December 17, 1999
James Hill Receives Distinguished Achievement Award
Cooperative Extension specialist James E. Hill, Department of Agronomy & Range Science, has been selected by the UC Davis Academic Federation to receive its James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. The award, presented in a ceremony December 15 at the University Club, recognizes exceptional career achievement among members of the Academic Federation on the Davis campus. Recipients are chosen from candidates nominated by their peers. Hill received a doctoral degree in plant physiology from UC Davis in 1972. After serving a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, he returned to UC Davis as a Cooperative Extension weed scientist. In 1978, he moved to the campus's agronomy and range science department as a winter-cereal agronomist. In 1980, he focused his work on rice. During the 1980s, Hill was instrumental in the rice industry's rapid adoption of semi-dwarf rice varieties that increased yields by 50 percent, boosting California's rice yield to the highest level in the world. In response to a severe phase-down of rice-straw burning by the California legislature mandated in the early 1990s, Hill initiated and led an interdisciplinary team to solve the straw problem for the California rice industry, as well as preserve habitat for migrating waterfowl and increase biodiversity. Hill also worked with the industry to develop and promote systems for recovering excess water from rice fields, further reducing pollution. As a direct result of these efforts, pesticide residues from rice fields have been reduced 98 percent from the 1981 level. For their efforts, Hill and his collaborators received the 1998 Distinguished Service Award from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Hill was characterized in one USDA review as "the pre-eminent rice extension agronomist in the nation." Programs he developed with growers and other industry members have been praised internationally for insightfully dealing with the problems of agriculture and the environment. Hill currently is on a three-year leave at the International Rice Research Institute in the Phillipines.
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UC Davis Ranks in Econometrics
Professor Catherine Morrison-Paul was ranked 11th among 150 applied econometricians in a recent article in the Journal of Applied Econometrics ("Applied Econometrics Rankings: 1989-1995" by Badi Baltagi). The same article places economics at UC Davis 19th among 150 ranked programs. The rankings were based on the publications of 5,991 authors in 15 top journals that publish applied econometric research. Columbia ranked 20th; UCLA ranked 29th; and UC Berkeley ranked 17th.
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Alan Hastings Elected SMB President
Professor Alan Hastings, Department of Environmental Science & Policy, was elected president of the Society for Mathematical Biology and will serve through 2001. The organization is the world's major society concerned with using mathematics to understand biological problems.
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Robert Webster Presented Rice Industry Award
Professor Robert Webster, Department of Plant Pathology, has been presented the 1999 California Rice Industry Award for outstanding and distinguished service and contributions to the California rice industry. He previously served as chair of the department and as interim dean of the college. Webster currently is assistant director of programs for the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society.
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Dale Kester Receives Merit Award
Professor Emeritus Dale Kester, Department of Pomology, recently received the Curtis J. Alley Award of Merit at the Western Regional Annual Meeting of the International Plant Propagation Society in Wilsonville, Oregon. Kester helped found the Western Region of the society and served on many of its committees. He was society president in 1996-97.
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Experts Address FDA Meeting
Three members of the UC Davis faculty addressed the FDA public meeting on biotechnology held in Oakland on December 13, 1999. The gathering was the last of three such meetings and the only one held on the West Coast; others were held in Chicago and in Washington, D.C. Speakers from UC Davis included: Kent Bradford, professor, Department of Vegetable Crops, and director of the Seed Biotechnology Center Martina McGloughlin, director, UC Davis Biotechnology Program Calvin Qualset, professor emeritus, Department of Agronomy & Range Science, and director, Genetic Resources Conservation Program The FDA's stated goals for the meetings were to describe the agency's current safety and labeling practices for foods made from genetically modified plants; solicit views on whether those practices should be changed; and gather information that can help the agency keep the public informed about genetically modified food products.
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"Form Follows...a Furniture Exhibition"
January 9, 2000 2 - 4 p.m. 145 Walker Hall The Design Gallery's "Form Follows...a Furniture Exhibition," opening January 9, 2000, is an opportunity to see the current work of some of the most exciting and interesting furniture designers working in the Bay Area. Each work showcased in the exhibition represents a unique vision, as each designer transformed an idea into beautiful, functional furniture. UC Davis design lecturer Bob Morgan, Department of Environmental Design, hopes to give viewers insight into the genesis and process that guides the designer's vision to its final form. The exhibition will run through February 4, 2000.
Rhonda R. O'Brien
Program Representative
Department of Environmental Design
rrobrien@ucdavis.edu
(530) 752-6223
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Becoming a Family
The Center for Child and Family Studies, Department of Human and Community Development, announces a pilot project titled Becoming a Family that runs January through June 2000. The new demonstration program is a model for learning that teaches first-time parents how to create a family life that builds and enriches family relationships through strengthening individual development of all its members. The program is for couples experiencing their first pregnancy. Group size is limited to six to eight couples. They will discover the impact they have on their baby's capacity to develop optimally, develop effective communication in their marital and parenting relationships, and receive periodic assessments of their infant's social, emotional, and interactional development with referrals for expert consultations when necessary.
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Development Highlights
In 1995, Romilda P. Gould of St. Helena created a Charitable Remainder Trust benefiting several charities. Soon after she died on October 8, 1999, the Department of Viticulture & Enology learned that it would be one of the beneficiaries of that trust with a gift of $50,000. Later, the department learned that Romilda Gould was the widow of Francis Lewis "Paco" Gould, one of the earliest and most admired wine writers in Napa Valley. Both Romie and Paco were authors. Their works and their gift will be memorialized by naming an office for them at the Oakville Experimental Vineyard's Harry E. Jacob Research Facility.
Rick A. Swantz
Director of Development
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
raswantz@ucdavis.edu
(530) 752-7961
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Satellite Programs
For a listing of satellite programs, computer and videotape courses in the areas of agriculture, natural resources, youth development, and food, nutrition, family and consumer resources, contact ANR Communication Services. Most satellite programs are free. College-level courses are available to county and campus Cooperative Extension staff and their clientele and to other educational institutions. There is a registration fee for each course.
Karen L. Berke
ANR Communication Services
klberke@ucdavis.edu
(530) 754-9550
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Call for Orders: Virus-Tested Sweet Potato Plants
It's time for growers who would like to purchase virus-tested plants from the Foundation Plant Materials Service (FPMS) sweet potato collection to place orders. Because five of the selections are proprietary to the Sweet Potato Council of California and one to the Livingston Farmers' Association, only members of these organizations may purchase plants of these selections from FPMS. Plants of selections proprietary to individual growers also may be ordered at this time. Deadline: January 7, 2000
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Producer Scholarships Available
A limited number of travel scholarships are available for producers to attend the Western regional sustainable agriculture conference, "Farming and Ranching for Profit, Stewardship and Community," in Portland, Oregon, March 7-9, 2000. The scholarships will help bring together producers from the Southwest, Intermountain area, Pacific islands, California and the Pacific Northwest to learn the latest techniques and foster momentum for a sustainable American agriculture in the next century. Application deadline: January 21, 2000
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CA&ES Currents, the faculty/staff newsletter of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, is distributed every other Friday. News deadline is noon Monday preceding Friday publication. Send inquiries to Ann Filmer, afilmer@ucdavis.edu
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