Five New Chancellor’s Fellows Make Their Mark
Five faculty in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science 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.
An artist, a poet, a psychologist, a mathematician and a physicist are among 10 faculty campuswide selected for the honor.
“We say ‘congratulations’ to these early-career faculty members,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “They’ve clearly made a mark both at UC Davis and within the academy generally. I have no doubt their contributions will continue to grow.”
Each Chancellor’s Fellow keeps the title for five years and receives a $25,000 prize for their research or other scholarly work. Funding comes from private donations to the UC Davis Annual Fund and the UC Davis Parents Fund.
“This program highlights how donors to UC Davis are supporting our faculty across the disciplines,” said Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations. “Our Chancellor’s Fellows are propelling our university to greater excellence.”
Here are the new fellows (click anywhere in each box, to see the fellow's lab or faculty page):
Shiva Ahmadi
Department of Art and Art History
Combining traditional techniques and today’s technology in paintings, videos and sculptures, Ahmadi addresses contemporary, international social and political concerns. The carefully illustrated and often beautiful worlds she creates are invaded by violence and oppression in the form of faceless despots, blood and bombs. Her art has been widely praised and collected by the Asia Society in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Contemporary Museum of Art in Los Angeles.
‘Professor Ahmadi’s work provides a compelling example of the ability of the most powerful of art to capture and create responses to the urgent issues that define our experiences of the world.’ — Elizabeth Spiller, dean, College of Letters and Science
Wiebke Bleidorn
Department of Psychology
To advance the understanding of personality, Bleidorn has become expert in an array of sophisticated research methods to identify genetic and environmental factors underlying personality development in adults. Her research includes analyzing data from long-term studies of twins, multinational surveys and intensive studies of individuals’ daily lives. Some of her work has examined how personality traits vary across nations and cultures. Colleagues describe her as a rising star who is helping to set the agenda in her field.
‘For decades, personality research was stuck on the question of whether personality changes across the lifespan. Professor Bleidorn has emerged as the leader of a new generation of personality researchers who are moving beyond this descriptive question by explaining when and why personality changes.’ — Elizabeth Spiller, dean, College of Letters and Science
Garving Kevin Luli
Department of Mathematics
Working in the area of analysis, Luli has distinguished himself in the difficult mathematics of fitting smooth functions to large data. His research touches on many topics, notably harmonic analysis, partial differential equations and computational algebraic geometry, and has connections to theoretical computer science as well as applications to neurosurgery (in which he is developing techniques to predict how tumors will change shape during surgery, thus enabling improved surgical accuracy). In a letter of support, a colleague said Luli’s work “demonstrates superior intellectual attainment in research.”
‘We are so pleased with the transformational caliber of your work.’ — Elizabeth Spiller, dean, College of Letters and Science, in an email congratulating Luli on his selection as a Chancellor’s Fellow
Emilija Pantic
Department of Physics
She hunts for the most elusive particles in physics: neutrinos with almost no mass, and the mysterious “dark matter” that makes up much of the universe. She has played a key role in designing, building, running and analyzing data from a series of experiments — including CRESST, XENON and DarkSide — searching for dark matter particles. Today she is working on the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to be built a mile underground in South Dakota, and the pilot ProtoDUNE experiment now under construction at CERN in Switzerland.
‘There is no question in my opinion that Emilija has provided many original and independent contributions to the field. Her published results are very significant and helped shape the field of dark matter searches as we know it today.’ — Cristiano Galbiati, professor of physics, Princeton University
Katie Peterson
Creative Writing Program, Department of English
A poet whose work explores interior and exterior landscapes, exposure and shelter, she has published three books — The Accounts (2013), winner of the Rilke Prize of $10,000 from the University of North Texas; Permission (2013); and This One Tree (2006) — and has a fourth collection coming out in February, A Piece of Good News. Her other achievements include renovating the graduate program in creative writing and relaunching it as a Master’s in Fine Arts degree program, and directing the Creative Writing Reading Series.
‘Student evaluations speak not only of her quality of instruction but her attention to students as individuals. Said one student: “I have never felt so much care taken with my work.” Another said: “She pushed me beyond what I believed my own capabilities to be.”’ — Elizabeth Spiller, dean, College of Letters and Science
Adapted from a Dateline UC Davis article