UCLA paleobiologist J. William Schopf has been awarded the 2000 Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science for his 1999 book, "Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils" (Princeton University Press). The annual award is presented for outstanding contributions to the literature of science at a Phi Beta Kappa Senate dinner in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 1. Previous recipients of the award include Linus Pauling, Stephen Jay Gould, E.O. Wilson and Jared Diamond, UCLA professor of physiology and winner of the 1999 National Medal of Science.... Molecular biologist Utpal Banerjee, recipient of the 2000 Gold Shield Faculty Prize given by Gold Shield, Alumnae of UCLA, was honored at the organization's annual Champagne Reception Oct. 22 in the James West Alumni Center. Banerjee received the $30,000 prize, which is awarded every two years, for his "extraordinary accomplishment and promise in research and outstanding record in undergraduate teaching."... John Agnew, professor and chair of the Department of Geography, delivered the 2000 Hettner Lectures at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, on "Reinventing Geopolitics: Geographies of Modern Statehood." The lecture series is named after the German geographer Alfred Hettner and is given annually by a leading non-German geographer on a major theoretical theme.... Kelly Kennemer, a graduate screenwriting student in the School of Theater, Film and Television, won the $10,000 first prize in the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards for his mystical drama, "Rewind." The award recognizes excellence in dramatic writing among students of the University of California system. This year, 84 feature-length screenplays were submitted.... Joseph D. Mandel, vice chancellor of legal affairs, was named as one of the 100 most influential California attorneys by California Law Business, a weekly supplement to the Los Angeles Daily Journal.... A mid-career retrospective of photographs by art Professor James Welling was exhibited this year at Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. In April 2001, the exhibit will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

   Joseph A. Gengerelli, former chair and professor emeritus of psychology, died Nov. 3. He was 95. He was among the university's faculty when the Westwood campus opened in 1929, retiring in 1972 after teaching at UCLA for 43 years. He came to California to accept a teaching appointment at UCLA after earning his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. For his research on the brain and learning, he developed a sensitive short-wave apparatus to study the broad range of conscious behaviors in animals. The results of his research helped to define the physical basis of mental processes. Memorial contributions can be made to the Dr. Joseph A. Gengerelli Distinguished Dissertation Award. Checks can be made out to the UCLA Foundation (note "Gengerelli Fund" in the memo section), College of Letters and Science, Basic Sciences Division, 1332 Murphy Hall, Los Angeles, Calif. 90095.