Aug. 15, 2008
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| Wei Xu, a researcher in the Walter Leal lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology, gets soaked at the sixth annual Bruce’s Big Balloon Battle at Briggs. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS—They work hard, and they play hard.
Even in 107-degree heat.
The sixth annual Bruce’s Big Balloon Battle at Briggs, named for host Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, drew faculty, researchers, graduate students, staff, family and friends on Friday, Aug. 15 on the north lawn of Briggs Hall.
The water warriors tossed 2,500 water balloons at one another and when the ammunition subsided, they emptied buckets on unsuspecting targets, including entomology professor Walter Leal and his graduate student Wei Xu.
Research scientist Christophe Morisseau coordinated the event, scoring his share of direct hits. Almost untouched by splashing balloons, Hammock lab researcher Manal Attia stood beneath a tree to record the battle on her digital camera.
Hammock, the recipient of the 2008 UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate and Professional Teaching, may be better known for his teaching and research, but he also excels in water balloon battles, his graduate students and researchers agreed.
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| Bruce Hammock ducks |
This year he didn’t let his leg brace (a remnant of a bicycle accident last February) get in his way.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Hammock holds a joint appointment in Cancer Research with the UC Davis Medical Center. He directs the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Program on the UC Davis campus, as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Program in Biotechnology, and the NIEHS Combined Analytical Laboratory.
In the last five years Hammock has hosted more than 40 postdoctoral fellows or senior scientists. He has helped train future entomologists, biochemists, engineers, chemists and biologists.
And do they look forward to the annual Bruce’s Big Balloon Battle at Briggs? They do.
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| Research scientist Christophe Morisseau scores a hit on graduate student Karen Wagner. Both work in the Bruce Hammock lab.
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Jun Yang, a postdoctoral fellow in the Bruce Hammock Lab and an analytical chemist, gets drenched by entomologist Junaid ur Rehman, who is visiting the Bruce Hammock lab from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
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Professor Walter Leal (left) gets soaked by professor Bruce Hammock. |
Dad Christophe Morisseau empties a bucket of water enjoyed by his daughter Evelyne Morisseau, 4. |
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
