UC Davis Magazine - Spring 2016 by Cal Aggie Alumni Association

Volume 33, No. 2 Spring 2016

What does the University of the

21st Century

look like?

After the blaze: Wildfire damage offers fertile study ground for UC Davis researchers

Remembering an Aggie rugby champion just in time for the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Olympic return

Creative alumni launch mobile apps to get their ideas straight to consumers

They

dream big. You make it

happen.

Alexander Revzin dreamed of putting a lab on a microchip. His lab developed a micro-device that records immune cell responses in real time, with only the prick of a finger. The instrument may have a critical impact on HIV patients and children struggling with autism and autoimmune disorders. Your leadership support for the Annual Fund helps Chancellorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fellows like Dr. Revzin bring their dreams to life.

give.ucdavis.edu

UC Davis Magazine Editor

Jocelyn Anderson ’98 Art Director

Russ Thébaud Designer

Jay Leek Writer

Cody Kitaura Photographers

Karin Higgins, Jason Spyres, Gregory Urquiaga

Envisioning the University of the 21st Century Higher education aims to maximize its potential in the future.

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

MA RIN A MU UN

Sunny Teo

Online: alumni.ucdavis.edu/ get-connected/update-record Email: ais@ucdavis.edu

All other email correspondence should be sent to magazine@ucdavis.edu. UC Davis Magazine is online at ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu. Phone: 530-752-9841

Burning Questions

Eternal Champion

Wildfires at two UC Davis natural reserves spark scientific exploration that is increasingly relevant as climates warm and fires intensify.

Rugby’s return to the Olympic Games this summer calls to mind ace athlete—and gold medalist— Colby E. “Babe” Slater ’17.

Departments

recycled • recyclable

UN IVERS ITY

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Mail: UC Davis Magazine, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8687.

ARCH IVES

MAT THE W HEN DERSON

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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. © 2016 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.

Events........................................ 2

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

College Town........................36

Office Hours............................. 3

The Aggie Life..................... 28

Class Notes...........................38

On Campus............................... 4

Aggie Families..................... 30

Visualize This........................... 8

Sports......................................32

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

Discoveries............................... 9

Young Achievers..................34

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

Spring 2016

events

MARTIN H. WONG / UC Davis

ALUMNI UK Alumni at Shakespeare’s Globe A reception will be followed by a special performance of Macbeth. Shakespeare’s Globe, London July 22

CULTURAL DAYS

ATHLETICS

Black Family Day

UC Davis vs Oregon Pregame Tailgate

Sept. 3

Homecoming

EXHIBITS

UC Davis vs Northern Colorado

Opening of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art

Oct. 15

Featuring over 100 baby rattles, this exhibit shows how the iconic toy has changed over the centuries. Design Museum Sept. 21–Nov. 20

UC Davis Magazine

Oct. 14

Aggie Diner Over dinner, students connect with alumni and parents from a variety of career fields. Oct. 26

MUSIC Early Music Ensemble

Parent and Family Weekend

June 1

Campus speakers, tailgating before the Aggies battle Portland State and more.

University Chorus

UC Davis campus

Mondavi Center

Nov. 5

June 3

For more: alumni.ucdavis.edu/rsvp

Mondavi Center

Dav is

ARC Ballroom

Nov. 13

Rattled

Davis Amtrak Station

S / UC

May 21

Essig Field, Eugene, Oregon

H IGG IN

UC Davis East Quad

Aggies battle the Ducks.

The 104-year tradition continues as pajama-clad students greet returning alumni the night before Homecoming.

K A R IN

The event marks its 45th anniversary with food, information booths and a Children’s Fair.

Pajamarino

office hours

Beverly Bossler:

GREGORY URQUIAGA / UC Davis

Professor on point FOR BEVERLY BOSSLER , ballet brought discipline to her life. Classes nearly every day from the age of 13 led to an apprenticeship with New York’s Dance Theatre of Harlem at 17. And though a performance career was not to be, the art form helped solidify Bossler’s focus and drive in her work as a Chinese history scholar. These days, she is an expert on China’s High Imperial period, the 10th to 14th centuries. In fact, dance informs her latest research as she delves into how concubines entertained men during that time. Some of her findings will be published in a forthcoming volume on dance in East Asia for UC Press.

The UC Davis professor manages to take ballet class two to three days a week, sometimes teaching students herself. In addition to perfecting technique, it remains a good way to clear her head, she said. “Dance can be a meditative exercise — to have something different to do, to get completely out of your head, especially if you are doing a lot of intellectual work,” Bossler said. “You leave all that behind, and all you are focused on is pulling up, pointing your foot and placement. You can’t think of anything else, and it’s very therapeutic.” —Jocelyn Anderson

Spring 2016

by Julia Ann Easley BRANDON COLEMAN ’16 WAS THE ONLY ONE OF HIS FRIENDS to go to college. And that first fall after he

transferred to UC Davis, when he looked around his classes, he said, he felt alone—he didn’t see another African American. But today, as the neurobiology, physiology and behavior major approaches graduation next month, he is thriving in an African American study group and a program helping disadvantaged students prepare for medical school. Coleman, 23, is among the UC Davis students already benefiting from new and expanding campus initiatives to support the recruitment and academic success of historically underrepresented groups— African American, Chicano/Latino and Native American—and reduce the time necessary for all students to earn their degrees. “It makes school that much easier when you have a community to study with,” said the Vallejo native. Among major efforts to expand resources for historically underrepresented groups:

UC Davis Magazine

• The AB540 and Undocumented Student Center and the School of Law’s legal services center for undocumented students at seven UC campuses both opened in fall 2014 and have gained national recognition. • The Center for African Diaspora Student Success, opened in fall 2015, is at the heart of a comprehensive set of initiatives for the recruitment and retention of African American students. • A similar recruitment and retention plan is in the works for Chicano and Latino students, including a student center to open in fall 2016. • The first director of Native American retention initiatives, who started in April, will help develop a plan for that population. Adela de la Torre, vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, said the programs help address the nation’s legacy of discrimination and racism that permeates all institutions, including K-12 and higher education. “We’re beginning to

Q U IAG RY U R

underserved students

G R EGO

New programs support

A / UC

Dav is

on campus

Brandon Coleman ’16, left, is preparing for medical school after graduation.

acknowledge that,” she said, “and this is no longer in the shadows.” A range of factors can make gaining admittance to a university and completing a degree challenging for underrepresented students, including inadequate finances, feelings of isolation and family obligations. Take African American students as an example. In fall 2015, just 980, or 3.9 percent, of 25,444 UC Davis undergraduates from the United States identified themselves as African American or black. And African American graduation rates are lower than those for all undergraduates (30 percent compared with 58 percent within four years, and 72 percent compared with 85 percent within six years). Coleman found his help through the Center for African Diaspora Student Success in the South Silo. It facilitates services—including on-site tutoring, academic advising, mentoring and mental health counseling—and serves as a community gathering place. “I’ve been able to network with a lot of other African American science students,” he said. Also, Kayton Carter, the campus’s first director of strategic African American retention initiatives, became a mentor. “I think of him as a resource, a mentor for advice,” Coleman said. “I don’t think I would have made those connections if it hadn’t been for the center.” n

Museum opening set The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art will open to the public on the UC Davis campus Nov. 13. The inaugural exhibition will feature the work of the university’s first generation art faculty and will highlight recent gifts to the Fine Arts Collection at UC Davis, including Robert Arneson’s towering bronze sculpture I Have My Eyes on Me Endlessly (1992), at right, and Roy De Forest’s large-scale painting Painter of the Rain Forest (1992), which is shared between the Manetti Shrem Museum and the Oakland Museum of California. Other artists who will be represented in the first exhibition are Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley, Ruth Horsting, Manuel Neri and Roland Petersen. The $30 million building, made possible by philanthropy and designed by associated architects SO – IL and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, will provide classrooms, gallery spaces, outdoor projection walls and study areas for students. “The plan is carefully orchestrated to increase moments of encounter and wonder and provide opportunity for informal learning,” said Rachel Teagle, the museum’s founding director.

M LEE FATHERREE

Restrooms for everyone

Signs of beskirted and trousered figures were removed from 133 restroom doors across the Davis campus earlier this year to convert gendered or unisex restrooms to gender-inclusive restrooms. “I like being on a campus where anyone can use a restroom regardless of sex or gender,” said Elizabeth Coté, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center. In addition to being a safe RESTROOM place for people who identify as transgender, genderqueer and gender nonconforming, the restrooms serve parents and caregivers who must accompany opposite-gendered children and others. The conversion applies to the campus’ single-stall restrooms.

Spring 2016

WHEN POLICE ARE CALLED to

GREG ORY URQU IAGA / UC Davis

a loud argument on campus, sometimes their mere presence raises ire. Having an officer who remembers the stresses of being a student can help. “That’s always one of my talking points,” said Officer Catalina Hernandez ’13, who has been with the UC Davis Police Department since Officer Catalina Hernandez ’13 she graduated. The addition of recent UC Davis graduates to the force is one of numerous steps the department has taken to better connect with the campus. Community relations has been a major focus since Police Chief Matt Carmichael took command four years ago, not just to bolster the department’s image, but to increase the reporting of crimes.

A fresh look

at policing

That means people from underrepresented populations or those who grew up with strained relationships with police need to feel empowered to call. “If they don’t feel comfortable reporting or assisting the police, we are ineffective,” Carmichael said. The department has untaken a number of outreach efforts, including creating an advisory council of students, faculty and staff who review complaints.

UC Davis Magazine

A flashy three-wheeled car draws curious students who then engage in conversations about distracted driving. Charlie the bomb-sniffing Labrador joined the force in 2014 and spends his downtime playing fetch on the Quad or socializing with students. The cadet program also brings in officers directly from the student population through a three-month academy. The academy, started in 2013, isn’t just about running laps and learning penal codes. This spring, the class cooked meals at a homeless shelter in Woodland, visited the county jail and participated in a mock trial at the UC Davis School of Law. In addition to being young, educated and diverse, more than half of this year’s cadets are female, compared to fewer than 10 percent of applicants to full-time officer positions, Carmichael said. “We want people who have ties to the university community and want to stay here, but also understand university life,” said Lt. Jennifer Garcia. A total of seven former cadets are now UC Davis police officers, and others are officers in Sacramento, in San Jose, on other UC campuses and elsewhere. The department has also focused more resources on security. Last year, with better promotion of its free Safe Rides and Tipsy Taxi services, UC Davis gave more than three times as many rides as in previous years. At press time, the department was finalizing guidelines to mandate officers to wear video cameras; UC Davis will be the first UC campus to do so. “These cameras benefit the officers, they benefit the community, and it’s a clear message to the community: ‘I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m here to work to serve you,’” Carmichael said. The chief has numerous efforts he can point to as bridges built with the community, but he said the most important of all is a mindset change. “Community policing is not a program. It’s not a car, it’s not a dog, it’s not pizza with the chief. It’s a philosophy that every member in the organization has to honestly and truly believe.” —Cody Kitaura

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi on Nov. 20 dedicated the new 16.3-megawatt SunPower solar power plant, which will reduce the university’s carbon footprint by 9 percent. “In the fight against climate change, this is another progressive step forward for a UC Davis campus that is already a global leader in sustainability,” Katehi said. SunPower owns and operates the plant, and sells the electricity to UC Davis. Bob Redlinger, SunPower commercial director, pointed out some of the features that make the solar plant more efficient: The panels slowly tilt throughout the day to face directly at the sun, and they are cleaned by robots. Those robots are “local,” by the way, developed by Greenbotics, a Davis-based company that SunPower acquired in 2013. Each robot sprays a carefully measured amount of water on each panel, scrubbing it and squeegeeing it. The robotic cleaning is 75 percent more water efficient than using a hose and a brush. The bottom line: Clean panels can perform up to 15 percent better in collecting the sun’s energy.

is / U C Dav U IAG A RY U R Q

A history-making gift The UC Davis Health System received $38.5 million in gifts and pledges in March from Ernest E. Tschannen to support the UC Davis Eye Center and the Center for Vision Science. These gifts make Tschannen the largest individual donor to UC Davis in the university’s 108-year history. Tschannen, who underwent surgery for glaucoma at the UC Davis Eye Center, previously donated $1.5 million and recently committed to an additional $37 million. Part of the gift will name the UC Davis Eye Center, which serves more than 55,000 patients each year with advanced specialty care. “Mr. Tschannen’s generosity will fuel innovative, collaborative vision research, and allow us to provide state-of-the-art, world-class eye care and training,” said Mark J. Mannis, chair of ophthalmology and vision science and director of the eye center. Other funds will support research on the optic nerve and glaucoma.

GREGORY URQUIAGA / UC Davis

A 62-acre plot on the south end of campus is now generating 14 percent of UC Davis’ electricity.

Forty years ago a fraternity disparaged her in a song. Today, “Lupe” is singing for herself—by way of a sculpture outside the meeting room that carries the name of that fraternity. The Voice of Lupe (by Susan Shelton ’81) was dedicated on Nov. 9 at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center. Michael Gardella ’82, Alpha Gamma Rho chapter adviser, spoke for the membership: “The original song recitation was indeed hurtful, and, regrettably, a part of the fraternity’s past, but it does not represent the values and principles of the current undergraduate members and alumni of the chapter.”

G R EGO

Campus taps the sun’s energy

Lupe’s healing message

Spring 2016

visualize this MAPPING THE

RECONSTRUCTION ERA As the National Park Service turns 100 in August, one UC Davis professor is on a mission to create a new dialogue about an oft-ignored period of U.S. history— the Reconstruction era. Gregory Downs, along with Northwestern University’s Kate Masur, currently is finishing up a yearlong study for the service focused on those years after the Civil War, when the federal government attempted to remake the nation. The study aims to better define how the parks can address the complicated history. The duo also edited a park service handbook

on Reconstruction that came out earlier this spring. “Almost every place in the South has a strong current of Reconstruction history,” Downs said. Of course, only Congress or the president can establish a national park, but a renewed conversation could help show how the war set in motion a radical transformation in the South. Added Downs, “I think there should be at least one and possibly several parks that are dedicated to Reconstruction. There are some amazing stories.” Here are just a few.

Memphis, Tenn. An effort to commemorate the Memphis riots of 1866 has set in motion discussions about this location, said Downs. The riots centered on an attack on decommissioned black U.S. soldiers that led to days of terror.

Beaufort, S.C.

Vicksburg, Miss.

Natchez, Miss.

The area had a large contraband camp on the river during the war and a surviving courthouse that became the site of important trials in Reconstruction.

Already home to several historic parks, Natchez has plantations that show how lives were reconstructed after the war. For example, Hiram Revels, the first African American in the U.S. Senate, set up his political base there.

New Orleans, La. Reconstruction history here leads to a series of street battles and riots. “New Orleans is an obvious place because of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, which accepts ‘separate but equal’ in 1896.”

The old southern port city remains largely intact, with old homes, an armory and other relevant sites. Robert Smalls, a former slave who became a sea captain and politician, was born and died there. “The town gives insight into the depth of the reconfiguration of black political life, family life on the Sea Islands, and commercial life.”

NATIONAL PARKS BY THE NUMBERS

400+ sites

84M+ acres

300M+ visitors

75K archaeological sites

27K historic structures

167M museum items

UC Davis Magazine

JO E PRO

UDMAN

/ U C Dav

discoveries

SoCal methane leak confirmed as largest in U.S. history By Kat Kerlin The Aliso Canyon natural gas well blowout released over 100,000 tons of the powerful greenhouse gas methane between October and February, according to research co-led by UC Davis. The results confirm it is the largest methane leak in U.S. history. In fact, during the peak of the event, enough methane poured into the air every day to fill a balloon the size of the Rose Bowl. The disaster will substantially impact California’s ability to meet greenhouse gas emission targets for the year, the researchers said. Its effects will be equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from over half a million passenger cars. Co-lead scientist and pilot Stephen Conley of Scientific Aviation and UC Davis said first readings in early November were so high he had to recheck his gear. “It became obvious that there wasn’t anything wrong with the instruments,” he said. “This was just a huge event.” At the time, Conley and his specially equipped plane were working with UC Davis on a California Energy Commission project searching for pipeline methane leaks. The state agency asked him to overfly the area around the breached SoCalGas well. “Real-time information is invaluable for making good decisions,” said the California Energy

Commission’s Guido Franco. Conley teamed with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Tom Ryerson, who pioneered techniques for assessing oil spills with airborne chemical sampling during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the 2012 Elgin rig blowout in the North Sea. They assembled a group of researchers from the University of California, Irvine; the California Energy Commission; and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, many of whom had previously collaborated on regional air quality projects. The team’s measurements confirmed that high concentrations of methane and ethane were surging from the breached well into the densely populated San Fernando Valley. The analysis found that at its peak, the blowout doubled the rate of methane emissions from the entire Los Angeles basin and temporarily created the largest known human-caused point source of methane in the United States, twice as large as the next-largest source, an Alabama coal mine. Eventually, more than 5,726 families were evacuated and Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency. Total emissions during the 112-day event were equal to one-quarter of the annual methane pollution from all other sources in the Los Angeles basin combined. n

Spring 2016

Newly identified lettuce gene may help adapt to climate change Like most annuals, lettuce plants live their lives in predictable, three-act dramas: Seed dormancy gives way to germination; the young plant emerges and grows; and finally in the climax of flowering, a new generation of seeds is produced. They follow the seasons, however, the genetics that coordinates these changes with environmental cues has not been well understood. But in a recent study of lettuce and the model plant Arabidopsis, researchers at the UC Davis Seed Biotechnology Center and in China showed for the first time that a gene known to direct the depth of seed dormancy and the timing of germination also influences flowering. It does this by influencing production of certain microRNAs—tiny snippets of genetic material that govern transition from one phase of the plant’s life cycle to another.

GREGORY URQ UIAG A

“This gene could be a particularly valuable tool as climate change shifts our growing seasons and we are forced to develop plants that can adapt to those environmental changes,” said plant scientist Kent Bradford, who co-authored the study with postdoctoral scholar Heqiang “Alfred” Huo.

/ UC Davis

Scientists outfox ear tumors

UC Davis researchers found that treatments with acaracide, a chemical agent used to kill ear mites in dogs and cats, reduced the

UC Davis Magazine

“We established a high prevalence of both tumors and ear mites, and hypothesized that there was something we could potentially do about it, which now appears to be significantly helping this population,” said Winston Vickers, lead author of the prevalence study and an associate veterinarian with the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

/ UC Davis

Roughly half of adult Santa Catalina Island foxes examined between 2001 and 2008 had tumors in their ears, with about two-thirds of those malignant, according to a UC Davis study. More than 98 percent of the foxes were also infected with ear mites, which appear to be a predisposing factor for ear tumors.

prevalence of ear mite infection from 98 percent to 10 percent among treated foxes. Ear canal inflammation and other signs of developing ear tumors also dropped.

MEGA N MO RIA RTY

Until recently, endangered foxes on California’s Catalina Island were suffering from one of the highest prevalences of tumors ever documented in a wildlife population, but treatment of ear mites appears to be helping the wild animals recover.

“I’d encourage people to learn more about it— don’t necessarily freak out, but some big things are coming.”

—Paul Knoepfler, UC Davis associate professor, told Bloomberg Business in an article about the DNA editing tool Crispr. Knoepfler is the author of GMO Sapiens (World Scientific, 2015), which explores the cutting-edge biotech discoveries that have made genetically modified people possible.

Multitasking? Five projects may be the limit How many projects can you work on at the same time before losing efficiency? The limit appears to be four or five projects in a week, according to computer science researchers at UC Davis who examined the productivity of programmers by examining their records on the website GitHub. Because GitHub records everything programmers do, the researchers could measure how individuals work—how many projects they work on during a week, how many projects they switch between in a day, how much they focus on any single project, and the repetition in their day-to-day behavior. Then, researchers analyzed what working styles associate with increases in the number of lines of code written per week—one of the facets of programming productivity. “Over four or five GitHub projects per week, your attention becomes too fragmented, regardless of how you schedule working on them,” said Bogdan Vasilescu, postdoctoral researcher in the DECAL lab at the UC Davis Department of Computer Science.

Knuckle cracking: explosive but harmless The sound of knuckle cracking is caused by gas bubbles that form in joints faster than the blink of an eye, but the act is not harmful, UC Davis Health System researchers have found through a study using ultrasounds. Robert Boutin, a UC Davis professor of radiology and specialist in musculoskeletal imaging, said an ultrasound of knuckle cracking looks “like fireworks exploding on the Fourth of July.” Despite the fireworks, physical examinations by hand-injury specialists found no problems in the joints of knuckle crackers. This finding contradicts a previous study that suggested that knuckle cracking can cause joint swelling and weaken the grip.

Envisioning

21st

of the

UC Davis Magazine

A changing student body and evolving needs set the stakes for higher education’s plans for the future.

the University

Century

by Jocelyn Anderson illustrations by Marina Muun

What does the University of the 21st Century look like? Just 16 years in to a new century—and millennium—universities are pondering how to respect their heritage while embracing the potential of the future. Discussions about change at many institutions center on the demographic, economic, technological and pedagogical drivers that are creating shifts everywhere. And UC Davis is among those leading the charge. FOR MORE THAN A YEAR these considerations have been part of a larger initiative. The University of the 21st Century will be carefully planned in order to achieve excellence in all areas. A committee of students, faculty and staff was established in December 2014 to help further envision a school with global impact. It’s a timely topic with many stakeholders. Back in 2012, Lee Rainie, director of internet, science and technology at the Pew Research Center, co-penned a study called “The Future of Higher Education.” In it, the authors asked

more than 1,000 experts to imagine 2020, with answers ranging from modest to substantial retooling of the college model. “Our respondents were really engaged with the idea that fundamental structures of higher education are already under some pressure,” Rainie said. “They are going to change.” One thing is for sure: The rhetoric is increasing. The so-called tech disruption has called into question many traditional institutions, inspiring many to plan ahead. Libraries are examining

Spring 2016

“We can do so much more outside of class, so students have more time to practice and delve deeper during class.” 2018-19 school year, UC Davis is on target to —Kem Saichaie, associate director at the UC Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness

their fit in a world where information is at our fingertips. Publishers are facing an evolving role for the same reason. Manufacturing and delivery have been affected. The discourse helps frame a wide-reaching topic in higher education. Discussions about the University of the 21st Century encompass everything from the layout of the physical campus to how the community addresses the world’s biggest challenges. Recommendations for UC Davis include ways to become more collaborative, problem-guided and flexible. Such issues play a part in how UC Davis will grow. The University of California has set a target that means the Davis campus will accommodate 1,100 additional undergraduates for 2016-17 (in comparison to last fall’s entering class). Under the 2020 Initiative, a more long-range plan, the university is on a path to add up to 5,000 students by 2020 (the process started in 2011). As a result, teaching has come to the forefront of many conversations, with an emphasis on what’s best for a large, diverse population.

An evolving student body At the University of the 21st Century, the traditional image of the college student will be forced to change. Student populations across the country have already become more racially and ethnically diverse, as well as older, according to the U.S. Department of Education. At UC Davis, fall 2015 marked the entrance of the most diverse class in its history, with underrepresented minority students making up 29 percent of the entering first-year class. By the

UC Davis Magazine

become a Hispanic-serving institution, meaning at least 25 percent of undergraduates will be Hispanic. Experts say this evolution highlights the obligation to think more about these students’ needs. “The bigger Davis gets, the broader it’s reaching into the pool, which is a good thing,” said Daniel Greenstein, director of education and postsecondary success in the United States Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “It’s also encountering a different range of students and is it necessarily the case that the educational practices we developed over the last 50, 60 years are actually going to work as well for the students of today? The answer is they don’t seem to.” Why is this an important problem to solve? According to a study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, by 2025, two-thirds of all jobs in the U.S. will require education beyond high school, creating an expected shortfall of 11 million skilled workers. At issue is not how many people go to college but how many finish. At UC Davis, ways to address the challenge include improved advising services, clearer pathways to transfer and graduation and more small first-year seminars. A closer look at teaching a diverse population means reconsidering how a majority of students learn and when. Curricula and class formats are now open to debate.

Beyond the traditional classroom The college lecture is not dead. But it may be reimagined for the University of the 21st Century. In fact, the work is already underway. As research continues to point to the effectiveness of active learning techniques in the classroom, several UC Davis faculty members have incorporated them in their courses. The goal, they say, is more integration of

information, and as a result, a higher premium is placed on problem solving than regurgitating memorized facts. “For the last 13 years of their lives, students have been taught to the test—memorize, memorize, memorize,” said Mitchell Singer, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics. He is among six instructors who teach introduction to biology and part of a series that sees more than 3,500 students a year. A pilot program, funded by the Gates Foundation a few years ago, allowed the group to rework the curriculum. They focused on hands-on, interactive methods. Singer now walks the aisles in his lecture hall, cold calling students to pull them into discussions and encouraging group work. Mid-lecture quizzing via remote-like clickers gauges student response and attention, too.

Course overhauls like this one require a lot of work. Entire lesson plans have to be rethought, and expenses can add up due to more teaching assistants and training. The UC Davis Center for Educational Effectiveness is available to provide instructors at all levels with research-based practices to inform their teaching practices. “We can do so much more outside of class, so students have more time to practice and delve deeper during class. The instructor can spend class time providing the direct feedback and guidance,” said Kem Saichaie, associate director of learning and teaching support at the UC Davis

Spring 2016

Center for Educational Effectiveness. “The transmission model—that passive model—works for very few people and with very low levels of success.” Indeed, those who have tried active learning say they are converts. Singer said that while his exams have gotten harder, the students’ grades are about the same. “That means we are challenging our students more and they respond. They can do it,” he said. Catherine Uvarov, a postdoctoral scholar for the Center for Educational Effectiveness, used the same techniques teaching general chemistry last year, attempting to prove the methods could be successful—even at unpopular class times (she taught at 7 to 8 p.m. one quarter, and 8 to 9 a.m. the next). All the instructors used the same pre-assessment in the beginning of the quarter and the same final exam at the end of the course. “I taught the traditional lecture way, and in this more active approach they know so much more,” she said. “The caliber of student questions was on a whole new level.” The Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing is banking on similar methods

UC Davis Magazine

to ensure student success. Founded in 2009, the newest professional school at UC Davis uses forward-thinking instruction methods. When its permanent home opens in 2017, it won’t have any lecture halls. Instead, the design focuses on open spaces for interaction. Collaborative learning studios enable group work, and simulation suites promote practice in lifelike settings. With an emphasis on nurse leadership, the school’s administration zeroed in on ways to make sure students could summon information in any scenario. “If I stand here and just lecture to you, the amount that you’ll remember when I get done is very small—and in a week even less,” said Heather M. Young, dean of the school. “But if you have ideas that you work with and

apply, your ability to retain that basic knowledge is much higher. It’s about trying to have people get value out of their education. “You’re learning critical-thinking skills. That’s the other piece that’s so vital.”

New technologies emerge Of course other teaching methods continue to be explored. In this technology-enabled information age, schools across the globe have grappled with how to incorporate online learning in ways that don’t sacrifice quality of education. One answer is the hybrid course, which splits instruction between online and in-person formats. Through careful design, these classes can facilitate student engagement—and replace seat time. Steve Luck, professor of psychology, taught introduction to cognitive psychology for about 10 years before he moved it to a hybrid model. With a Provost Hybrid Course Award to support the development, Luck revamped the class to eliminate the time spent in lecture and replace it with a discussion section. The lectures instead are delivered online, with videos produced for optimal learning. Frequent quizzing helps guarantee participation and absorption. The results have been favorable. “I give them five midterms over the course of the quarter and most of the questions are identical to the questions I used in the traditional version of the course,” Luck said. “I can actually compare results, and basically what happened was I doubled the number of A’s and cut the number of D’s and F’s in half.” He said students have even told him they model his methods in regular courses, creating quiz questions as they study. Now he’s developing a hybrid version of general psychology, which serves 3,000 students a year. He said he plans to use the same methods, testing a preliminary version—with fewer students on a pass/fail basis—this spring. Online-only formats open the possibility of crosscampus instruction. The University of California’s Innovative Learning Technologies Initiative has supported the development of 80 online-only undergraduate courses. Many more are in development, with

“I doubled the number of A’s and cut the number of D’s and F’s in half.” —Steve Luck, professor of psychology

a goal of leveraging both high-enrollment courses and those that are less commonly taught. Liz Applegate, senior lecturer in the Department of Nutrition, offers a good example of the former. Every quarter, she teaches the main general nutrition course to as many as 1,000 students. It’s currently a high-flex model, which means students can choose whether they want to attend class in person or virtually. After the spring quarter, Applegate will work full-time on developing an online-only version of the class—and retire from teaching after 31 years at UC Davis. “A lot of UC campuses don’t have a general nutrition class or a nutrition department, so it makes sense that UC Davis takes this on and we can share our expertise in nutrition,” Applegate said. All in all, strategies behind building the University of the 21st Century will incorporate input from many sources. In addition to the initiative’s committee, a group of early-career faculty has been consulted. And in February, the entire campus community was invited to participate in an online brainstorming session to imagine UC Davis’ future. Nearly 2,500 people took part, and the results are currently being analyzed. “The fundamental enterprise of higher education, to the degree that it’s knowledge generation and transmission, that’s all in play now,” Rainie said.

Spring 2016

Wildfires at two UC Davis natural reserves by Kat Kerlin spark scientific exploration.

The Rocky Fire damaged almost 70,000 acres in Colusa, Lake and Yolo counties last summer.

PHOTO BY MATTHEW HENDERSON/ONFIREPHOTOS

hen wildfire ripped through two UC Davis natural reserves last summer, scientists conducting research there first took a pained look to see if their months or years of research just went up in flames. Then they did what one would expect from scientists: They began to study the effects. Wildfires burned a record-busting 10.12 million acres in the U.S. in 2015. Among the first lands ignited that dry, hot summer were Stebbins Cold Canyon Natural Reserve, just 30Â minutes west of Davis, and Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve, two hours northwest of campus. These lands have served as outdoor labs and classrooms for decades. Since the fires, researchers have started comparing before-and-after data on everything from wildflowers and insects to the impacts of climate change on species recovery. Such research is expected to become increasingly relevant as the trend of warmer, drier climates and hotter, more intense fires continues across the state and world. â&#x160;˛

Spring 2016

SAVING SCIENCE There’s one thing Cathy Koehler wants to set straight: Fire is not “devastating.” At least not from an ecological perspective. It’s simply a part of life in this area of the world. She and her husband, Paul Aigner, are co-directors of McLaughlin Reserve, where they have lived for 13 years. A former gold mining site, the reserve stretches across 7,000 acres of grassland, woodland and chaparral habitats. It is revered by scientists as one of the few places on the planet where serpentine soils—which give rise to rare and endemic plants able to tolerate extreme soil conditions— sit side by side with “normal” soils. This makes comparison experiments between radically different soils in a natural environment fairly easy to arrange. Koehler and Aigner know McLaughlin’s nuances, nooks and crannies. They know where to find different patches of vegetation and where wildlife lives. And they can locate every experimental plot—down to a patch of plants along a side road. So when, one after the other, the Rocky, and then the Jerusalem fires came raging through in late July and into August, the couple stayed. The reserve field station, which is well-protected from fire, became a staging area for the firefighters and a community refuge. Koehler and Aigner looked at the swirling flames coming over the hillside in awe, not fear. “It was spectacular,” Koehler said, eyes wide with excitement and wonder at the memory. “Whenever a fire occurs, we drop everything and monitor the activity. Every summer, you have to expect that possibility.” In some cases, the couple saved scientific experiments themselves by dousing nearby areas with water. But mostly, they helped the firefighters respond in the least intrusive way possible for the environment and the scientific experiments underway. For example, the co-directors helped firefighters find existing firebreaks instead of bulldozing lines across natural lands. This helped spare experiments and sensitive habitat—places that would recover from fire but not necessarily from the disturbance of a bulldozer line. On a dirt road inside the reserve last winter, fresh deer tracks dotted the mud. Koehler pointed to a series of pin flags Near right: Cathy Koehler and Paul Aigner, co-directors of the McLaughlin Natural Reserve in Lower Lake; far right: Jeffrey Clary, director of the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve in Winters.

in the distance. They marked some of environmental science and policy professor Susan Harrison’s experimental plots, where research equipment would have been lost in the firefighting effort if not for the reserve directors. “More and more, I feel like I couldn’t do anything I do without the reserves,” Harrison said. “Reserve staff played an essential role in setting up a watering system for my climate study. And with the fires, Paul and Cathy not only protected these rare serpentine meadows, they saved experiments out there.” Harrison studies the resiliency of ecosystems under climate change. She’s been studying 80 grassland sites annually at McLaughlin for almost two decades, and 39 of them were affected by last summer’s fires. Now Harrison is studying how quickly grassland plant species recover after fire. She’s not the only one viewing the fires as a new research opportunity. Graduate student Moria Robinson is looking at how insects regenerate on plants after fire. Before the fires, she’d spent two years at McLaughlin collecting caterpillars to study food-web interactions among soils, plants and insects. The fires burned many of the plants where she’d been gathering specimens. “McLaughlin is a place that’s become a big part of my life, where I love being,” Robinson said. “I’ve become connected to the landscape. So it was hard to see it change.” But while Robinson initially focused on what was lost, her adviser, UC Davis professor of ecology and evolution Sharon Strauss, helped her see what an asset two years of data on plants and insects before the fire could be for a post-fire comparison. As the wildfire season now gives way to the wildflowers, Robinson said she’s more excited for a field season than she has been in a long time. “Once I started reading about fire ecology, I realized there are a lot of neat questions we can ask,” she said.

WRAGG TO RICHES

A faint buzzing sound came from atop a slope at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve this past winter. Graduate student Jordan Carey was flying a white drone above the hill taking

The UC system has 10 natural reserves, and very few of them are open to the public. Stebbins is one of those rarities. Students from local schools visit for outdoor education, and the public takes advantage of what is arguably the area’s most popular hiking trail. With the advent of social media, the once sleepy local secret now receives nearly 65,000 visitors a year. The reserve has been closed since the fire, although it’s expected to reopen in May. “It is emotional, in its way,” reserve director Jeffrey Clary said of the fire. “I’m a scientist, and I know that fire is part of the cycle. But at the same time, I spend a lot of time here and get to know the individual trees. There are all these nighttime photographs of the wildlife, of the gray foxes and the wood rats. I’ve seen their footprints. So you have to think about what’s happened to all of them. “But then what really kicks in is getting to see this kind of rebirth process

and all the science that’s getting to happen because we’re here, so close to campus. We can get out right away and learn something from this. We can make all of California better positioned to deal with these big disturbances.” For now, the reserve is recovering. Signs of rebirth are everywhere. New life grows beneath charred shrubs and trees. Green seedlings emerge from blackened earth. Life, insistently, goes on. And yet questions remain: What will the future forest look like under a changing climate? And how should we as humans prepare for it and respond to it? “We’re going to learn a lot, and some of it is going to be troubling,” Clary said. “It’s one thing for a fire to happen. It’s another for it to be documented so that everyone gets to learn from it.” 

PHOTOS BY GREGORY URQUIAGA / UC Davis

aerial images. Forecasters predicted a wet winter, and he was studying how rock, mud, leaves and other debris flow down steep slopes and into streams after a fire. The data could be used to inform hazard debris flow models for urban areas, like Los Angeles. Carey hadn’t considered doing this project until the combination of the fires and an El Niño winter presented itself. “In populated areas, debris flows present the potential for loss of life and hazards,” Carey said. “Obviously that’s not the case here, but this is a good place to study it.” The Wragg Fire was ignited a few hundred yards from the edge of Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve on July 22, 2015, putting the reserve first in its path. It ripped through, burning cottonwoods, thick patches of chaparral, iconic blue oaks and railroad ties built into the trail. It even vaporized the reserve’s one Porta-Potty. Before the fire, Stebbins was a verdant canyon, punctuated by a ridgeline looking over Lake Berryessa. The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument was designated just 12 days before the Wragg Fire’s first spark. Stebbins is used by entomologists studying native bees and ants, veterinary researchers studying parasites and disease vectors on wildlife, and many other scientists.

Spring 2016

School spirit starts

HERE

The California Aggie Marching Band-uh! kicks off the 2016 Picnic Day parade.

More than 70 participating groups paraded through the UC Davis campus and downtown to mark 102 years of tradition at Picnic Day in April. The annual open house, celebrating the theme “Cultivating Our Authenticity,” featured more than 200 events and hosted as many as 80,000 people. Always a crowd pleaser, the California Aggie Marching Band-uh! played a collection of hits and strutted away with Best Student Organization among the parade participants.

UC Davis Magazine

Spring 2016

JASON SPYRES / UC Davis

ETERNAL Slaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1924 Olympic gold medal, front (far left) and back sides. Above: The 1924 gold-medal match with France.

UC Davis Magazine

Rugby’s return to the Olympic Games this summer calls to mind an ace athlete alumnus.

CHAMPION HE WAS TALL, AGILE AND FAST, a natural at basketball and football. Put all that together, and he was great at rugby—a gold-medal winner with the U.S. team in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. Colby E. “Babe” Slater ’17 was the first Aggie alumnus to win Olympic gold, a member of the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame and the International Rugby Hall of Fame. His legacy looms even larger this summer with rugby’s return to the Olympics after a 92-year absence, dating back to that 1924 goldmedal game when the U.S., with Slater as the captain, defeated the host country, France. That makes the U.S. the defending champion among the 12 teams that will play in the Games in August in Rio de Janeiro. The American women will play, too, in rugby’s debut as a women’s sport in the Olympics. Another big change: The men’s and women’s divisions will play “sevens” (denoting how many players to a side), shorter in time and quicker in tempo than the traditional rugby

by Dave Jones

that Slater played (15 to a side), but still with the tries and scrums and lineouts and backward passing that define the game. “I imagine Babe Slater would have been a great sevens player because he was big, strong, and fast, and that’s ideal for sevens,” said Steve Gray, former coach of the UC Davis men’s rugby club and a former member of U.S. national squads, both 15 to a side and sevens. Americans unfamiliar with rugby are in for a wild ride when they watch this summer. “The thing about a sevens game, it’s actually much easier to understand than a 15s game,” said Mike Purcell, former men’s club coach and also a former national player. A game lasts only 15 minutes, with two seven-minute halves and a one-minute break. And, with only seven on a side, on a full-size field (about 10 yards longer and 20 yards wider than a football field), “there’s a lot of space to do things. You’ll see a lot more long runs, breakaway runs, pretty intricate passing sequences.” ⊲

Spring 2016

Slater (foreground) runs after the ball in the 1924 gold-medal match against France.

Slater’s path to Davis and Olympic gold is the stuff of Aggie legend, a story that is preserved in the University Library’s Colby E. “Babe” Slater Collection, a gift to Special Collections from his late daughter, Marilyn Slater McCapes ’55, and her husband, Dick McCapes ’56, D.V.M. ’58, who is retired from the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Slater was a city boy, born in San Francisco in 1896 and reared in Berkeley, the youngest of four children. He and his brother Norman played on the Berkeley High School rugby team that won the state championship in 1912, and Babe participated in athletic events at his hometown university—but he never studied there, despite the fact Cal claims him as one of its own, listed with nine other alums who competed in the 1920 and ’24 Olympics. Yes, the University Farm was officially a branch of UC Berkeley’s College of Agriculture, but make no mistake: Slater “became the quintessential Aggie,” McCapes said. He doesn’t know why Slater came to the University Farm, but figures he might have enrolled as a way to finish high school, which he had to forgo after his father died. Slater’s older sister, Marguerite, while studying at Cal, had been one of the first three women to take a course on the Davis farm—and she might have gone home with good things to say about the campus. And so Babe Slater arrived in Davis in 1914 for a three-year program of agricultural training that

UC Davis Magazine

included a high school diploma. He played rugby, football, basketball and baseball, and participated in other activities as well, serving as class president, Picnic Day Parade chairman and Picnic Day general chairman. He graduated, served in the Army Medical Corps in France during World War I, then came “home” to Yolo County, farming around Woodland and eventually buying his own place in Clarksburg. “He liked the lifestyle,” McCapes said. “He could make his own decisions, he could do what he wanted, and it was a type of life that was very attractive to him.”

Slater began playing rugby in the early part of the 20th century, a time when the country turned to the sport as a safer game than football. But American rugby teams generally did not fare well in international play, and football made a comeback (with new rules). Californians stuck with rugby longer than the rest of the country, so the U.S. Olympic Committee knew exactly where to look when it formed a team for the 1920 Games in Antwerp, Belgium. And soon Slater was sailing to Europe with the rest of the all-California team.

At the library The University Library is sharing its Colby E. “Babe” Slater Collection in two exhibits—one in Shields Library and one that’s online, scheduled to go live in early 2017. A preview is available here: slater.lib.ucdavis.edu. The library exhibit, which will be on display through Dec. 31, features photographs, correspondence and personal memorabilia from Slater’s participation in the 1920 and ’24 Olympic Games. The complete collection extends to Slater’s time as a UC Davis student, his participation in the first World War, and his life as a farmer and active member of the community in Yolo County. The online exhibition is a product of the library’s digital expansion, which is helping preserve and provide greater access to historical collections and UC Davis research. Read more about the library’s transformation: lib.ucdavis.edu/go/transforming

Only two teams competed in Antwerp: the U.S. and France, and the latter had the edge, considering most of the U.S. players were fairly new to the sport. Before a crowd of 20,000, the Americans pulled off an upset, 8-0, in the rain. “At a council of war we decided that because the ground was wet and slippery and the ball likewise, we would make it a forward game,” reported Rudy Scholz of the University of Santa Clara, one of the players. “The French tried a backfield game, and they lost although they were fast. The slippery ball and field proved their undoing. Our forwards outweighed the French easily, and Babe Slater was a wonder in the lineouts”—when a player throws the ball in from the sideline, hopefully to be caught by a tall, leaping teammate. Slater stood about 6-foot-4 and “was very effective in jumping high for lineout throws,” McCapes said. (Today, by the way, players will lift their teammates by the legs, during lineouts.) Four years later, Slater was the first picked for the national team that would go to the Paris Games (his brother Norman also made the team). When all the boys boarded the train in Oakland, “the first thing the team did was elect Babe Slater as captain of the team,” McCapes said, citing the U.S. Olympic Committee’s report of the 1924 Games. The U.S. and France easily defeated the Games’ only other competitor, Romania, setting up another U.S.-France match for the gold. The Americans prevailed, 17-3, and the game ended with the French fans in an uproar. And while

some believe the fan reaction was the reason for rugby’s disappearance from the Olympics, other histories ascribe it more to the fact that Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the French educator who brought back the Games in 1896, had stepped down as the Olympics president. His successor did not share de Coubertin’s enthusiasm for rugby, and, in fact, steered the Olympics away from team sports. In describing why he admired rugby, de Coubertin cited the sport’s moral values as well as the physical and mental skills required to play it—almost as if he were talking about Slater himself. “He was an effective leader,” McCapes said. “He was quiet-spoken . . . and had a great inner strength to him.” Today, his strength and spirit live on in a new generation of Aggie rugby players. In 15s play, the men’s sport club won its conference this season and has a good chance to repeat as the national D1AA champion. The women’s sport club, meanwhile, completed conference play as the topranked D1 team in the nation. Babe Slater would be proud. n

the aggie life From the UC Cooperative Extension

How to raise backyard chickens Starting your own flock requires more than a coop and some chicks. Still, more urban dwellers are counting their chickens. Right now, California boasts about 100,000 backyard premises, with increasing interest likely over the next five to 10 years, said Maurice Pitesky, veterinarian and assistant specialist in Cooperative Extension at UC Davis. But bringing them home to roost requires some planning. “It’s not as passive a hobby as people make it out to be,” Pitesky said. ⊲⊲ Do your research. Identify your key resources, including a veterinarian and other experts who can help as issues arise. A helpful list can be found online at ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/contact/. ⊲⊲ Have a plan. Inevitably, you will have an emergency. Be prepared for the day you have a sick or dead bird. The California Animal Health & Food Safety Lab has four locations that can help diagnose disease.

⊲⊲ Maintain a clean environment. Wear dedicated shoes and overalls in the coop. Chickens can carry salmonella and other bacteria you don’t want in your house. This also will prevent rodents and other animals, which can carry diseases. ⊲⊲ Keep on top of the eggs. Generally, you can expect to get an egg from each chicken every 25 hours. Pitesky recommends checking the coop twice a day to ensure that you get the eggs in the fridge as quickly as possible.

From the UC Davis Bike Barn

Brakes to wheels: The easy bicycle tuneup If it’s been a while since your last ride, you might need to make sure your bicycle is still roadworthy. UC Davis Bike Barn student manager and third-year statistics major John Zuercher provided these pointers: ⊲⊲ Inflate your tires to the recommended air pressure, found on the sidewall of the tire. ⊲⊲ Make sure your safety equipment is up to snuff: Your helmet should be tight, and a front light and rear reflector are legally required if you ride at night. ⊲⊲ Check the adjustment on your brakes—if the lever pulls closer than two finger-widths from the handlebar, it’s time for a tuneup. ⊲⊲ Tighten any loose bolts on the bicycle with an Allen wrench. KARI N HIGG INS / UC Davis

⊲⊲ Check that your wheels don’t wobble. If your wheels are fitted with a quick-release lever, it should be tight.

If your bicycle fails any of these safety tests, take it to a local shop. The Bike Barn performs a basic tuneup for $60. “Our whole model is to provide a service to the community,” said Zuercher.

UC Davis Magazine

Choosing the best car for your commute An online tool built by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies can help car-buyers choose the cheapest vehicle for their commutes. The Electric Vehicle Explorer considers your trip and compares the cost to fuel (or charge) various vehicles.

Tips for tasting honey Sure, it’s sweet, but honey can produce a multitude of specific flavors. In fact, UC Davis researchers have come up with 99 descriptors— think root beer, leather, lime and, yes, cat pee—on the Honey Flavor Wheel. So how can you taste at home? Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, offers a few pointers for zeroing in on your personal preference.

For example, an all-electric 2014 Chevrolet Volt will cost roughly the same per year as a hybrid 2014 Toyota Prius—and $250 less than a gasoline 2014 Honda Civic—for a person with a 30-mile roundtrip commute. But if that person has a free charging station at work, the electric car would be more than $200 cheaper than the hybrid. The tool isn’t biased toward any particular kind of car, and users will get different results now that gas prices have fallen. “When we originally made this tool [in 2014], electricity was cheaper in pretty much every case,” researcher Michael Nicholas said. “Now that gas prices are low, it’s not always cheaper.”

Smell Just like in wine tasting, judge the aroma first. “We assume we love honey, but we don’t always know what we love about it!” said Harris. So concentrate on the fragrance first.

Taste Let your room-temperature honey sit on your tongue. The smell will go inside your nose and allow you to evaluate the changing flavors. Swallow and consider the aftertaste.

Taste again “The second taste often reveals another flavor,” said Harris. With over 300 species of honey-producing plants in the U.S., the options are truly unusual.

The tool is available at

gis.its.ucdavis.edu/evexplorer/

Spring 2016

aggie families

Beyond

Barriers

by Cody Kitaura

WHEN SENIOR HANNAH CHADWICK walks around

COU RTESY

campus, Spritz helps her find a clear path. And much to the dismay of other students, petting the black Labrador is discouraged. Hannah, who is almost totally blind, uses a seeing-eye dog instead of a cane because she

UC Davis Magazine

allows her to walk fast and blend in. She said she’s spent her entire life working to be treated like anyone else and not be limited by her inability to see. “I had no idea there were visually impaired people,” she said. “When I was little I thought I was the only person.” Hannah was born in China to parents she never knew and spent her early childhood with an adoptive family on a farm. Like other children, she played in rice paddies and helped with the harvests. The family later sent her to an orphanage so she could get an education. At age 12, she was adopted by Patricia Chadwick and Stephen Dias and moved to Arcata. They expected Hannah to be self sufficient and encouraged her to hike and ride a bicycle. “My mom was, like, ‘Yeah, go ahead and have fun,’” Hannah said. “I think that helped a lot with me being independent.” Dias, who died in 2012, used a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury, and he and his wife were longtime advocates for disability rights. They had adopted another girl, Rosa, from the same orphanage in China years earlier, and when they heard about Hannah, they felt uniquely qualified to raise her. Patricia said she and her husband never treated their daughter’s visual impairment like something to be “cured” or pitied. From left: Hannah in China with her study abroad roommate, UC Riverside sophomore Ruby Krause, and her sister, Rosa.

GREG ORY URQU IAGA / UC Davis

“That’s just who she is—it’s not something that is bad or good. It’s Hannah and her mom, Patricia, with Spritz, photographed at the UC Davis Arboretum in February. just a part of who the person is,” Patricia said. She’s also a humanitarian in the nowhere to be found, so she hopped in a taxi and made her own making. Hannah said she hopes to way, much to the surprise of the staff. be able to improve life for others in “She’s pretty brave about traveling,” Patricia said. “She’s the future. always been able to take care of herself.” When she graduates from Hannah stood out in Beijing in other ways. She couldn’t UC Davis in June, she will look for bring her dog, and her cane couldn’t help her maneuver a job helping developing nations, around the drivers who run red lights and go on the siderecalling her rural start in a village walk. So after a couple days, she worked up the courage to where everyone had to grow their ask her roommate to guide her through the city. own food. “What, am I going to deny her? Of course not,” said her She said she is especially interroommate, UC Riverside sophomore Ruby Krause. ested in positions that would allow Together, the 6-foot blonde Krause and Hannah, with her her to travel. She’s already been to cane, made their way through the streets of Beijing. Bahrain, Mexico, and last summer “Sometimes we’d be walking down the street, and peostudied in China. ple, as soon as they passed us, would turn their heads and As an international relations look at us,” Krause said, adding that they usually laughed off and Chinese double major, Hannah the attention and waved to strangers who stopped to gawk. is required to study abroad, but (Hannah can see vague shapes but no detail and nothing at she said her first-choice univernight. She said her vision continues to slowly deteriorate.) sity in Taiwan was hesitant to These days, Hannah said she’s not as fearless as she was as admit a blind student. After more a child. In her years of riding a bike, she only hit one parked searching, she wound up at Beijing car. She even tried driving a car—in a parking lot with her Normal University—but not withuncle in the passenger seat telling her when to turn. And out a few hiccups along the way. while she probably won’t try driving again, she said she’s When Hannah stepped off the looking forward to her next challenge. n plane, her university escort was

Spring 2016

sports

Dream Team

The

An all-female medical staff keeps the UC Davis football team field-ready.

By Mike Robles

ike the other 249 NCAA Division I football programs, UC Davis has strong sports medicine leaders that help keep the Aggies healthy and ready to play. But the medical staff has one noteworthy distinction: They’re all women. And though women who work in athletic training are quite common (and most of the Aggies’ staff comprises women), an all-female sports medicine leadership team is unusual. In fact, Tina Tubbs, director of sports medicine, said she’s hard-pressed to think of another Division I institution that has one. Tubbs oversees athletic training for 23 intercollegiate varsity sports and more than 600 student-athletes at UC Davis, but spends a considerable amount of time working with the football team along with head football athletic trainer Julieta Guzman and head team physician Dr. Melita Moore. Together, they’re in contact with 100 football student-athletes throughout the year, with the busiest weeks in the fall, when the team competes; and the spring, when a monthlong set of practices highlights the Aggies’ offseason training. They roam the sidelines, evaluating players who get injured, helping rehab those trying to get back on the field and conferring on the team’s readiness with head coach Ron Gould. Guzman is part

UC Davis Magazine

of the daily coaching staff meetings, keeping all the football coaches up to date on player health. The sports medicine staff has final say on those who are healthy enough to practice and compete. Player safety is paramount to Gould, and he said he has complete confidence in his medical team, which also includes Dr. Cassandra Lee, who serves as the program’s head orthopaedic surgeon. “These are the best people that any school could be blessed to have on their staff,” he said. “They do things the right way and the care they have for our student-athletes is second to none. I trust them explicitly and I never have to worry about whether the players are getting the right treatment.” Guzman previously worked with Gould on the athletic training staff at UC Berkeley, where he was assistant head football coach for the Bears. Tubbs brought her on board in 2013. Tubbs also pushed for the addition of a full-time head team physician—a new position to the athletic program—and UC Davis hired Moore last year. She was most recently at Ohio State and is recognized as a leader in concussion treatment, currently a high-priority issue at all levels of football. Lee was already on staff at the UC Davis Medical Center before adding her team duties. Still, Guzman emphasized, gender

didn’t play a role in the formation of the medical team. “The people we have in these positions were not put in them because they’re female,” Guzman said. “They were the best people that were available.” Top wide receiver Ramon Vargas, who has spent his share of time with the athletic training staff dealing with various injuries, agreed: “It stands out to me how good they are but not that they’re female.” The team faces typical challenges associated with their roles. But any difficulty working in close proximity to football players in a locker room setting has been negated because of staff professionalism and the team’s maturity, said Tubbs. And despite working in a male-dominated sport with a rugged and tough reputation, she added, she hasn’t felt the need to try to prove herself as a medical professional because of her gender, confident in the exemplary care her team gives its student-athletes. “It’s definitely meeting those goals that Chancellor Katehi has set in that we want to be a flagship,” Tubbs said. “I don’t just want to hit the standard; I want to set the standard for other universities.” n

KARIN HIGGINS / UC Davis

Head football athletic trainer Julieta Guzman works on junior running back Manusamoa Luuga after practice at Aggie Stadium.

Spring 2016

young achievers

Creation Gene THESE DAYS, the smartphone is never far from

by Jocelyn Anderson

reach. For a few UC Davis alumni, that’s good for business. The average U.S. smartphone user spends almost two hours a day on their device, according to Forrester Research. And while Google and Facebook remain the most popular mobile apps, options continue to grow, with gaming, lifestyle and education categories figuring big. Now, entrepreneurial UC Davis alums are helming mobile apps to bring their ideas straight to the consumer.

Swatch watch What started as a popular Instagram account showcasing the latest makeup shades on varied skin tones became a mobile app in February. Ofunne Okwudiafor ’11 developed Cocoa Swatches to offer beauty images, inspiration and tutorials with a focus on complexions that are underrepresented in traditional outlets. “I’ve wasted a lot of money on products that don’t work for me, because I couldn’t find accurate reviews for people with my skin tone or I couldn’t guesstimate when I was buying online or in stores,” said Okwudiafor, who is of Nigerian decent. “I was wondering if other people had the same kind of struggles.” By developing an app, she aimed to make

UC Davis Magazine

buying makeup easier and also highlight how the same product can look different based on skin type, color and undertone. “A red lipstick, for example, might look one way on a lighter-skinned model, but on a darker-skinned person it might look completely different,” she added. Okwudiafor, who lives in New York, is working full time on the new app, enjoying the effects of good word of mouth. A week after launching the mobile app, it was featured on multiple beauty blogs. In the future, she said she wants to build a diverse team to contribute content. And as the beauty industry continues to market limited-edition product, Okwudiafor said she will investigate brand partnerships for access to sneak peeks of new releases.

Food for thought A new app called Foodfully promises to alert users when their food is about to go bad and even provide a good recipe for that specific item. Co-founders Brianna McGuire, M.S. ’15, and Justin Woodjack, M.S. ’12 and Ph.D. candidate, created the app to help reduce food waste—which adds up to a whopping 35 million tons a year in the U.S. alone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ofunne Okwudiafor started Cocoa Swatches on Instagram to show makeup-related photos. The mobile app launched in February.

“It occurred to me there’s this enormous investment in the food industry that doesn’t really get seen by consumers,” said McGuire, who is a plant pathologist. “Most folks just forget about the food they buy and throw it away.”

The app was in beta for a few months before officially launching this spring. A profile on the crowdfunding platform WeFunder was scheduled to go live on May 16.

eRation Foodfully automatically imports grocery store purchases made through Amazon Fresh, Instacart and retail rewards programs. Thanks to a patent-pending food spoilage algorithm, the app sends push notifications to prompt users to eat their food before it goes bad. Cognitive recipes—or those that take into account what’s in your fridge, allergens and dietary preferences—help convince you to eat it. “So here’s a stir-fry recipe, and because you’re allergic to peanuts we removed them, and because you don’t have bok choy we substituted red cabbage, which our cognitive chef knows is a good replacement,” said Woodjack.

Peer-to-peer tutoring

A discussion about the sharing economy—a market model in which people share access to goods and services— sparked an idea for Ben Holmquist ’15 and Ben Morrison ’14. “We wondered if the sharing economy model could help academics as well,” Holmquist said. They thought it could and immediately began developing tutoring app Penji, which launched in November 2015. The duo described the app as Uber for academic assistance: UC Davis students who need help with specific classes can connect with classmates who can provide tutoring. For example, someone needing help in Chemistry 2B can request a two-hour tutoring session, make arrangements for the

meeting and pay through the app. Sessions cost $20 an hour, with tutors earning $15 an hour. Right now, Penji is only available at UC Davis and is primarily used for the largest STEM courses. Holmquist said despite hurdles launching the app, usage is increasing. “The feedback has been extremely positive. We have a number of users who have returned repeatedly for more sessions and have cited the service as helping them through tough tests.” Both Bens are now working full-time on Penji. The partners have a team of nine people and plan to expand to the University of Colorado Boulder this fall. “We are definitely looking to bring Penji to other schools around the country,” Holmquist said. Additional reporting by Lisa Howard.

Left to right: Cocoa Swatches focuses on underrepresented skin tones, Foodfully offers reminders to prevent food waste, and Penji matches students with tutors.

Spring 2016

Growing college town

As the student population rises, the city and campus address housing needs.

TO MOVE INTO AN APARTMENT in Davis in September, expect to sign a lease in January. Housing in the city of Davis has been notoriously scarce for decades, and as the student population is poised to grow, new developments promise some relief. UC Davis will have about 5,000 more students by the year 2020 than it did in 2011 to meet Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi’s 2020 Initiative, as well as additional students added in response to UC President Janet Napolitano’s plan to enroll more Californians throughout the UC system. To accommodate the rising student population, new residence halls are under construction, more rooms are being converted to triple-occupancy, and the university is master leasing more off-campus apartments for student housing. West Village currently houses 2,000 people and plans to add space for 1,000 more, along with housing for faculty and staff. The UC has said it also will accelerate student housing projects, adding nearly 14,000 beds throughout the system by 2020. UC Davis provides housing for about 10,000 students and guarantees availability to first-year and transfer students. Bob Segar, assistant vice chancellor for Campus Planning and Community Resources, said UC Davis is studying a range of strategies for creating more campus housing. The “high” scenarios could almost house the entirety of the new student population. The university is also seeking public input on its plans for future growth—a Long Range Development Plan for 2017-2027— at campustomorrow.ucdavis.edu. While more beds are coming to UC Davis, many students will choose to live off campus. In January, the annual ASUCD Housing Day gave students the chance to speak to representatives from dozens of apartment complexes around town. Some attendees pored over a 79-page list of area apartments, while others conferred with future roommates over prices and amenities. “Everyone’s trying to get the maximum amount of space for the least amount of money,” undeclared freshman Samuel Melero said. Serena Santamaria, unit director for ASUCD’s Housing Advising for Undergraduate Students, led planning for the event. She has lived

UC Davis Magazine

in the same apartment for the last three years and said finding a place to live in Davis is easy as long as you aren’t picky. “If somebody wants their own room that might be more difficult,” the senior English and psychology double major said. “Generally everybody is looking for roommates.” Still, demand far outpaces supply. The vacancy rate in the city of Davis continues to drop; 0.2 percent of units are vacant, down from 0.3 percent last year, according to a study commissioned by UC Davis Student Housing. Kerrie Schultz, the on-site manager at Lexington, said in the eight years she’s worked at the apartment complex she’s seen ASUCD’s Housing Day move about a month earlier, reflecting how early the overall search begins. And students don’t always get their first choice. “It’s kind of stressful,” said Devin Pon, a freshman electrical engineering major. “You’re competing against all the other people looking for housing.” More housing is needed, but new developments can take time. The Cannery, a 547-unit community of single-family homes, townhouses and flats in North Davis, is under construction after being first considered nearly a decade ago. Other proposed complexes, like the 244-unit Sterling 5th Street Apartments, have been met with opposition. Developers originally

Pains by Cody Kitaura

IN S / UC Dav KA RI N HI GG

Left to right: Lindsay Mendoza, a biochemistry and molecular biology major; Cindy Tran, an animal science major; and Vivian Siu, a nutrition major; in their triple-occupancy dorm room at UC Davis. Tran said they’re “perfectly comfortable” with their room and made more space by lofting one bed and sliding a desk underneath.

project, which has seen its fair share of debate. Ruff said getting to this point has taken three years, and it could be another three years before breaking ground. During a February forum on growth in the city, Davis Mayor Pro Tempore Robb Davis was critical of the way conversations about development happen. “What I see in this community is a lot of zero-sum thinking: ‘I want change on my terms or I don’t want it,’” he said. Davis predicted the next city council will work to update the city’s general plan to lay out more clear expectations for growth, adding that it will be a “challenging process.” n

proposed Trackside as a five-and-a-half story retail and apartment building near the Davis Amtrak station, but after outcry plan to revise their proposal. A large-scale development known as the Nishi Gateway will face voters in June. The proposed 47-acre development, with 440 apartments, 220 condos, retail, office and R&D space, would sit between the southeastern side of campus next to I-80. It seeks to provide housing for students and empty-nesters and space for companies founded in campus research labs. If it’s approved, the developers would have to pay for improvements to the Richards Boulevard interchange and a new crossing under the railroad tracks to access campus. Tim Ruff ’83, one of those developers, heads up the Nishi Gateway

Spring 2016

class notes

Evan Hillebrand ’70 recently retired after teaching economics for 10 years at the Patterson School of Diplomacy (following a 30-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency). At the Patterson School, he enjoyed preparing students for careers in international affairs—in national security or humanitarian efforts for U.S. interests or foreign governments. In 2015, he published “Energy, Economic Growth, and Geopolitical Futures,” a long-range scenario-building exercise. He now lives in Cambridge, Maryland. The Sacramento County Bar Association bestowed Stephen Boutin, J.D. ’72, with the Distinguished Attorney of the Year for 2015. A fourth-generation lawyer, Boutin is a shareholder at Boutin Jones Inc. California Gov. Jerry Brown in November named veteran defense attorney Michael G. Idiart, JD ’75, to the Fresno

UC Davis Magazine

Virginia Tech’s Jeffrey Reed ’79, M.S. ’80, Ph.D. ’87, was reappointed the Willis G. Worcester Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a fiveyear position that recognizes a leading researcher in the field, late last year. Reed, a member of the Virginia Tech faculty since 1992, has held the professorship since 2005. Paul Sallaberry ’79, a member of the UC Davis Foundation Board of Trustees, joined the board of directors of the ALS Therapy Development Institute, the largest nonprofit biotech organization focused on ALS research. Richard Chuang ’79 won his second Academy Award in technical achievement in February. Chuang, along with Rahul C. Thakkar, was selected for groundbreaking design of the DreamWorks Animation Media Review System, a desktop and digital film review platform.

1980s

Richard Breitmeyer ’80, D.V.M. ’88, was awarded the U.S. Animal Health Association’s Medal of Distinction in October 2015. Brietmeyer is the director of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, headquartered at UC Davis.

Richard Chuang

Dr. Robert W. Castillo ’81 is the new medical director of Health Plan of San Joaquin, based in French Camp, California. David Kettel ’82 has been added to the 2016 Southern California Super Lawyers list, which identifies those who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Carole O’Riordan ’83 started her design firm, Studio DIVo, in Alamo, California, in 2005, and a second office in Lyon, France. The team just completed the interior design of the new $300 million Sutter Home/Trinchero winery and a $15 million LEEDcertified residence overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Barbara A. Hayes ’85 was elected to the board of directors of both First Northern Bank and First Northern Community Bancorp in February. Rosa Vivian Fernandez ’85, president and CEO of the San Benito Health Foundation, recently became a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, the nation’s foremost professional society for health care leaders. Joy Barney ’86 recently received the Gifford Pinchot Pacific Southwest Region Interpreter and Conservation Educator of the Year Award from the U.S. Forest Service. Named for the first chief of the service, the annual award goes to employees who achieve in areas of environmental interpretation and conservation education. Barney is a conservation education program

Terry Farmer ’83 recently passed the planning certification exam managed by the American Institute of Certified Planners, the professional institute of the American Planning Association. Farmer works as a senior environmental planner for BaseCamp Environmental Inc., which provides land-use planning and environmental impact assessment services to public and private clients. Woman’s Day honored Joanne Lupton, Ph.D. ’84, at the 2016 Red Dress Awards, which

E PHOTOG RAPHY

1970s

The United States Sports Academy has honored New Zealand former middle-distance runner Sir Peter Snell ’77 with a 2015 Distinguished Service Award.

Joanne Lupton

RAB BAN I & SOLIMEN

Charles Francis ’61 received an honorary doctor of science degree from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala on Oct. 2, 2015, for long-term contributions to agroecology teaching programs in Sweden, Ethiopia and Uganda. He is currently professor of agronomy and horticulture at University of Nebraska—Lincoln and visiting professor of agroecology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He and Barbara (Hanson) Francis ’61 continue to live and teach in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Norway each year.

recognize those who have helped in the fight against heart disease. Lupton is a distinguished professor emeritus at Texas A&M University and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Superior Court bench. Idiart has been an attorney in private practice in Fresno since 1983.

COU RTESY

1960s

Alumni profile

specialist with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. Ned L. Nix ’86 completed his Master of Arts in Education in dental education at the University of the Pacific-Gladys L. Benerd School of Education in December. Jeffrey Cleland ’86 has been appointed to the board of directors at DNX Biopharmaceuticals in Irvine. Anne McMillin ’87, public relations manager for the University of Nevada School of Medicine, received the 2015 Hall of Fame award from the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America for her 27 years of work in public relations and media. Education technology company Blackboard Inc. named William L. Ballhaus ’89 as chairman, president and CEO in January.

Georgia Erbez ’92 was appointed chief financial officer of Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc., a biotech company based in Menlo Park. The American Library Association’s Rainbow List included Christopher Koehler, ’92, M.A. ’93, for his novel, Poz (Harmony Ink Press, 2015). The Rainbow List is a bibliography of books with significant LGBT or queer/questioning content aimed at youth. Samuel Lau ’92 became managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort earlier this year. He is responsible for managing daily operations and driving business development. Lau was previously vice president of operations for Hong Kong Disneyland.

Brian Victor ’91 has been selected to the Super Lawyers 2016 California Rising Stars list for a second year. He practices family law at the Law Offices of Brian A. Victor in San Diego.

Maj. Richard J. Armstrong ’93 has been appointed gaming commissioner for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park. He is a 28-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and currently serves as a regional judge advocate assigned to the 23rd Marines in San Bruno. Richard is of counsel to the nationwide Indian law firm Rosette LLP and operates his own Folsom gaming law practice, which was named the 2015 Best Gaming Law Firm in California by Acquisition International.

Amerigroup Washington appointed Dr. Tanya Dansky ’91 as chief medical officer in December. She is responsible for leading the company’s medical management, care delivery and clinical activities as well as working with key external stakeholders in the state.

Donna L. Barnett ’93 has been promoted to partner at Seattlebased law firm Perkins Coie. Barnett is a member of the environmental, energy and resources practice in Bellevue, Washington, where she represents utilities and energy companies in state regulatory proceedings.

1990s

Christopher Knowdell ’90 has been appointed as a federal administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Sacramento.

Sara Margulis ’97 reached a major milestone with her business this year: its 10th anniversary. The CAAA life member runs Honeyfund, a nationwide wedding registry that specializes in honeymoon and experiential gifts, with her husband, Josh Margulis. Now the Sebastopol-based business touts $330 million in lifetime gift transactions. That success is thanks in part to the couple’s 2014 appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” a reality show that has featured several entrepreneurial Aggies. A winning deal allowed Honeyfund to grow into a one-stop registry and enabled the development of a second for Spanish language users. Sister site Plumfund has also grown five times since the appearance, offering free crowd-gifting for any occasion. Margulis credits some of her success to a take-charge attitude and creativity. She strengthened these qualities when she studied abroad as a UC Davis student. “Studying in Germany opened up my world view and contributed to a sense that anything is possible,” said Margulis, who graduated with a degree in music and has contributed to the department’s soon-to-open Ann E. Pitzer Center. By exposing her to diverse experiences, she said UC Davis also helped her consider new and unexpected career paths—like helping others create the perfect honeymoon adventure.

COURTESY

A first-of-itskind idea

—Laura Pizzo

Luis Rios Jr. ’94 serves on the César Chávez Elementary School Site Council in Davis and is a proud parent of two children, a toddler and a fourth grader. He works as an early education consultant at the California Department of Education in Sacramento. Mark S. Barajas ’97 has accepted a tenured-track position as assistant professor of clinical psychology at Saint Mary’s College of California. The American Red Cross in Oregon presented Cara Sloman ’97 in March with a President’s Award for Excellence, which recognizes staff and volunteers who serve the organization.

Sloman and her team led an effort to develop and implement a comprehensive Red Cross Disaster Academy program across the West Coast, providing opportunities for in-depth education in preparedness, response and recovery. San Francisco-based lawyer Andrew Chang ’99 has been named partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, where he is a member of the firm’s Global Product Liability group.

2000s

After Frank Kobayashi ’00 was selected as dean of the American River College Natomas Center in 2013, he and his wife, Kathy, ’99, moved to Rocklin. Recently, he

Spring 2016

Alumni profile

A Supreme Surprise

—Laura Pizzo

was selected as a recipient of the Sacramento Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” award. Josh Kretzmann ’00, along with his wife, Dana, opened a gallery focused on artists with disabilities in December. Inner Space Outsider Art Gallery and Store is based in Providence, Rhode Island, and was funded through money raised on Kickstarter. Urijah Faber ’03 was inducted into the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame earlier this year. Faber, who is currently with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is the first mixed martial artist to be recognized by the organization. Jeremy Turner ’04 and Rebecca (Nitcher) Turner ’08, Ph.D. ’14, are proud to announce the birth

UC Davis Magazine

of their first child, a daughter, Taylor Madison, on Jan. 20, 2016, in Salem, Oregon. Jeremy is a small-business owner, and Rebecca is a plant breeder working for Bayer Crop Science. Francis David ’04 planned to run the Boston Marathon in April as a sighted guide for a visually impaired runner as part of a group organized by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired and footwear company Topo Athletic. Josh Goldschmid ’05 won the Steven M. Atkins Ability and Achievement in Science, Engineering and Technology Award during the SAE International AeroTech Engineering Congress at the end

COU RTESY

CO URTESY

Craig Stowers, J.D. ’85, began his three-year term as chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court—an achievement he said would have shocked his younger self—last summer. “I had no plan or intention of being a lawyer,” said Stowers, who came to UC Davis hoping a law background would prepare him for a career in natural resources public policy. Professor Daniel Fessler helped change Stowers’ plan. While at King Hall, Stowers worked with Fessler on what eventually became the Alaska Corporations Code and the Alaska Nonprofit Corporations Code. That project led him to become a judicial law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Juneau and the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage. “If Professor Fessler were aware that I am now on the Supreme Court and am interpreting this act that he drafted with my assistance, I think that would bring a smile to his face,” Stowers said. Stowers annually visits UC Davis as part of his national law clerk recruitment tour. “One thing is for sure,” said Stowers, who has donated to the King Hall expansion project, “the best UC Davis student is in every respect just as qualified, if not more so, as the best student from any other university.”

Alumni profile

Revitalizing K Street As a water treatment engineer, Robert Emerick ’92, M.S. ’93, Ph.D ’99, may seem like an unlikely owner of two chic restaurants and the vintage Crest Theatre on K Street in Sacramento. But the three-time UC Davis grad and fifth-generation Sacramentan said he was committed to revitalizing the area, largely inspired by a project he took on as an engineering student. “In graduate school, I restored a dilapidated bungalow located in a very devastated section of Sacramento,” he said. “Following that restoration, others became empowered to restore the neighboring bungalows and soon the neighborhood became as desirable as most of Sacramento. I learned from that experience that even a single person’s investment into a community can have a profound impact.” Emerick purchased the Crest Theatre in 2011 and has undertaken numerous updates to the iconic building, including interior light conversion to LEDs and retrofit of the antiquated HVAC system, to improve the energy efficiency of the building. In 2014 and 2015, respectively, he and his fiancée, Yulya Borroum ’97, opened vegetarian eatery Mother and the subterranean Empress Tavern. Emerick continues to practice as an engineer and is currently co-authoring a book on recycling water for potable reuse. He also occasionally teaches senior design courses at UC Davis and gives to the College of Engineering and the Edward & Mark Schroeder Fund. —Laura Pizzo of 2015. The award recognizes technical achievements of those with disabilities in the aerospace engineering industry. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The Milken Family Foundation bestowed the Milken Educator Award—and $25,000—on Nick Williams ’05, M.A. ’08, in a surprise presentation in November. The teacher is currently known for rapping about science at

Sacramento-based Local Government Commission’s Kate Meis, M.S. ’07, made The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s first “40 Under 40” list in January. The executive director was called out for starting a program that places AmeriCorps members with local governments for energy projects. John S. Zollo, J.D. ’07, was named partner at Syracuse, New York-based Barclay Damon, LLP. His focus is labor and employment. Demario Warren ’08 became head football coach of Southern Utah University early this year. He has been with the school for eight seasons. At UC Davis, he was a three-year letterman running back, before being injured in his senior season. Brooks Pierce attorney Thomas Varnum, J.D. ’08, was recognized in Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite list for top lawyers in business-related categories. He was also included in the 2016 edition of North Carolina Super Lawyers. Varnum specializes in intellectual property. April Genung ’09 and James Wooden ’09 welcomed their second son, Merritt Burton, in May 2015. Big brother Truman James is delighted

Demario Warren

SU U PH OTO SER

Legislative professional Maria Garcia ’05 has moved into the position of senior director within the Government Law & Policy Practice in the Sacramento office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.

VIC ES

San Marin High School in Novato.

by his new buddy, whom he calls Fuzzy. They live in rural Western Massachusetts, where April works in administration at Amherst College and James teaches at Greenfield Community College.

2010s

Kaitlin Gregg Goodman ’10 and Brendan Greg became the first sister and brother duo to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials marathon since 1984. Both will compete in the 10,000-meter Olympic trials in July. Rose Wilson ’12 enlisted in the U.S. Navy in May 2015 and graduated from Recruit Training Command in July 2015. She graduated first in her class from Center for Information Dominance in Pensacola, Florida, in December 2015. She will be meritoriously advanced to IT3 at her new duty station, U.S Forces Korea. James Rizzo ’15 was one of 111 members of the inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars selected for a year’s graduate study at Tsinghua University. Beginning in September, the scholars will pursue master’s degrees in global affairs and participate in internships and intensive travel seminars. Send Class Notes to magazine@ucdavis.edu

Featured Trip: Egypt & The Nile Cairo, Pyramids of Giza, Luxor Behold the mysteries of ancient Pharaohs on an adventure to the heart of Egypt along the Nile. October 20-29, 2016 From $6,240, including airfare

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European Empires of Artistry Barcelona, Provence, Portofino, Tuscany, Rome, Monte Carlo October 14-22, 2016 From $3,099, including airfare

“One of my best trips ever, and I’ve traveled to more than 35 countries.” —Barbara Drushell

“Would certainly recommend UC Davis Aggie Adventures to all my family and friends.” —Lisa Moon

“Everything about the trip was first class.” —Nancy Stallins ’77

alumni authors Gardening with Less Water (Storey Publishing LLC, 2015) addresses sustainable resource management with illustrated step-by-step instructions. David A. Bainbridge, M.S. ’73, offers low-tech and low-cost solutions for delivering water directly and consistently to plant roots. Following the current craze for adult coloring books, Peggy Jo Ackley ’77 created Flora Bella (Sellers Publishing, 2016). The new book features 88 original designs on extra-thick paper with perforated pages. Jesus The God Within: Foundations of a Forgotten Faith (EditPros LLC, 2016) by Daniel L. Wick, Ph.D. ’77, was the result of 10 years of research centered on the human Jesus of history rather than the divine Christ of faith. Call it the cultural history of flowers. Stephen Buchmann, Ph.D. ’78, investigates the definitive story in The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives (Scribner, 2015). In Faith and Fat Chances (Curbstone Books/Northwestern

University Press, 2015), Carla Trujillo ’79 turns to her native New Mexico to tell the story of rapid gentrification and its effects on a neighborhood. Patty Enrado ’85 unveiled her debut historical novel, A Village in the Fields (Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2015), featuring a retired Filipino-American farm worker who forces himself to confront his past in the Delano grape strike. Drone Command (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015) is the latest novel in the Troy Pearce series created by Mike Maden, M.A. ’85, Ph.D. ’90. In this story, Pearce and his team of drone experts are sent to Tokyo to diffuse political tensions between China and Japan. He’s the lead engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, and now he’s a published author. Adam Steltzner ’90 details his experience with 2012’s high-stakes Mars Curiosity Rover mission in The Right Kind of Crazy: A True Story of Teamwork, Leadership and HighStakes Innovation (Portfolio, 2016).

Scott Ezell ’91 draws on his experiences living on Taiwan’s remote Pacific coast in A Far Corner (University of Nebraska Press, 2015). He explores such global issues as the multiethnic nature of modern society and the impact of environmental degradation on indigenous populations. The Girls in My Town (University of New Mexico Press, 2016) is the debut essay collection by Angela Morales ’91. The autobiographical stories create a nonlinear portrait of a MexicanAmerican family in Los Angeles. Dina Linkenhoker ’92 self-published her memoir, Saving Starfish: A Teacher’s Tale, on Amazon.com in January. The book chronicles her work in suburban Northern California and rural Virginia. Sameer Pandya ’94 follows the lives of first- and second-generation Indian Americans living in California in The Blind Writer (University of Hawaii Press, 2015). The book is made up of five stories and a novella. Stress management coach Cathy Dean ’00 released the eBook Effortless: SOARing into Abundance & Adventure (CreateSpace

Independent Publishing Platform, 2015) with a 60-minute audio recording featuring some of her 40-plus anxiety-reducing tools. For the last 23 years, Caitlin O’Connell, Ph.D. ’00, has observed the complicated relationships of elephants in Namibia’s Etosha National Park. In Elephant Don (The University of Chicago Press, 2015), she offers a look at the social world of African male elephants and tells the the story through one bull she calls Greg. Stephanie Farrar ’02 gathers a bevy of documents for Dickinson in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews and Memoirs by Family, Friends and Associates (University of Iowa Press, 2016). Farrar paints a portrait of the iconic poet that counters many popular conceptions of her as morose. In the novel The Animals (Liveright Publishing, 2015), Christian Kiefer, Ph.D. ’06, alternates between past and present to tell the story of Bill Reed, a wildlife sanctuary manager with a secret criminal past. Fabiana Li, Ph.D. ’09, turns the spotlight on mining in Peru in Unearthing Conflict: Corporate Mining, Activism, and Expertise in Peru (Duke University Press, 2015). Li traces the expansion of the industry since in the 1990s. In The End of Airports (Bloomsbury, 2015), Christopher Schaberg, Ph.D. ’09, suggests that even as air travel has become less romantic and more of a hassle, a certain level of mystery still exists in our airfields. Landfalls (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015) by Naomi J. Williams, M.A. ’10, is a fictionalized account of an ill-fated attempt to circumnavigate the globe in the 1780s.

Your legacy is our future.

A global leader for the 21st century and beyond, UC Davis is focused on solving complex, worldwide problems that impact the health of humans, animals and the environment. Your partnership with UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will help generations to come and the future of our planet. To learn more about how you can unite your legacy with the future of UC Davis, visit plannedgiving.ucdavis.edu. Lyla, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Class of 2032

plannedgiving.ucdavis.edu

ARCHIVE / UC Davis

looking forward, looking back

The new Betty Irene Moore Hall will feature simulation labs for practicing real-life scenarios; inset: the Sacramento Hospital School of Nursing class of 1916.

THE BETTY IRENE MOORE SCHOOL OF NURSING will

add its first program to develop new nurses this summer. In the Master’s Entry Program in Nursing, students with a bachelor’s degree in another field can earn both a master’s degree and qualification for the registered nurse exam in 18 months.

Nursing school cultivates health care leaders Until now, the nursing school focused on graduate study for existing nurses, with master’s and doctoral degrees, and programs for nurse practitioners and physician assistants. With a focus on integrated lessons, the school has a mission to educate nurse leaders who are well-versed in the rapidly changing health care industry. An interdisciplinary faculty of 60 guides the approach.

UC Davis Magazine

“We have an emphasis on leadership, so our students understand how to assume leadership roles and advance health,” said Heather M. Young, founding dean and professor. The school is named for Betty Irene Moore, whose passion for improving patient safety and health care delivery led the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to provide $100 million in funding for its establishment seven years ago. A namesake building on the Sacramento campus is slated to be completed in 2017. Highlights of the school’s new 70,000-squarefoot home include collaborative learning spaces, simulation suites where students can practice true-tolife scenarios, and enough space to support the school for several decades. Full enrollment of more than 400 is expected by 2023. —Jocelyn Anderson

They work hard. We open doors. Opportunity for all students.

Our society is strengthened by leaders of diverse perspectives and backgrounds. At UC Davis, we have people and innovative programs in place to help all students succeedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;starting from grade school and extending beyond graduation. From those opportunities come great new leaders. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re building the future together, one Aggie at a time. Learn more at 21stcentury.ucdavis.edu.

Leading the 21st century

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one of a kind The Wheel Deal Bicycling is still the main mode of transportation at UC Davis, with 46 percent of students and employees riding to campus each day. The university even conducts groundbreaking research on the subject, recently concluding that we could cut energy use and carbon dioxide emissions from urban transport by up to 10 percent by 2050 with a global shift to cycling.

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