Professor Jean VanderGheynst Named a Congressional Woman of the Year
(adapted from the College of Engineering’s website)
Congressman John Garamendi honored Jean VanderGheynst during the 2016 Women of the Year Awards ceremony on Thursday, October 13. The award recognizes outstanding women of the 3rd Congressional District.
Jean VanderGheynst is Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in the UC Davis College of Engineering.
More than $9 million of her extramural funding at UC Davis has been in support of undergraduate and graduate student preparation in engineering. This includes a NSF GK-12 award to improve leadership, communication and collaboration skills, and teaching capabilities for engineering graduate students pursuing research in the areas of renewable energy, climate change and environmental sustainability.
In 2016 VanderGheynst received the UC Davis Distinguished Postdoctoral Scholar Mentoring Award, in 2005 the Farrall Young Educator Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering for excellence in teaching, and in 2003 she received the Outstanding Mentor Award from the UC Davis Consortium for Women and Research Advisory Board for mentoring women’s research.
She received her Bachelor of Science chemical engineering degree from Syracuse University (1991) and Ph.D. degree in agricultural and biological engineering from Cornell University (1997) where she was supported by a STAR Fellowship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. VanderGheynst has served on the faculty at UC Davis since 1996.
Congressman John Garamendi’s 2016 Women of the Year awards are an effort to publicly honor outstanding women of the 3rd Congressional District. According to the Congressman’s website, Garamendi invited organizations and individuals from each of the eight counties—Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Sacramento, Solano, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba–to submit nominations for panel review and selection. Recognition of the women who, through their work or volunteerism, have improved the quality of life in the district, will be honored at the Woodland Community College on Thursday, October 13.