Awards and Recognition
Professor Steve Luck Receives UC Davis Prize
by Camelia E Hostinar | February 05, 2025
- Steven Luck has won the 2024-2025 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. The award honors faculty for exceptional teaching and scholarship. The donor-funded $75,000 prize, established in 1986 and supported by the UC Davis Foundation
Mangun Receives 2024 Award for Education in Neuroscience & Named Fulbright Scholar
by Camelia E Hostinar | September 17, 2024
Ron Mangun, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neurology and co-director of the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis, has just been awarded the 2024 Award for Education in Neuroscience by the Society for Neuroscience. This prize recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to undergraduate- and graduate-level neuroscience education and training.
Professor Ghetti Elected Fellow of Society for Experimental Psychology
- September 29, 2023
Simona Ghetti was elected as a fellow of the Society for Experimental Psychology: https://www.sepsych.org/fellows/.
News in Research
Researchers Develop an LSD Analogue with Potential for Treating Schizophrenia
by Greg Watry | April 14, 2025
University of California, Davis, researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic’s therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic potential.
The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights the new drug’s potential as a treatment option for conditions like schizophrenia, where psychedelics are not prescribed for safety reasons. The compound also may be useful for treating other neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases characterized by synaptic loss and brain atrophy.
New Research Suggests Cerebellum May Play Important Role in Autism
- by Douglas Fox
- April 02, 2024
Researchers in the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences have received a grant to study the role of the cerebellum in autism.
“We need a more holistic understanding of the brain circuits that drive autism,” said Alex Nord, an associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior, and a researcher at the Center for Neuroscience and the UC Davis MIND Institute. “The cerebellum is a key component that has been largely overlooked until recently.”
Nord partnered with Diasynou Fioravante, also an associate professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior and Center for Neuroscience researcher. They received an R21 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Announced in November, it will provide $435,000 of funding over the next two years.