Alumni

UC Davis Medals will be presented this spring to two alumni couples — Jacque and Wayne Bartholomew, and Pam Rohrich and Karl Gerdes — each pair having met as students and committing not only to each other but their alma mater.

The UC Davis Medal recognizes “extraordinary contributions that embody the campus’ Vision of Excellence.” Winners inspire and support the success of students, faculty, staff and alumni, and foster a bold and innovative spirit in teaching, research and public service.

John M. Wasson (chemical engineering '84) is among six UC Davis alumni recognized for 2022 Alumni Awards. Wasson, who serves on the College of Engineering's Dean's Executive Committee and the Department of Chemical Engineering's advisory board, receives the Outstanding Alumnus Award.

The best piece of advice M.S. student Daniela Barajas Ivey received as she earned her B.S. in chemical engineering at UC Davis was, “chemical engineering can be found in all disciplines.” She took this to heart and after joining the aerospace industry, she returned to UC Davis as a master’s student to study environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) for human habitats in deep space.

UC Davis engineering alumna Kim Budil, M.S. ’88, Ph.D. ’94 was named the 13th director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the first woman director in the lab’s 69-year history.

Michelle Bryden ‘92 is always learning. From her days as a chemical engineering undergraduate at UC Davis, she has been eager to learn and try new things so she can easily move between different projects and fields in a quest to solve problems. As a research and development engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL), she plays an important role in developing technology for the Navy to process signals more effectively and help them better find targets under the sea with sonar and radar.