The American Biogas Council recently chose UC Davis’ Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester, or READ, as the 2015 Biogas Project of the Year.

READ, built at the campus’s old landfill, incorporates technology developed here by Professor Ruihong Zhang of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. The university licensed the technology to CleanWorld, a startup seeking to bring biodigester technology to a commercial scale.

CleanWorld and the campus unveiled READ on Earth Day in 2014. Read the story here.

On an annual basis, READ has the capacity to convert more than 18,000 tons of organic waste into biogas, which is blended with landfill gases — primarily methane — to create a fuel supply that will produce 5.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity.

“What sets this project apart from its peers is the combination of wide variety of feedstocks, the blending of landfill gas with digester gas and the use of microturbines to power the university’s West Village project,” the American Biogas Council declared in presenting the award.

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The School of Veterinary Medicine reports a number of awards, external and internal, for faculty members and researchers.

The American Association of Zoo Veterinarians honored the following:

• Kirsten Gilardi, professor and co-director of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center — Emil Dolensek Award, recognizing Gilardi’s work to conserve, care for and understand captive and free-ranging wildlife. The association especially cited her work in helping to manage the health of endangered primates in their home range of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Pamela Lein, professor and neurobiologist — Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence
• Brian Murphy, associate professor and pathologist — Zoetis Distinguished Veterinary Teacher Award

The School of Veterinary Medicine gave two awards of its own:

• Julie Dechant, professor and equine surgeon — Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award
• Gary Magdesian, professor and equine medicine expert — Faculty Clinical Excellence Award

Also, the American Physiological Society recently elected its inaugural class of fellows, among them Helen Raybould, professor and gastrointestinal physiologist in veterinary medicine's Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology.

See Vet Med News for more information.

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Plant sciences professor Paul Gepts started the month as the keynote speaker at the Bean Improvement Cooperative’s biennial meeting, and now he is the recipient of the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources, from the Crop Science Society of America.

The Meyer medal recognizes distinctive service to the National Plant Germplasm System. Gepts studies crop domestication and the origins of agriculture, and his findings have been used to guide the conservation of genetic resources in gene banks and farmers' fields.

He focuses particularly on Phaseolus beans (pinto, red kidney, navy and lima), because, according to his website, “they are such an important part of the human diet, especially in developing countries, and provide many health benefits."

In researching the domesticated beans’ evolution, Gepts has documented how several pathogens — those that infect the bean plants — also have evolved. His research, therefore, has led to improved breeding strategies.

The Michigan State University-based Bean Improvement Cooperative chose Gepts for the 2015 Frazier-Zaumeyer Distinguished Lectureship, recognizing significant contrbutions to Phaseolus research.

Gepts gave credit to the long-term contributions of graduate students and visiting scientists in his group, and collaborations with researchers in Latin America, Europe and Africa.

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Neal Van Alfen, professor of plant pathology and former dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has been elected to the Yolo Land Trust board of directors. 

“We are very fortunate to have someone with Neal’s diverse agricultural knowledge on the board and look forward to his contributions to the land trust’s work of conserving important farmland and rangeland in Yolo County,” Charles A. Tyson, board president, said in the land trust’s announcement of Van Alfen’s election.

The nonprofit land trust assists landowners in setting up voluntary agricultural conservation agreements. Since its founding in 1988, the land trust has helped with such agreements for more than 60 family farms around the county, permanently conserving that farmland for future generations.

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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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