UC Berkeley Letters & Science announces recipients of 2025 L&S Faculty Awards

April 8, 2025

UC Berkeley's College of Letters & Science is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 L&S Faculty Awards. This distinguished award recognizes each awardee's exceptional scholarship, service to the College and community, and transformational teaching. These extraordinary individuals not only embody the excellence of the College of Letters & Science, but they also serve as an inspiration to the entire campus community. The recipients will be honored at a private ceremony on Wednesday, May 14.

The L&S Faculty Awards recognizes three categories of faculty who have recently been promoted. Each category has been named for an L&S faculty member who has had a tremendous impact on the College: the David Blackwell Award, given to newly tenured faculty; the Beatriz Manz Award, given to faculty recently promoted to full professor; and the Jessica Blanche Peixotto Award, given to faculty recently promoted to professor above-scale.

Christian Paiz, Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies

Headshot of Christian Paiz; person wearing glasses with dark hair Christian Paiz joined UC Berkeley as an assistant professor in 2016. He is a historian of twentieth-century United States with a focus on transnational migration, egalitarian social-cultural movements, and theoretically-creative histories. Paiz’s research examines how farmworkers in Southern California’s Coachella Valley (men, women, migrants, residents, Filipino and Mexican) envisioned their futurethrough their involvement in the United Farm Worker (UFW) Movement from the 1960s to 1980sDescribed as a “courageous and inventive scholar” who is “impassioned, dedicated, and productive,” Paiz has also made significant contributions as a member of the Graduate Advisory Council, Graduate Admissions Committee, On the Same Page committee, and convener of the Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Symposium. Notably, he also participated in the search committee for the Latinx and Democracy Cluster, which resulted in two tenured hires for UC Berkeley. In addition to his outstanding record of service, Paiz is known as a thoughtful and responsive teacher: “Paiz clearly excels at soliciting the best work from students and creating an atmosphere where they feel empowered to speak and contribute.”

Solmaz Sharif, Shirley Shenker Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of English

Headshot of Solmaz Sharif; person with shoulder length dark hair, wearing a white blouse Solmaz Sharif is an award-winning and widely read poet who joined UC Berkeley in 2023. Her work explores the structures of power and exclusion upon which contemporary nations depend, and the various forms of violence that accompany the exercise of this power. She is attuned to the capacity for language and poetic form to register the effects of political and military violence, whether through citation and discursive reframing, or through her use of blank space and partial speech. Sharif is the author of Customs (2022) and Look (2016)—the latter a finalist for the National Book Award—and her work has appeared in Harper’s, the Paris Review, Poetry magazine, the Kenyon Review, the New York Times, and other leading publications. Her nomination letter praises her body of work: “Sharif’s record of creative achievement is unquestionably outstanding.” Since arriving at Berkeley, Sharif has worked to revitalize Berkeley’s Poetry for the People program and has contributed to major literary institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Society of America, and the National Book Awards. She is also recognized as a seasoned and dedicated instructor who is committed to “inclusive and collaborative forms of pedagogy that aim to bolster students’ self-confidence.”

José Vázquez-Medina, Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology

Headshot of Jose Vazquez-Medina; person with dark hair and beard, wearing a dark polo-shirt José Vázquez-Medina joined UC Berkeley in 2017. His research studies how vertebrates adapt to natural and anthropogenic stressors, with a focus on the role of oxidative stress and redox signaling at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. His research group aims to understand the physiological mechanisms that drive extreme adaptation in marine vertebrates and the contributions of redox biology to the progression of several diseases. Vázquez-Medina has been tremendously productive in research, with an impressive publication record, including being featured on the cover of the American Journal of Physiology and described as a ‘technical tour-de-force.’ (Torres-Velarde, 2021). Widely recognized for his many contributions, Vázquez-Medina is described in his nomination letter as “creative, productive, impactful—a rising star and leader in his discipline.” He has established an excellent record of accomplishment in research and received the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology New Investigator Award from the American Physiological Society in 2021. He is also a stellar mentor and teacher and was awarded the Graduate Assembly Faculty Mentor Award in 2023 for his outstanding commitment to mentoring, advising, and supporting graduate students.

William Boos, Associate Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Science

Headshot of William Boos; man wearing glasses and blue shirt, standing outside

William Boos joined UC Berkeley in 2017. An atmospheric dynamicist, Boos has specialized in tropical climate patterns, particularly the monsoon systems over Asia, Africa, and the southwest of North America. He has made fundamental, paradigm-changing contributions to our understanding of the effects of topography on monsoon formation and evolution, the origin of monsoon depressions, and the key factors affecting the North American monsoons. He has also conducted research on heatwaves, which have caused record-setting temperatures in California and the Pacific Northwest. His work is characterized by a deep understanding of physical processes in the atmosphere and a desire to address some of the most pressing questions in climate science that affect at-risk populations worldwide. In his service roles, Boos has provided invaluable leadership to graduate admissions, faculty searches and the EPS community at large. He was instrumental in reestablishing the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center (BASC), and his service to the Berkeley atmospheric science community has been critical for attracting and retaining students and faculty. Described in his nomination letter as a “world-leading researcher, a dedicated and thoughtful classroom teacher, sought after mentor, and a well-respected faculty colleague with an excellent service record,” Boos exemplifies excellence across research, teaching, and service.

James Olzmann, Doris Howes Calloway Chair and Professor in the Departments of Molecular & Cell Biology and Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology

Headshot of James Olzmann, person with dark hair wearing a light blue collared shirt James Olzmann joined UC Berkeley in 2013. Olzmann is an interdisciplinary cell biologist with a research program focused on the mechanisms of lipid homeostasis, with two primary lines of inquiry: the storage of lipids in lipid droplets and the damage of lipids during a cell death process called ferroptosis. He is widely recognized as a leader in both fields. His research not only aims to uncover the molecular underpinnings of these processes but also to develop therapeutics for the treatment of prevalent diseases, such as metabolic diseases and cancer. In 2020, Olzmann received the Günter Blobel Early Career Award from the American Society for Cell Biology—an honor presented to one finalist after a rigorous national competition—in recognition of his “outstanding research into lipid droplet biogenesis and function.” Past recipients of this award include some of the most distinguished figures in Cell Biology. Olzmann’s record in service is equally impressive, with exceptional contributions at multiple levels. Among many roles, he has served as the Head Undergraduate Advisor for the MCB Molecular Therapeutics Emphasis, the Head Graduate Advisor for the Comparative Biochemistry and Metabolic Biology Graduate Programs, and the departmental Equity Advisor. As an instructor, students have praised Olzmann for his engaging and effective lecturing style as well as his enthusiasm and organizational ability. As the nomination letter highlights, “Olzmann’s contributions to the profession exceed expectations in both volume of commitments and impact.” He has an excellent record in both teaching and mentorship and is an inspiration to students and colleagues alike.

Kim Shelton, Professor in the Department of Ancient Greek & Roman Studies

Headshot of Kim Shelton, person with sunglasses perched on top of their head looking up from a site surrounding by stones Kim Shelton joined UC Berkeley in 2005. In addition to being a faculty member in DAGRS, she is the Director of the Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology. Shelton is a leading archaeologist whose work has shed new light on the material history and cultural significance of Bronze Age Greece. Her nomination letter notes her work displays “complete mastery of the archaeological record of Greece from the Neolithic to the Ottoman period, a quite extraordinary temporal range to which very few scholars working today, if any, can lay claim.” Shelton is also recognized for her exceptional teaching and mentorship. In addition to teaching on campus, she regularly leads summer field programs with students at archaeological sites in Greece. Her nomination letter highlights her “regular mentorship of Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) students and her commitment to fostering diversity in her research field of archaeology.” Her record of service is equally distinguished. She has held key roles in the Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, and served as Graduate Advisor for the Classical Archaeology Ph.D. and Undergraduate Advisor for DAGRS. She has been highly active in campus service, having served on the Executive Committee of the College of Letters & Science as well as on the Academic Senate Committee on Undergraduate Scholarships, Honors, and Financial Aid. Shelton’s outstanding scholarly achievements and service are a testament to her deep commitment to expanding understanding of the ancient world.

Chung-Pei Ma, Judy Chandler Webb Professor in Physical Sciences and Professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics

Headshot of Chung-Pei Ma

Chung-Pei Ma joined UC Berkeley faculty in 2002 and has since established herself as a trailblazer in astrophysics. Trained as a theoretical cosmologist, Ma’s work over the last decade has expanded more generally into theoretical and observational astrophysics. She has concentrated on supermassive black holes as well as on characterizing the properties of massive early-type galaxies, which are frequently the hosts of the most massive black holes in the universe. This is a key area of research in modern astrophysics, as the role of black hole formation and evolution is now known to be crucial to understanding the evolution of galaxies generally. Throughout her career, Ma has made seminal contributions to the field, both theoretical and observational. She led the scientific team to discover a new population of ultramassive black holes in the local universe, and pioneered new techniques for detecting the detailed shape of the gravitational potential in their host galaxies and the orbital distributions of stars within. She has been a key participant in the NanoGrav collaboration, which made the first measurement of the gravitational wave background due to massive black hole binaries in the universe. Ma’s influential scholarship is renowned for its intellectual rigor and depth, and has had tremendous impact on her field. Ma is also known to be an innovative and outstanding classroom teacher and mentor who has taught both lower and upper division, as well as graduate courses. She has made important contributions to service leadership, directing the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science and the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the U.S. National Academies. Ma’s nomination applauds her extensive and important service to her department, UC Berkeley, and the larger scientific community: “Ma’s record of research accomplishment and recognition demonstrate that she is a world-class scientist.”

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