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The Academic Senate and Academic Federation have made their selections for the campus’s most prestigious academic awards for 2023, honoring 17 members for exceptional research, teaching and mentoring, and public service.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering can boast it is the home of the top award winner in each organization: Jay Lund, distinguished professor, Faculty Distinguished Research Award from the Academic Senate; and Daniel Wilson, academic administrator, James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award from the Academic Federation.

The late Meyer, animal science professor, department chair and dean who would become UC Davis’ third chancellor (1969-87), played an important role in the history of the Academic Federation, having proposed its formation (it began as the Academic Staff Organization) for academic appointees who were not members of the Academic Senate, and supporting the organization through his chancellorship.

Unique among UC campuses, the Academic Federation represents academic appointees in titles such as lecturer (Unit 18), adjunct professor and librarian, agronomist and specialist, professional researcher and project scientist, and academic administrator and academic coordinator — about 2,000 members total. The UC Davis Academic Senate, representing some 3,000 ladder-rank faculty members, is one division of the systemwide Academic Senate, with each campus constituting a division.

The Academic Senate and Academic Federation will hold a joint awards reception in the spring, with details to be announced at a later date.

The write-ups below for each of the recipients are adapted from the citations prepared by the senate and federation award committees.

Academic Senate

Faculty Distinguished Research Award

Jay Lund, distinguished professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, and vice director of the Center for Watershed Sciences — Professor Lund has made foundational contributions to the fields of groundwater management, reservoir operations, water conservation, ecosystem management, solid waste management and transportation. His research on integrated water and environmental management, water markets, demand conservation, game theory and integrated large-scale water operations has produced several groundbreaking theoretical advances. Professor Lund has established himself as the preeminent international leader in the theory and practice of water resources systems analysis, particularly in applying mathematical techniques to provide multidisciplinary solutions to water problems of public importance. He has advised government agencies and organizations on water management issues, and his models and research have impacted water management policies worldwide.

Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Awards

J. Anthony Seibert, professor, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine — Professor Seibert is a medical physicist who has been instrumental in setting safety, regulatory compliance and imaging standards of medical radiology at the national level. He has served as chair, trustee and secretary of several organizations, including the American Board of Radiology, the American Board of Imaging Informatics, the American College of Radiology, the Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine, and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. In addition, through service in the National Council of Radiological Protection and Measurements, and the Food and Drug Administration’s National Mammography Quality Assurance Advisory Committee, Professor Seibert’s recommendations have been adopted into state laws and industrial standards.

Ulfat Shaikh, professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine — Through extensive advocacy and public service efforts, Professor Shaikh is a leader in advancing the quality of children’s health at the local, state and national levels. She serves as chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, where she has advocated for the elimination of race-based medicine, among other important contributions. At the state level, Professor Shaikh served as clinical quality officer for the ������Ƶ Department of Health Care Services during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Professor Shaikh is a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, where she advocates for increased member engagement with child protective services, juvenile justice systems, foodbanks, crisis nurseries, foster care and local health departments.

Daniel Sperling, distinguished professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, and Department of Environmental Science and Policy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; and director, Institute of Transportation Studies — Professor Sperling has significantly influenced transportation policy in ������Ƶ and nationwide through, among other venues, his leadership at the ������Ƶ Air Resources Board. He has testified before Congress several times and was the first chair of the Future of Transportation Council of the Davos World Economic Forum. Furthermore, Professor Sperling has been instrumental in designing the low-carbon fuels program and has informed state policy on vehicle electrification through his work with the ������Ƶ Air Resources Board. His input in the Select Committee on Climate Change supported legislative action to reduce emissions and improve air quality in ������Ƶ and the United States.

Glenn C. Yiu, professor, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine — Professor Yiu has energetically expanded access to ophthalmological services in underserved communities. He established and expanded a teleophthalmology program, which has screened more than 2,500 patients. He co-directed the Paul Hom Asian Clinic to provide free eye care to the local Asian community, and he obtained funding to support eye screening at UC Davis Health’s student-run community clinics. Professor Yiu has partnered with CommuniCare Health Centers to provide remote eye grading, and he has negotiated with Noridian, ������Ƶ’s Medicare contractor, to promote insurance coverage for teleretinal imaging. He has also lobbied policymakers to address barriers to remote eye screening.

Distinguished Teaching Awards: Undergraduate

Camelia E. Hostinar, associate professor, Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science — Associate Professor Hostinar communicates complex material with clarity, inventiveness and infectious enthusiasm. She ensures students feel understood as individuals in large classes, even when teaching remotely. She links rigorous academic research to the real-world concerns of her students; for example, during the pandemic, she helped students understand their own experiences by exploring the relationship between stress and physical and mental health. Students who work in her lab engage with all levels of the research process, with many presenting their work at the Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Conference. Students also benefit from her support in pursuing graduate work in their field, with 10 of her students being admitted into graduate programs in the past three years.

Brian Gaylord, professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences — An enthusiastic and passionate lecturer, Professor Gaylord creates a learning environment that supports students tackling difficult topics, together. He emphasizes critical thinking and understanding processes over memorization, and he engages students in effective and thought-provoking ways. All of this happens in the supportive, welcoming climate Professor Gaylord creates in his classrooms, and as his student nominators explain, he offers them the most personalized approach to student evaluation they have encountered at this university. For example, Professor Gaylord organized his EVE 120 class around a term paper of the student’s choice, providing individual written feedback at each step of the process, which helped students feel invested in the course and themselves.

Patrice Koehl, professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering — Professor Koehl is an exemplary teacher and mentor. As a member of the Department of Computer Science, he has built a catalog of popular and wide-ranging undergraduate classes, including “Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science” (ECS 020), “Computational Structural Biology” (ECS 129) and “Ethics in the Age of Technology” (ECS 188). His students appreciate his generosity with his time, and the long lines outside his office hours offer additional proof that he is a deeply engaged mentor. Finally, Professor Koehl engages in a variety of teaching-related outreach activities at other universities throughout the world, and he teaches high school students as a part of the ������Ƶ State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, or COSMOS.