Local student Rufayda Dhamani received a $2,500 grant from the CCOF Foundation’s Future Organic Farmer Grant Fund to support her organic training in the UC Davis Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems program.

The Future Organic Farmer Grant Fund invests in the next generation of organic producers through educational grants for students and teachers studying organic agriculture. It is the only organic-focused educational grant fund in the United States. Organic production supports a food system that values environmental stewardship, public health, and animal welfare.

Dhamani is an undergraduate student majoring in sustainable agriculture and food systems at UCD. She is an international student from Tanzania who plans on working in the development sector. Her aim is to work alongside subsistent farmers to design effective agricultural practices, so they may live a better-quality life and protect the environment.

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Irva Hertz-Picciotto, 70, of Davis has been appointed to the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee.

Hertz-Picciotto has been a professor at UC Davis since 2002. She was a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from 1990 to 2003 and visiting scholar at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1989 to 1990. Hertz-Picciotto is a member of the Society for Epidemiologic Research, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology and the International Society for Autism Research.

She earned a Ph.D. in epidemiology, and master’s degrees in biostatistics and epidemiology from UC Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Hertz-Picciotto is registered without party preference.

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Boston University awarded academic degrees to 1,859 students in September, including s Catherine N. Ho of Davis, who received a Master of Science in Medical Science.

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. Consisting of 16 schools and colleges, BU offers students more than 250 programs of study in science and engineering, social science and humanities, health science, the arts, and other professional disciplines, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission.

With more than 33,000 students, BU is the fourth-largest private university in the country and a member of the American Association of Universities a nonprofit association of 62 of North America’s leading research-intensive institutions.

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James Madison University is pleased to announce that Chad M. Doerr of Davis, graduated with a degree in Clinical & School Psychology from The Graduate School at James Madison University during the Aug. 4 graduate school commencement exercises.

Doerr was among more than 95 students who received master’s, educational specialist or doctoral degrees.

James Madison University offers each student a future of significance — not an education of mere prestige, but an extraordinary education of exceptional scholarship, inventive thinking, unparalleled attention to the world community, a university-wide enthusiasm for teaching, and a commitment to student success.

— Do you know of someone who has won an award or accomplished something noteworthy? Email it to [email protected] or send it to Name Droppers, The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617.