Faculty

Last month, Jay Lund, a Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, wrapped up a lecture on California’s drought with a slide titled “Resistance is Futile.” It included a list of his predictions about the state’s water crisis, some of which bordered on apocalyptic. As climate change fuels extreme drought, heat and flooding, Lund explained, some of California’s native species will become unsustainable in the wild. Farmers, government agencies and environmental groups will continue to fight over dwindling water supplies.

Since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, scientists, engineers and clinicians have been producing and sharing insight at a rapid rate to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic. So far, research on Covid-19 has led to an understanding of the biology of SARS-CoV-2, how the virus interacts with the immune system, the clinical manifestations, effects of long covid, vaccine development, treatment and prevention strategies, among others.

Each year, the UC Davis College of Engineering recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and community with the Outstanding Faculty Awards. Faculty members are nominated by their respective departments and are selected by the college’s faculty awards committee.

Harry Cheng is a professor in the UC Davis Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and is the founder and director of the C-STEM (Computing, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Center.