled • recyclable

In Memoriam............................ 2

Discoveries..............................11

Class Notes...........................36

Events........................................ 3

The Aggie Life.......................14

Office Hours............................. 4

College Town........................ 16

Looking Forward/ Looking Back........................44

Visualize This........................... 5

Young Achievers.................. 18

Aggie Families......................... 6

Sports..................................... 20

On Campus............................... 8

Here.........................................22

One of a Kind.................. Back

Fall 2015

in memoriam

Larry

Choosing the place for Chancellor Emeritus Larry N. Vanderhoef’s memorial service was easy: the Mondavi Center. It’s big and he had declared, on the day of his inauguration in 1994, that UC Davis would build such a performance hall. It opened eight years later, one of his many legacies at the university he called home for more than 30 years until his death Oct. 15 of complications from successive ischemic strokes. He was 74. Many other venues would have been appropriate for the Nov. 4 celebration of life—places where his He titled his memoir Indelibly Davis: leadership continues to resonate. There is the A Quarter-Century of Davis Stories … renowned UC Davis Medical Center, for example, and Backstories (it came out in April), which he and his team practically built from but he proved to be even more the ground up after buying the old Sacramento indelible, leaving his mark on the university and the community. County Hospital for $1; and then there is our second quad, named the Vanderhoef Quad on the occasion of his retirement in 2009. This quad sits at the campus’ south entry, which he envisioned as UC Davis’ new “front door”—and which today includes the Buehler Alumni Center, Conference Center and hotel, Graduate School of Management and, of course, the Mondavi Center. Other options included any lecture hall, classroom or research lab, or sports venue like The Pavilion where he watched so many basketball games as he enjoyed his cheese-drenched nachos. We also could have gathered around the bench that Staff Assembly dedicated in his honor, recognizing his devotion and commitment to staff. A plant biologist by training, he served as provost and executive vice chancellor from 1984 to 1994, and as chancellor for 15 years after that. Under his watch, our reputation grew along with our enrollment and campus facilities. But his greatest legacy may be the way he led his life. He listened. He was kind. He cared. Indeed, his moral compass pointed UC Davis in all the right directions. “Serving as UC Davis’ chancellor was the honor of a lifetime,” he wrote Tributes at go.ucdavis.edu/ in the preface to his memoir. Make no mistake: The honor was all ours. vanderhoef

Photo by Gregory Urquiaga / UC Davis

Indelibly

events

Exhibits Valentine Art Exhibition and Auction Nelson Gallery Jan. 17–Feb. 14 (with live auction on Valentine’s Day)

Five decades of fashion photography from the archives of the late Northern California photographer Paul W. Hollingshead.

Music Music and Words Festival Performances by So Percussion, Empyrean Ensemble, Bob Ostertag, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, emerging composers. Mondavi Center Jan. 29–31

Design Museum

San Francisco Symphony accompanies screening of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Jan. 4–Feb. 26

Photo Courtesy San Francisco Symphony

Heroes/Ghosts Paintings by Annie Ross, Ph.D. ’02, reflect upon topics such as violence, climate change, and how aboriginal logic works, informs and prevails in its midst. C.N. Gorman Museum Jan. 5–March 11

UC Davis Film Festival Short films by students. Varsity Theatre, downtown Davis May 21–22

Grego ry Urquiaga / UC Davis

The Image of Fashion: A Photographer’s Legacy

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall March 24

SPEAKER Campus Community Book Project: Matt Taibbi

Athletics Men’s basketball vs. Cal State Fullerton The Pavillion at the ARC and televised on ESPN3 Feb. 4

Alumni 2016 Alumni Awards

The acclaimed journalist presents his 2014 book The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap.

Join us as we recognize the outstanding achievements of our alumni and friends of UC Davis at our 43rd annual Alumni Awards in San Francisco.

Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall

Golden Gate Club, Presido, San Francisco

Feb. 3

Feb. 5

Fall 2015

office hours

Boaz Arzi:

Surfing surgeon surgeon Boaz Arzi, is “work-life balance at its best.” Passionate about his sport and his profession, the assistant professor finds the waves to be good medicine for the rigors of the operating room. Arzi is reserved, focused and meticulous—just the person you want on the other end of a scalpel. But surprisingly, in both his professional and recreational worlds, he lives life a bit on the edge. Working with veterinary and engineering researchers, he has helped adapt groundbreaking biomedical technology to regrow jawbones in dogs struck with cancer or by horrific injuries. Animals that once would have been left with severe facial disfigurements and impaired function now go home whole and healthy. Also, a new stem-cell therapy that Arzi and his colleagues developed to treat cats with chronic inflammatory disease of the mouth is proving successful and may soon be used on a trial basis to treat humans with a similar disorder. After weekdays spent in the operating room, laboratory or classroom, Arzi swaps his scrubs for a wetsuit and heads to the coast. “Going into the ocean changes the way you look at life,” he said. “When you feel the energy of the ocean, it’s mind-blowing.” n

UC Davis Magazine

Gregory Urquiaga / UC Davis

Any day of surfing, said UC Davis veterinary

visualize this

for global research impact in life and earth sciences1

per square foot A team of UC Davis students proved they can build a zero-net-energy home for $249 a square foot as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2015 Solar Decathlon competition in October. The home, built by team Aggie Sol, was designed as affordable housing for farmworkers and took first place in the affordability contest.

for best student health services in the U.S.2

“Cool School” for 2016 by Sierra magazine

r epo rt c a r d

UC Davis’ grade in Mone y magazine’s 2015 “Best Colleges”

most likely to get you a job in Silicon Valley3

61,000,000 gallons

best university in the world led by a woman4

1. Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University (Netherlands) 2. The Princeton Review 3. Jobvite 4. World University Rankings, Times Higher Education

That’s the amount of potable water UC Davis will save every year thanks to a project that only took $20,000 and two weeks to complete. This summer, the utilities division started using recycled water instead of well water to help cool the water that keeps the campus cool. The two supplies never touch each other as one of them, the recycled water, draws heat off the other through the process of heat exchange. With this project and other conservation measures, UC Davis has cut potable and nonpotable water use by 13 percent over 2013 and expects to achieve a 20 percent reduction by the end of this year.

Fall 2015

aggie families

Raising a

Born Leader by Dana Topousis

the bond between mother and daughter is easy to

see. It is forged with respect and unconditional love— and laughter, lots of laughter. Lisa Elzy Watson and her then-husband, Marion, raised their children in Culver City, a suburb of

UC Davis Magazine

Los Angeles. “Mariah had boundless energy as a child,” said Lisa of her daughter, Mariah Kala Watson. “She had tremendous drive and passion. My goal was to teach her how to use all that energy, to channel her curiosity without quashing her spirit.” From the time Mariah was a young child, Lisa entrusted her with decision-making responsibilities, for birthday parties or when Mariah wanted to start her own restaurant. “She was always so bright and able to connect the dots to keep things moving,” Lisa said. “We wanted her classroom to extend beyond four walls. We needed to give her space to grow, allow her to expand and get to the next steps on her own.” They accepted that her path might take Mariah beyond what they as parents knew. At a young age, Mariah said, she wanted to make her parents proud. She wasn’t rebellious and, while some young people might fear having less structure or make bad decisions, she flourished. In eighth grade, Mariah auditioned to give a speech as the treasurer of a student group. At the end of the ceremony, the moderator announced that Mariah was the woman most likely to rule the world. Lisa said a lightbulb went off for her at that moment. She knew Mariah as an active, curious and intelligent person. Then she also saw the impact her daughter had on others. Mariah’s journey took her to serving in youth and

“I realized I wasn’t going to be afraid of failure because that was part of success.” —Mariah Watson ’16, president, Associated Students of the University of California, Davis

government roles. After one particular occasion when she’d spoken of the justice system, she experienced her own “aha” moment. “I realized I wasn’t going to be afraid of failure because that was part of success. I wasn’t afraid to realize my potential, and being in the spotlight was part of that,” Mariah said. Lisa supported her daughter finding strength in her voice and developing it even further. “I never doubted that Mariah would have a big life,” she said. “I knew that she could be a powerful voice for others and to unify groups with different viewpoints.” At UC Davis, Mariah said she felt immediately at home, adding that she has been grateful for the attention that faculty provide to the students. As president of the Associated Students of the University of California, Davis, she is responsible for running a $13 million nonprofit organization, with access to the state capital and opportunities to participate in and influence university decisions. Mariah will graduate in the spring and is considering law school, but she is exploring other options as well. “Beautiful things happen when you are open to them.” n

Fall 2015

on campus

Guide puts

‘public’ in art Few students and visitors at UC Davis skip pos-

that. All of us had an interest in sculpture, space and landscape, so it fulfilled our scholarly goals as well.” The guide gives insights into visible artworks like the Eggheads, as well as nearly hidden pieces. Along with the Eggheads, Stone Poem by Steve Gillman came to campus in the 1990s through the UC Davis Art in Public Places project. Stone Poem, a Stonehenge-like structure near the Silo, was shown at the university’s Nelson Gallery in early 1989. Later that year, while being stored in Oakland, it was damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake. The dozen huge stones were installed on campus a few years later with the damaged pieces made part of the work. Bum, Bum, You’ve Been Here Before was created by the late professor Tio Giambruni in 1967 in the art department’s foundry. The massive cast bronze and aluminum spent a decade on the Russell Boulevard median and another decade in storage before being installed in its current location on Hutchison Drive across the street from Shields Library. Among the hard-to-find works are the sculpted remains of a piece, This Redwood Tree, by Frederick Hirsch, Paul Taylor’s Cactus Suspension Assembly from 2011 that appears to be part of a water distribution system, and Joe Mannino’s ceramic Pink and Black that has been mostly hidden in the bushes outside the ceramics building for 35 years. n Greg ory Urqu iaga / UC Davis

ing for a photo with one of the Eggheads on campus. But the egg-shaped, giant bronze heads by the longtime faculty member Robert Arneson are only some of the art that can be seen when strolling the campus. Art history graduate students Arielle Hardy, Justina Martino, Piper Milton and Brittany Royer have made these pieces even more accessible by creating the first guide to UC Davis’ public art. It is available at information desks on campus and on the website for the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. “We wanted something that would be useful and interesting to a wide audience,” Milton said. “Other than the Eggheads, most people don’t register or engage with the art on campus, and we hope to change

by Jeffrey Day

Brittany Royer stands with one of the See No Evil/Hear No Evil Eggheads. Royer is one of four graduate art history students who created a guide to public art at UC Davis.

UC Davis Magazine

View the guide at

go.ucdavis.edu/sculpture

UC Davis’ Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve and its trails are closed to the public until spring—with the exception of some guided tours and volunteer acitivities—as a result of the Wragg Fire that swept through the area in July. The 576-acre reserve off Highway 128 near Lake Berryessa was almost the first thing in the wildfire’s path. Director Jeffrey Clary said the fire left behind damaged trees, unstable soil and potential landslides, making it unsafe for hikers. The reserve continues to be used for research activities, providing an increased understanding of the impacts of fire on the regional ecosystem.

Nelson closes The Richard L. Nelson Gallery’s 40-year run came to an end in June. Closing the gallery, which played an important role in visual arts at UC Davis, makes way for the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, set to open during the 2016–17 academic year. Meantime, artworks have been prepared for transportation and storage (above). Long-term plans for the gallery space have not yet been determined.

Karin Higgin s / UC Davis

Sustainability awards UC Davis was recognized at the 2015 California Higher Education Sustainability Conference with top honors in sustainable food service for the Aggie Grown program (coordinator Kiko Barr, above), and honorable mention for a project to wash and recycle tons of soiled pea gravel from the California National Primate Research Center.

Paul Havermann / UC Davis

Grego ry Urquiaga / UC Davis

Reserve and trails closed by fire

Fall 2015

Protest sparks

25-year legacy by Dave Jones

Gr eg

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A month before the end of spring quarter, the Cross Cultural Center

On May 14, 1990, four undergraduate students started a six-day hunger strike (top) on the steps of Mrak Hall for social and academic justice at UC Davis. Second-year Abire Sabbagh (inset) works in the UC Davis Cross Cultural Center, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in May.

UC Davis Magazine

celebrated its 25th anniversary, dating back not to the opening but to the May 1990 hunger strike that precipitated the center’s development. The strikers and their allies demanded social and academic justice for students from historically underrepresented communities in higher education and negotiated a number of agreements with the administration—including one to establish a multicultural center. It opened in the fall of 1992. “Although there is a lot of attention placed on the four students who fasted ... there were many more students who supported us,” said Andrea Gaytan ’92, who returned to campus in 2009 to work at the CCC. She said she’s most grateful to “those students and staff who championed the CCC from the time the doors opened, until today.” Abire Sabbagh, a student who is in her second year on the CCC staff, said the activism of the past inspires her. “They operated out of a place of solidarity, which is something we continue to embody as a core value,” said Sabbagh, a fourth-year double major in international relations and Middle Eastern and South Asian studies. “We’re bringing together students, faculty and staff from many different communities to learn, grow and advocate with one another.” n

discoveries

A picture of UC Davis geologist Dawn Sumner with the engineering twin of the Mars Curiosity rover helped make a point about women in science earlier this year, becoming a viral hit for the #GirlsWithToys Twitter campaign. As a member of the Curiosity team, Sumner, chair of the Department of Earth and Physical Sciences, helps drive the rover in collaboration with mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Women began posting photos under #GirlsWithToys after a prominent male astronomer joked in a radio interview that most scientists are “just boys with toys.” Sumner, who also posted pictures of herself at work in Antarctica and in UC Davis’ KeckCAVES virtual reality facility, said the images were a way to positively address stereotypes about science. “Every female scientist and engineer I know has had people be surprised that they’re a scientist or engineer,” Sumner said. “When you can show people who ‘don’t look like their job,’ it sends a powerful message to someone thinking about entering these careers.” While science has a long way to go before achieving gender equity, UC Davis is a national leader in testing new approaches. For example, the ADVANCE program, funded by the National Science Foundation in 2012, is aimed at promoting diversity and reducing unconscious bias. Sumner’s own department has a higher proportion of women on the faculty—about one-third—than any similar department at a research university in the U.S., she said.

Nasa Courtesy Photo

Carlos puma

#GirlsWithToys

Fall 2015

Collision revives ‘radio phoenix’

x- ray o C h a n d ra

According to the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the radio phoenix emerged when another cluster of galaxies slammed into the original cluster, sending shock waves through the system. These shock waves, similar to sonic booms produced by supersonic jets, passed through the dormant cloud of electrons. The shock waves compressed the cloud and re-energized the electrons, which caused the cloud to once again shine at radio frequencies.

bs erva to ry

The collision of two massive galaxy clusters 1.6 billion light years from Earth revived a radio source in a fading cloud of electrons, creating a “radio phoenix” (seen above as a bright white splotch). The phenomenon was recorded by a team of astronomers including William Dawson of the UC Davis physics department and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

New way to screen monkeys for disease

The new method uses a 6-inch piece of nylon or cotton rope dipped into an attractant such as strawberry jam. The ropes are

UC Davis Magazine

When the monkeys pick up the ropes, chew on them and drop them, researchers can collect saliva from the discarded ropes and send samples to a lab, which tests them for viral diseases that may pose a threat to humans. “It’s important to try and throw the rope without the primate seeing where it came from,” said Tierra Smiley Evans, a UC Davis graduate student researcher. “We have to be sneaky. Some species, like macaques, are very bold in urban settings and it’s easy to get mobbed by monkeys.”

Eva ns

The UC Davis One Health Institute’s PREDICT project has been performing global disease surveillance for more than five years, but the logistics of screening primates for zoonotic pathogens—diseases that can pass from animals to humans— have often presented a challenge. That is because invasive sampling techniques, such as collecting blood or using oral swabs, require anesthesia in the field.

tossed near the animals being targeted for sampling.

TIERRA Sm ile y

UC Davis researchers have developed a new tool to screen for diseases that might jump from monkeys to humans: a piece of rope dipped in strawberry jam.

“I was marginalized. I was ridiculed. People said on national TV that I was practicing voodoo.”

—Bennet Omalu, UC Davis pathologist, whose discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in professional football players, wrestlers, other high-impact contact sports athletes inspired the film Concussion, out Dec. 25. The movie, starring Will Smith as Omalu, highlights the researcher’s innovative work linking athletes with head trauma to the disease.

Lyme disease subverts immune system The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are able to trick an animal’s immune system into not launching a full-blown immune response or developing lasting immunity to the disease, reported researchers at UC Davis. The discovery may explain why some human patients remain vulnerable to repeat infections by the same strain of bacteria, especially in regions where Lyme disease is prevalent. It also suggests that blood tests may not be an effective method for detecting previous exposure to Lyme disease, by far the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and Europe. The bacteria initially trigger a strong immune response in an infected animal, but findings from this study indicate that the bacteria soon cause structural abnormalities in “germinal centers,” sites in lymph nodes and other lymph tissues that are key to producing a longterm protective immune response.

For months after infection, those germinal centers fail to produce the specific cells—memory B cells and antibody-producing plasma cells— that are crucial for producing lasting immunity. In effect, the bacteria prevent the animal’s immune system from forming a “memory” of the invading bacteria and launching a protective immune response against future infections.

Almonds’ small carbon footprint Almonds have a surprisingly small carbon footprint compared to other nutrient-rich crops, reported a team of researchers at UC Davis and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Our research shows that 1 kilogram of California almonds typically produces less than 1 kilogram of CO₂-equivalent emissions,” said Alissa Kendall, associate professor in the UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Kendall noted that the study results include the use of almond co-products—orchard biomass, hulls and shells—for renewable power generation and dairy feed. Orchard biomass refers to prunings as well as trees removed from an orchard. “Under ideal circumstances, which are feasible but not in place today, California almonds could become carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative, largely through the improved utilization of orchard biomass,” Kendall said.

Fall 2015

the aggie life

Bake Your Own

Coho pumpkin cookies Greg ory Urq uiag a / UC

7 ounces canola oil 1 1/4 cups brown sugar 15-ounce can pumpkin 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon allspice 1 3/4 cups chocolate chips 2 2/3 cups oats

Davis

A taste of autumn

Keep foodborne illness out of your holiday memories The holidays usually mean bringing families and friends together for fun, fellowship and good food. Unfortunately, they are also the perfect environment for foodborne illnesses. Whether you are talking about the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, or some other main dish— a ham, a game hen, prime rib— extra caution must be taken to keep food safe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Avoid the risks

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Set aside.

A UC Davis study last year, which examined preparation of raw poultry, found that the most common risks in kitchens stemmed from crosscontamination and insufficient cooking.

In a large bowl, add canola oil and brown sugar and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add pumpkin and mix again. Slowly add vanilla and egg and beat until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and mix until all flour is just incorporated. Fold in oats and chocolate chips. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the edge of the cookie lifts from the pan while maintaining its shape.

Most opportunities for exposure can be avoided by practicing thorough hand-washing, never rinsing raw meat in the sink and using calibrated thermometers to determine that meat is fully cooked, said Christine Bruhn, author of the study and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist emerita. “The first thing you have to start with is washing your hands,” Bruhn said. “Wash your hands before you touch anything else.” Your poultry is cooked when it reaches 165 degrees; for other foods, see the online U.S. Department of Agriculture internal temperature chart.

Karin Higgins / UC Davis

School of Veterinary Medicine on Pet Visits

Tips to make your animals more comfortable at the vet ⊲⊲ Take your dog to the vet for unscheduled “happy visits,” when he or she can get a treat and have a good experience. “Our community clinic offers that and hardly anyone does it,” said Melissa Bain, associate professor of clinical animal behavior. “If you can have 100 good experiences and one bad one, [the good] helps balance it out.”

⊲⊲ Get your cat comfortable with the carrier before it’s time to visit the vet by leaving it out and offering treats and toys around it. ⊲⊲ Save your pet’s favorite treats for visits to the vet. Bain suggests canned, squirt-on cheese, which stays clean and can be eaten by dogs and cats.

⊲⊲ Tell your vet if you think your pet is uncomfortable so the vet can take extra time and care. ⊲⊲ If you’re worried your pet may become aggressive, muzzle him or her before entering the vet’s office. “It’s not a stigma—we muzzle pets a lot,” Bain said. “It’s not a big deal.”

From the UC Davis Arboretum’s Good Life Garden

5 ways to get the most from your winter garden 1. As a general rule of thumb, sow seeds at a depth two to three times their diameter. 2. Pre-irrigate a week or two ahead of time to germinate weeds. Wait for weeds to grow, then remove them with a hoe. You’ll still get weeds, but not nearly as many.

Kari n Higg ins / UC Davis

3. For a longer harvest, try succession planting by sowing seeds every two weeks or as long as soil temperatures allow. 4. Sow cereal crops like oats, barley and rye this winter to increase aeration and organic matter; plant legumes like peas and beans to improve nitrogen content. 5. Consider using straw mulch in your garden to conserve water. It’s easy to push aside when you are ready to cultivate, biodegrades easily and provides added soil nutrition. More tips and information at goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu

Fall 2015

college town

Grabbin’ a bite Alumni remember their favorite Davis eateries of past and present by Cody Kitaura When students are away from home for the first time, a void sometimes opens that can only be filled with burgers, burritos, crepes and other comfort foods. Murder Burger, Tommy J’s, Cindy’s, Sam’s—alumni have a wide range of favorite off-campus eateries and recalled dozens when asked on social media by UC Davis Magazine. “Crepeville was my favorite place for a splurge night,” said Allison Eriksen ’08. “I do remember that it was also the first place we went off-campus freshman year.” She recalled being unsure about walking back to the residence halls after dark, but was reassured by their large group. “We managed to make it back to Tercero E (R.I.P.!) without incident

UC Davis Magazine

on our first excursion into the city of Davis,” she said. Crepeville continues to be a draw on Third Street, but other restaurants remembered by alumni have closed their doors. Michael Gardella ’82 said Nation’s Giant Hamburgers in the University Mall on Russell Boulevard was his favorite off-campus eatery. “Great place [for] a Sunday morning,” Gardella said. Nation’s and some other tenants of the mall were displaced when the shopping center was renovated in 1999. Katie McMahon ’08 estimates that she ate at Hunan, a Chinese restaurant on D Street, once a week for all four years. She said she often saw friends and lacrosse teammates there, and ran into members of the football and baseball teams while taking a group of lacrosse recruits out to eat.

“I was recently visiting from the East Coast with my parents and we met some friends at Hunan,” McMahon said. “Almost a decade later, the food was still amazing and the staff was the same. It was nostalgic!” Tomas J. Ross ’03 said he visited Hunan often because it’s only a block away from his fraternity, Theta Xi. “My friends and I still reminisce about the Hunan lunch special—it was epic,” he said. For Sandra Duncan ’79, The Davis Graduate, aka The Grad, was an obvious choice for its Gradburgers and $2 pitchers of beer on Thursdays. “In the mid-’70s there weren’t a lot of restaurant choices,” Duncan said. “The Grad was the go-to for a cheap meal. ... I don’t know that I can recall a particular meal, just the feeling of knowing you could always find friends there.”

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Murder Burger changed its name to Redrum Burger in 2001.

“My friends and I still reminisce about the Hunan lunch special—it was epic.”

Todd Hammond/Davis Enterprise

Jason Aller

University Mall with Nation’s Giant Hamgurgers, 1995

“Great place [for] a Sunday morning.”

Where do current students eat?

“I like Blaze Pizza because I like pizza, and it’s affordable. It’s not like your ordinary pizza place.” —Alexandria Hartwell, third-year managerial economics major

“I like Open Rice Kitchen. It has really good Kung Pao chicken. That’s what I always get.” —Eric Brimer, second-year biochemistry and molecular biology major

“The Dumpling House—it reminds me of home, because that’s a lot of what my grandma makes. It brings me back [with] that homey feel. For a lot of people, ‘grandma’s cooking’ is apple pie, but for me it’s dumplings.” —Sabrina Lee, second-year community and regional development and film studies double major

“Thai Canteen—not only is the food good, but it has a nice environment so I feel very welcome.” —Jasmin Infante, second-year biological sciences major

“If pizza, then I go for Woodstock’s. If I want sushi, I’d go to Zen Toro. If I want something quick, I usually go to In-N-Out.” —Wesley Tonks, first-year computer engineering major

Fall 2015

young achievers

Placemak Tre Borden, MBA ’11

by Cody Kitaura

“I can’t wield a paintbrush, but I can connect a client with an artist.”

UC Davis Magazine

Most MBAs don’t give up secure jobs to sell earrings made of masking tape. But that’s what Tre Borden did, leaving a job with a local utility to help market a friend’s Tapigami products. “If I can’t do something more fun and entrepreneurial, who can?” Borden said. “I can’t wield a paintbrush, but I can connect a client with an artist.” Borden calls himself a placemaker and specializes in art curation, specifically installations that challenge conventional thinking of how certain areas should look. He’s focused on changing the perception that his hometown of Sacramento is a boring government town. After curating much of the art in Sacramento’s hip new Warehouse

Artist Lofts, Borden aimed for something a bit more far-reaching. He waded through more than a year of bureaucracy to get approval for two artists—Sofia Lacin ’08 and Hennessy Christophel—to create Bright Underbelly, a 70,000-square-foot mural on the underside of a freeway. He got the idea on a trip with his Graduate School of Management class to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he saw bridges and other urban structures painted and transformed into works of art. He calls his next project even more ambitious, although it’s only 12-feet tall and made from plastic. Borden and a group of artists set out to design a work called Portal that could inspire residents to envision the future of Sacramento. Although they didn’t have a concept at the beginning, a few months later they had an LED-illuminated doorway next to a former ice plant in an industrial area of midtown. The interactive tunnel changed color in response to motion and

TJ Lee ’15

vis in s / UC Da

Lee, who presented the “bucket list” idea at TEDxUCDavis last spring, now works for Firefox-maker Mozilla, recruiting volunteers to advocate for the firm’s open-source software and philosophy of being aware of online tracking.

Courtesy

The job allows her to work off site, and she has been chosen as one of 75 people to take part in an independent program called Remote Year. Participants from various companies spend all year working abroad—living in a different country each month—all without quitting their day jobs. “People abroad are a little different. I like that,” she said. “They’re more relaxed and generally happier.” n

Ignacio Torres ’10 Ignacio Torres thought he’d go into politics until an internship at the California State Capitol made him realize he wanted to be a journalist. As a producer for TV network Fusion, Torres reported on issues like LGBTQIA rights, which he learned about from outspoken UC Davis groups. He sometimes has difficulty explaining his work to his parents, conservative Catholics who moved to California when Torres was a child and have since moved back to Mexico. They’re open to new ideas but have trouble with the nuances, Torres said.

Cou rtesy

social media participation. The organizers also hosted a series of events ranging from a forum on homelessness to a “silent disco,” in which attendees danced to a mix heard only through headphones. Portal was installed for a few weeks last summer. For Borden, the goal was to help move Sacramento closer to a place where cutting-edge art is expected. He carefully documents each project so others can learn from his work. “Sacramento is thirsty for these kinds of projects,” he said. “The fact that we’re doing this makes it easier for people after us to do it.” n

Ka ri n Hi gg

aker

TJ Lee has already completed her “77 Days of Davis,” a fun way to track her last school quarter and a project she created as a student.

This fall, he started a new job with ABC News in New York. And even 3,000 miles away, he’ll still be near friends he met as an undergraduate. “The friends I made in Davis are still my closest friends now, and I think it’s because we’re all so different,” he said. n

Fall 2015

sports

Women’s golf

stando

Wayne Tilcock

becomes a

Third-year economics major Paige Lee posted a top-20 finish, helping the UC Davis women’s golf team place sixth in the Stanford Intercollegiate in October.

t es y

Ones to watch

NF L

These former Aggies are competing on the professional stage. Check them out with their new teams.

Colton Schmidt ’13, Buffalo Bills (NFL) Demi Runas ’13, LPGA Urijah Faber ’03, Ultimate Fighting Championship Daniel Descalso, Colorado Rockies (MLB) Quincy Amarikwa ’09, San Jose Earthquakes (MLS)

By Mike Robles

canning the list of the top 25 college women’s golf teams is like taking attendance at a meeting of the biggest names in college sports. Stanford? Here. Duke? Here. UCLA? Here. Then one school seems to be crashing the event—UC Davis. That’s right, amidst the names more closely associated with the Final Four and Rose Bowl is an Aggie program that has forged its way into prominent company. UC Davis didn’t start sponsoring women’s golf until 2005 and didn’t officially gain Division I status until 2007-08. Since then, the team has risen to elite status and has become a legitimate contender on the national stage every year. It has won six straight Big West Championships, been to the NCAA regionals six consecutive years and has advanced to the NCAA finals four times. It reached the pinnacle last May—to this point in its evolution—when it finished a program-best 11th at the NCAA finals. “Our team prides itself on excellence, be it on the course, in the classroom or in the community,” said head coach Anna Temple. “We are honored to be among the nation’s best and to have an opportunity to compete for national championships [every year], but we also know that comes from doing the little things really well.” It begins with recruiting and attracting high-quality

players from as far as Thailand. The team also plays on highly regarded local courses, including its home layout at El Macero Country Club, which features the John and Diane Watson Short Game Training Center. As women’s golf has built its national standing, UC Davis has become an attractive invitee to major tournaments, helping the team to become even stronger. “Each week, we are able to compete with the best teams in the country—from the Pac-12, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference—and that truly prepares us to be the best we can possibly be,” said Temple. The Aggies recently finished the fall portion of the 2015-16 women’s golf season and will continue in the spring.

Fall 2015

Environmental sustainability starts

HERE

UC Davis researcher Katie Webb pilots the R/V Bob Richards, Lake Tahoe

Scientists from the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center have been boarding research vessels for more than 50 years to monitor Lake Tahoe’s quality and clarity. These expeditions help us understand how to counteract the effects of climate change that threaten this California treasure and other lakes throughout the world. This year, researchers disproved a long-held misperception: Lake Tahoe’s famed blueness is not due to high clarity, but to low levels of algae. What will we discover next? Watch the video at go.ucdavis.edu/blue for more.

Fall 2015

the change

Voices of

generation

UC Davis Magazine

hese four alums have at least two things in common besides being Aggies: They’re fearless in their pursuit of societal change, and they’re using technology to amplify their messages and reach more audiences than ever before. This is the “Change Generation.” Its members are tackling global challenges like social inequity, cultural differences, hunger and domestic violence. In the process, they are inspiring others to join the conversation and seek opportunities to improve the world around them. ⊲

by Kristin Burns ’96 photos by Karin Higgins and Gregory Urquiaga

Fall 2015

“

You often hear that young people are the future, but the future isn’t tomorrow—it’s today. —Fong Tran ’15

” Watch Fong perform and learn more about him at

go.ucdavis.edu/tran

Fong Tran ’15 is using his voice—literally—to empower youth at UC Davis and around the world. An activist-turned-artist, Tran performs spoken-word poetry in colleges across the country, including UC Davis, and in the Philippines. He speaks of community building and achieving positive change. “Activism is to realize the current reality isn’t good enough and want an alternative that’s better,” Tran said. “Poetry helps me present that reality to people. Talking about my own narrative gives it a human perspective.” Tran weaves stories about his family scrambling to survive in the South Sacramento area after migrating from Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. His mom, whom he calls his biggest hero, raised five kids alone on food stamps and welfare. Students are finding value in Tran’s words. His

UC Davis Magazine

most popular YouTube video has 178,000 views. While that gives him validation as an artist, Tran said he is more interested in raising a critical dialogue around issues of social justice. “You often hear that young people are the future, but the future isn’t tomorrow—it’s today,” said Tran, who recently completed a master’s degree in community development at UC Davis and works as an adviser at the Cross Cultural Center. “I’m working with student leaders who are looking beyond their own career ambitions to think about society and what kind of impact they want to make on the world. They need a seat at the decision-making table now.” Nearly 3,000 miles away, Dominique Gebru ’12 is also helping students discover and develop their leadership skills. A Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica, Gebru serves as the youth literacy adviser in a small,

Rock, reflects on Jamaican culture, food and recipes, music, her volunteering trials and triumphs, and island personalities. “It’s difficult to prepare yourself for life in another country, but I’ve learned to be open to the experience and embrace life for what it is, hardships included,” Gebru said. The Peace Corps recently selected Gebru as a top blogger in its annual Blog It Home contest. She joins seven other winners on a tour of Washington D.C. this fall to share stories of her service with the American public. “To share the beautiful, warm Jamaican culture is to celebrate all that it and its people have shared with me,” Gebru said. “Cultural exchange is important because it grows our understanding of the different elements of our world. With greater understanding comes more peace.” Gebru’s fellow ’12 classmate Edward Silva also took lessons learned from travel abroad to heart. Majoring in international agriculture development and minoring in technology management, Silva immersed himself in study abroad. He frequently observed the lack of simple technology available to smallholder farmers, which reminded him of his childhood growing up on an almond farm in the Central Valley. His dad often tinkered with little technology projects to keep everything running smoothly. “If we didn’t have the machinery, my dad would try and build it,” recalled Silva. “I was a curious Courtesy Domi nique Gebru

rural primary school in Trelawny Parish. The Napa Valley native helps students who have fallen behind in their reading and writing, and recently relaunched the school library with grade 6 students. “The school’s small staff had a hard time checking out books on a regular basis,” Gebru said. “So I created a library monitor program that the students could run, and they stepped up to the plate with such grace, it filled my heart with pride.” Blogging is Gebru’s platform of choice for sharing her volunteer experience. Her blog, Two Years Pon Di

“

To share the beautiful, warm Jamaican culture is to celebrate all that it and its people have shared with me.

”

—Dominique Gebru ’12

Read Dominique’s blog at

twoyearsponderock.wordpress.com.

Fall 2015

kid, and my dad’s use of technology to solve various challenges on our farm left a lasting impression on me.” Silva came up with an innovative ag-tech solution of his own in a village in Zambia, where he helped Ph.D. students replace kerosene lanterns with solar-powered light. He became preoccupied with how that same light technology could be used for ag. The result is Henlight, a little solar-powered light that small-scale poultry farmers can use in chicken coops to encourage more consistent egg production throughout the year, including the fall and winter when days are

shorter and have less sunlight. The startup gained attention and $10,000 in seed funding after Silva’s team placed first in the Thought for Food Challenge 2013, an international business competition seeking breakthrough ideas to meet the world’s food demands by 2050. Silva, formerly prgram coordinator at the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable AgTech Innovation Center, is the business lead for Henlight. He said a lot of work is yet to be done, but the

my passion from “Toantransform idea to a solution that helps farmers ... is a really good feeling. ” —Edward Silva ’12

Learn more about Edward’s invention at

go.ucdavis.edu/silva

UC Davis Magazine

“Ourisgeneration great at maximizing impact ... online. I’m a part of that, and it’s really exciting.

”

—Jessica Merrill ’06 Follow the partnership on Twitter at @cpedvcoalition.

entire experience has humbled him. “Millennials want their work to have an impact,” Silva said. “Ag and food literally touch every person on earth, and all of our basic necessities revolve around them. So to be able to transform my passion from an idea to a solution that helps farmers and our food supply is a really good feeling.” While Silva is using simple, smart technology to fight world hunger, Jessica Merrill ’06 turns to social media to educate the public about domestic violence, promote related legislation and respond to high-profile abuse cases. Merrill is the communications and development manager for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, which comprises more than 1,000 organizations and advocates throughout the state—all working to end abuse in their communities. “Our generation is great at maximizing impact by using different influencers and thought leaders online,” Merrill said. “I’m a part of that, and it’s really exciting.” To support October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Merrill created a digital communications toolkit for members to use, including shareable images and facts, mini TED-like talks

on YouTube and a media guide. She also led live online video chats with the public, discussing prevention and intervention strategies and factors that contribute to domestic violence. One of Merrill’s primary responsibilities is to publicize partnership-supported legislation such as AB 2321, which resulted in the new “California Says NO MORE” license plate. The plate, available at NOMOREplate.org, raises funds for awareness and prevention efforts. The American studies graduate said social justice is a common interest among her peers, and social media is their go-to tool to initiate change. “Whenever there’s a news story about domestic violence, it’s not uncommon for people to ask, ‘Why didn’t she just leave?’” Merrill said. “I use social media to reframe the conversation and place accountability where it belongs—on the abuser.” The importance of supporting survivors is deeply personal for Merrill, who said she experienced an abusive relationship as a teen and found limited resources available to help. She added that she’s proud of her organization’s work with schools to implement policies on adolescent dating abuse, including education about healthy relationships. “I don’t want future generations to experience what I went through,” Merrill said. “I want domestic violence to be absent from their vocabulary.” 

Fall 2015

a knight tale by Sarah Colwell

hen UC Davis alumnus and Hong Kong native Sir Chung-Kong “CK” Chow was preparing to be knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to industry in the United Kingdom, the protocol official imparted an important lesson. “One thing: Do not look down. That’s what people do in the movies, but that’s not correct. You should look up to the sovereign when being knighted,” Chow, M.S. ’74 recalled, adding that his wife’s excitement about the event was primarily because actor

’s

Sean Connery was also knighted in 2000. Chow walked in the room, knelt down and bowed his head. Then, remembering the instructions, he quickly looked up— just as the sword swept over his head. “Oh, boy! I’ll be the first knight in history to be beheaded by the queen during the vesture ceremony,” said Chow, recounting his internal monologue with a laugh and his usual jovial smile. Since then, Chow has continued to realize the value of keeping his head held high. As chairman of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, or HKEx, Chow is responsible for guiding the long-term vision and strategy of the stock exchange. He played a pivotal role in a revolutionary new venture that opened the door for the rest of the world to trade with mainland China.

International dimensions

Courtesy photo. Photo illustration by russ Thebaud / UC Davis

Chow, who has been named one of the most powerful Chinese men in the Western world by Hong Kong media, has a leadership philosophy centered on cultural appreciation. “Leadership, actually, has cultural differences. A good leader in America may not be an excellent leader in Japan because [the two countries] require different leadership styles,” he said. This perspective allowed him to build a career in global management working in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia and the United States, achieving tremendous success. It also helped ensure success across

industries. After working 20 years for a global industrial gases company, Chow became chief executive officer of a U.K.-based global engineering company, where he led one of the most significant acquisition-based expansions in the company’s history. He then became CEO of a global logistics support services company and, in 2003, the CEO of Hong Kong’s metro and property company, which operates rapidtransit lines in London, Stockholm, Beijing, Shanghai and Melbourne. Chow took his current role of chairman of HKEx in 2012, when—in addition to acquiring the London Metal Exchange so as to capitalize on China’s consumption of 42 percent of the global metals commodities—he helped launch ShanghaiHong Kong Stock Connect. The new program allows international investors to buy and sell shares with mainland China and for wealthy Chinese individuals to access international investment opportunities for the first time. “The share turnover in the Shanghai market has grown beyond everyone’s expectations, making it one of the largest in the world,” Chow said, adding that Hong Kong has experienced similar growth and is now is the sixth largest stock market by capitalization in the world.

An outsider’s perspective Although he did not have much securities-related experience before becoming the head of the HKEx, Chow said he successfully made the transition from transport to trading because he had global experience and “an outsiders perspective”—something he refined while at UC Davis. Chow came to UC Davis in the early 1970s seeking a warmer climate (having obtained his undergraduate degree in Wisconsin) and the opportunity to study chemical kinetics under the late professor Joe Mauk Smith. When he arrived, Chow realized UC Davis had much more to offer. “The most unique memory I have of UC Davis is that it was very international,” said Chow who obtained his master’s degree in chemical engineering. “In the department, in addition to me, we had people from Italy, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Spain. So I learned a lot about the world at that time. “Even in the discipline of chemical engineering, there were different approaches from other countries. I think the early exposure at UC Davis to all these international dimensions helped play a part in my success.” n

Fall 2015

Mission:

Improbabl

One gallon of wine from One gallon of water by the year 2020

by Pat Bailey photos by Karin Higgins and Gregory Urquiaga

Viticulture and enology researchers David Block, far left, Anita Oberholster and Andy Walker, along with their colleagues aim to dramatically reduce the water needed to make wine. Their solution: water-wise grape rootstocks, efficient irrigation networks and systems for recycling and reusing winery wash water.

n an effort to confront severe drought and long-term climate change, UC Davis researchers are teaming up to help the state’s epic wine industry perform its liquid alchemy with much less water. Processing one gallon of wine takes about six gallons of water, and vineyard irrigation—depending on location and grape variety—can more than double that figure. The UC Davis mission: Within five years demonstrate how to trim water use to just a gallon of water per gallon of wine. It’s a feat of biblical proportions challenging a diverse team of plant biologists, chemists, soil scientists and engineers to target wine-grape vines and rootstocks, vineyard irrigation and winery processing systems. The most water-efficient wild grapevines in the U.S. grow in dry regions—like the hills and flatlands of West Texas, just now emerging from a multiyear drought. This summer, plant geneticist and breeder Andy Walker and one of his graduate students canvassed the dusty back roads between San Antonio, Waco and Austin. The expedition, yielding 104 plant cuttings, was one of many made to Texas over the last 25 years by Walker, who claims he can spot a wild grapevine from the highway at 65 miles per hour. NO GENETIC SILVER BULLET “It’s going to be tricky,” said Walker of his team’s quest to breed drought-tolerant rootstocks that root vigorously, tolerate increased

Fall 2015

“

we expect to fill our water tanks this year, storing enough water for two years of winery operation.

”

—Roger Boulton, chemical engineer and winery operations expert at UC Davis.

soil salts, support high-quality fruit production and adapt to California’s diverse grape-growing regions. Yields in the high-dollar vineyards of Napa and Sonoma average only 4 to 5 tons per acre, but irrigation needs there are low and groundwater is in good supply. To the south and inland near Lodi, where one-third of California’s zinfandels originate, annual yields average 10 tons per acre, but the warmer, drier climate intensifies demand for irrigation water. “And when you get into the San Joaquin Valley, where yield is king, it’s an entirely different story,” Walker said. “Valley growers keep asking how they can continue to get yields of over 15 tons per acre but with half the normal amount of water.” That’s probably not going to happen. But Walker is betting that those drought-seasoned Texas grapevines contain genes that will enable California growers to produce high-quality wine grapes and optimize yield and water use. He expects to unveil the first drought-tolerant rootstocks in just five years, with more to follow eight and 10 years from now. Meanwhile, other researchers have already moved a new hyper-efficient, experimental irrigation system from drawing board to vineyard. Eventually, it should help growers conserve water and better control flavor profiles throughout their vineyards. VINE-SPECIFIC IRRIGATION “We’re trying to give each vine exactly the amount of water it needs to produce high-quality fruit,” said David Block, a chemical engineer and chair of the Department of Viticulture and Enology who is helping develop a system for monitoring each vine’s water status, then quantifying and delivering just the right amount of water. A prototype irrigation system was designed and installed last year at UC Davis’ Oakville Experimental Vineyard in the Napa Valley.

UC Davis Magazine

Its multivalve components are housed in plastic storage tubs and linked to bundles of plastic tubing strung down the vineyard rows. Operated by wireless, remote control and fueled by a low-power battery, it uses brief electrical pulses to open and close the valves, sending the precise amount of water flowing independently to each vine. Inexpensive, robust sensors, spotted throughout the vineyard, eventually will determine each vine’s water requirements by gauging how hard it is working to pull water from the soil. The researchers expect to have enough data by the end of the 2016 growing season to evaluate and finetune the experimental network. To be commercially viable, it will need refined sensor and data-management systems, and the per-vine cost must drop from the experimental $50-to-$100 range down to the $2-to-$5 range, Block said. With dollar signs looming at every turn of the ambitious water-to-wine project, the researchers are keenly

Opposite: Roger Boulton at the LEED Platinumcertified UC Davis winery (top); a prototype irrigation system uses remote sensors to give each vine the precise amount of water it needs (middle).

aware that their innovative solutions must be economical. Winery processing systems are no exception. CAPTURING AND RECYCLING H20 Water conservation was a top priority when the Department of Viticulture and Enology planned a decade ago for a modern teaching and research winery. Now ending its sixth crush season, the winery continues to evolve and install pioneering water systems, consolidating much of the equipment in the adjacent Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building. “The current drought only highlights why these systems are so important to complete,” said Roger Boulton, a chemical engineer and winery operations expert who has long envisioned the campus winery as a model for sustainable processing. The main winery building, also housing brewing and food-processing facilities, was designed to capture rainwater from its roof and surrounding landscape for storage in outdoor tanks. By this winter, rainwater will also be captured

from the roofs of the original Robert Mondavi Institute buildings. “We expect to fill our water tanks this year, storing enough water for two years of winery operation,” said Boulton, noting that the winery should be operating completely independent of the campus water grid by fall 2016.

Ask

the UC Davis

Alumni Wine Program partners

What, if anything, are you doing differently at this year’s crush? Has climate played a role in your planning?

“

This year, we will do less macrobin SUSTAINABLE CLEANING fermentation and more tank FOR WINERIES fermentation. I’m very excited about “Clean in place” systems, with revolving that. We have worked really hard, spray nozzles to clean inside fermentaand it’s nice to see our production tion tanks and then capture and recycle increasing in quality and quantity. This year’s climate shortens our harvest. the wash water, are critical for cutting We sampled our grapes [in mid-August], water use. and all of our red varietals will be ready The large fermentation tanks also to be picked around the same time. I’m are specially designed with ultraforeseeing our 2015 harvest to be a more smooth interior walls, discouraging intense, shorter period. microbial growth and decreasing the —Jessica Chin Foo ’04 winery’s wash-water demands. Putah Creek Winery, Davis “These technologies will allow UC Davis Alumni Wine Program partner us to capture our waste streams, separate the solids, filter them and then store them for reuse in the Oh, my gosh, it’s an incredibly early harvest, winery,” said campus winemaker and some vineyards are actually looking like and winery manager Charles they’re ripening a full month early. We’ve seen unusual activity based on climate: Some “Chik” Brenneman. vineyards are right on time, or even a bit late, and Eventually, 90 percent of others are remarkably early. The yields are way the treated solutions can be down, and the quality is way up—interesting year. reclaimed and used 10 times over for winery cleaning.  —Michael Dashe ’87

”

“

”

Co-owner of Dashe Cellars LLC

class notes

Rick Arthur, D.V.M. ’76, received the President’s Award from the American Association of Equine Practitioners last December. He owns a racetrack veterinary practice in Sierra Madre and serves as equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board. Ira Bray is chair of the Davis Recreation and Park Commission and keeps a close eye on Oxford Circle Park. He works as a library consultant and lives in Davis with his wife and daughter.

1974

Max F. Rothschild received this year’s Morrison Award from the American Society of Animal Science, which honors research in livestock production. He is a distinguished professor in agriculture and life sciences and the Ensminger Endowed Chair of International Agriculture at Iowa State University.

1975

Thomas Berliner, a partner in Duane Morris’ San Francisco law office, has been named chair of the firm’s global energy, environment and resources practice group. He is a leading California

UC Davis Magazine

lawyer on water, power and irrigation rights for water agencies, agriculture and other businesses. Before joining Duane Morris in 1998, he served 20 years as general counsel of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. He is a board member of the Water Education Association and a member of the Association of California Water Agencies and the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. Tom Lamoree retired from a 23-year career in the Woodland Joint Unified School District and moved with his wife, Lynn, to Ashland, Oregon, where they enjoy hiking, biking, films, theatre, golf, bowling, square dancing, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute classes, Spanish, visiting family and entertaining houseguests.

1980

Rita Gibson, an insurance and investment specialist, was awarded the Court of the Table award from the Million Dollar Roundtable, an association of insurance and financial services professionals. The Million Dollar Roundtable Foundation honored Gibson for her volunteerism with the UC Davis Children’s Hospital Advisory Council.

Mark Matsumoto, M.S., Ph.D. ’82, has been named dean of the UC Merced College of Engineering. He formerly served as associate dean for research and graduate education in the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside, as well as a professor in UC Riverside’s Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.

1982

Fresno peach farmer, slow-food advocate and author David “Mas” Masumoto, M.S., and his wife, Marcy (Thieleke), are the focus of an award-winning documentary, Changing Season: On the Masumoto Family Farm. The film chronicles a year in the life of Mas Masumoto, and his relationship with daughter Nikiko, who returns to the family farm with the intention of stepping into her father’s work boots. Director Jim Choi won the Best Director for a Documentary Film Award at the 2015 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival last May. The film will air on PBS stations next spring. The Masumoto farm was also featured last March in an NPR story, “The Family Peach Farm that Became a Symbol of the Food Revolution.”

David “Mas” Masumoto

1983

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Pima County Superior Court Judge Christopher Staring to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division II, in October. Prior to his trial court appointment, Staring worked in the Phoenix and Tucson offices of Fennemore Craig for 24 years.

1984

Michael I. Kotlikoff, Ph.D., has been named Cornell University’s provost. He had served as the Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell since 2007.

Staci Valentine

1972

Alumni profile

Kathleen Alexander, D.V.M. ’92, Ph.D. ’95, an associate professor of wildlife at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, received the university alumni association’s 2015 Award for Excellence in International Research. Working across Africa, she studies how diseases spread among humans, wildlife and the environment. She and her husband, Mark Vandewalle, an adjunct professor, established the Center for Conservation of African Resources: Animals, Communities and Land Use in Botswana. After earning a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in August 2014, Terrence Lee joined the Division of Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, as a postdoctoral fellow.

1989

Scott Fong co-founded Agentfound.com, a website that connects homebuyers and sellers with their ideal real estate agents. Barbara J. Wagner, Ph.D., has been promoted to special Continued on page 39

An authority in groundbreaking marine research Mark Abbott, Ph.D. ’78, has spent the bulk of his 35-year career studying the ocean. When he was working toward his Ph.D. in ecology at UC Davis, he acquired an oceanographic mindset from his adviser, former UC Davis professor Thomas Powell. He used it in his study of Lake Tahoe and the interaction of physical and biological processes. This fall, Abbott became the president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the world’s most highly regarded marine science institutions. “Working on some of the most important problems on our planet with the best ocean scientists and engineers is an amazing opportunity,” Abbott said. “UC Davis prepared me to work across the scientific disciplines and bring the latest technology to complex scientific problems.”

Courtesy

1988

“UC Davis prepared me to work across the scientific disciplines and bring the latest technology to complex scientific problems.”

He comes to WHOI from Oregon State University, where he served as dean and professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Abbott served a six-year term on the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and provides scientific advice to the White House and to Congress. He was also vice chair of the Oregon Global Warming Commission, which is leading the state’s efforts in mitigation and adaptation strategies in response to climate change. “Mark is a recognized leader in the field of oceanographic and atmospheric science,” said Jeff Seewald, a WHOI senior scientist and co-chair of the President Search Committee. “He has tremendous credibility talking about big and important scientific issues, and can do it in terms that are compelling for a range of audiences from scientists and policymakers to funders and the public.” n

Fall 2015

Alumni profile

Good bones: Geologist moves from the classroom to the museum Like many other children growing up in Southern California, Lori Bettison-Varga, M.S. ’86, Ph.D. ’91, was scared of earthquakes. Learning what caused them sparked a lifelong interest in geology that set the course of her career. This fall she became president and director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The museum, which the county says is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States, comprises three sites, including the La Brea Tar Pits. “There’s something really novel about that, right?” Bettison-Varga said. “To see pools of asphalt in the middle of L.A. and see that mammoths are preserved there.” She visited the tar pits as a kid, and some of her earliest memories include being captivated by them. She wants to insprire the same reaction in visitors today, but also spur them to think about responsible stewardship of the planet. “The museum experience is all about wonder and discovery,” she said. “It should be the wonder and discovery combined with the knowledge that we have a

UC Davis Magazine

responsibility for our place in nature and the impact that we have in nature and in our cultural world.” She is accustomed to educating large groups and has chaired the geology department at The College of Wooster in Ohio. She was most recently president of Scripps College. She decided to pursue a career in education during her graduate studies at UC Davis, where she worked as a teaching assistant. “I learned to really love teaching when I was a grad student,” Bettison-Varga said. She is taking the helm of one of many cultural institutions in Southern California led by women, including the Los Angeles Music Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hammer Museum at UCLA, and The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. “That’s exciting because we know women are underrepresented in leadership positions,” Bettison-Varga said. “It’s great to be a part of the overall public and civic life of L.A., but also be among these other women leaders.” n

Alf o Ch ristin a Ga nd

counsel at Barnwell Whaley law firm in Charleston, South Carolina. A former College of Charleston chemistry professor, Wagner advises clients primarily in the areas of construction law and products liability.

1992

Michael Chang, Warner Bros. vice president for business and legal affairs, was awarded the Richard D. Parsons Community Impact Award, Time Warner Inc.’s highest public service award, for his work teaching law-related skills to Los Angeles youth. He also works with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and pioneered lawyer- and judgefor-a-day programs for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

1993

California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Sonia Cortés to a judge position in the Yolo County Superior Court. She is the first Latino judge appointed to the Yolo County Superior Court.

2001

Laura Galdorisi O’Sullivan and J.T. O’Sullivan welcomed Davis Paul O’Sullivan on July 25. Davis joins big brothers Jack, 5, and Larkin, 2. The family lives in Coronado.

2002

Amir A. Tabarrok, M.S., has joined Duane Morris LLP’s Silicon Valley office as a partner in its Intellectual Property Practice Group. He previously founded the intellectual property firm Tabarrok & Zahrt LLP with Justin W. Zahrt.

2004

Emilie Cameron received the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Volunteer of the Year Award last January.

2005

Susan E. Swanberg, Ph.D, was awarded a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona in 2014. She now works as an assistant professor at the University of Arizona School of Journalism, where she specializes in science journalism.

2007

Jennifer Dean has opened the Virginia Immigration Law Center, a private firm in Roanoke, Virginia. She previously served as interim director of the Washington & Lee University School of Law Immigration Rights Clinic.

2008

Emilio Camacho, J.D. ’11, is chief of staff to Commissioner David Hochschild at the California Energy Commission. Camacho previously was an attorney at the California Office of the Legislative Counsel, advising lawmakers on energy, environmental, public utilities, water and public resources law. Devon Lee is a doctoral student in sociology, specializing in Africana studies, at Virginia Tech. As a 2015 diversity scholar there, he planned a mentorship program to match black graduate students with faculty best able to help them achieve success.

2010

Crystal Le and Louis “Daniel” Gutierrez planned to wed on Nov. 7. They met during the 2006

Welcome Week ice cream social at North Castilian Hall in the Cuarto area and began dating in 2007. They live in Palo Alto. Le works in administration and marketing at Menlo Ventures, a venture capital firm. Gutierrez is a regional manager for the nonprofit Mid Pen Housing development company.

2011

Ansel Halliburton, J.D., has joined Kronenberger Rosenfeld, a San Francisco-based Internet, technology and media law firm. He advises startups and entrepreneurs on Internet protocol strategy and other matters. Super Lawyers magazine named him to its 2014–15 “Rising Stars” list. Ashley Khawsy opened an online bakery, Smashbakes.com. Smashbakes has been featured on the blog Cupcakes Take The Cake and online food publications Foodbeast and Huffington Post Taste.

2012

Liz VanWormer, Ph.D., started as an assistant professor of practice and the One Health coordinator at University of Nebraska—Lincoln in November.

Fall 2015

in memoriam

Alumni Jean (Ellen) Davis ’51, of Hollister, died May 3 from coronary heart disease. She was 86. Herbert Nelson Piper, D.V.M. ’52, died of natural causes at the age of 94 on Sept. 15. He was among the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s first graduating class and went on to practice in Fresno for more than two decades. Ron Enomoto ’64, who served as president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association from 1988 to 1990, died Oct. 7 while traveling in Tibet. He was 73. He was a life member of the association since 1979 and won the CAAA Fielder Award in 1992. Of his three children, daughter Erin Moore graduated from UC Davis in 1994. Enomoto owned Enomoto Roses in Half Moon Bay for 40 years with his wife, Nancy. John Gilmour III ’70, of Richmond, died Feb. 10. He was 66. Rand B. Schaal ’73, Ph.D. ’91, an alumnus who became a lecturer in geology and teamed with his father, Ted, on a major donation to UC Davis, died in Needles in September. He was 64. After a stroke forced his early retirement from teaching in 1998, Schaal wrote and self-published The

UC Davis Magazine

Radon Trilogy, inspired by his research on moon rocks and the earth’s mantle. A former member of the swim team, Schaal joined his father in 1998 to donate $1 million for the development of the Schaal Aquatics Center, and $400,000 to assist the geology department in funding the Ted and Rand Schaal Auditorium in Giedt Hall. Gary Prentice ’78, who served as a Clovis High School counselor for 35 years, died May 12, three weeks after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 58. He played for UC Davis’ football team during his four years as a student. Scott Sims ’79, D.V.M. ’84, of Aloha Vet died July 25 of cancer in Lihue, Hawaii. He was 59. His Nat Geo WILD show premiered this year, but Scott was a longtime vet, first with a practice in Novato and later on the island of Kauai. Victoria Evelyn Mrozek ’88, a former librarian and social worker, died in June in Merced after her third battle with cancer. She was 49 and first diagnosed with cancer 15 years earlier. Distance runner Sarah Sumpter ’13, died Sept. 21 after a five-year battle with cancer. She was 25. Sumpter inspired the entire distance-running community when she set school records and garnered numerous track-and-field and cross-country awards after a diagnosis of a brain tumor sidelined her for the

Sarah Sumpter ’13 2010-11 school year. Her resolve allowed her to finish a stellar college running career after her diagnosis and subsequent surgery. In addition to breaking numerous records, Sumpter captured the university’s 2011-12 Hubert Heitman Award as outstanding female athlete of the year and was selected as the school’s representative for the Big West ScholarAthlete of the Year in 2012.

Faculty and Administration Longtime Aggie coach John Pappa, who had been one of “Pappy’s Boys” at Cal, died at the age of 85 at his home in McCloud (Shasta County) in July. Pappa coached football, track and field and cross country in various stretches from 1965 to 1992. He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. Jack W. Peltason, emeritus UC president, UC Irvine chancellor

and political science professor, died March 21 after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 91. He served as president of the UC system from 1992 to 1995, a period marked by bleak budget circumstances—somewhat relieved when he reached a multiyear funding compact with thenGov. Pete Wilson and authorized the first of three early retirement programs for UC faculty and staff. Also during his tenure, the Board of Regents voted to end UC affirmative action practices. He was involved in the opening of UC Irvine, left to serve as chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and returned in 1984 as Irvine’s second chancellor. UC President Janet Napolitano presented the President’s Medal to Peltason last year. Philosophy professor Aldo Antonelli died Oct. 11 in Sacramento. A native of Italy, Antonelli specialized in pure and applied logic. Antonelli and his partner, Elaine Landry, a fellow professor of philosophy, expanded the department’s focus to include philosophy of logic and mathematics.

alumni authors

Books

While much has been said about its politics and engineers, little has been written about the workers who built the Golden Gate Bridge during the Great Depression. Harvey Schwartz ’75 tells the tales of nine workers and their “hardships, hazards, and victories” in Building the Golden Gate Bridge: A Workers’ Oral History (University of Washington Press, 2015). 600ppm: A Novel Of Climate Change (Cosmic Egg Books, 2015) by Clarke Owens, M.A. ’76, is a mystery set in the year 2051. When Jeff Claymarker’s friend is wrongly convicted of murder, the only clue comes from a stash of flash drives belonging to Jeff’s late uncle, a Washington climate scientist. This is the second book for Owens, an attorney in Wooster, Ohio. His first book was a literary criticism, Son of Yahweh: The Gospels as Novels (Christian Alternative, 2013). In the postapocalyptic world imagined by UC Davis emeritus professor of nutrition Louis Grivetti, Ph.D. ’76, and co-author Sargent Thurber Reynolds, a terrorist computer hacker has disrupted the U.S. banking system and plunged society into darkness. In Testing Ground, Volume 1: The Cave (EditPros, 2015), individuals struggle to survive without communication networks, food and water. The science fiction novel asks whether the planet is merely a “testing ground” on which life was created, allowed to evolve, then targeted for annihilation after evil proliferated.

In 2001, Toni Bernhard, J.D. ’82, who was then a professor at the UC Davis School of Law, was diagnosed with an acute viral infection and retired three years later. Though she still hasn’t recovered, she has written her third book, How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide (Wisdom Publications, 2015). The book offers advice for those whose lives have been upended by illness. Her blog, Turning Straw Into Gold, is hosted on the Psychology Today website. She can be found online at Tonibernhard.com. Norma López-Burton, M.A. ’83, an award-winning Spanish lecturer at UC Davis, had three textbooks published in late 2014— all co-authored with other alumni: • Tu sais quoi?! (Yale University Press), a French conversation text, with Annabelle Dolidon, Ph.D. ’08, a French professor at Portland State University. • Pura vida (John Wiley and Sons), a first-year Spanish language program, with Laura Marqués Pascual, Ph.D. ’07, Spanish and Portuguese language program director at UC Santa Barbara, and Cristina Pardo Ballester, Ph.D. ’07, who is on the Spanish faculty at Iowa State University. • On Being a Language Teacher: A Personal and Practical Guide to Success (Yale University Press), with Denise Minor, Ph.D. ’07, a Spanish professor at California State University, Chico. Kathryn Olmstead M.A. ’88, Ph.D. ’93, explores the conservative reaction to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business

Roots of Modern Conservatism (The New Press, 2015). Olmstead, chair and professor in the UC Davis Department of History, reveals how business leaders in Depression-era California moved toward populism and created a new style of politics, including professional campaign consultants and corporate funding of grassroots groups. Is the tanoak a tree to be treasured or trashed? Frederica Bowcutt, M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ’96, examines the fate of the tree native to California and southern Oregon in The Tanoak Tree: An Environmental History of a Pacific Coast Hardwood (University of Washington Press, 2015). The tree is still valued by Native American communities for its acorns but is suffering mass die-offs due to an introduced disease. Bowcutt is a faculty member at The Evergreen State College in Washington. Under a Painted Sky (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2015), by Stacey Lee, J.D. ’96, tells a story of friendship set on the Oregon Trail in 1849. The young adult novel is Lee’s first book, and her second, Outrun the Moon, is slated for release in 2016. In Single in the CIA (CreateSpace, 2015), former CIA officer Shelly Mateer ’97 dishes Continued on page 42

Fall 2015

about her experiences as a single woman working for the intelligence agency’s National Clandestine Service. This book has been reviewed for release by the CIA.

Birth, Death and a Tractor: Connecting an Old Farm to a New Family (Down East Books, 2015) by Kelly PaysonRoopchand, M.S. ’99, tells the story of a small farm in Somerville, Maine—from its settling in the early 1800s to its 2008 transfer to her and her husband, Anil Roopchand. They have two children and raise goats and rabbits. In addition to her UC Davis degree, she earned a doctorate in agricultural education and communication from the University of Florida. When Evan Welty ’04 had twin boys, she realized she didn’t want them to be defined by comparisons to each other. She couldn’t find many books about twins, so wrote the picture book Pairs—Twins and Other Twosomes (Ammonite Films Publishing, 2014), illustrated by Hsinping Pan, to start a conversation about being a twin.

UC Davis Magazine

Alumni profile

Chemistry that cures disease

When pharmaceutical company Gilead needs a few grams—or a few tons—of a new drug, it turns to Bob Scott ’92. Scott is a process chemist and finds methods to produce enough copies of new drugs for clinical trials or commercial sale. He led the team of scientists who produced Harvoni, a drug that received Food and Drug Administration approval last year after curing hepatitis C in 94 percent to 99 percent of clinical trials. But it was a long process. “It’s not easy to make a chemical that didn’t exist on earth prior to our work,” he said. He worked on producing the drug for six years, but said the process usually takes 10. Each phase of the trials requires a different quantity of the drug and a different method, which he compares to transportation. A traveler would use a different form of transportation to get across town than to get across the country, for example.

COURTESY

Before letting her three kids enter the social media universe, Galit Breen ’98 took a look at the perils of cyber-bullying and wrote 10 cardinal rules for online kindness and accountability. Kindness Wins (Booktrope, 2015) seeks to impart parents with the skills to teach their children to navigate the social media landscape.

“With every study ... we were able to get more bold. The good news just kept coming.”

Scott has produced pharmaceuticals for 18 years. Of the 20 or so compounds he’s brought to clinical trials, this is the first that has gone commercial, he said. “With every study, we kept being surprised at how well this worked and were able to get more bold,” he said. “The good news just kept coming.” Scott said Harvoni is significant not only because of its high success rate among the 200,000 patients involved in trials, but because it works faster than previous hepatitis C treatments and has almost no side effects. For his work producing the drug, Scott and seven colleagues were awarded the American Chemical Society’s Heroes of Chemistry award last summer. Scott, who grew up in California’s Central Valley, said he always loved chemistry but learned what he could accomplish with it while studying at UC Davis. “There were professors, particularly in the chemistry department, who made a lot of time to discuss with me, ‘What do you want to learn about this?’” Scott said. “Those discussions helped me figure out my path.” n

SH IFTIN G GEARS INTO A NEW WAY OF GRATITUDE UC Davis is proud to announce a new way to celebrate the generosity of our alumni and friends.

Â HONOR . ACH I EVEMENT. STATUS. P R O G R ESS. COLLABORATI ON. V I SI ON.

Learn more at leadershipgiving.ucdavis.edu

Archive / UC Davis

looking forward, looking back

The Ann E. Pitzer Center took shape rapidly in early 2015 with the 45-foot pre-cast concrete walls hoisted into place. The center will be completed in mid-2016, with a grand opening ceremony planned for fall 2016. While the building will include a state-of-the-art, 400-seat recital hall, it will also provide ample space

UC Davis moves ahead with state-of-the-art music hall for teaching and learning. The building adds six practice rooms and four teaching studios. With few practice rooms and teaching studios in the Music Building, students and faculty have had to use space in other buildings, converted offices and even the corridors for rehearsals. Occasionally, a brass player can be found practicing under the covered walkway outside. The recital hall will also serve as a classroom that will accommodate large survey courses for music and

UC Davis Magazine

Phil Daley / UC Davis

University musicians will soon enjoy a new space for recitals; above, right: standing room only in the old music building.

many other academic areas. “The building and environs will also address several other needs: environmentally controlled storage for valuable musical instruments, more practice rooms, and inviting indoor and outdoor spaces that are conducive to informal social interactions among students and faculty,” noted Henry Spiller, music department chair. The center, on Hutchison Drive between the Music Building and the TB 9 art studio building, is named for the late Ann E. Pitzer, who graduated from UC Davis in 1958 with a degree in home economics. Her estate donated $5 million toward the building last fall. The lobby is named for Grace and Grant Noda, who donated $1.5 million in the early planning stages. A number of options are available for those who wish to support the hall and music department. Naming opportunities are available for the courtyard, green room, large and small practice rooms and many other areas. Donors can also name a suite of four seats, individual seats or add names to a wall of supporters. 

One of a kind like you

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one of a kind See No Evil/Hear No Evil Artist Robert Arneson’s bronze Egghead sculptures began appearing on campus in 1991. The two-piece installation, See No Evil/Hear No Evil, seen here, sits on the grassy knoll in front of Mrak Hall. The duo was first introduced near the law school in 1994, but moved to its current location in 2009 to make room for the expansion of King Hall.