Quick Summary
- James A. Cheney: College of Engineering
- Hector Baldis: College of Engineering
- James M. Lyons: Department of Vegetable Crops and ANR
Professor Emeritus James A. Cheney, who in 1962 became the first faculty member in the newly established College of Engineering, died Nov. 22 at his home in Davis. He was 92.
His appointment was in the Department of Civil Engineering, but, with his diverse technical background, he taught a wide range of disciplines, including civil, aerospace and mechanical engineering.
At the request of the United Nations and the Italian government, he joined a study of the problematic Leaning Tower of Pisa, and, after his initial analysis, attributed the tower鈥檚 tilt to 鈥渂asic physics,鈥 saying the tower was 鈥渢oo thin in proportion to its height 鈥 it is like balancing a pencil on a table.鈥 Italy credited Cheney and some 50 other prominent scientists with solving the mystery and enabling the tower鈥檚 conservation.
He was the founding director of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 Center for Geotechnical Modeling and served as the principal investigator for the development of the National Geotechnical Centrifuge 鈥 built at NASA鈥檚 Ames Research Center and later moved, under Cheney鈥檚 direction, to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis.
A celebration of life, open to friends as well as family, is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Odd Fellows Hall, 415 Second St., Davis.
Hector Baldis
The College of Engineering鈥檚 weekly newsletter recently reported the death of Professor Emeritus Hector Baldis, describing him as a leader in plasma physics and laser science during his distinguished career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis. He joined the Department of Applied Sciences in 1996, moved to the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2011 and retired in 2014.
James M. Lyons
James M. Lyons, professor emeritus of vegetable crops and the founding director of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, died Nov. 9 at the age of 90.
During graduate school at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis, he was part of a team that did the earliest research on the role of ethylene in fruit ripening. For his Ph.D., he carried out pioneering work describing the physiology of chilling injury in warm season crops, an important concern for food handlers and grocers.
In 1962 he joined the vegetable crops faculty at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Riverside, where he continued his work on chilling injury and plant physiology, while also being responsible for weed management research.
He was recruited back to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis in 1970 as chair of the Department of Vegetable Crops (which merged with other units into the Department of Plant Sciences in 1974).
He served as the director or interim director of the Statewide IPM Program (part of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Agriculture and Natural Resources) off and on for nine years, starting in 1979. He also served as director of ANR鈥檚 Center for Pest Management Research, assistant director of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Sustainable Agriculture Program and assistant director of the university鈥檚 Agricultural Experiment Station. He retired in 1991.
by Mary Lou Flint, former 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 IPM associate director for urban and community IPM, and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Cooperative Extension specialist emeritus, with supplementary material by Ann Filmer, director of communications, Department of Plant Sciences.