A video tribute to newly transitioned UC Davis emeriti--an ongoing public service project by UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal--is a three-fold celebration.

It's a celebration of (1) the accomplishments of the faculty entering a new chapter in their lives (2) the extraordinary retirement years of the late Robbin Thorp of the Department of Entomology and Nematology; and a congratulatory message by Chancellor Gary May.

The video is online at
https://youtu.be/s6fxdg2XZPA?si=u0SG1UvUG34zQxmV.

"Summer is nearly over, and the fall quarter begins soon," said Leal, professor of biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology). "Let's pause and express our gratitude to our colleagues who transitioned to emeriti status this summer."

"For decades, they strived to make UC Davis a better place, and many will remain engaged with research, teaching, and public service," he noted.

Leal said the late Distinguished Emeritus Professor Robbin Thorp (1933-2019) epitomizes how emeriti contribute to UC Davis. Thorp, a 30-year member of the entomology faculty, and a tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, retired in 1994, but he continued working until several weeks before his death on June 7, 2019, at age 85. In 2014, he co-authored two books:  Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University,) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday). He published more than 50 percent of his papers following his retirement.

"The new generation of retirees," Leal said, "left active status with scores of accomplishments," including:

• UC Davis offered COVID tests within three weeks of our nation's first known patient with community-acquired COVID-19.
• Their research led to the development of better ceramic and glass materials;
• They helped improve military retention;
• They developed innovative techniques for shoulder and wrist reconstruction;
• They generated one of the world's largest and longest-running systems for monitoring butterfly faunas;
• They led plans for the UC Davis National Cancer Institute to be designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center;
• They are film historians who authored books such as Paris in the Dark: Going to the Movies in the City of Light, 1930-1950;
• They helped create the world's first total-body PET scanner;
• They brought a global perspective to the table to create innovative and pragmatic approaches to sustainability;
• Their research showed how music and dance articulate ethnic, gender, regional, and national identities;
• They helped us, and more importantly, lawmakers, understand how the toxic action of pesticides may affect aquatic systems and organisms;
• Their research shed light on the psychological development of young children;
• They unraveled molecular processes leading to arthritis;
• They showed how management controls facilitate strategic alliances and supply chain partnerships;
• They integrated methods from traditional engineering, operation research, and economics to solve water and environmental management problems;
• They provided comprehensive psychiatric services to ethnic and sexual minorities, including refugees and immigrants;
• They colleagues created new approaches for using plants for the production of recombinant proteins with various applications, including medicine;
• They elucidated how natural products influence the function of ion channels in the nervous system;
• They provided emergency medical care and taught nursing, air medical, EMS, and disaster medicine courses;
• They designed programs for teachers to investigate their teaching skills and students' learning;
• They investigated how plants edit and repair DNA;
• They advanced our understanding of infectious diseases and aging in nonhuman primates; and
• Their research led to improvements in bean cultivars in California, the United States, Latin America and Africa;

The video tribute includes images of many of the emeriti, meant as a small representation of the achievements of all. 

In his message, Chancellor May told the new emeriti: "You played a central role in keeping UC Davis at the forefront of excellence. Your continued engagement through teaching, research, volunteering and philanthropy is vital to our continued growth and success. So I encourage you to stay engaged with campus. The UC Davis Emeriti Association is here with resources and support for this newest chapter of your career. Please take advantage of it. Thank you for our dedication to UC Davis and congratulations on reaching this milestone."

Among its many activities, UC Davis Emeriti Association (UCDEA) interviews and records emeriti who have made "significant contributions to the development of the university." See Video Records Project.