2017 Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni
2017 Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni Claudio Campagna, Dan Heller, Betsy Herbert, Adam Siepel, and Emily Sloan-Pace
The Division of Graduate Studies and the five academic divisions—Arts, Engineering, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, and Social Sciences—honored the recipients of the 2017 Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni Award on Saturday, April 29, of Alumni Weekend 2017 at the UCSC Café Ivéta. Read UCSC News about the honorees here.
Claudio Campagna
Ph.D. Biology 1987
Physical and Biological Sciences Division
Conservation Biologist
Wildlife Conservation Society
Adjunct Professor and Research Associate
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
UC Santa Cruz
Introducer: Burney Le Boeuf, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Prior to attending UCSC for his Ph.D. in biology, Claudio Campagna received his M.D. from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and practiced medicine. His role with Argentina’s Wildlife Conservation Society involves field conservation and animal behavior work, for which he received a Pew Fellowship. Campagna founded the Forum of NGOs for the conservation of the Patagonian Sea and collaborates with the IUCN Species Survival Commission. To promote conservation, he has published extensively in scientific journals and written books for adults and children, including Diario del hombre que piensa el agua (2011). He has also begun a project with Daniel Guevara, a philosophy professor, on the language of conservation and inscribed in the Center for Public Philosophy at UCSC.
Dan Heller
M.F.A. Digital Arts and New Media 2013
B.S. Computer Science 1985
Arts Division
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board
Two Pore Guys
Introducer: Warren Sack, Professor of Film and Digital Media
Dan Heller began his entrepreneurial endeavors in tech in the 1980s with the first commercial internet email system. In 2010, he founded UCSC’s Center for Entrepreneurship, an academic degree program for students to work with professors on publicly funded research and create a business from it. The Center for Entrepreneurship, or C4E, (now the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development, or CIED) focused on intellectual property being developed in biotechnology, computer software, social media, and other technology in the Baskin School of Engineering, the academic division where C4E was located until 2015. (CIED is now in the Division of Graduate Studies.)
Betsy Herbert
Ph.D. Environmental Studies 2004
Social Sciences Division
Former science writer, Earth Matters column
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Introducer: Daniel Press, Olga T. Griswold Professor of Environmental Studies
At the time of receiving this award, Betsy Herbert wrote for the Earth Matters column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, chaired the Science Advisory Panel of the Sempervirens Fund, the oldest land trust in California, and served on the boards of the Santa Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council and the Center for Farmworker Families. Also formerly, she served as environmental programs director for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District. In that position, she oversaw watershed management, greenhouse gas emissions tracking, and environmental grants. In 2005, she received the Switzer Leadership Award for acting as community liaison of Felton to California American Water and helping the citizens purchase its water system from the company in 2008. As of 2018, Herbert resides in Corvallis, Oregon.
Adam Siepel
Ph.D. Computer Science 2005
Baskin School of Engineering
Associate Director
Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics (3CPG)
Faculty Advisor for Information Technology
Life Sciences Core Laboratories Center
Cornell University
Professor
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Introducer: David Haussler, Scientific Director, UCSC Genomics Institute
In addition to his numerous titles and positions at Cornell University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Adam Siepel chairs the Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at CSHL. With his background in computer science, Siepel has transitioned into bioinformatics to work in molecular evolution, comparative genomics, human population genetics, and transcriptional regulation. From 2006 to 2014, he served as associate professor of biological statistics and computational biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. His work has also earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, Packard Fellowship, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and Sloan Research Fellowship.
Emily Sloan-Pace
Ph.D. Literature 2012
Humanities Division
Professor-in-Residence
Zoho Corporation
Introducer: Deanna Shemek, Professor and Chair of the Literature Department, UCSC
Post-graduation, Emily Sloan-Pace worked for her graduate school alma mater, UCSC, as an instructor in the Literature Department and for Cowell and Stevenson Colleges. She remains an instructor of literature and English writing and communication but at Zoho Corporation, a cloud computing company based in Chennai, India. Her position involves frequent trips to India to teach Zoho employees customer support and marketing communication and Shakespeare!
Scenes from the 1st Annual Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni Award Luncheon
April 29, 2017
UCSC Café Ivéta
Tyrus Miller (left), vice provost and dean of the Division of Graduate Studies, and Chancellor George Blumenthal (right) welcome the honorees, their introducers, and current graduate student leaders to the 1st annual Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni Award Luncheon.
Daniel Press (left), Olga T. Griswold Professor of Environmental Studies, introduces the Social Sciences Division honoree, Betsy Herbert (right).
Deanna Shemek (above left), professor and chair of the Literature Department, introduces the Humanities Division honoree, Emily Sloan-Pace (above right).
Warren Sack (left), professor of film and digital media, introduces the Arts Division honoree, Dan Heller (right).
Burney Le Boeuf (left), Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, introduces the Physical and Biological Sciences Division honoree, Claudio Campagna (right).
David Haussler (left), scientific director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, introduces the Baskin School of Engineering honoree, Adam Siepel (right).
Each honoree received an Annieglass platter engraved with his or her name, the title of the award, the awarding academic division and the Division of Graduate Studies, and the date.
