College News

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23rd Annual R. Bryan Miller Symposium to be Held In-Person for First Time Since Pandemic

  • by Greg Watry
  • March 21, 2023
Mark your calendars because the R. Bryan Miller Symposium returns this April for its first in-person event since 2020. Featuring a stellar lineup of high-profile speakers and leading-edge researchers in chemical biology, organic, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, the 23rd annual symposium creates a pipeline between academia and industry, allowing students to network, present their research and learn skills pivotal to their future professional careers. The free event is scheduled for April 13 and 14 at the UC Davis Conference Center.
Two students look at their cell phones in a close up photo

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Course Tackles Big Tech Privacy Concerns

  • by Greg Watry
  • March 16, 2023
Geared toward mathematics, statistics and computer science graduate students, MAT 280: “Fairness, Privacy and Trustworthiness in Machine Learning” aims to elevate tenets of social responsibility when it comes to developing machine learning and artificial intelligence-based systems. The special topics class focuses on the mathematical concepts underlying machine learning and how these concepts can be used for the better.
image of a large crowd of seated people outside seen from above with a large movie screen to the right.

Fisher and Masiel Receive Global Affairs Teaching Awards

  • by Jeffrey Day
  • March 10, 2023
Two College of Letters and Science faculty members have been recognized for their outstanding global engagement work with Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching of Study Abroad Awards: Jaimey Fisher, professor of German and cinema and digital media, and David Masiel, continuing lecturer in the University Writing Program.
Bottle of Cantadora 2019 The Sage on left, with enlarged image, on right, of label that shows photo of UC Davis economist Marianne Page

Wine Honors Economist Marianne Page

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • March 10, 2023
Marianne Page can count numerous accomplishments during her career as an economics professor in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, but none like an honor recently bestowed by a Napa Valley winemaker. Page appears on the label of The Sage, an organic red blend wine created by Kira Ballotta for her Cantadora brand that celebrates Page and two other women “doing extraordinary things in support of their communities.”
A group of fiber food items, including bread, fruits, vegetables and more

UC Davis-Led Startup Develops Novel Tech to Increase Dietary Fiber's Health Benefits

  • by Neelanjana Gautam
  • March 10, 2023
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Carlito B. Lebrilla and other UC Davis researchers are paving a path to commercialize a new technology that they hope will make dietary fiber easier to add into food and more acceptable to the consumer. The novel depolymerization technology can chop up fiber from long polysaccharides into small, bioactive chains of carbohydrates, called oligosaccharides. The process doesn't change the structure of the fiber, but makes it soluble, digestible and palatable.
Portraits of two UC Davis psychology and classics faculty

Camelia Hostinar and Tim Brelinski Receive Teaching Awards

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • March 08, 2023

Two faculty in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis have been recognized by their campus peers for outstanding teaching. Camelia Hostinar, associate professor of psychology, is a recipient of the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award:  Undergraduate. Tim Brelinski, a continuing lecturer in classics, received the Academic Federation’s Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award

Photos of three UC Davis alumni in circular frames against a starry night background. Below is a golden trophy of a figure holding a star and the words Night at Aggies

Alumni Awards Go to Three College Graduates

  • March 03, 2023

Three alumni of the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis — an international economist, a racial justice advocate, and an assets manager dedicated to supporting research and educational excellence — are recipients of Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s 2023 Alumni Awards.

A student check their phone as they shop, looking for books online too.

$4M Grant Helps Expand Open Education Platform Founded by UC Davis Faculty Member

  • by Greg Watry
  • March 01, 2023
A $4 million award from the California Education Learning Lab will help expand an innovative, open education project founded by a UC Davis College of Letters and Science professor. LibreTexts is an online textbook platform that aims to “unite students, faculty and scholars in a cooperative effort to develop an easy-to-use online platform for the construction, customization and dissemination of open educational resources to reduce the burdens of unreasonable textbook costs.”
A classic California view — fog rising from the Pacific Ocean as seen from Mount Tamalpais.

Climate Trends in the West Today and 11,000 Years Ago

  • by Kat Kerlin
  • February 27, 2023
People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word. A study from the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences synthesizes climate trends across the Western U.S. during a relatively young and lesser-studied period of Earth’s history — the Holocene Era, which stretches from the present day to the past 11,000 years.
The 2023 fellows, including UC Davis’ Jesús M. Velázquez and Alexander S. Wein, “represent the most promising scientific researchers working today."

Sloan Fellowships for Chemist and Mathematician

  • February 17, 2023

Two College of Letters and Science faculty members are among 125 recipients of this year’s Sloan Research Fellowships, prestigious awards given by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to early-career scientific researchers seen as emerging leaders in their fields.

The 2023 fellows, including UC Davis’ Jesús M. Velázquez and Alexander S. Wein, “represent the most promising scientific researchers working today,” the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation said in announcing its selections Feb. 15.

Charan Ranganath smiles while working with a patient wearing a brain cap.

The Nuances of Memory with Charan Ranganath

  • by Greg Watry
  • February 17, 2023
Professor of Psychology Charan Ranganath and his colleagues are uncovering the science behind memory to develop biomarkers that can identify individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. The hope is that early detection will allow for successful intervention.
A cortical neuron (white) with colored dots showing the locations of serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptors

Receptor Location Matters for Psychedelic Drug Effects

  • by Andy Fell
  • February 16, 2023
Location, location, location is the key for psychedelic drugs that could treat mental illness by rapidly rebuilding connections between nerve cells. In a paper published Feb. 17 in Science, researchers at the University of California, Davis, show that engaging serotonin 2A receptors inside neurons promotes growth of new connections but engaging the same receptor on the surface of nerve cells does not.
Circular portraits of five UC Davis College of Letters and Science faculty

5 Honored as Chancellor’s Fellows

  • February 14, 2023
Five associate professors in the College of Letters and Science have been honored with an additional title: Chancellor’s Fellow. Jessica Bissett Perea (Native American studies), Rana Jaleel (gender, sexuality and women’s studies), Xiaodong Li (statistics), David Olson (chemistry) and Caitlin Patler (sociology) are among 13 faculty campuswide selected to the 2022-23 class of Chancellor’s Fellows.
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