Students

The campus's Loren D. Carlson Physiology Prize for 1999 was awarded to Sean Wilson, doctoral candidate in physiology. The award, established in 1972 in honor of Carlson, professor emeritus of physiology, is given for scholarly achievement and promise for teaching and research. Wilson's work showed that some previously uncharacterized signals passed between fat cells and neighboring cells affect the number of mature fat-storing cells formed from precursor cells. This novel pathway is a potential target for drugs that could manipulate the proliferation of fat cells and their ability to accumulate fat stores.

Adrienne Williams of San Jose, Calif., received the University Medal, UC Davis' highest academic honor, at the Division of Biological Sciences commencement on June 19. Williams graduated with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. As a student, Williams kept goal for the women's soccer team, volunteered as a teaching assistant at North Davis Elementary School, and became certified as an emergency medical technician while earning a 4.0 grade-point average. She will be attending Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, N.H.

At the division's commencement ceremony, Larisa Sandler, who graduated with a degree in genetics, was presented with the Mary Regan Meyer Prize, given to a student who demonstrates exceptional motivation. Maintaining a 3.85 grade-point average, Sandler, who is from San Francisco, Calif., served as a volunteer at two hospitals, a nursing home, a medical clinic, and a facility for troubled boys. Sandler plans to work for a biotechnology company and then attend medical school in 2000.

Biochemistry majors Davinder Grover and Jeff Murray, both juniors, were among the 304 winners of Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, worth up to $7,500 each. The recipients were selected on academic merit from 1,181 applicants studying mathematics, science, or engineering at universities and colleges across the country.