More Laurels: The Cal Aggie Student Alumni Association recently received national awards for two programs: SAA Connections (formerly called the Buddy Program) and Aggie Classrooms.

Spotlight: Faculty of great distinction, including a link to the newly compiled distinguished faculty list.

A new book, The Lure of Bacterial Genetics, honors the achievements of John Roth, distinguished professor of microbiology in the College of Biological Sciences.

The book, mostly the work of former students and colleagues, provides a complete overview of the field and its history. Roth wrote the final chapter, offering a look at the future of bacterial genetics.

Josep Casadesús of the University of Seville (Spain), Kelly Hughes of the University of Utah and Stanley Maloy of San Diego State University served as the editors. The publisher is the American Society for Microbiology Press.

Roth's laboratory uses Salmonella bacteria as a model to explore the basic genetics and biochemistry of all bacteria, including how bacteria evolve and adapt to their environment.

Roth is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Carl Winter, a Cooperative Extension toxicologist and director of the FoodSafe Program in the Department of Food Science and Technology, has been appointed to a four-year term on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Advisory Committee.

The committee addresses emerging food safety, nutrition and other food- or cosmetic-related health issues.

Winter’s most recent research examines the relationship between crop production systems and naturally occurring toxins. He also has developed a repertoire of educational food safety musical parodies and studies how to improve food safety education by incorporating music into the curriculum.

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The 2010 Heinz Awards are going to 10 environmental innovators from around the nation — including Daniel Sperling, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and environmental science and policy.

He is director of the Institute of Transportation Studies and acting director of the Energy Efficiency Center, and co-director of the Sustainable Transportation Energy Pathways program.

The Heinz Award recognizes Sperling's “significant contributions to revolutionary transportation and energy research through a unique academic approach that merges research, policy studies and entrepreneurship in pursuit of clean, equitable transportation options.”

He founded the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis almost 20 years ago with the goals of educating the next generation of engineers and policy makers, advancing cutting edge research in clean transportation, and disseminating its findings to contribute to the betterment of society.

The Heinz Family Philanthropies established the Heinz Awards in 1993, in memory of Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz and honoring achievements in the arts and humanities, the environment, public policy, technology and the human condition.

Last year, the Heinz Family Philanthropies narrowed the focus to the environment, and this year the administrators narrowed the scope even further, to global change — recognizing people whose achievements constructively address global change in unique, innovative and powerful ways.

The 2010 Heinz Awards are due to be presented at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15. Each recipient receives an unrestricted prize of $100,000.

Read the Institute of Transportation Studies new release.

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The James S. McDonnell Foundation has given a six-year, $600,000 Scholar Award to Simona Ghetti, associate professor in the Department of Psychology and at the Center for Mind and Brain, to support her research on understanding processes of memory development.

James S. McDonnell, founder of the McDonnell Aircraft Corp., established his foundation in 1950 by to improve quality of life through the generation of new knowledge.

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Prasad A. Naik, professor of marketing in the Graduate School of Management, and co-author Kay Peters are due to be receive a Journal of Interactive Marketing award for best paper published: “A Hierarchical Marketing Communications Model of Online and Offline Media Synergies.”

The award presentation is scheduled for Oct. 10 in San Francisco, at the Direct Marketing Education Foundation’s Direct-Interactive Marketing Research Summit.
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The Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals recently presented a gold award to the Art of Regional Change for its “Passion for the Land” project.

“Passion for the Land” is a collection of short videos from rural residents on agricultural viability, resource stewardship and preserving a rural way of life. The gold award came in the mixed media materials category.

The Art of Regional Change developed “Passion for the Land” in collaboration with Holly George, a Cooperative Extension adviser for livestock and natural resources in Plumas and Sierra counties, and uses it in outreach efforts to policymakers.

The Art of Regional Change, a collaboration of the Center for Regional Change and the Humanities Institute, brings together scholars, students, artists and community groups to collaborate on media arts projects that strengthen communities, generate engaged scholarship and inform regional decision-making.

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Surgical oncologist Vijay Khatri has been appointed to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Council of Academic Society, one of the organization’s three governing councils.

In serving on the council, Khatri represents the Society of University Surgeons, one of 94 societies that make up the Council of Academic Society.

The member societies are devoted to biomedical and behavioral research, medical education and patient care. The council serves as a forum for discussing and exchanging information of common interest to medical school faculty, and for evaluating and recommending policy initiatives to the association.

Khatri joined the UC Davis Health System in 1999. He is a professor of clinical surgery and is co-director of the oncology unit. In addition, he is the secretary of the School of Medicine’s Faculty Executive Committee and an instructor in the UC Davis Extension Executive Leadership Program.

He has served previously as director of the Department of Surgery’s Faculty Development and Mentoring Program, and chair and vice chair of the School of Medicine’s Faculty Personnel Committee.

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