Associate Professor Chris Barker Named as Chancellor's Fellow
From UC Davis Dateline
UC Davis has named its new class of Chancellor’s Fellows, including the school's Associate Professor Chris Barker, marking the 20th anniversary of the program that provides philanthropic support to exceptional early career faculty members.
The fellowships come with cash awards — $25,000 this year — for research or other scholarly work.
“It’s unrestricted, so it allows allows you to do research that you’ve been thinking about doing that you couldn’t get funding for,” said Aldrin Gomes, associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, a 2017 Chancellor’s Fellow — and, who, like all Chancellor’s Fellows, keeps the title for five years.
“It allows you to be yourself and really incorporate undergrads and graduate students in a project, which allows them also to shine.”
Gomes is among Chancellor's Fellows from previous years who appear in a video celebrating the program’s 20th anniversary.
Here are our 2019-20 fellows, all of them associate professors, listed with their department or school in parentheses: Christopher Barker (veterinary medicine), Eleonora Grandi (medicine), Jane Gu (electrical and computer engineering), Erin Hamilton (sociology), Maceo Montoya (Chicana and Chicano studies), Santiago Ramirez (evolution and ecology), Shalini Satkunanandan (political science), Christopher Simmons (food science and technology), Anne Todgham (animal science), Aijun Wang (medicine), Megan Welsh (education) and Nicolas Zwyns (anthropology).
“When you look at our new fellows’ accomplishments to date, you can’t help but be impressed,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “Their department chairs see it, their deans see it, their peers see it — and all of us know more great work lies ahead.”
Shaun Keister, vice chancellor of Development and Alumni Relations, joined the chancellor in also recognizing the donors who have funded two decades of cash awards to 154 Chancellor’s Fellows, through the UC Davis Annual Fund, Davis Chancellor’s Club and UC Davis Parents Fund. See all giving opportunities.
“We are thankful for support like this that allows us to be the top research university we are,” Keister said.
Christopher Barker
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine
A leader in the area of vectorborne disease modeling, Barker is on the forefront of efforts to understand the biology of mosquitoes that are the primary vectors for Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses. He also continues to advance our understanding of the biology of west Nile virus transmission and control measures. He was instrumental in developing the California Vectorborne Disease Surveillance Gateway, which is being modeled and implemented in other states and internationally.
“Dr. Barker has clearly established himself, both nationally and internationally, as a leader and scholar in arboviral epidemiology and disease transmission surveillance.” — John Pascoe, executive associate dean, School of Veterinary Medicine