UC Davis College of Letters and Science

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2, when the Dept. of Music presents its "Spring Musics of the World concert." The lively performance features Mariachi Los Mesteños, Oscar Garibay, director, Bluegrass and Old Time String Band, Scott Linford, director, and Samba, Brian Rice, director. Concert begins at 5 p.m. in the Ann E. Pitzer Center. Free and open to all.
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Congratulations to our 2026 Lang Prize winners! These six amazing undergraduate Aggies are being recognized for their accomplished research using library resources:

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

🌿 Alyssa Linehan, 1st Place, Racial Disparities in Pain Management

🌿 Sofia Wright, 2nd Place, Disrupting Carceral Logics in Schools

🌿 Rianna Herrera, 3rd Place, A Qualitative Analysis of Filipinx Americans’ Aspirations for Higher Education and Mobility

Science, Engineering & Mathematics

🌿 Angelina Ong, 1st Place, Preventing the Resurgence of Drug-Resistant Malaria

🌿 Camila Cancino, 2nd Place, Cuban Dogfish Wikifish

🌿 Ruth Selvaraj, 3rd Place, Effectiveness and Ethical Concerns of AI Chatbots

Learn about our winners and their projects: https://bit.ly/4e5u9dn
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Launched in 2017, the Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research is funded by a bequest from the late UC Davis Professor Emerita of Botany, Norma J. Lang.

📷️ : Maya Lee
L-R: Rianna Herrera, Sofia Wright, Alyssa Linehan, Angelina Ong and Camila Cancino. Not pictured: Ruth Selvaraj.

Image description:
Five undergraduates pose together holding their Lang Prize certificates. A green poster with a black-and-white photo of Norma J. Lang is in the center between them. The UC Davis Library logo is visible on the tablecloth behind them.

From the streets of Perugia to the global stage, jazz becomes more than music in UC Davis Professor Pierpaolo Polzonetti’s new documentary, Umbria Jazz Feast. The film explores how jazz, food and culture come together during Italy’s renowned Umbria Jazz Festival, creating moments of connection across traditions, generations and borders.

Read more at: https://globalaffairs.ucdavis.edu/news/umbria-jazz-feast-where-global-sounds-meet-italian-streets

UC Davis | UC Davis College of Letters and Science

Image Description: Giulio Angrisani plays the flugelhorn late at night in a square in Perugia, Italy.

UC Davis Economist Helps Guide the State’s Fiscal Future UC Davis economist Ina Simonovska, a leading expert on global finance and trade, is serving on the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisors, which makes policy recommendations across a range of pressing issues for the state.

In this student spotlight, we celebrate Yini "Lily" Qiu.
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Why Teaching Difficult Subjects Requires a Framework for Solutions Keith David Watenpaugh, professor of human rights, guides UC Davis undergraduate and graduate students through the modern world’s greatest tragedies with a focus on empowerment and solutions. Learning this human rights perspective prepares students to lead and promote the good wherever life leads ...

What Is a Media Storm? New Research Explains Why Some Stories Dominate the News A new book by UC Davis political scientist Amber Boydstun explains why some events drive media storms, an explosion of sustained media coverage, and why other events, even very similar ones, don’t.