Academic Senate award recipients include Professor Louie Yang (front, far left) and UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal (back row, far right)

A Trio of Award Recipients

Louie and Tabatha Yang, and Walter Leal Accept Awards

by Kathy Keatley Garvey
May 30, 2024

Picture perfect!

Ceremonies recently took place to celebrate faculty who received the highly competitive UC Davis Academic Senate awards, and staff who received the inaugural Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards. Among the recipients:

Community ecologist Louie Yang, professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won the UC Davis Academic Senate’s 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award, Undergraduate Student Level
UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, won the Faculty Distinguished Research Award, after earlier receiving the 2020 Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and the 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award.
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, received the Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award for Exceptional University Management and Exceptional University Impact with 11 other outstanding staff at a ceremony at the home of Chancellor Gary May.

Louie Yang

Professor Yang is one of the three co-founders and co-directors (along with Professor Joanna Chiu, chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim) of the campuswide, one-of-a-kind Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology (RSPIB), launched in 2011 to help students learn cutting-edge research through close mentoring relationships with faculty

“Our celebrated program, now totaling 120 alumni, crosses numerous biological fields, including population biology; behavior and ecology; biodiversity and evolutionary ecology; agroecology; genetics and molecular biology; biochemistry and physiology; entomology; and cell biology,” wrote Chiu, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “We provide academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a multi-year research experience that cultivates skills that will prepare them for a career in biological research. Many RSPIB alumni are now enrolled or graduated from premiere programs including Cornell, UC San Francisco, and Stanford.”

Yang, who holds a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolution (1999) from Cornell University, and a doctorate in population biology (2006) from UC Davis, joined the UC Davis faculty in 2009. As an assistant professor, he received a 2013-2018 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Award and was selected a Hellman Fellow in 2012. He won a Chancellor’s Teaching Fellow Award and the Atwood Colloquium Rising Star Award in Ecology, University of Toronto, both in 2015. He chairs the Entomology Graduate Program and recently served as interim vice chair while community ecologist and associate professor Rachel Vannette was on sabbatical.

Since 2009, Yang has taught more than 600 undergraduates and more than 90 graduate students in his formal classes. His courses include Insect Ecology, Community Ecology, Experimental Ecology and Evolution in the Field, He has taught two National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) grant writing workshops, and the Population Biology Graduate Group core course for three years.

He has welcomed and mentored graduate students from around the country, including the UC Davis-Howard University Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the Ecology and Evolution Graduate Admissions Pathways program. “Besides overseeing the entire Entomology Graduate Program as chair, Louie also personally serves as graduate advisor for a third of our graduate students (assigned alphabetically),” noted Chiu, who received the Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award (Graduate Students/Professional) in 2022. “Louie is that calm, caring, and compassionate figure who listens, engages, and helps them resolve issues. He has helped many graduate students navigate challenges often encountered in graduate school."Louie, known as “a phenomenal teacher, mentor and an incredibly strong advocate for students” won the UC Davis Academic Senate’s 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award, Undergraduate Student Level.

Tabatha Yang

Sandy Batchelor, Human Resources WorkLife manager and awards committee chair, said that Tabatha Yang embodies "the spirit of engagement, innovation, and inclusivity that defines the university. With 15 years of dedicated service at the Bohart Museum, Yang spearheads a variety of educational initiatives aimed at demystifying and highlighting insects, spiders, science, and higher education."

"Through open houses, classroom visits, fairs, festivals, and other outreach programs, she helps the museum connect with more than 10,000 people each year. Under her leadership, museum walk-ins, tours and tabling events provide opportunities for students, staff and faculty to engage in science communication, highlight research and connect with others."

Yang, a Cornell University alumna, annually chairs the committee that hosts UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a “Super Science Day” that showcases 10 to 12 museums or collections and highlights UC Davis' research, collections and biodiversity, drawing thousands to campus.

She is also the founder and director of Bio Boot Camps, an immersive experience that ignites passion and curiosity in teenagers from around the globe. These camps, held annually since 2011, except during COVID, offer a gateway to the wonders of ecology, scientific exploration, and campus life. Campers tour UC Davis and its museums and collections and embark on scientific explorations of the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve, Quail Ridge Field Station, Bodega Marine Laboratory and Bodega Marine Reserve and UC Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station. With needs-based scholarships, Tabatha ensures inclusivity, making dreams a reality for aspiring young scientists.

Walter Leal

“Dr. Leal is an internationally recognized entomologist and a world leader in his field for his groundbreaking and transformative research in insect olfaction and chemical ecology,” said nominator UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, who won the Academic Senate's Faculty Research Award in 2001 and its Distinguished Teaching (Graduate Students/Professional) Award in 2008.

In his letter of nomination, Hammock wrote that he's known Leal for more than two decades. “He is truly a renaissance man. He chaired our entomology department from 2006 to 2008, and under his tenure, our department was ranked No. 1 in the country. I've long admired (1) his rigorous fundamental research programs supported by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, and other agencies, (2) how he tackles and solves multiple challenging problems in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, (3) his grasp of how to organize and moderate highly successful worldwide research webinars (4) his generosity in helping other succeed and (4) his finely honed sense of humor. In his basic-to-applied science research, Dr. Leal solves entomological problems spanning agriculture, human health, and welfare. For example, he translates pheromone technology to agriculturists and serves as a principal investigator for the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases (affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). He holds more than 20 patents.”

“Faculty at land-grant universities, like the University of California, have three hats labeled Teaching, Service, and Research,” Leal said. “A significant challenge is to budget time to wear them equally and avoid the temptation to emphasize one part of the job over others. It is gratifying to be recognized by my peers as excelling in all areas. The Academic Senate Faculty Distinguished Research Award is particularly humbling because more than 3000 eligible faculty excel in all research areas on this campus. Why me? Because of my students, postdoctoral scholars, visiting scholars, collaborators, and colleagues. They deserve most of the credit for this honor. I accept it on their behalf. It is a team effort, like in a honey bee colony.”

A native of Brazil, Leal received his Ph.D. in applied biochemistry from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, with subsequent postdoctoral training in entomology and chemical ecology at the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science (NISES) and Cornell University, respectively. He was the first non-Japanese person to earn tenure at Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.

Leal joined the UC Davis entomology faculty in 2000, after serving as the head of the Laboratory of Chemical Prospecting, NISES, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Japan. In 2013, he accepted a position as professor of biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

He delivered his Academic Senate Distinguished Research Award seminar at a luncheon on May 7 in the UC Davis Conference Center. See video at https://youtu.be/HkfhsYQE5bI.

See archived news stories on UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website