• Alexandra Navrotsky, director of the NEAT (Nanomaterials in the Environment, Agriculture and Technology) organized research unit has been named as the 2006 Harry H. Hess Medalist by the American Geophysical Union. The Hess medal is awarded for outstanding achievements in research of the constitution and evolution of the Earth and other planets.

Navrotsky was presented with the medal during the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Dec. 11-15. The award, which is presented not more than once per year, was established in 1984 in honor of Princeton University geologist Harry H. Hess, who made many significant contributions, especially to our knowledge of the sea floor. Navrotsky is the first woman to receive the medal.

• Medical entomologist Robert Washino, whose career spans four decades at UC Davis, has received the international Harry Hoogstraal Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Entomology.

Washino, a global authority on the ecology of mosquitoes and mosquito control agents, received the prestigious medal from the American Committee of Medical Entomology at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (www.astmh.org) held Dec. 11-15 in Washington, D.C. Only 14 entomologists have received the medal since 1987 when Washino's mentor, mosquito-borne disease expert William C. Reeves (1916-2004) of UC Berkeley, won the honor.

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, a professor of internal medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and an internationally renowned expert on mental health in ethnic populations, was recently honored with a National Minority Health Community Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The award, one of 10 that recognize pioneering leaders dedicated to improving health in specific minority populations, was announced recently at the National Leadership Summit for Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health in Washington, D.C.

Tom Bills, a professor of art at UC Davis, is exhibiting his sculpture at the Don Soker Contemporary Art Gallery in San Francisco. The show runs through March 18. The works being shown are wall pieces, flame cut from 1 1/4" solid steel plate. The very heavy pieces hang from a single steel pin implanted in the backside of the sculpture. Bills moved to UC Davis from New York City to accept a full professorship four years ago.

UC Davis print-maker and painter Vera Iliatova is exhibiting at two galleries in New York through late February. Four of the assistant professor's paintings are in a group show called The Mind/Body Problem at Artists Space, 38 Green St. Another four are included in the Rosenberg Gallery's show Coupling at New York University, 34 Stuyvesant St.

R. Paul Singh, a professor of food engineering in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and the Department of Food Science and Technology, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Food Engineering published by Elsevier Ltd. This journal receives more than 1,000 manuscripts annually for publication.