Charlie Soderquist endowed a fellowship at UC Davis in honor of one of his good friends and mentor, Donald G. Crosby. The fellowship is awarded annually to two UC Davis graduate students in the field of Environmental Chemistry. The fellowship also stipulates that Crosby would get an opportunity each year to sit down with recipients to learn about what they are researching and how the fellowship has helped them do that.

On May 23, 2013, Crosby took that opportunity to meet and talk with recent recipients over lunch at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. Fellows in attendance were Theodore “Ted” Hullar (Atmospheric Science), Katheryn Kolesar (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Sarah Hafner (Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry) and Emily Parry (Civil and Environmental Engineering). Ted Hullar is the son of Theodore Hullar. His father was UC Davis Chancellor from 1987-1994. This was around the same time that Charlie Soderquist made many visionary contributions to UC Davis– one being the Crosby fellowship.

Also in attendance were Vice Provost - Graduate Education and Dean - Graduate Studies Jeffery Gibeling; Senior Director of Development, Graduate and Undergraduate Student Support Janet Berry; Professor and Chair in Environmental Toxicology Ronald Tjeerdema; and Development Analyst of Graduate Studies Rafaela Paulino. Tjeerdema has worked with Crosby in the past, and has also received an endowed chair from Soderquist funding.

During the lunch, students introduced themselves and gave an overview of their research. They also set up scientific posters that helped illustrate their research in more detail.

The luncheon concluded with a group photo outside, documenting another successful year for the fellowship. Both Crosby and the students look forward to next years’ event.

Photo l-r: Jeff Gibeling, Ted Hullar, Emily Parry, Don Crosby, Sarah Hafner, Katie Kolesar, Ron Tjeerdema. Credit: Rafaela Paulino.