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A wide variety of employees have been recognized lately, for efforts in marketing, advising, science and technology, and more. Find a summary of recent awards in this Laurels column.

Dateline �ٺ���Ƶ welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.

International Collegiate Licensing Association Synergy Award

�ٺ���Ƶ’ trademarks and licensing team within the Office of Strategic Communications last month was awarded the International Collegiate Licensing Association’s Synergy Award, in the subcategory of Innovation/Vision. The award was given in recognition of the Year of the Eggheads campaign, which was launched last spring. 

The association called 2024 the “moment in the sun” for arts at �ٺ���Ƶ, adding that the Eggheads campaign was “one of the biggest and most ambitious branding projects ever undertaken at �ٺ���Ƶ.”

Youlonda Copeland-Morgan Transformative Leadership Award

Kayton Carter, executive director for �ٺ���Ƶ Academic Advising Enrichment, has been chosen to receive the Youlonda Copeland-Morgan Transformative Leadership Award, given by the University of California Black Administrators’ Council in recognition of his consistent excellence, transformative leadership and dedication to uplifting African American students, staff or faculty. Carter will be accepting the award, named in honor of former UCLA Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, at the Council’s annual conference on Feb. 24. 

As a higher education professional with more than 25 years of experience in academic advising and student retention, Carter supports equitable access, opportunities for undergraduate students and professional development for the advising community. He has founded initiatives at �ٺ���Ƶ such as the African American Strategic Retention Initiative and the Center for African Diaspora Student Success, �ٺ���Ƶ’s first Black student retention center. Carter also serves on the advisory board for Beyond the Barriers, which supports system-impacted students. 

—Julie Huang

National Academic Advising Association awards

�ٺ���Ƶ academic advisors brought home four awards from the , or NACADA, an organization that promotes and supports quality academic advising in institutions of higher education to enhance the educational development of students.

The winning staff for Excellence in Advising from Region 9 include:

• Marissa Baskett, in the category Faculty Advisor Award
• Ariel Collatz, in the category Advising Administrator Award
• Grace Gomez, in the category New Advisor Award
• Katherine Ampaw-Matthei, in the category Primary Role Advisor Certificate of Merit

—Ginger Welsh

SPIE Fellows

SPIE, or the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, an international society that brings academics and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology, has elected Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering  and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering  as fellows.

To become a SPIE fellow recognizes their outstanding scientific and technical achievements in optics, photonics and imaging. It also celebrates their substantial service to these research communities and to the international society itself.

Munday studies novel photonic, plasmonic and quantum materials, seeking breakthroughs in energy generation and extraction technologies. Leite advances knowledge around halide perovskites, paving the way to stable solar cells, and develops new optical materials to discover novel optical properties.

Vega Medal

Marisol de la Cadena, a professor of anthropology and science and technology studies, has been awarded the 2024 Vega Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography. The award recognizes de la Cadena’s influential contributions to the study of Indigenous peoples and the environment. 

“It was a huge surprise — I am honored, thrilled and extremely happy,” said de la Cadena. “Recognition of my work is not easy because the entities and relations I write about are beyond the limits of modern thought, therefore within it, they cannot be recognized.”

—Greg Watry