List of University of California, Davis alumni

Updated on Sep 30, 2024

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This page lists notable alumni of the University of California, Davis.

University presidents

Carol Folt, the 11th chancellor, and the 29th chief executive, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Richard Miller, founding president of Olin College

Éric Maurincomme, director of INSA Lyon

F. Chris Garcia, former president of the University of New Mexico

Mondo Kagonyera, chancellor of Makerere University in Uganda

Michael Kotlikoff PhD - provost and acting president of Cornell University

Dr. Indira Samarasekera, president of the University of Alberta

Michael R. Gottfredson, former president of the University of Oregon

Greg Hess, president of Wabash College

Walter Harrison, president of the University of Hartford

Professors

Anil Kashyap, professor of economics and finance at University of Chicago

Xu Xiaonian, professor of economics and finance at China Europe International Business School

Robert Boyd, professor of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC) at Arizona State University

Howard A. Stone, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University

M. Brent Donnellan, professor of psychology at Texas A&M University

Constance J. Chang-Hasnain, professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley

Tani E. Barlow, professor of history at Rice University

Gregory Berns, the Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine

Bonnie Bassler, professor of molecular biology, Princeton University, MacArthur Fellowship

Hugo J. Bellen, professor of molecular and human genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

Daniel T. Blumstein, professor and chair for the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA

James F. Brooks, professor of history at University of California, Santa Barbara

Janet Broughton, professor of philosophy and vice provost of UC Berkeley

Lori Cox Han, professor of political science at Chapman University

Bonnie S. Dunbar, former professor in the department of molecular and cell biology at Baylor University

Philippe Desan, professor of French and history of culture at the University of Chicago

Mustafa Emirbayer, professor of sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Max Essex, professor of health sciences at Harvard University

Lewis J. Feldman, professor of plant biology at UC Berkeley

Bruce Frohnen, professor of law at Ohio Northern University

Stephen Glosecki, scholar of Old English

James A. Herrick, Guy Vanderjagt Professor of Communication and former communication chair at Hope College

Godfrey Hewitt, professor and evolutionary geneticist at University of East Anglia

Burton Hatlen, literary scholar and professor at University of Maine

Donna Hoffman, professor of marketing at George Washington University

Amishi Jha, professor of psychology at University of Miami

Robert Lieber, professor of the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University

Theraphan Luangthongkum, linguistics professor at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Bruce A. Manning, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at San Francisco State University

Elvira de Mejia, professor of food sciences and human nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

H. Allen Orr, professor of biology at University of Rochester

Hans Ostrom, professor of African American studies at University of Puget Sound

Pearl T. Robinson, professor of political science at Tufts University

Peter Richerson, professor emeritus at UC Davis

Jean Beagle Ristaino, professor of plant pathology at North Carolina State University

Shawna Yang Ryan, professor at University of Hawaii, Manoa

William S. Penn, English professor at Michigan State University

Meredith Small, professor of anthropology at Cornell University

Justin E. H. Smith, professor at Paris Diderot University

Gary D. Solis, adjunct professor of law who teaches the laws of war at the Georgetown University Law Center

Nancy Butler Songer, dean of the School of Education at Drexel University

Henning Stahlberg, professor at University of Basel

Scott Talan, professor of communication at American University

Martin Tolich, professor of sociology at University of Otago

David Hurst Thomas, professor at Columbia University

Steven D. Tanksley, professor of plant breeding and biometry at Cornell University

Athula Wikramanayake, professor at the University of Miami

Astronauts

Tracy Caldwell Dyson

Stephen K. Robinson

Computer science

Sam Lantinga, lead software engineer at Blizzard Entertainment

John Black, cryptologist who has been involved in the invention of several cryptographic algorithms including UMAC, PMAC, OCB, and CMAC

Chris Crawford, game designer

Timothy Jurka, developer of RTextTools and MaxEnt for the R statistical programming language

Eric Lengyel, computer game engine developer with expertise in 3D graphics, animation, physics, audio, and networking

Carl Sassenrath, developer of REBOL language, CTO of REBOL

Peter J. Salzman, hacker, former senior member of hacker group Legion of Doom

Perry Gregg, computer scientist

Engineering

Chow Chung-kong, chemical engineer, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

Adam Steltzner, NASA JPL lead engineer

Erkin Sidick, NASA JPL engineer

Sig Mejdal, sabermetrics analyst, former NASA engineer

Bernard Soriano, aeronautical engineer, deputy director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles

Kaveh Madani, Iranian civil and environmental engineer

Nelson Pass, audio engineer

David Phillips, civil engineer

Jeffrey Steefel, video game producer

Alvin S. White, test pilot, mechanical engineer

Economics

Ahmad Faruqui, defense analyst and economist

Mahmoud Solh, Lebanese agricultural economist and genetic scientist who is currently Director General of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

Masami Imai, Japanese economist

Timothy Francis McCarthy, financial services chief executive

Biology

Alice Alldredge, oceanographer, marine biologist

Anurag Agrawal, ecologist, evolutionary biologist

Jon Andrus, American physician, epidemiologist and immunization specialist, Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization

Dean Burk, co-discoverer of biotin

Gordon Conway, former president of the Royal Geographical Society

Edward DeLong, marine microbiologist

Katherine Esau, German-American botanist who received the National Medal of Science for her work on plant anatomy

Brian Fisher, field biologist who works on the systematics of arthropods

Niklaus Grunwald, plant pathologist and professor

Catherine T. Hunt, chemist

Jae U. Jung, South Korean biologist

Gurdev Khush, Indian agronomist and winner of the World Food Prize

Lynn Kimsey, professor of Entomology

Laurence Madin, marine biologist, executive vice president and director of research of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

David Mas Masumoto, author and organic farmer

Frederick Murphy, co-discoverer of the Ebola virus

Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, Nigerian epidemiologist

Robert E. Page, Jr., honey bee geneticist

Herman Phaff, yeast ecologist

Eric W. Sanderson, landscape ecologist

H. Michael Shepard, cancer biologist and discoverer of Herceptin

Gary Strobel, microbiologist

David Hurst Thomas, archaeologist and anthropologist

Thomas W. Whitaker, 1927, botanist and horticulturist

Other

Patricia S. Cowings, NASA psychologist, first African American woman trained to be an astronaut

Frederica Darema, Greek physicist who proposed the SPMD programming model

Diane Fordney, sex therapist

Christopher G. Newhall, volcanologist

William Hirstein, philosopher primarily interested in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, metaphysics, cognitive science, and analytic philosophy

Zdenka Samish, Czech-Israeli food technology researcher

Jeff Werber, veterinarian

Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician, advisory council member for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Clinton Foundation's Too Small to Fail campaign

Fine art

Kathy Butterly, sculptor

Shirley Burman, railroad photographer

Deborah Butterfield, sculptor

Vonn Cummings Sumner, painter

Carter, artist

Victor Cicansky, Canadian sculptor

Sarah DeRemer, artist

Kurt Edward Fishback, photographer

Camille Rose Garcia, lowbrow artist

Carll Goodpasture, photographer

Steve Lambert, artist

Kenney Mencher, painter

Nickolas Mohanna, artist and composer

Bruce Nauman, artist

Richard T. Notkin, ceramic artist

Nancy Rubins, sculptor

Ethan Russell, the only rock photographer to have shot album covers for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who

Elizabeth Stephens, artist, sculptor, film maker, photographer

Ed Darack, author, photographer

Music

Yul Anderson, pianist, guitarist, singer

Cam, country music artist known for the hit "Burning House"

Luciano Chessa, Italian musicologist

DJ Shadow (real name Joshua Davis), music producer, DJ, and songwriter

Rita Hosking, award-winning songwriter, singer

Ruby Ibarra, rapper

Tom Jans, singer/songwriter

Steven Mackey, guitarist and composer

Scott Miller, guitarist and singer/songwriter, founder of Game Theory and The Loud Family

Lateef the Truthspeaker (real name Lateef Daumont), rapper

Lyrics Born (real name Tom Shimura), rapper

Dave Nachmanoff, award-winning American folk singer-songwriter

Cadence Spalding, American educator, vocalist, instrumentalist and composer

Donnette Thayer, musician

Lindsey Pavao, contestant on the second season of The Voice

Paris, rapper

Literature

Wendy Barker, poet

Howard Beck, sports journalist

Clare Bell, British author in the United States best known for her Ratha series

Kevin Clark, American poet and critic

Kira Cochrane, feminist journalist and writer

Costa Dillon, writer

Theodore Hamm, author

Brian Halweil, sustainable food writer and researcher

Deborah Harkness, The New York Times best-selling author

Amy Gutierrez, sports journalist

Lauren Kate, novelist

Matthew Kennedy, writer and film historian

Gus Lee, author

Robert Clark Young, novelist

Marilyn Nelson, American poet, translator and children's book author

Hans Ostrom, poet, novelist, and scholar, author of The Coast Starlight

Chris Ransick, writer of literary fiction and poetry

Grant Rosenberg, screenwriter/producer

Maris Soule, American author of romance and romantic suspense novels, mysteries, and short stories

Shawna Yang Ryan, novelist, author of Water Ghosts (2009) and Green Island (2016)

Max Schott, author of short stories

April Halprin Wayland, author, poet, and teacher

Anthony Swofford, author

James Van Pelt, science fiction author

Mark Wisniewski, Pushcart Prize winner and Best American Short Stories author

Film and television

Craig Baldwin, experimental filmmaker

Michele Boyd, actress

Debbie Lee Carrington, actress

Sonya Eddy, actress

Michael Gaston, actor

Terisa Greenan, film producer, director, and actress

Hiep Thi Le, Vietnamese-American actress

Carol Flint, TV producer, ER

Natasha Halevi, actress

Fereshta Kazemi, Afghan-American film actress

Ilan Mitchell-Smith, actor

Kelly Masterson, screenwriter

Matthew Moy, actor

Sal Viscuso, actor

John Vickery, stage and film actor known for his work in Babylon 5 and Star Trek

Martin Yan, chef host of television show Yan Can Cook

Tareq Salahi, winery owner at television personality

Christopher Markus, Emmy winner

Conan Nolan, political reporter

Kate Tsui, actress and singer

Bergen Williams, actress

Eric Womack, American actor and producer

Pamela Wu, reporter

Comedy

Hasan Minhaj, comedian

Tim Lee, comedian

Bruce Baum, comedian

Other

Meghan Kalkstein, broadcast journalist

Kim Iverson, radio personality

Jenny Cho, broadcaster

Tiffany Lam, beauty queen, Miss Hong Kong 2002

Henry Wofford, SportsNet Central anchor/reporter for Comcast SportsNet in San Francisco

Mike Pondsmith, game designer

Olympians

Alphonse Burnand, gold medalist in sailing

Peter Snell, three time gold medalist in running

Cathy Carr, gold medalist swimmer at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Emily Azevedo, bobsledder in 2010 Winter Olympics

Linda Somers, marathon runner in 1996 Olympics

Scott Weltz, swimmer at 2012 Summer Olympics

Kim Conley, long distance runner in 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics

Colby Slater, two time gold medalist in rugby

Carrie Johnson, sprint canoer at 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics

Terry Kubicka, figure skater, 1976 US National Champion, competitor at 1976 Winter Olympics, first and only skater to perform legal backflip

Cyndy Poor, runner at 1976 Summer Olympics

Seth Weil, rower at 2016 Summer Olympics

Basketball

Soccer

Quincy Amarikwa, MLS player for the San Jose Earthquakes

Nicolas Platter, goalkeeper for Carolina RailHawks

Ahmad Hatifi, current international soccer player for Afghanistan and a professional with Mumbai F.C. in India's I-League

Jacob Barron, midfielder for Orange County Blues FC

Jerome Watson, American former U.S. soccer forward

Matthew Sheldon, player for Orange County Blues

Dirk Denkers

Elliott Hord

Football

Nick Aliotti, defensive coordinator for University of Oregon

Mike Bellotti, former head football coach for the University of Oregon

Rolf Benirschke, placekicker for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL

Bob Biggs, former head coach for UC Davis

Chris Carter, former wide receiver for Seattle Seahawks

Jonathan Compas, former NFL offensive lineman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kevin Daft, offensive coordinator for UC Davis

Bo Eason, safety for the Houston Oilers of the NFL

Daniel Fells, tight end for the Denver Broncos

Bakari Grant, wide receiver for Calgary Stampeders

Mark Grieb, quarterback for the San Jose Sabercats of the Arena Football League

Daryl Gross, Athletic Director, Syracuse University

Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills

Paul Hackett, former head coach for University of Pittsburgh and University of Southern California

Dan Hawkins, former head football coach for the University of Colorado at Boulder

Khari Jones, Arena Football League and Canadian Football League quarterback and sports reporter

Bryan Lee-Lauduski, former quarterback for Iowa Barnstormers

Brad Lekkerkerker, offensive lineman for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL

Cory Lekkerkerker, offensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL

Chris Mandeville, defensive back

Rich Martini, former wide receiver for Oakland Raiders

Casey Merrill, NFL defensive end

Mike Moroski, NFL quarterback

Ken O'Brien, 11-year quarterback for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles

J.T. O'Sullivan, quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals

Chris Petersen, head football coach for the University of Washington

Frank Scalercio, former head coach for Sonoma State Cossacks

Colton Schmidt, punter for the Buffalo Bills

Kermit Schmidt, NFL running back

Elliot Vallejo, former player for Oakland Raiders

Demario Warren, head coach for Southern Utah Thunderbirds

Mike Wise, NFL defensive end

Wrestling

Urijah Faber, wrestler; professional mixed martial artist, former WEC featherweight Champion, and current UFC Bantamweight Contender

John Hennigan, professional wrestler known for his time in WWE as Johnny Nitro and John Morrison

Tim Lajcik, mixed martial artist, stuntman, and actor

Baseball

Joe Biagini, pitcher for Toronto Blue Jays

Steve Brown, MLB pitcher

Daniel Descalso, infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals

Eddie Gamboa, pitcher for Tampa Bay Rays

Marco Grifantini, pitcher for Toronto Blue Jays

Ty Kelly, utility player for the New York Mets

Ryan Scoma, player for the San Francisco Giants

Matt Vaughn, head coach for the UC Davis Aggies baseball team

Rich Waltz, TV announcer, Miami Marlins, MLB Network, & CBS Sports

Golf

Matt Marshall

Brad Bell

Scott Gordon

Other

Alycia Moulton, tennis player

Dave Scott, 6-time champion at Ironman World Championship

Shiva Vashishat, cricket player

Business

Allison Arieff, Senior Content Lead at IDEO, co-founder and former editor of Dwell magazine

Refaat El-Sayed, billionaire

Riley P. Bechtel, billionaire, CEO of Bechtel

Ben Behrouzi, entrepreneur, Founder, president and CEO of DotNext Inc. and Reply.com

Brian Bolke, president and Co-Founder of Forty Five Ten

Paul Privateer, CEO of Data Insight Solutions

Alfred Chuang, co-founder and CEO of BEA Systems

Rael Dornfest, former engineer at Twitter, founder and CEO of Values of N

Lauren Elliott, internet entrepreneur, video game designer, co-designer of Carmen Sandiego game series

Sean Ellis, founder of Qualaroo, coined growth hacking

Ron Erickson, co-founder of Microrim, GlobalVision, Inc., and Egghead Software

Robert "Bob" Foster, past president of Southern California Edison; former Mayor of Long Beach, California

Adriana Gascoigne, CEO of Girls in Tech

Steve Gatena, founder of REP Interactive and VideoFort, CEO of Helinet

Kimberly Guilfoyle, Court TV and FOX News Channel anchor; ABC, CNN, and FOX News legal analyst/commentator

Daniel Ha, co-founder and CEO of Disqus

Oran B. Hesterman, president and chief executive officer of Fair Food Network

Jeff Katz, CEO, NexTag; ex-CEO, Leapfrog; ex-CEO and founder, Orbitz

Peter Lavelle, American journalist, host of CrossTalk on the English-language TV channel of RT

Francis Lee, CEO, Synaptics

Jason Lucash, inventor and founder of Origaudio, Time Magazine's Top 50 Inventions of 2009, winner on ABC's show Shark Tank, and Entrepreneur's "Entrepreneur of the Year" for 2012

Jani Macari Pallis, CEO of Cislunar Aerodynamics, professor at University of Bridgeport

Dhar Mann, entrepreneur, founder of WeGrow Store

Ken Mercurio, author and former nutrition labeling director at Nestle USA

David Phillips, "The Pudding Guy"

Richard Pitcairn, veterinarian, founder of the Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy

Mark Publicover, CEO and founder of JumpSport, inventor of the first affordable trampoline safety net enclosure

Keith Robinson, co-owner of the Hawaiian island of Niihau

Zohra Sarwari, Muslim author, business coach, entrepreneur, and international speaker

Stratton Sclavos, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of VeriSign

Tanya Seaman, founder of PhillyCarShare

Krishna Subramanian, entrepreneur, angel investor, and co-founder of BlueLithium

Jeffrey Tarrant, founder of Candescent Films

Thomas J. Tierney, chairman of eBay

Robert B. Tucker, president and founder of The Innovation Resource Consulting Group

John Watson, CEO of Chevron

William L. Ballhaus, CEO of Blackboard, Inc.

Payam Zamani, founder and chairman of One Planet Ops Inc.

Diane Bryant, EVP of Intel's Data Center Group. former CIO of Intel.

Foreign officials

Mohsen Nourbakhsh, former Governor of the Central Bank of Iran

Mari Pangestu, Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy

Kuan Chung-ming, former minister of the Taiwanese National Development Council, current chair of the Department of Finance of the National Taiwan University

Rosanna Wong, former convenor of the Executive Council of Hong Kong

James Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay, Scottish nobleman

Roberto Sebastian, former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (Philippines)

Mary Ikoku, Nigerian Special Adviser to the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications

Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, Nigerian senator, daughter of former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo

Kamal Stino, Deputy Prime Minister of Egypt

Isabel García Tejerina, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Spain).