A $278,000 New Directions Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is taking Colin Milburn in the direction of … learning to code.

It will add to his already considerable resume: Gary Snyder Chair in Science and the Humanities, professor of English, science and technology studies, and cinema and digital media.

But, to be the truly multidisciplinary digital humanist he wants to be, Milburn wants to know how to code. With his New Directions grant in hand, he will get additional training in software development, programming, database architecture and computer science.

Milburn is the author of two books, Nanovision: Engineering the Future and Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter , and many articles on the relations among literature, science and technology.

Read more about Milburn and his New Directions Fellowship.

See what Milburn has to say about his newest book, Mondo Nano.

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English professor Lynn Freed is the recipient of her second O. Henry Prize, this time for her story “The Way Things Are Going.” It was first published in Harper’s magazine in August 2013, and later this year it will be in the 2015 edition of The O. Henry Prize Stories: The Best Stories of the Year.

Freed won an O. Henry Prize in 2011 for “Sunshine.” She is the author of six novels, including The Servants’ Quarters, House of Women and The Mirror; a short story collection; and an essay collection.

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Each year the International Institute for Information Design publishes a new IIIDaward book, and this year’s edition will include two projects from UC Davis.

Faculty members Susan Verba (associate professor, Department of Design) and Sarah Perrault (assistant professor, University Writing Program) get the credit for one of the projects, and share the other award with three graduate students.

The Verba-Perrault project, “Design Translates: Visual Thinking Across the Disciplines,” earned silver in the research category.

A team from the Center for Design in the Public Interest — Verba and Perrault and graduate students Sumayyah Ahmed (computer science), Prerna Dudani (design) and Yohei Kato (community and regional development) — won silver for “Evolution of Participatory Practices: 5 Disciplines, 50 Years,” in the didactics category, for projects focusing on educational or instructional information design.


Verba and Perrault are among the core faculty at the Center for Design in the Public Interest, which received seed funding through Interdisciplinary Frontiers in the Humanities and Arts, coordinated by the Office of Research.

“An experimental approach plus partnerships with faculty and students from diverse disciplines create unique opportunities to explore new methods and to work at the leading edge of a growing movement that connects human-centered design with social good,” the center’s website declares.

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Here are this year’s recipients of the Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research:

• Faculty — Robin Hill, professor, art studio; Tonya Kuhl, professor, chemical engineering and materials science; Eric Sanford, associate professor, evolution and ecology; and Nolan Zane, professor, psychology and Asian American studies.
• Graduate student-postdoc — Gloria Wong, a psychology Ph.D. student who is finishing her dissertation and will start as a postdoc at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the fall.

Provost Ralph J. Hexter presided over the awards ceremony, which also included honors for students:

• Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (Simonton Prize) — Shadd Cabalatungan, sociology; and Jessica Gutierrez, music.
• Honorable mention — Ryan Cannon, political science; Rachelle Hamblin, neurobiology, physiology and behavior; and Rachael Richards, art studio.

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The California League of Food Processors recently presented its Distinguished Service Award to Diane M. Barrett, Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Food Science and Technology. The award recognizes her many years of support in both extension teaching and research.

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Two faculty members are recipients of lifetime achievement awards:

• Miguel Mariño, distinguished professor of hydrologic sciences in the College of Engineering, honored by the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
• John Roth, distinguished professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Biological Sciences, honored by the American Society for Microbiology.

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Ricardo Castro, associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science, is the recipient of this year’s Stig Sunner Memorial Award from the North American Calorimetry Conference.

Named after the late professor from Sweden’s Lund University, the Stig Sunner award recognizes the research contributions of a young scientist (typically 40 or younger) to thermodynamics and thermochemistry.

The award bestows upon Castro a place on the conference program, to deliver a lecture. His topic: “Microcalorimetry of Ceramic Nanocrystals.”

Read more about Castro.

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The Surface Science Society of Japan recently elected its first three international fellows, and UC Davis’ Charles “Chuck” Fadley is among them. He’s a distinguished professor in the Department of Physics and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

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Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.

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