Two UC Davis professors and a Ph.D. alumnus are the recipients of this year’s Quality of Research Discovery Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

The recognition stems from their paper, “The Economics of Spatial-Dynamic Processes: Applications to Renewable Resources.” The authors and award winners: Professors James Willen of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and James Sanchirico of the Department of Environmental Science, and Martin Smith, associate professor, environmental economics, Duke University. Smith studied in the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, receiving his doctorate in 2001.

The association recognized Travis Lybbert, assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, as the author of the year’s most outstanding article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

The Western Agricultural Economics Association, which held its annual meeting in conjunction with the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association’s annual meeting in Denver, recognized two UC Davis graduate students — one for outstanding doctoral dissertation, the other for outstanding master’s thesis.

Kelly Cobourn of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics became the second UC Davis grad student in as many years to win the award for outstanding doctoral dissertation.

The award for outstanding master’s thesis went to Christopher Rue, also of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

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Professor Joy Melnikow has taken up a leadership position on the California Health Benefits Review Program Task Force. The panel is charged with providing lawmakers with objective analysis of proposed changes to mandated health insurance coverage.

Melnikow, a professor of family and community medicine and director of the university’s Center for Healthcare Policy and Research, has served on the task force since 2008. She became vice chair for public health on July 1.

The Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (formerly called the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care) conducts research on health care access, delivery, costs, outcomes and related health policy, all in an effort to improve the organization, quality and effectiveness of the practice of medicine, especially primary care.

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Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Enrique Lavernia recently returned from a two-week stay at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where he was among this year's Miegunyah Distinguished Fellows.

As part of his visit, Lavernia gave a public lecture, "Nanostructured Metals: From the Wright Brothers to the Future."

The Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship program was established in 1993 to bring distinguished academics from outside Australia to visit the University of Melbourne for up to eight weeks.

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Leslie Lyons, a geneticist in the School of Veterinary Medicine, last month received the 2010 Winn Excellence in Feline Research Award. The presentation came in Atlanta at the annual meeting of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The award is intended to enhance the lives of cats by recognizing outstanding research achievements related to cat health and encouraging further studies in that area.

Through her research, Lyons has developed a feline genetic mapping pedigree and identified a mutation associated with polycystic kidney disease in cats.

Most recently, her work has included the analysis of the origin of cat breeds and the sites of cat domestication. This endeavor resulted in a documentary titled “The Science of Cats,” produced by National Geographic for the magazine’s Explorer program on cable television.

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The July meeting of the American Dairy Science Association included the naming of Professor David Mills of the Department of Viticulture and Enology as the recipient of this year’s Cargill Flavor Systems Food Specialties Award.

The award recognizes research contributions to chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, engineering or technology pertaining to the cheese and cultured dairy products industries.

Mills’ research focuses on the ecology and molecular biology of lactic acid bacteria found in foods and in the intestine. This has involved analyses of the microbial ecology of various food and intestine environments and the development of genomics for the lactic acid bacteria field in general.

In the last decade, Mills led the Lactic Acid Bacteria Genomics Consortium Project, which resulted in a seminal comparative analysis and release of key genome sequences of food-grade lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria.

More recently, Mills helped form the multidisciplinary UC Davis Functional Glycomics Program.

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