Five faculty in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science — an artist, a poet, a psychologist, a mathematician and a physicist — have been named to the 2019 class of Chancellor’s Fellows, the university’s annual honors program recognizing associate professors for high achievement in the quality and excellence of research and teaching.

The UC Office of the President has awarded more than $9 million in grants to 16 collaborative research projects across the system. UC Davis College of Letters and Science researchers lead two of the projects and will participate in three others.

Håkon Hope, professor emeritus of chemistry at UC Davis, died Nov. 22 at his home in Davis. He was 87.

Hope was a leading researcher in X-ray crystallography, and was known for his pioneering work developing low-temperature methods in biological macromolecule crystallography. His work is widely recognized as resulting in a complete transformation of the practice of biocrystallography. Hope joined the Department of Chemistry in 1965, retiring as professor emeritus in 1993.

Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Carlito Lebrilla is one of 10 UC Davis faculty members newly elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus and world-renowned geologist Eldridge Moores died unexpectedly Sunday (Oct. 28) while on a geology field trip. He was 80. Moores began his career at UC Davis more than 52 years ago as a founding member of the Department of Geology (now known as Earth and Planetary Sciences) and the College of Letters and Science.

Six assistant professors in the College of Letters and Science have been named to UC Davis’ newest class of Hellman Fellows. They are among 11 UC Davis faculty who received a total of $244,000 in grants for research in a wide range of disciplines.

Two UC Davis staff members, backed by a growing corps of volunteers, are spreading color, creativity and kindhearted messages around campus with vibrantly painted rocks. Kim Pearson and Martha Garrison, who work in the arts administrative group in the College of Letters and Science, launched UC Davis Rocks this spring. The group paints flat rocks with bright designs and words like “Imagine,” “Dream” and “Smile,” then hides them—often in plain sight—for others to find.

The Winston Ko Professorship in Science Leadership has been awarded to UC Davis Distinguished Professor of Chemistry R. David Britt, a leader in the field of bioinorganic spectroscopy.

Richard Scalettar, distinguished professor of physics, is this year’s recipient of the Charles P. Nash Prize, recognizing faculty members who have taken on Nash’s mantle of promoting shared governance, and advocating for faculty interests and welfare.

The UC Davis Academic Senate recently recognized five faculty in the College of Letters and Science for their teaching, research and public service.