Faculty Accolades for Outstanding, Equitable Work
Meet the faculty recognized for their service on the UC Davis campus and the advancement of their fields!
Raquel E. Aldana
Five faculty members were awarded the 2025 Chancellor’s Fellowship for their work in fostering safe learning spaces to set up students from all backgrounds for success. Chancellor Gary S. May credited significant student development to the faculty's commitment to addressing “opportunity gaps for underrepresented students and/or students from underserved communities.” Chancellor Gary S. May and the Academic Senate named Raquel E. Aldana, a professor from the School of Law, for her research and community work in human and legal rights.
Raquel Aldana joined UC Davis in 2017 to serve as the inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Diversity and returned to full time law teaching in 2020. Aldana is a graduate of Arizona State University and Harvard Law School. Her research focuses on transitional justice, criminal justice reforms and sustainable development in Latin America, as well as immigrant rights. She has authored or edited five books and published over thirty law review articles or book chapters.
From 2021-2025, Aldana served as Co-Director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies to foster multi-disciplinary scholarship and practice that critically examine the law through the lens of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, citizenship, and class. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI), widely considered the nation's preeminent law reform organization. Aldana is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and previously served as the co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers. She is an exemplary mentor, expert in educational access, and champion of inclusive programs and practices beyond just academics.
Luis G. Carvajal-Carmona
The UC Davis School of Medicine presented the 2024 Dean’s Excellence Awards which acknowledge faculty and teams of exceptional merit. These annual awards honor work in research, clinical care, inclusion, mentoring and team excellence. “This year’s awardees have distinguished themselves as inspiring innovators, collaborators and mentors,” said Susan Murin, School of Medicine Dean. “We’re grateful for their leadership and commitment to excellence.”
Luis G. Carvajal-Carmona from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine leads the Office of Advancing Mentoring and the Professoriate (AMP) as the associate vice chancellor of Inclusive Excellence. He is the founding director of the Latinos United for Cancer Health Advancement (LUCHA) Initiative and of the Center for Advancing Cancer Health Equity at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. At the UC Davis Clinical and Translation Science Center, he co-directs the Community Engagement Program. Carvajal-Carmona specializes in cancer genetics, epidemiology, health disparities and global health.
He has discovered multiple cancer susceptibility genes and variants and has published over 100 manuscripts in influential journals. Much of his research also examines health care through the lens of equitable health treatment, outcomes, and support. His lab not only leads in inclusive academic research but also as a community partner. Its Embajadoras Program promotes health initiatives for local health workers and builds support systems for those with breast cancer. Carvajal-Carmona’s seminar, “Becoming a Latino Scientist,” introduces a model for cancer health promotion in Latino communities. He also co-led initiatives to provide free COVID-19 testing to Central Valley farmworkers.
In addition to his passionate pursuit for scientific research, Carvajal-Carmona is a keen supporter of a diverse biomedical research force. He has mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate students, 95% of whom have been first-generation college graduates and members of underrepresented groups.
Theanne Griffith
Theanne Griffith, an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, has been honored with two recent prestigious awards. Griffith was awarded for her work studying proprioceptors, a specialized and complex class of sensory neurons located in the peripheral nervous system. These motion-detecting neurons were known to connect the muscles and reflexes to the mind. Pushing the boundaries of neuroscience, the Griffith Lab’s research has proven that proprioceptors are actually integral to motor network development, maintenance and repair. As a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar, she takes an equitable and inclusive approach to her research and fosters a supportive lab climate.
Griffith was one of ten recipients of the McKnight Scholar Awards. Established in 1977, this award supports scientists building their own independent labs and launching research careers. Each honoree is awarded $75,000 annually for a three-year period to continue their ground-breaking research.
Furthermore, Griffith was selected as a Freeman Hrabowski Scholar by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). She was chosen as one of thirty outstanding faculty in the early stages of their career across the United States. This award is reserved for those who have demonstrated leadership potential in their respective fields and build healthy, successful lab environments. These scholars appointed on five-year terms and offered a salary, research budget, lab equipment, and professional development opportunities.
Jesús M. Velázquez
Jesús M. Velázquez, an associate professor in the UC Davis department of Chemistry, has been selected as a 2025-2026 fellow by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) for their Leadership Academy, La Academia de Liderazgo. The academy is dedicated to supporting and advancing the careers of leaders in educational institutions. The one-year fellowship program consists of seminars to guide fellows into leadership roles. The Leadership Academy faculty consists of current and former presidents, chancellors and senior administrators with over 100 years of combined experience. The program pairs fellows with a university president or senior-level administrator mentor and the development of a project for the Fellow’s current institution.
Velázquez’s research centers around designing and understanding new materials for applications in nanoelectronics, energy conversion, and environmental sustainability. Study of the properties of these materials requires a multi-disciplinary approach of microscopy, spectroscopy, electrochemistry, photoelectrochemistry and synchrotron-based methods.
Recognized for both his research and his commitment to education, Velázquez and his team received the Cottrell Scholars Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2020 for their integrated approach to scientific teaching and inquiry. He is a CAMPOS Faculty Scholar and particularly active in supporting the Avanza Initiative. In 2022, he was named a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, honoring his dual contributions to scholarship and undergraduate education. He actively recruits students from a range of backgrounds, including his native Puerto Rico and historically Black colleges and universities, fostering a collaborative and supportive research environment.