Name droppers: Friedman takes reins of photography club

The Photography Club of Davis has selected Laurie Friedman to be its president for the first half of 2013. Friedman is a Davis photographer, known for her travel photography as well as her wedding and portrait photography business. In July, Dave Jolkovsky will take over as president.

The club meets the second Tuesday of each month, except July and August, at 7:15 p.m. in the Blanchard Room at the Stephens Branch Library, 315 E. 14th St. Programs alternate between guest speakers and opportunities for members to show their work. For more information, visit www.photoclubofdavis.org.

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Carlos Suarez began his tenure this month as state conservationist for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in California. Suarez will assume leadership of the agency’s 400 employees in 62 offices across California from the state headquarters in Davis.

NRCS employees work with Resource Conservation Districts and other partners to provide one-on-one conservation technical and planning assistance to thousands of farmers and ranchers on voluntarily projects that conserve and protect the natural resources on farms, ranches and private non-industrial forests.

Suarez, a native of Puerto Rico, has first-hand knowledge of California’s vast natural resources and resource challenges, having served as deputy state conservationist for California from 2005 to 2008. Since leaving California, Suarez has been serving as the NRCS state conservationist of Florida.

Earlier career positions included diverse roles in both domestic and international locations including Indiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Mexico and Nicaragua.

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Air Force Airman Trever E. Balestra graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Balestra is the son of Timothy Balestra of Dixon. He is a 2012 graduate of Dixon High School.

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Richard Miller of Davis, along with founding leaders of the Olin College of Engineering, received one of engineering’s highest honors, the Bernard M. Gordon Prize. The $500,000 prize is awarded by the National Academy of Engineering to recognize innovation in engineering and technological education.

The F.W. Olin Foundation recruited Miller as Olin’s first employee in 1999. To help build the college from scratch, Miller recruited the founding academic leadership team to help develop a vision for an engaging approach to teaching engineering and a new culture of learning.

To ensure a fresh approach, Olin does not offer tenure, has no academic departments, offers only degrees in engineering, and provides merit-based scholarships to all admitted students.

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Dr. Jeanne Conry, associate clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology and an alumna of the UC Davis School of Medicine, was honored recently by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson as an environmental health champion for her national leadership to advance understanding of the risk to reproductive health of exposures to environmental toxins.

Conry was presented with the 2012 Children’s Environmental Health Champion Award for the Pacific Southwest Region during a ceremony in San Francisco. She was lauded for her extensive efforts to promote better health for babies and women by preventing harmful chemical exposures during pregnancy.

Conry was further acknowledged with a lecture before medical students and health professionals at UC San Francisco on “Reproductive Health and the Environment: Well Women Care and Preconception Health on the National Agenda.”

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Michael Goodman, M.D., a Davis gynecologist and cosmetic surgeon, has been invited to present his research paper, “Body Image and Sexual Considerations of Women Completing Genital Plastic/Cosmetic Procedures: The VASE 2 Study,” at the annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health. The meeting takes place March 3 in New Orleans.

Goodman’s collaborators on this study are David Matlock and Alex Simoupolos of Los Angeles, Susan Hardwick-Smith of Houston, Otto Placik of Chicago and Lori Brotto of the University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada.

In related news, Goodman’s next master’s course in genital plastics will include Dr. Jose Roman of Auckland, New Zealand. Thus far, Goodman has welcomed surgeons from three states and three foreign countries to Davis for his courses.

— Do you know of someone who has won an award or accomplished something noteworthy? Send it, preferably by email, to newsroom@davisenterprise.net, or to Name droppers, The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617.