Alumni and Friends

Victoria Watson-Zink, Ph.D. ’22, a postdoctoral evolutionary marine biologist, received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Hanna H. Gray Fellowship last month. This year’s fellowship supports the transition of 25 early-career scientists to leading labs and becoming tenured faculty.

In many ways, Jessi Jarrin’s story at UC Davis is just beginning to be written. A first-year MFA in poetry student, Jarrin was awarded a prestigious Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, providing her with full tuition and fees plus a stipend for two years to support her graduate education.

After Javier Garcia, Ph.D. ’21 obtained his doctorate, walking into a room was different.

Having grown up in a farm-working community, Garcia said he was accustomed to being with people who had little more than a second or third-grade education, including his own parents.

“I would walk into spaces, knowing I’m the only person in this entire community who has a Ph.D. and being in that space made me think, ‘if I can do it, other people can also succeed on this education path.’” He said. “I felt hope.” 

UC Davis Graduate Studies alumna Laura Lindenfeld, Ph.D. ’03 has dedicated her career to helping the public through science communication.

Lindenfeld is Dean of the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University, and Executive Director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science—a center that is dedicated to helping scientists improve their communication skills using techniques from improvisational theater. She also was the commencement speaker for the Graduate Studies graduation ceremony on June 9, 2022.

Jonathan Minnick, Ph.D. ’22 was never one to step out in front of the crowd. 

“As an undergraduate student, I grappled with self-confidence,” Minnick said.

This all changed when he came to UC Davis for graduate school in 2016 and saw a way he could help others. 

Alumna and communication researcher Laura Lindenfeld Ph.D. ’03 will return to UC Davis as the keynote speaker for the 2022 Graduate Studies Commencement on Thursday, June 9, at the University Credit Union Center.

Lindenfeld is the Dean of the School of Communication and Journalism and a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University, where she oversees a team of dedicated faculty and staff, including Pulitzer Prize winners, to educate and train the next generation of multimedia journalists and communication professionals.

In a nod to the crucial role of science and testing during the pandemic, Nam Tran, a professor of clinical pathology, has been named parade marshal for UC Davis’ 108th Picnic Day, being held in person on the Davis campus this Saturday, April 23.

On April 8, a crowd of dozens of UC Davis supporters—alumni, faculty, staff and graduate students—all seated under a tent outside Walker Hall excitedly yelled out in unison, “Five, four, three, two, one!” 

With that, the sound of melodic clanking filled the air as members of the UC Davis and Graduate Studies community rang ceremonial bells to commemorate the grand opening of the Graduate Center at Walker Hall. 

Growing up as the oldest of five children in a single-parent home, Britt Loofbourrow, Ph.D. ’22 remembers a difficult decision her family had to make every month. 

“There were questions of, OK, what’s going to be the most important thing? Hot water, electricity, or food?” she recalls.

Her personal experience with food insecurity has not only inspired her doctoral research and degree in nutritional biology, but also her volunteerism with the Graduate Student Association Pantry and her future career.