CA&ES Exceptional Graduates
Faculty Speakers
Five UC Davis faculty members, including David Rizzo from CA&ES, were selected to speak at the undergraduate commencements at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento June 12-14.
As graduation approaches, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, or CA&ES, proudly honors nine outstanding students for their academic excellence, remarkable leadership and impactful contributions to their communities. Below are the recipients of this year’s CA&ES commencement awards, which are the College Medal for scholastic excellence, the Mary Regan Meyer Prize for serving humanity, the Charles Hess Community Service Award for outstanding public or community service, and the Dean’s Circle Award for outstanding academics and community service.
College Medal
Kiki Raj (she/her), earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science, is the recipient of the College Medal. This fall, she will pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine with a focus on small companion animals. Witnessing disparities in animal care while growing up in India inspired her commitment to advancing animal health and expanding access to veterinary resources in underserved communities. For the past three years, she’s been a technician at the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, and she volunteered with the student-run Knights Landing One Health Clinic to provide free veterinary and medical care to underserved communities. Her research experience includes studying fatty liver disease in bearded dragons and exercise-related muscle disease in broiler chickens. During her time at UC Davis, she gained hands-on experience in a foal NICU and interned at the Goat Barn. Among her several leadership roles, she has served as a UC Davis veterinary youth camp counselor and vice president of the Herpetology Club.
Charles Hess Community Service Award
Gwyn Azar (she/they) is earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy analysis and planning with a minor in Spanish. This fall, she’ll start a fellowship with the California Natural Resources Agency through the Capital Fellows Program, where she’ll focus on legislative affairs, ocean and coastal conservation and tribal stewardship policies. Azar served as a College Corps Climate Action Fellow working with the Solar Community Housing Association on land stewardship, food justice gardening and supporting cooperative living communities, and participated in Putah Creek Council’s OneCreek program supporting restoration work across the waterway. They also interned with the California Council on Science and Technology through UC Center Sacramento and for the past two years has been a fellow with the campus Sustainability Office through the UCOP Bonnie Reiss Leading on Climate Fellowship. They also played trombone in the UC Davis Marching Band.
Nhi Duong (she/her) is earning a degree in nutrition science in public health and will pursue a Master of Public Health at San Jose State University starting this fall. During her time at UC Davis, she worked with the Gender and Sexuality Commission of ASUCD where she facilitated educational programs and interactive events to shed light on injustices. She was also an intern with Davis Community Meals and Housing, where she helped provide personal necessities to the city’s low-income families and unhoused community. She also volunteered with The Pantry, where she distributed free groceries while fostering a supportive environment.
Mary Regan Meyer Prize
Izzy Ilardi (she/her) is earning a bachelor’s degree in global disease biology and plans to work as a dermatology medical assistant/scribe after graduation while she prepares to apply to medical school. She will also continue her volunteer work with the Willow Clinic, which provides free medical care to the unhoused population of Sacramento. She co-leads the Diabetes Support Group and offers personalized diabetes and chronic disease management for patients. She spent the past two years working in Anna Denicol’s lab within the Department of Animal Science, where she improved a lab technique used to study DNA changes in mouse ovarian follicles. She also volunteers with her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, at the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento, which offers free housing for families while their children receive medical care. A highlight of her UC Davis experience was joining the Writers in Greece study abroad program in 2024 with the UC Davis Global Learning Hub.
Heather Van Waasbergen (they/them), who is earning a bachelor’s degree in animal biology, will start working on a master’s degree in biology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, studying wildlife conservation research and community outreach and education. While at UC Davis, they interned at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in the primary care, neurology and rehab clinics through the Vet Aide Club. They also volunteered with the Mercer Clinic helping to care for the pets of individuals experiencing homelessness and studied abroad in Costa Rica for a summer caring for injured tropical wildlife. They volunteered with the California Raptor Center doing husbandry and leading educational programs, and conducted research on limpets, small rock-dwelling marine snails, at the Bodega Marine Lab. They are also founder and officer of the Ministry of Unitarian Universalists at UC Davis and a member of the Aggie Fiction Club.
Dean’s Circle Award
Evan Feldman (he/him), who is earning a bachelor’s degree in managerial economics, will begin his career as a financial audit associate for Deloitte in San Francisco, where he’ll be validating financial statements for accuracy and identifying where financial risks are present in client companies. During his time at UC Davis, Feldman worked with the managerial economics department head in the senior honors research thesis program by performing econometric analyses in North American professional sports leagues. Through founding his own nonprofit, he frequently volunteers at local schools in Davis and Sacramento by leading youth sports programs for K-12 students. He is also a 6th grade religious schoolteacher in Sacramento and served at Davis Hillel as student board president.
Luis Torres Hernandez (he/him) is earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science with a minor in wildlife, fish and conservation biology. With an interest in wildlife medicine and conservation, he has applied to the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine (UCD SVM). During his first quarter at UC Davis as a transfer student, he became programs coordinator for the Vet Aide Club, where he now leads a program that connects pre-veterinary students with veterinary students at UCD SVM. He has also conducted wildlife health research with Fernando Nájera, director of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s Carnivore Program, studying anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in mountain lions and diseases in bobcats.
Poll Zhang (she/her) is earning a bachelor’s degree in food science with a minor in statistics and will start the Ph.D. program in food chemistry at UC Davis. Her goal is to develop analytical methods for characterizing and upcycling chemical compounds from agricultural byproducts into innovative, health-focused food products. She received multiple research fellowships and spent three years conducting research on upcycling California almond waste streams and evaluating their potential applications. She has served as social media manager for the Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society, served as treasurer of the student-run UC Davis Food Tech Club and volunteered with Meals on Wheels.
Dean's Circle Award – Graduate Student
Claribel Alcantar (she/her) is joining the Graduate Group in Ecology at UC Davis this fall after earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Loyola Marymount University and a master’s degree in biology from California State University, Long Beach. Her research focused on how heat and changes in water salinity affect two competing mussel species to determine which is more resilient under stressful environmental conditions. She’s excited to work alongside Animal Science Professor Anne Todgham on her dissertation, which will study how animals respond to environmental stress and how those responses affect survival and competition in rocky intertidal ecosystems to help predict species range shifts and inform conservation strategies for vulnerable coastal ecosystems.