UC Davis engineering professor Leonard R. Herrmann, known as an outstanding teacher and world leader in the field of solid mechanics, has been awarded a $25,000 teaching prize believed to be the largest of its kind in the country. Established by gifts to the Cal Aggie Foundation, the UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement honors faculty members who devote themselves to the education of their students. No other academic institution in the United States is believed to honor this combination of achievements with such a large monetary prize. Herrmann grew up in the Sacramento area and graduated from UC Berkeley. His teaching load ranges from the most advanced courses in applied mechanics to an introductory course that involves 200 freshmen, up to eight teaching assistants and multiple weekly laboratory assignments. The engineer's research earns equally high praise. Herrmann was one of the primary contributors to a methodology that permits detailed and accurate stress and deformation analyses of diverse solid and fluid mechanics problems. One of his "finite element" analysis programs has been used to analyze how the lunar landing vehicle would withstand conditions during its flight to the moon, how chicken eggs would tolerate washing and handling, and how very large pipes in the California aqueduct system would respond to water pressure.