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Dateline staff

A research group of the Rural Sociological Society has honored Jonathan London for his bridging of scholarly rigor with community and policy relevance.

London is an assistant professor in the Department of Human and Community Development, and director of the Center for Regional Change.

The society’s Natural Resources Research Group chose London to receive the group’s 2011 award of merit, recognizing exceptional contributions to the sociology of natural resources.

He works in several areas: forestry, community and environmental and social justice. “And, notably, he is both an academic and a practitioner-activist,” said a member of the committee that chose London as this year’s award recipient. “His research addresses current issues about the environment and the environmental movement.”

London led the two-year “Healthy Youth, Healthy Regions” study, released in July, examining the well being of young people in the greater Sacramento area. The study found its target age group, 12 to 24, to be undereducated and underemployed, compared with statewide averages, and with less access to social services.

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Professor Mark Mannis, chair of the �������ϲ����Ͽ� Davis Health System’s Eye Center, has been named president of the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology. His term runs from 2011 to 2013.

The association focuses on fostering continuing education, preventing blindness, and promoting scientific and cultural exchange among ophthalmologists of the Western Hemisphere and beyond.

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The Agricultural and Applied Economics Association has voted in Professor Richard Sexton as president-elect. His term on the executive board runs from 2011 to 2014.

Sexton’s research interests include agricultural markets and trade, the economics of cooperatives, and industrial organization.

He wasn’t the only member of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics making news at the association’s annual meeting.

The association accorded its highest honor to Quirino Paris, naming him a ferllow, one of only six people to receive the honor in 2011.

Professor Julian Alston shared a Quality of Research Discovery Award for “Persistence Pays: U.S. Agricultural Productivity Growth and the Benefits from Public R&D Spending,” published in 2010. And he shared an honorable mention in Quality of Communication, for “The Shifting Patterns of Agricultural Production and Productivity Worldwide,” published in May 2010.

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PopTech, a self-described “innovation accelerator,” has named Clifford Saron of the Center for Mind and Brain as a 2011 PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellow.

The nonprofit PopTech brings together leaders from a wide variety of disciplines to foster collaborations and explore the social impact of technology.

Saron, an associate research scientist, studies the effects of meditation on the mind and body, and he leads the Shamatha Project, a major scientific study of intensive meditation training. He also carries out research on autism spectrum disorders.

The other nine PopTech Science and Public Leadership Fellows for 2011 work in a range of fields from robotics to environmental science. PopTech describes all the fellows as “high-potential, early- and mid-career scientists.”

PopTech organizes training, networking and mentoring for the fellows, as well as opportunities for scientific and public leadership and engagement, beginning with a retreat in Washington, D.C., this fall. The fellows are due to make presentations at PopTech’s annual conference, scheduled this year from Oct. 19 to 22 in Camden, Me.

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Nirmal S. Mann, a professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, recently achieved the distinction of being named a Master of the American College of Gastroenterology.

The college describes master-level membership as "a rare honor" conferred upon physicians "who have demonstrated distinguished service to the college and to the field of clinical GI patient care and education."

With the honor, Mann became only the 12th gastroenterologist in the nation to have masterships in both the American College of Gastroenterology and the American College of Physicians. He became a master in the latter in 2007.

In addition to full teaching and clinical responsibilities, Mann is active in scholarly activities, including encouraging and helping GI fellows conduct research projects. He has published 336 papers, abstracts and book chapters, and authored two books on gastroenterology topics.

He has made 214 scientific presentations at national and international scientific meetings, including as a visiting professor.

Mann has conducted animal, bench, translational and clinical research relating to pancreatitis, colitis and gastric ulcer, and more recently, irritable bowel syndrome. He was the first to perform a colonoscopy on a rat and the first to establish an invitro model of gastric ulcer suitable for organ culture studies.

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Elena O. Siegel, an assistant professor and founding faculty member at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, has been named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar.

She is one of 12 in the program's 2011 cohort, chosen in a competition; each nurse faculty scholar receives a three-year, $350,000 grant.

With her grant, Siegel plans to examine the organizational and leadership factors that affect how quality improvement measures are adopted, implemented and sustained in nursing homes.

The grants are awarded annually to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing.

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