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Giving to UC Davis


 

DESIGN FORTHCOMING

 

Supporting Educational Dreams and Visionary Pursuits

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When you give to UC Davis, your gift makes an impact to real people. It may help a student with financial need, a professor leading a research project, a patient at one our facilities, or one of the multitude of other people who benefit from philanthropic support to the university.

On this page, you’ll meet some of the students and faculty supported by your generosity. Please read their stories and consider lending your support, either by giving online or by contacting a UC Davis representative.

 

PROFILE

Clarissa Thomas
Undergraduate
Biochemistry

Aspiration: Becoming a doctor

Linked page text:

Clarissa Thomas
Undergraduate
Biochemistry

Biochemistry major Clarissa Thomas strives to be a "ray of hope" for her younger siblings by blazing a new educational path. As the eldest of five children, she is the first person in her family to attend college. She is on her way to becoming a doctor, and hopes that her accomplishments will inspire her siblings to pursue their dreams as well. The Boyd Scholarship, which she was awarded for both the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years, is helping her on her way.

The Boyd Scholarship, named in honor of the late Eugene and Kathryn Boyd of Sacramento, is given to a high-achieving student who is the first in her or his family to attend college. "Without the help of scholarships, college would have been an unfulfilled dream for me," Thomas says. She intends to give back to society by providing medical services to patients without access, and, she hopes, by inspiring her siblings to goals as lofty as hers.

Endowed scholarships and fellowships are an excellent way to help students who fit a particular profile in which a donor has interest. For more information on setting up an endowed scholarship or fellowship, contact a member of our Individual Giving team. You can also support scholarships by giving to the Annual Fund.

 

PROFILE

 

David Silva ‘05
Alumnus
Biotechnology

Aspiration: Using biotechnology to fight disease

David Silva [by Adhanet Ghebray/Tom Hinds]
Alumnus
Biotechnology

Since he graduated with a degree in biotechnology, David Silva ‘05 has been applying the research skills he developed at UC Davis in Silicon Valley medical laboratories. His work has included studying a newly discovered virus that targets premature babies, and most recently, conducting screening that is related to auto-immune diseases.

David’s UC Davis education was marked by a broad spectrum of scientific study, including working in a plant sciences laboratory. The death of a family friend from lupus and a desire to combat disease led Silva to medical research. “These are diseases that impact people’s lives,” David says, “Whatever job I work in, I want it to have a direct affect on people.”

David’s education was funded in large part by an R. E. and Hilda M. Sparling
Scholarship, which was established by the Dixon-area ranchers of the same name. Mrs. Sparling never had the opportunity to attend college and wanted to give Dixon students the chance to pursue their educational dreams. The Sparling Scholarship provides generous funding to academically talented graduates of Dixon high schools. For David, the scholarship freed him and his family from an onerous debt burden. “It definitely helped me to come here,” he says.

Endowed scholarships and fellowships are an excellent way to help students who fit a particular profile in which a donor has interest. For more information on setting up an endowed scholarship or fellowship, contact a member of our Individual Giving team. You can also support scholarships by giving to the Annual Fund.

 

PROFILE

Fred Chong
Associate Professor
Computer Science

Aspiration: Using atomic particles to process information

Linked page text:

Fred Chong
Associate Professor
Computer Science

Fred Chong thinks small. The associate professor of computer science is finding ways to make computer chips smaller and cheaper. And he’s collaborating with other researchers to build a quantum computer, which uses atomic particles to process information in lightening-quick fashion. The results could transform e-commerce and national security.

Fred thinks big, too: He’s also studying how computer and Internet technology might benefit people living in the world’s developing countries.

Helping advance these big ideas is the $25,000 Chancellor’s Fellow award he received.

“This award enables me to explore things that interest me and get them started,” Fred says.

Chancellor’s Fellows awards, which recognize young faculty members for their accomplishments and potential, are funded entirely by contributions to the UC Davis Annual Fund.

PROFILE

 

Loukas Barton
Graduate Student
Anthropology

Aspiration: Understanding how human behavior is altered by climate change

Linked page text:

Loukas Barton
Graduate Student
Anthropology

Loukas Barton has dug himself into a hole multiple times in the course of his Ph.D. research. Thanks to a Henrietta W. Hollaendar Fellowship and other support, those holes are anthropological, not financial. Loukas has traveled to sites across the world to research what caused hunter-gatherers to became farmers, and examine the link to serious climate change.

“There are bigger questions about this research that feed into popular global problems,” Loukas says. “We always talk about how climate change is important and how we're afraid of it. In essence, I look at the nuts and bolts of how people respond to climate change.”

Loukas knows his work is important, yet without fellowship funding he would not have attended UC Davis. “I wouldn’t be able to do any of the work I do without financial support,” Loukas says. “These awards enable you to not work and concentrate on research. They put you on par with the other major research universities.”

Endowed scholarships and fellowships are an excellent way to help students who fit a particular profile in which a donor has interest. For more information on setting up an endowed scholarship or fellowship, contact a member of our Individual Giving team. You can also support scholarships by giving to the Annual Fund.

 

PROFILE

 

John Eadie
Dennis G. Raveling Waterfowl Professor
Wildlife, Fish, And Conservation Biology

Aspiration: Synthesizing waterfowl habitat and agricultural practices

Linked page text:

John Eadie
Dennis G. Raveling Waterfowl Professor
Wildlife, Fish, And Conservation Biology

John Eadie, the Dennis G. Raveling Waterfowl Professor, calls ducks “the poster children of wetlands conservation.” But that doesn’t mean that California’s large population of waterfowl and its 78,000 farmers can’t be friends.

Eadie and his students have found that even modest changes in agricultural practices and wetlands management can bring enormous benefits for the 20 percent of the nation’s geese, swans and ducks who live in, or migrate through, the state’s Central Valley.

The birds will repay this kindness by helping farmers control weeds and mosquitoes.

Eadie says the Raveling Professorship helps him pursue both basic research and its applications in farming, business and public policy.

“The loss of 90 to 95 percent of its wetlands has made California the emergency room of the biological sciences,” said Eadie. “The Raveling endowment enables me to put graduate students into the field quickly and get vital research done.”

The Friends of California Waterfowl, a volunteer support group of businesspeople, farmers, associations and foundations, established this endowed fund in honor of the late Dennis G. Raveling, an internationally recognized waterfowl researcher who taught at UC Davis for 20 years. It is one of 80 funds that endow faculty positions at UC Davis.

Endowing a professorship is an excellent way to support instruction and research in a particular area of interest. For more information on setting up an endowed scholarship or fellowship, contact a member of our Individual Giving team. You can also support Chancellor’s Fellows awards, which recognize young faculty members for their accomplishments and potential, by giving to the UC Davis Annual Fund.