The Chancellor’s Fellows Program honors outstanding faculty members early in their careers. Honorees each receive a one-time award of $25,000 to be used for research, teaching or service activities. Chancellor’s Fellows awards are supported by private contributions to the UC Davis Annual Fund, Parents Fund and Davis Chancellor's Club Fund.
Chancellor’s Fellows Award Recipients
2025-2026 Fellows
Reina Engle-Stone
Associate Professor — Nutrition, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Reina Engle-Stone studies vitamins and minerals that are essential for the health of women and young children in low- and middle-income countries. Her research has helped shape nutrition programs and food fortification policies around the world. She was part of a team that created tools to measure how well fortified bouillon cubes could help reduce malnutrition in West Africa. She has led or collaborated on projects in more than a dozen countries, producing research that directly informs international nutrition policy.
Camelia E. Hostinar
Associate Professor — Psychology, College of Letters and Science
Camelia E. Hostinar studies how stress affects health across people’s lives with a focus on the body’s response to stress, particularly in early life. Her research also examines ways that might reduce the long-term harm caused by early life stress. “She is at the forefront of creating a new understanding of the causes, manifestations and effects of stress in childhood and adolescence, and what can be done to mitigate and resolve the impacts of stress,” said Paul Hastings, a UC Davis professor of psychology.
Emily Klancher Merchant
Associate Professor — Science and Technology Studies, College of Letters and Science
Emily Klancher Merchant is a science historian focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries, she analyzes quantitative human sciences and technologies of human measurement. Her current project is a book titled Molecular Eugenics: The American Pursuit of Intelligence Genes. It will explore the 100-year history of eugenics in the social sciences and its impact on modern sociogenomics, a field that’s explored the genetic basis for educational attainment and income.
Marina Radulaski
Associate Professor — Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Marina Radulaski leads the Quantum Nanophotonics Laboratory. Bridging engineering, physics and material sciences, her research involves the interaction of light and materials at extremely small scales. Her work has applications in quantum hardware for networking and simulation, as well as in the near-term use of quantum computers. She founded the UC Davis Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST) program, which spans departments and colleges. She also mentors student clubs in optics, quantum science and women in engineering.
Katherine Ralston
Associate Professor — Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Biological Sciences
Katherine Ralston studies a parasitic amoeba called Entamoeba histolytica. Spread by contaminated food and water, Entamoeba causes severe gut disease including diarrhea, ulcers and bleeding. Sometimes it breaks out of the gut and attacks other organs, such as the liver. She discovered an entirely new way in which the parasite attacks host cells by “nibbling” small pieces from them, rather than engulfing them whole. She has since made discoveries on how Entamoeba protects itself against the host immune system by putting proteins from cells it has devoured on its own surface.
Mohammad Sadoghi
Associate Professor — Computer Science, College of Engineering
Mohammad Sadoghi’s work focuses on large-scale databases, distributed ledgers and blockchains. These systems distribute data across many computer systems, which must agree on what the data are, even if the systems do not necessarily “trust” each other. His work has implications not only for data verification but also for how computer systems and the technology industry understand and implement laws governing data security and privacy. He founded Apache ResilientDB, a distributed ledger built on a democratic, decentralized computer model.
Laura Starkston
Associate Professor — Mathematics, College of Letters and Science
Laura Starkston’s research is in symplectic topology, low-dimensional topology and algebraic geometry. A key approach in her research in these areas is to represent objects in four dimensions using diagrams in two or three dimensions. She has made major contributions in this area, which has connections to a wide range of fields, including high energy physics. Her work has been supported by a series of grants including a NSF CAREER award and Sloan Research Foundation fellowship.
Katia Vega
Associate Professor — Design, College of Letters and Science
Katia Vega is founder and director of the Interactive Organisms Lab. She is an internationally recognized leader in the field of bio-human-computer interactions, her research leads new explorations of organisms-device symbiosis. She has pioneered new domains that embed biosensors and electronics seamlessly into cosmetics, wearables and living materials. Her innovations have reshaped how we understand the relationship between organisms and devices, pushing the boundaries of design, biotechnology and computing.