A scientist who has spent two decades tackling the tough productivity and environmental issues related to rice farming has been selected by the University of California, Davis, Academic Federation to receive its James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. James E. Hill, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis agronomy and range science department, will receive the award during a Dec. 15 ceremony in the campus's University Club. The Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectures were initiated in 1971 to recognize exceptional career achievement among members of the Academic Federation on the Davis campus. Recipients are chosen from candidates nominated by their peers. Hill, who was characterized in one U.S. Department of Agriculture review as "the pre-eminent rice extension agronomist in the nation," is noted for his tireless work on behalf of the California rice industry. Programs that he developed with growers and other industry members have been praised internationally for insightfully dealing with the problems of agriculture and the environment. During the past decade, Hill has worked to help rice farmers adjust to increasing restrictions on the burning of rice straw left in the field after the grain is harvested. In the early 1990s the California legislature mandated a severe phase-down of rice-straw burning by the year 2005. In response, Hill initiated and led an interdisciplinary team to solve the straw problem for the California rice industry, as well as preserve habitat for migrating waterfowl and increase biodiversity. During the 1980s, Hill was instrumental in the rice industry's rapid adoption of semi-dwarf rice varieties that increased yields by 50 percent, boosting California's rice yield to the highest level in the world. When the shorter strains of rice, less able to compete with weeds, led to increased herbicide use and pollution of the Sacramento River, Hill and colleagues immediately wrote a UC leaflet to educate farmers on innovative management techniques that could minimize downstream pollution from pesticides and herbicides. The leaflet was distributed throughout the industry and became required reading for pesticide use permits. Hill also worked with the industry to develop and promote systems for recovering excess water from rice fields, further reducing pollution. As a direct result of these efforts, pesticide residues from rice fields have been reduced 98 percent from the 1981 level. For their efforts, Hill and his collaborators received the 1998 Distinguished Service Award from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. A native Californian, Hill earned bachelor of science degrees in biochemistry and crop production at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, in 1966 and a doctoral degree in plant physiology from UC Davis in 1972. After serving a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, he returned to UC Davis as a Cooperative Extension weed scientist. In 1978, he moved to the campus's agronomy and range science department as a winter-cereal agronomist and in 1980 focused his work on rice. In addition to his extensive and significant research program, which has attracted research grants of more than $5.5 million over the years, Hill has made many important contributions to the university. Although he is not required to teach, he has undertaken the responsibility for an important new course in the agricultural sciences and environment curriculum because he sees a need for educating undergraduate students about the interaction between agriculture and the environment. Creatively reorganizing the course to bring together speakers representing divergent views on difficult issues, Hill has provided students with the information necessary to develop solutions to those problems. He also served as chair of the agronomy and range science department from 1994 to 1999, guiding the large and diverse department through a difficult period marked by severe budgetary constraints. During his term as chair, he dealt with budgetary problems, rebuilt morale, increased the department's scientific standing, and enhanced connections to agricultural interests on and off campus. He energized critical, long-term research through the UC Davis-based Long-Term Research on Agricultural Systems program, a 100-year project comparing various agricultural practices. In addition to his service to UC Davis and the California rice industry, Hill has organized or participated in more than 300 conferences; published more than 100 scientific papers; served on 89 state, university, college, and departmental committees; and published more than 100 extension articles. He has received numerous scientific awards, including the American Society of Agronomy's (ASA) Educational Materials Award of Excellence for Rice Production in California, the ASA Educational Materials Award of Excellence for Rice Irrigation Systems, the Award of Excellence from the California Weed Science Society, and the Extension Team Award for Water Quality Improvement in Rice. He is currently on a three-year leave at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.