The government of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, recently presented a Medal of Honor to Professor Glenn Young of the Department of Food Science and Technology, in recognition of his work with the city’s Nong Lam University.

Young leads his department’s partnership with Nong Lam, a collaboration that started in 2007 to develop an English-based curriculum for the university’s food technology major. The program has blossomed into a self-sustaining model for advanced education and a platform for research exchanges, and has grown to include numerous other activities, including research on safe vegetable production, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Further, based on the success of the food technology program, UC Davis and Nong Lam have expanded their partnership to involve biotechnology, applied science and Southeast Asian studies.

Young received the Medal of Honor during Nong Lam University’s 60th anniversary celebration. Another celebration is planned for next year: the 10th-Year Celebration Symposium on Sustainable Food and Agriculture, to be held in Vietnam, marking the 10th anniversary of the UC Davis-Nong Lam partnership.

Young, a food safety microbiologist, joined UC Davis in 1999. He and his research team investigate how significant foodborne pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria cause human diseases and survive in the environment.

He is a faculty scholar of the Vietnam Education Foundation, an independent agency of the U.S. government that works to strengthen relationships with Vietnam through educational exchanges.

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The San Francisco-based California Horticultural Society recently named Ellen Zagory an “all star” for her work in developing and promoting the Arboretum All-Stars, 100 plants that don’t need a lot of water and are easy to grow.

Zagory serves as the director of public horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. Each of the All-Stars has been tested for reliability by arboretum staff and made available through arboretum plant sales and a select group of retail nurseries across California.

As the recipient of the society’s annual award, Zagory addressed the organization’s annual meeting in June, discussing her passion for creating gardens that support ecosystems and how individual gardeners can collectively create a network of native wildlife corridors that have large-scale environmental impact.

Zagory, who holds a master’s degree in horticulture from UC Davis, joined the arboretum staff in 1986.

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The Poultry Science Association of America recently accorded honors to two faculty members of the Department of Animal Science:

• Joy Mench, professor emeritus and poultry-welfare expert — She’s one of five new fellows, the highest recognition the society bestows on its members. Mench recently played a key role in a nationwide research consortium that conducted the first-ever commercial-scale study of various types of housing systems for laying hens. The researchers, who reported their findings in 2015, spent three years gathering data to help the poultry industry and animal welfare advocates understand the tradeoffs presented by the housing systems. In earlier work, Mench advised the American Humane Association in developing a program to certify and label food products as meeting animal-welfare standards. She retired this month from UC Davis but continues to consult on animal-welfare issues and write scholarly books and articles.
• Huaijun Zhou, associate professor and Chancellor’s Fellow — Recipient of the Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science. Zhao uses a genomic approach in investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved with diseases affecting poultry. He is the principal investigator for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The program, which has particular importance for Africa, intends to identify genes crucial for breeding chickens that can tolerate hot climates and resist infectious diseases — specifically the devastating Newcastle disease.

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Isabel P. Montanez, professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, is the new vice president and president-elect of the Geological Society of America. She took office July 1, and come next July 1 she moves up to president.

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Three Cooperative Extension specialists affiliated with UC Davis departments recently received Distinguished Service Awards from UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. The awards are presented biannually for outstanding contributions to the division’s mission of teaching, research and public service.

• Diane Barrett, fruit and vegetable products specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology, recipient of the award for outstanding research. ANR noted how Barrett’s work benefits both the California food processing industry as well as consumers of processed fruits and vegetables.
• Brad Hanson, weed specialist, Department of Plant Sciences, recipient of the award for outstanding new academic. “His research and extension program in weed management in woody perennial crops has gained recognition on state, national and international levels,” according to ANR.
• Frank Zalom, integrated pest management specialist, and distinguished professor of entomology, Department of Entomology and Nematology, one of nine people honored as outstanding team. “The European Grapevine Moth Team coordinated a program that saved the wine and table grape industries from economic disaster caused by an invasive insect,” ANR stated. “The impact of the team’s work has reduced quarantines for European grapevine moth from 10 counties in 2010 to a portion of one county at the end of 2015, and no moths have been trapped in the last remaining quarantine zone since 2013. If no European grapevine moths are trapped in this zone in 2016, the last remaining quarantine for the pest will be lifted.”

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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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