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The work of 12 early-career faculty members will get a boost as this year’s class of Hellman Fellows. They will receive grants ranging from $16,000 to $49,000, for a total of $330,000 awarded. 

Their work covers a wide range of topics, from the educational experiences of Venezuelan immigrants to a wireless device that monitors for seizures. 

“We are excited to see the work these talented faculty members will continue to produce, and we are grateful for the ability to help augment their research enterprises through this ongoing program,” said Philip Kass, vice provost of Academic Affairs, which administers the Hellman Fellows Program at �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Davis.

The fellowship is a �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ-wide program, having been started by San Francisco philanthropists Chris and Warren Hellman to bolster the work of faculty members who were just a few years into their careers — often enough time to exhaust their initial funding but not long enough to garner a significant amount of external funding.

The program was launched at �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ San Diego and �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Berkeley in 1995, eventually expanding to all 10 �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ campuses, including �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Davis in 2008.

In 2020 the Hellman family provided endowments to each �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ campus — $6 million to �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Davis — to continue the awards in perpetuity, through each campus’s . The Hellmans also intended their endowments to encourage others to contribute to the societies. For more information on donating to the �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Davis society, contact Jennifer Prahl, director of foundation engagement, Office of Development and Alumni Relations, by email or at 530-752-1282.

The 2024-25 fellows

This year’s inductees to the �°������ϲ���Ļ��Ϣ Davis Society of Hellman Fellows, and their funded projects, are:

• , Department of English, College of Letters and Science — “Constructing the Tropics: Empire and Discourses of Climate”
• , Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science— “Social and Cognitive Health Dynamics as Digital Risk Biomarkers of ADRD”
• , Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences — “Can Microbial Sharing Enhance Host Survival?”
• , Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering — “Closed-Loop Wireless System for Autonomous Seizure Monitoring and Mitigation”
• , Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences — “Investigating Seed Development in Cereal Crops”
• , Department of Sociology, College of Letters and Science — “Criminalizing Chicanas: Intersectional Criminalization and Resistance in California’s Prison Alley”
• , Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences — “Understanding Kelp Photosynthesis To Develop Better Carbon Fixation Strategies”
• , Department of Design, College of Letters and Science — “Design Bots ‘N’ Beings: Democratizing Access to Open-Source AI Technologies”
• , School of Education — “The Educational Experiences of Venezuelan Immigrants in Northern California”
• , Department of Statistics, College of Letters and Science — “Armed Conflict and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Africa”
• , Department of African American and African Studies, College of Letters and Science — “Resourceful African Kingdoms”
• , Department of Native American Studies, College of Letters and Science — “Justice in Balance: The Indians of California Versus the United States of America”