Awards and Distinctions

In 2013, the Obama administration announced the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, unveiling plans to make a bold investment to understand the human mind with the intent to uncover ways to prevent, treat and cure brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, autism, and epilepsy.

UC Davis will establish a prestigious, leading-edge center to advance innovative research into the origins of schizophrenia: A Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic or Translational Mental-Health Research, one of only 15 such centers in the United States.

Two UC Davis research teams developing transformational technologies to understand the dynamics of the neural circuitry underlying behavior and cognition have received awards from the federal Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, a presidential grand challenge enterprise.

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Center for Neuroscience scientists, Karen Zito and W. Martin Usrey, receive the National Science Foundation's Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) awards, enabling new technologies to better understand how complex behaviors emerge from the activity of brain circuits. Each award totals approximately $300,000 over two years for a combined total of $600,000.

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Congratulations to Professor Charan Ranganath of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology on his selection as a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow by the U.S. Department of Defense. The five-year, $2.6 million fellowship will support new work on learning and memory in Ranganath’s Dynamic Memory Laboratory at UC Davis.

Dr. Mark Goldman has been named a 2014 Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor, an award that comes with a $1 million grant for teaching and research to create activities that integrate his research with student learning in ways that enhance undergraduate students' understanding of science.