Alumni Profiles

Alum’s bagel business is booming

UC Davis alum Emily Winston, M.S. ’04, has turned a favorite childhood memory into a thriving enterprise that is giving the East Coast bagel scene a run for its money. Winston is the founder of Boichik Bagels, a New York–style bagelry based in Berkeley, Calif.

Recent graduate wins UC President’s Award

Abiel Malepeai is guided by an old Samoan proverb that translates to English as “The pathway to leadership is service.” The recent UC Davis graduate has advocated for Pacific Islander students, served as a student EMT with the UC Davis Fire Department and helped meet the basic needs of students.

Serving the community

With more than two decades as a prosecutor under his belt, Thien Ho ’95 is no stranger to putting people behind bars — in fact, he was the lead prosecutor on the case that sent Joseph DeAngelo, the “Golden State Killer,” to prison for life in 2020 for more than a dozen murders and kidnappings. But as Sacramento County’s newest district attorney, he said he hopes to focus on building relationships with the community.

Making a “buzz” about science

How much do you know about the pesky insects that buzz and bite in your everyday life? Nazzy Pakpour ’99 has dedicated her career to studying mosquitos and other parasites, and now she’s uncovering their mystery with her upcoming children’s book, Please Don’t Bite Me!

“These insects are easy points of entry to learning about science because we see them or interact with them all the time,” Pakpour said. “People say ‘don’t let the bedbugs bite,’ but do they know what a bedbug is?”

A half-century of Aggie excellence

The Cal Aggie Alumni Association of the University of California, Davis, today (March 2) announced the recipients of its 2023 Alumni Awards. This year is the 50th anniversary of honoring the achievements and impact of outstanding alumni and friends of UC Davis. 

The winners are leaders in engineering, global and local government relations, agriculture, investment and education who are being honored for their unwavering efforts to help others through their work.