UC Davis professor emeritus Calvin Qualset received the 2006 Frank Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources Award from the Crop Science Society of America. Qualset has studied plant genetic resources, genetics of crop traits, and breeding new varieties of cereal crops for 40 years, and was the founding director of the UC Genetic Resources Conservation Program. The award, presented at the society's annual meeting in November, recognizes distinctive service to the National Plant Germplasm System. It was created in recognition of agricultural explorer Frank Meyer's contribution to the economic horticulture of America and service in the field of foreign plant introduction.

On Jan. 27, the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association hosted the 2007 Alumni Awards ceremony at Freeborn Hall, honoring the following alumni: Sarah Otterstrom Ph.D. '04, Emil M. Mrak International Award; Rex Hime '69, J.D. '72, Jerry Fielder Memorial Award; John Patrick Jordan '55, Ph.D. '63, Distinguished Achievement Award; Francisco Rodriguez '85, M.S.'97, Outstanding Alumnus Award; Ernesto Sandoval '96, Young Alumnus Award; and Douglas Muhleman '77, M.S. '79, Aggie Service Award.

The campus's My Personal Compass initiative, launched by Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef last year to encourage reflection and active listening, won a silver medal for best practices in community relations from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's District VII, which encompasses the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. More information about the initiative, intended to encourage people of different beliefs to listen to one another, can be found at http://mypersonalcompass.ucdavis.edu.

A team led by Francois Gygi, professor of applied science, was awarded the 2006 Gordon Bell Prize for Peak Performance for their work using the BlueGene/L supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for simulations of molybdenum. Gygi wrote the Qbox code for running applications on BlueGene/L while a researcher at the Livermore lab. The Gordon Bell prizes recognize groundbreaking performance in computer applications. A single prize is awarded annually in up to four categories. This year's prizes were presented during SC'06, "the international conference for high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis," held in Tampa, Fla., in November.

Anna Maria Busse Berger, chair of the Department of Music, is the recipient of the Deems Taylor Award for her book, "Medieval Music and the Art of Memory" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005). The award, given by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, recognizes outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music. Busse Berger visited New York City on Dec. 7 to receive the prize. She is also a recent recipient of the Society for Music Theory's Wallace Berry Award for 2006.

Buildings and Grounds recently won the 2006 California Parks and Recreation Society Award of Excellence in the category of Operations and Maintenance for its olive oil program. The award will be given on March 10 at the Sacramento Hyatt. As a result of this award, Buildings and Grounds will be considered, among other Award of Excellence winners, for the group's Creating Community Award of Distinction.

Randy Dahlgren, a professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, has been named a 2006 fellow by the Soil Science Society of America. It is the highest honor the society bestows on its members. Fellows are selected for achievements in education, research, service and leadership. Dahlgren is a professor of soil science and biogeochemistry. He also serves as director of the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science and director of the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) Research and Technical Support Program.

The UC Cooperative Extension Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Research for 2006 has been presented to Mike Davis, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology. The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments by extension specialists for academic excellence, innovative methodology, and impact and incorporation of research into extension programs. Davis specializes in fungal diseases of fields and vegetable crops, with a focus on the etiology, epidemiology and management of agricultural diseases in California. With the award, he receives $5,000 and a plaque.

The UC Cooperative Extension Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Teamwork was recently presented to the UC's 29-member Farm Water Quality Team. UC Davis members of the team include Richard Evans, Stephen Grattan, Thomas Harter, Timothy Hartz, Louise Jackson, Stuart Pettygrove, Terry Prichard, Larry Schwankl, Kenneth Tate and Lisa Thompson.

Thanks to one of Germany's highest honors for scholars in all fields, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Fellowship, Gerhard Richter, associate professor of German at UC Davis, will spend part of 2007 at the University of Bonn conducting research for his book "Afterness: Effects of Following in Modern Thought and Aesthetics." A similar fellowship went to Elisabeth Krimmer, a fellow associate professor of German, who will spend next academic year in Berlin, working on a book titled "Friction: On the Representation of War." Krimmer also won the annual essay prize awarded by the Goethe Society of North American for her work on castrato singers in 18th-century German literature and culture.

Susan Taber Avila, associate professor of design, won a silver medal award at the From Lausanne to Beijing, the International Fiber Art Biennial Exhibition in Suzhou, China, held Oct. 27-Nov. 17. The award was given Oct. 29 for her piece Recuerdos de Guatemala.

Jeffrey Thomas, UC Davis professor of music and the Barbara K. Jackson Chair in Choral Conducting, received a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency, which will occur in April while he is on sabbatical leave. After researching in London and Dublin -- sites where the "Messiah" premiered -- Thomas will spend a month in Bellagio, Italy, at the Rockefeller Foundation's study and conference center, writing his book, currently titled, "Handel's Messiah: A Grand Musical Entertainment."

Timothy Morton, professor of English, gave the annual De Luca Lecture in the Humanities at the University of Toronto in November and was distinguished visiting fellow at the University of London in the fall.

Kevin Johnson, the Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and a professor of Chicana/o studies, was named professor of the year by the Hispanic National Bar Association in fall 2006 and honored in San Francisco. Johnson, who also serves as associate dean for the School of Law, also was re-elected president of the board of directors of Legal Services of Northern California and elected to the board of directors of the Mexican-American Legal Defense & Education Fund.

Michelle Yeh, professor of East Asian languages and cultures, was awarded a grant to visit scholars at the Harvard-Yenching Institute fall quarter 2006, where she conducted research on Chinese lyricism.

Choice Magazine's January 2007 annual edition, which lists outstanding academic titles each year, highlights a new book by Milmon Harrison, associate professor of African American and African studies at UC Davis. His book, "Righteous Riches," covers the "prosperity Christianity" movement.

The 2006-07 "Look Here" arts catalog featuring the UC Davis academic arts programs received a silver award from the University and College Designers Association in its annual competition. Tim McNeil, assistant professor of design and director of the Design Museum, worked with Peter Lichtenfels, chair of theatre and dance; Pablo Ortiz, then chair of music; Heather Mullen McClure, music department public events manager; and Erie Vitiello, publicity director for the Department of Theatre and Dance. The book was designed by San Francisco-based designer Kristina Lewis under McNeil's art direction.