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The faculty members selected to speak to thousands of graduating students and guests at the five undergraduate commencements at Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center in June exemplify the best in teaching.

Together, they are contributing to excellence in the field and have won awards for teaching from their academic departments, their colleges, the Academic Senate, UC Davis as a whole and beyond.

The speakers, listed in the chronological order of the ceremonies, are:

• Steven Luck, distinguished professor in the Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science, or L&S, and a core faculty member at the Center for Mind and Brain. 9 a.m. Friday, June 13.
• Marina Ellefson, associate professor of teaching in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences. 2 p.m. Friday, June 13.
• Jesús M. Velázquez, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, L&S. 9 a.m. Saturday, June 14.
• Jorge Mazza Rodrigues, professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, or CA&ES. 2 p.m. Saturday, June 14.
• Susan Gentry, associate professor of teaching in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering. 9 a.m. Sunday, June 15.

The speakers were nominated by the dean of their college and selected by the Offices of the Chancellor and Provost.

Steven Luck

Luck, who also spoke at an undergraduate commencement in 2023, received Letters and Sciences’ Teaching Award in 2019-20 and is the winner of this year’s UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

Across his career studying human attention, Luck has been a leader in cognitive neuroscience. He has received several prestigious research awards and is an elected fellow of three academic associations.

At UC Davis since 2006, he teaches an introductory psychology course to hundreds of undergraduates each fall and has more than a dozen undergraduates in his lab. “Working with undergraduate students is one of the joys of my life,” he told Dateline.

Luck co-founded Accelerating Success by Providing Intensive Research Experience, or , an undergraduate research program designed to get students into labs during their first or second year.

Marina Ellefson

Ellefson, a first-generation college graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in 2007 and a doctoral degree in biochemistry, molecular, cellular and developmental biology in 2012, both from UC Davis.

She started teaching at UC Davis in 2015 and was awarded the 2024 College of Biological Sciences’ Faculty Teaching Award for exceptional dedication to teaching.

Ellefson studies how people teach and learn about science to improve undergraduate biology education through a data-driven approach. She emphasizes active learning, critical thinking and practical application of biological concepts.

She is co-director of the certificate program, which provides the college’s doctoral students with training in teaching, and has been involved in a number of programs that have supported transfer students in the biological sciences, including Bridges to Baccalaureate and AvenueB.

Jesús M. Velázquez

Velázquez, who started at UC Davis in 2016, was a recipient of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s 2020 Cottrell Scholars Award for integrating science teaching and research. Two years later, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation named him a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar as a young academic with outstanding scholarship and deep commitment to education.

Chemical and Engineering News placed him on its list of Talented Twelve in 2021. He told the publication he wanted to transform how chemists train students so they better support the needs of the next generation of scientists. He has recruited students from Puerto Rico, where he was born, and from historically Black colleges and universities.

Velázquez’s research focuses on the creation of new materials for use in nanoelectronics, green energy and environmental remediation. He was the recipient of a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and in 2023 the Sloan Research Fellowship for early-career scientific researchers seen as emerging leaders in their fields.

Jorge Mazza Rodrigues

Rodrigues, who joined UC Davis in 2014, teaches in the campuswide introductory biology course series that has more than 1,000 students in STEM majors each year.

He is one of three founding leaders of CA&ES’s that, since November 2023, have fostered discussions to share practical ideas for encouraging inclusivity in the classroom.

Rodrigues specializes in soil microbiology, especially on quantifying the taxonomic and genomic diversities of microbes in soil and how their populations vary with changes in the way land is used.

His lab hosts undergraduates participating in , or Leadership Excellence Through Advanced Degrees. The two-year program provides research experience and more for students who identify as educationally and/or economically disadvantaged. The lab also runs a summer research program for undergraduates and the Microbiology Summer Science Camp for high school students.

Susan Gentry

Gentry, who joined UC Davis in 2015, was recognized with her department’s Best Teaching Award in 2021 and again in 2024. She was also a recipient of the Academic Senate’s Distinguished Teaching Award for undergraduate teaching this year.

In 2019, ASM International, an association of materials scientists and engineers, presented her with its Bradley Stoughton Award for Early Career Teachers for inspiring students and impacting the materials education community. That same year she also won the New Educator Award from the American Society of Engineering Education’s Materials Division for her commitment to education.

Gentry applies evidence-based practices to the engineering curriculum, such as expanding computer simulations and experiments in materials science education. She introduced the use of trained undergraduates as learning assistants to provide feedback to students in her upper division courses.

Gentry also researches student mental health and wellness. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she developed a seminar to help students transition to online learning.

Other commencement speakers

The undergraduate commencements also feature student speakers, yet to be announced, and other commencements also include leadership, faculty and student speakers.

Among the guest speakers at commencements, Sundeep Dugar, a leader in the pharmaceutical industry, will address the two commencements of Graduate Studies on June 12. Associate Justice Kelli M. Evans of the 91Porn Supreme Court spoke at the School of Law commencement May 16, and Dr. Diana E. Ramos, 91Porn surgeon general, spoke at the School of Medicine ceremony May 17.