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November 21, 2024
Fewer than 7% of global hotspots for whale-ship collisions have protection measures in place
A UC Santa Cruz scientist who specializes in research at the intersection of big data and marine-life conservation has contributed to a new study that shows the vast majority of “hotspots” where ships collide with whales in the world’s oceans lack protections for the majestic giants.
November 18, 2024
Student team wins ‘Excellence in Safety’ award at second Farm Robotics Challenge
A team of engineering students were recognized with the “Excellence in Safety” award at the second-annual Farm Robotics Challenge
November 15, 2024
How optogenetics can put the brakes on epilepsy seizures
In what could one day become a new treatment for epilepsy, researchers at UC San Francisco, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley have used pulses of light to prevent seizure-like activity in neurons.
November 15, 2024
Traditional Mayan collaboration practices show both changes and resilience after decades of globalization
UC Santa Cruz psychologist Barbara Rogoff has been working with Mayan communities in Guatemala for decades to document traditional collaboration and learning practices. Her latest research follows up on an initial study from 30 years ago to see how practices have shifted or persisted over time within families.
November 14, 2024
UC Santa Cruz announces a new 2,400-acre UC Reserve after Regents approval
The 2,400-acre oak-studded grassland property in San Benito County, which has served as a cattle ranch for most of the last 100 years, becomes the 42nd reserve within the University of California’s Natural Reserve System (NRS) and the seventh UC Santa Cruz reserve.
November 14, 2024
Creating enchantment in Senegal
UC Santa Cruz Humanities Professor Gina Athena Ulysse was invited to participate as a featured artist for the prestigious Dakar Biennale (Dak'Art), which the New York Times called “Africa’s hottest art event” and “Africa’s most prominent cultural gathering.”
November 13, 2024
Computer engineering student builds cybersecurity solutions for Joby Aviation
UC Santa Cruz Computer Engineering student Shipra Ithal participated in an internship at Joby Aviation via the CITRIS Workforce Innovation Program
November 13, 2024
Team discovers ultra-massive galaxies in early Universe that challenge standard cosmology
An international team of astronomers has identified three ultra-massive galaxies—each nearly as massive as the Milky Way—already in place within the first billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery is surprising because it indicates that the formation of stars in the early Universe was far more efficient than previously thought, challenging current models of galaxy formation.
November 12, 2024
Bioluminescent proteins made from scratch enable non-invasive, multi-functional biological imaging
Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Andy Yeh is designing completely artificial proteins that produce bioluminescence to serve as a non-invasive method for bioimaging, diagnostics, drug discovery, and more.
November 08, 2024
New chemical process makes biodiesel production easier, less energy intensive
UC Santa Cruz chemists have discovered a new way to produce biodiesel from waste oil that both simplifies the process and requires relatively mild heat. This discovery has the potential to make the alternative fuel source much more appealing to the massive industrial sectors that are the backbone of the nation’s economy.
November 01, 2024
UC Santa Cruz faculty, alumnae joining in worldwide biodiversity conference
Government leaders, scientists, and policy experts from across the world, including UC Santa Cruz alumni and faculty, are gathered in Colombia for worldwide negotiations to protect endangered species, restore damaged habitats, and preserve ecosystems.
November 01, 2024
Decarbonization policy initiatives will require more data-based decision-making
A new article by UC Santa Cruz Associate Professor of Economics Peter Christensen and co-authors recommends how to collect and apply evidence in order to achieve the greatest possible impact from recent investments in decarbonization in the United States.
October 30, 2024
How researchers can maximize biological insights using animal-tracking devices
Biologgers allow us to see with unprecedented precision how animals move and behave in the wild. But that's only part of the picture, according to a UC Santa Cruz ecologist renowned for using biologging data to tell the deeper story about the lives of marine mammals in a changing world.
October 30, 2024
UC Santa Cruz named a U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps Hub for the Northwest Region
UC Santa Cruz has been selected as one of eight partner institutions in the newly established U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub for the Northwest Region.
October 29, 2024
Professor A.M. Darke creates groundbreaking work in Black representation
A.M. Darke, an associate professor of Performance, Play, & Design at UC Santa Cruz, has spent her career becoming one of the leading voices of diversity in games, especially in the context of representing Black hair. For her latest work Darke has helped compile a program that better represents coily hair in animation.
October 28, 2024
Engineers awarded CDC contract to build pathogen-tracing public health tools
The CDC has awarded Corbett-Detig and his team at the UCSC Genomics Institute a two-year, $2.52 million contract to continue their work tracking the COVID-19 virus’s evolution and expand their software tools to track other pathogens.
October 23, 2024
Dolphins sense military sonar at much lower levels than regulators predict
For the first time ever, a team including several UC Santa Cruz scientists have directly measured the behavioral responses of some of the most common marine mammals to military sonar. And the finding that surprised them most was that these animals were sensitive to the sounds at much lower levels than previously predicted.
October 17, 2024
New book California Catastrophes challenges coastal communities to confront reality
It's no secret that Californians live with the reality of earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, and other natural disasters. This confronts those who choose to stay, and the many who move here, with the equally ominous question: What can we do about it?
October 17, 2024
Powerful new analyses improve breast cancer risk assessment on a massive scale
A new feature on the BRCA Exchange, a platform which consolidates data on the genes associated with breast cancer, is rolling out a new feature to make cancer risk much easier to assess.
October 17, 2024
UC Santa Cruz professor Anna Friz wins international prize in radio
Anna Friz, an associate professor of Film and Digital Media, has been raking in awards and honors. The multi-disciplinary artist who took a sabbatical last winter after receiving a Guggenheim fellowship, recently received the Karl Sczuka Prize for radio from SWR Germany.
October 15, 2024
Science Division debuts ‘degree-defining experiences’ drawing on UC Santa Cruz’s unique strengths
The Science Division has received a $1 million donation to begin a major new program on “degree-defining experiences.” The program will pilot 17 projects across campus that aim to profoundly inspire undergraduate students and fill them with the kind of optimism that forever changes how they see their time at UC Santa Cruz and their future careers.
October 15, 2024
Genomics Institute provides seed funds for six multidisciplinary projects
The Genomics Institute has awarded grants of up to $50,000 to six multidisciplinary research projects in the inaugural year of its seed funding program
October 14, 2024
Global warming is happening, but not statistically ‘surging,’ new study finds
The new study, published on October 14 in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment, confirms the broad consensus that the planet is getting warmer, but at a statistically steady rate—not at a sufficiently accelerated rate that could be statistically defined as a surge.
October 14, 2024
UC Santa Cruz professor Derek Conrad Murray appointed Editor-in-Chief of leading arts publication
Derek Conrad Murray, Professor of History of Art & Visual Culture (HAVC), has recently been appointed editor-in-chief of Art Journal. After previously serving on the journal’s editorial board, Murray will be taking on an expansive position where he can shepherd the journal’s distinguished mission for the next three years.
October 10, 2024
UC Santa Cruz professor helps set national research agenda for atmospheric methane removal technologies that could help fight climate change
Environmental Studies Professor Sikina Jinnah was a co-author on a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) that recommends a national research agenda for atmospheric methane removal technologies and assesses potential atmospheric removal tools.
October 09, 2024
Welcome the new faculty in the Arts Division
As a new quarter starts, the Arts Division is welcoming eight new faculty members who represent the creativity, diversity, and thoughtfulness that are key pieces of the division’s identity.
October 08, 2024
New apps will enable safer indoor navigation for blind people
Two new apps will enable blind people to navigate indoor buildings with spoken directions from a smartphone app, providing a safe method of wayfinding where GPS doesn’t work.
October 08, 2024
Will AI tools revolutionize public health? Not if they continue following old patterns, researchers argue.
A new paper published in the journal Social Science & Medicine shares findings from an extensive literature analysis of AI’s current trajectory in health care.
October 08, 2024
Professor Stacy Philpott leads U.S. delegates for “Agri-Young Hackathon” at G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Agriculture
Environmental Studies Professor Stacy Philpott led the U.S. delegation for a youth hackathon at the recent G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Agriculture in Italy. Philpott was asked by USDA representatives to coordinate and support the country’s team, a reflection of her national leadership role in preparing the next generation of agriculture professionals.
October 07, 2024
Experts on drone research discuss future challenges and opportunities at UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley campus
An interdisciplinary and multi-institutional group of academics, researchers, and practitioners discussed challenges and opportunities in using drones at an event hosted at the UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley campus on Friday, September 27.
October 07, 2024
UC Santa Cruz launches new degree program in Geographic Information Systems, Spatial Technologies, Applications, and Research
UC Santa Cruz is launching a new Master of Arts program in Geographic Information Systems, Spatial Technologies, Applications, and Research (GISTAR), designed to meet the growing demand for expertise in geospatial technologies.
October 07, 2024
Social Sciences Division welcomes new faculty
UC Santa Cruz’s Social Sciences Division is welcoming 10 outstanding new faculty members this academic year.
October 04, 2024
Baskin Engineering welcomes a cohort of 12 new faculty
Twelve new faculty members join the Baskin School of Engineering for the 2024-25 academic year.
September 24, 2024
UC Santa Cruz recognized for excellence in undergraduate teaching, social mobility in latest U.S. News & World Report rankings
The University of California, Santa Cruz has once again earned national recognition for its commitment to high-quality undergraduate education and advancing social mobility.
September 23, 2024
$1M NSF grant expands open source software mentorship program for HBCU students
A $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will expand a program that enables students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to gain coding experience and receive intensive mentorship in open source programming.
September 23, 2024
2024 Arts Division Convocation honors Eduardo and Alison Carrillo
The annual Arts Division Convocation brings together the community to celebrate the new school year. The Distinguished Banana Slug Awards in the Arts is given every year to an honoree who exemplifies excellence and a dedication to the Arts Division. This year’s recipients are (posthumously) former professor Eduardo Carrillo, and his wife Alison Keeler Carrillo.
September 19, 2024
Center for Archival Research and Training celebrates 10 years of success
This October, the University Library at UC Santa Cruz Elisabeth Remak-Honnef Center for Archival Research and Training (CART) marks its 10th anniversary, celebrating a decade of shaping graduate students’ careers through hands-on archival experience.
September 18, 2024
UC Santa Cruz astronomer delivers keynote speech for Mexico's National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies
The council chose Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz as the final speaker in the series, which leads up to the inauguration of Mexico's new president on October 1, in honor of his distinguished career and accomplishments that followed his public education and training in Mexico.
September 17, 2024
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter, new study finds
New simulations suggest that there are enough primordial black holes—potential dark matter candidates—in the universe for one to pass through the inner solar system every decade. The work builds upon an astrophysical theory that has growing popularity.
September 16, 2024
ARCS Foundation 2024 scholarships support outstanding graduate students in science and engineering
Sixteen outstanding UC Santa Cruz graduate students in science and engineering fields earned scholarships worth a total of $180,000 from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation for the 2024-25 academic year.
September 16, 2024
Center for Coastal Climate Resilience to co-host event at New York Climate Week
UC Santa Cruz Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) and California Ocean Science Trust will be co-hosting an event at New York Climate Week on policy and finance tools to accelerate nature-based solutions for climate adaptation.
September 12, 2024
National Academy of Education awarded Josephine H. Pham the Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship
Josephine H. Pham, Assistant Professor of Critical Studies in Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been awarded the prestigious National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship.
August 30, 2024
Researchers to investigate genetic roots of autism, look for new treatments
A new award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will support a team of UC Santa Cruz researchers in exploring the genetic underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder.
August 30, 2024
Getoor wins major data mining award
Lise Getoor, UC Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, was honored with the ACM SIGKDD Innovation Award.
August 29, 2024
Genomics Institute researcher Melissa Cline to lead efforts to facilitate diagnosis of genetic diseases
Genomics Institute associate research scientist Melissa Cline will serve as the co-lead of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health’s Genomic Knowledge Standards Work Stream.
August 29, 2024
Scientists to study nearby galaxies for galactic-formation history, dark matter
At approximately 100,000 light years in diameter, the Milky Way's vastness and the broader, ever-changing dynamics of the cosmos defy any attempt to fully understand our home galaxy and its history. UC Santa Cruz astronomer Puragra "Raja" GuhaThakurta sums up this dilemma in more familiar and figurative terms: "We simply don’t have a selfie stick long enough to take those kinds of photos."
August 14, 2024
Singing from memory unlocks a surprisingly common musical superpower
UC Santa Cruz psychologists studied “earworms,” the types of songs that get stuck in your head and play automatically on a loop, to show that highly accurate pitch memory is much more common than might be expected.
August 13, 2024
UC Santa Cruz hosts HSRU Alliance conference to support Hispanic women in physical sciences and engineering
UC Santa Cruz hosted graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff from HSRU member institutions for a conference focused on supporting the success of Hispanic women in academic and professional physical science and engineering careers.
August 13, 2024
UCSC alumni awarded large NSF grant to grow virtual reality physical rehabilitation startup Immergo Labs
The National Science Foundation awarded three Baskin Engineering alumni with a $1,000,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant to support the research and development of an extended reality platform for full-body physical rehabilitation.
August 09, 2024
Annual event at Lick Observatory links modern astronomy to native perspectives
In collaboration with the UC Santa Cruz American Indian Resource Center, the University of California Observatories (UCO) recently hosted the second annual Native Star Stories Night at Lick Observatory. Held this year on May 9, the special event is intended to show that this traditional way of engaging with the cosmos remains as relevant and valuable today to indigenous communities as it was thousands of years ago.
August 09, 2024
Endangered Santa Cruz salamander featured in National Geographic photo project
National Geographic Explorer and photographer Joel Sartore visited the Coastal Science Campus to take pictures of the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, one of many endangered species that UC Santa Cruz researchers are working hard to save.
August 07, 2024
Preparing California’s agricultural lands for climate change
Two UC Santa Cruz researchers won a total of more than $1.5 million in federal funding for their research that's helping to create sustainable "agroecosystems" in response to climate change and other increased environmental pressures.
August 05, 2024
Exploring new research frontiers with top Indian universities through joint symposium
From July 14–17, UC Santa Cruz hosted a joint research symposium with IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur on AI, ML, and Cybersecurity. The event highlighted advanced research and opportunities for international collaboration and research.
August 01, 2024
New research led by UC Santa Cruz fellow outlines framework for mainstreaming nature in U.S. federal policy
Our communities must combat climate change and nature loss, and prepare more for changing climates. A groundbreaking research paper led by Heather Tallis (M.S. '99, marine sciences), a Senior Fellow with the university’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR), presents a comprehensive framework for integrating nature into policy-making to help make that happen.
August 01, 2024
UC Santa Cruz alumnus named semi-finalist in Student Academy Awards
Despite having only graduated last June, John Ortiz (M.F.A. ‘24, Social Documentation) is already finding success in the film industry. His documentary, Jerhy, is in the running for a Student Academy Award. He and his film currently rank as semi-finalists in the documentary category.
July 31, 2024
Genomics Institute’s Research Mentoring Internship recognized with ‘Inspiring Programs in STEM’ award
The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute’s Research Mentoring Internship program was recognized with the ‘Inspiring Programs in STEM’ award from Insight Into Diversity magazine.
July 31, 2024
UC Santa Cruz poised to welcome diverse and talented cohort for fall 2024
This fall, the University of California, Santa Cruz is preparing to welcome approximately 5,700 new undergraduate students to campus.
July 29, 2024
An overlooked side-effect of the housing crisis may be putting Californians at increased risk from climate disasters
In a new article for the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UC Santa Cruz researchers laid out the foundation for their highly-anticipated upcoming study of how lack of affordable housing in urban areas of California may be driving increased development in and near wildlands, leading to more severe climate change impacts.
July 26, 2024
New grant funding will help UC Santa Cruz build and diversify a climate resilience workforce for the Monterey Bay region
UC Santa Cruz will receive more than $2 million in funding to support education and training programs for undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals as part of a larger $71.1 million federal grant to the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation and a host of local partners.
July 23, 2024
Biochemist Carrie Partch selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator
Carrie Partch, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz, is among 26 top scientists chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to be HHMI investigators and receive the support needed to move their research in creative new directions and make groundbreaking discoveries.
July 22, 2024
International body honors UC Santa Cruz physicists with Frontiers of Science Award
UC Santa Cruz physicists Stefania Gori and Wolfgang Altmannshofer were honored by the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) at a July 14 ceremony in Beijing with a Frontiers of Science Award in the category of particle-physics phenomenology.
July 18, 2024
U.S. ATLAS collaboration names UC Santa Cruz alum ‘Outstanding Graduate Student’
The organization representing the U.S. contingent of the international ATLAS experiment conducted with the world's most powerful particle accelerator has presented its 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award to Yuzhan Zhao, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Ph.D. in physics this year.
July 18, 2024
A living legacy of student creativity and activism
The Merrill Moat—a stretch of concrete connecting residential buildings covered in colorful murals and student artwork—is a living monument to student creativity, past and present. The Moat isn’t just a pretty addition to Merrill College’s landscape; it's an interactive community art project rooted in the college’s history and commitment to promoting student activism.
July 17, 2024
The Humanities Institute receives Global Public Humanities Award
The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz was honored as one of the two inaugural winners of the “Public Humanities Award for Leadership in Practice and Community” at the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes annual meeting in May 2024.
July 17, 2024
Gaining professional experience and helping fellow Slugs through Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program
In her last year at UC Santa Cruz, Jane Grantham tackled numerous challenges, but one project stands out: developing a resource to assist fellow students in preparing for their careers.
July 16, 2024
Scientists find that small regions of the brain can take micro-naps while the rest of the brain is awake and vice versa
For the first time, scientists have found that sleep can be detected by patterns of neuronal activity just milliseconds long
July 15, 2024
Loss of oxygen in lakes and oceans another sign of Earth systems under strain
New essay co-authored by UC Santa Cruz researcher says aquatic deoxygenation is intertwined with climate change and other 'planetary boundary' processes
July 12, 2024
Artist-led walk-through offers rare opportunity to hear a creator discuss their own work in relationship to peers'
Seeing Through Stone opened in April, but is now hosting a unique opportunity to walk through the exhibition with one of the artists.
July 11, 2024
Environmental toxicologist wins funding to use feathers to test for lead exposure in birds
Myra Finkelstein, adjunct professor in microbiology and environmental toxicology, was one of nine researchers nationwide honored on July 8 by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) for developing humane solutions to human-wildlife conflicts. Each researcher will receive a grant of up to $15,000 as part of the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award, which honors AWI's late founder and longtime president.
July 09, 2024
UC Santa Cruz astrophysicists honored for advancing research on the mysterious FRB
Fast radio bursts are sudden flashes of radio waves coming from random parts of the sky. Each one is on only for a few milliseconds, but they are extraordinarily bright: In those few milliseconds, they put out more energy than our sun does in an entire year. We also know that they come from objects in distant galaxies, sometimes billions of light years away.
June 24, 2024
Hydrothermal vents on seafloors of ‘ocean worlds’ could support life, new study says
Many lines of research suggest that some ocean worlds release enough heat internally to drive hydrothermal circulation under their seafloors. This heat is generated by radioactive decay, as occurs deep in the Earth, with additional heat possibly generated by tides.
June 24, 2024
UC Santa Cruz alumna receives prestigious Sundance Fellowship
Brenda Avila-Hanna, who finished her MFA in Social Documentary in 2013, has won a prestigious fellowship at Sundance as part of their Producer Program. Her new film which combines fiction and documentary is her second ever feature film.
June 20, 2024
Researchers run high-performing large language model on the energy needed to power a lightbulb
UC Santa Cruz researchers show that it is possible to eliminate the most computationally expensive element of running large language models, called matrix multiplication, while maintaining performance.
June 19, 2024
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience partners with BIMS to incorporate perspectives from Black marine scientists
Today, UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) and Black in Marine Science (BIMS) announce a formal partnership to meet shared aims to expand opportunities for Black scholars, particularly for understanding risks to coastal communities from climate change and identifying solutions that reduce these risks.
June 18, 2024
New public archives will share wisdom, artifacts from Dolores Huerta’s lifetime of successful social change leadership
UC Santa Cruz received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to help establish new public archives documenting the legacy of social justice activist Dolores Huerta, through a partnership with the Dolores Huerta Foundation. UCSC will hire a project archivist and two new postdoctoral scholars to support development of Huerta’s archives and to produce related research and education materials.
June 13, 2024
Ph.D. student leads effort to open Kosovo's first observatory
Earth’s newest observatory will open to the public on June 20, 2024, coinciding with the summer solstice, thanks in large part to a UC Santa Cruz student from Kosovo who discovered her love of astronomy as a child amidst the chaos of the country’s brutal war for independence over 20 years ago.
June 11, 2024
Kresge Presents PRIDE: 17th annual celebration of queer identity and community
On Saturday, May 11, 2024, the UC Santa Cruz community gathered to celebrate 17 years of recognizing and honoring queer identity and community at the annual Kresge Presents PRIDE march and festival. This student-led event, the largest annual queer gathering at UC Santa Cruz, showcases the university’s commitment to LGBTQIA+ visibility, dignity, and diversity.
June 10, 2024
The UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media Department celebrates 25 years
The Film and Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz proudly marks 25 years, celebrating a legacy of success and innovation.
June 07, 2024
Study offers guidance on state-of-the-art long-read RNA sequencing techniques
A new study evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the two leading long-read RNA sequencing platforms and offers guidance for the field.
May 30, 2024
Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope
An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the two earliest and most distant galaxies yet confirmed, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang.
May 30, 2024
The UC Santa Cruz Film and Digital Media Department presents: 'Echoes of Home'
To celebrate their achievements over the past two years the graduate film students are showcasing their works. The presentation at the Del Mar Theatre marks years of progress and the end of their time at University of California, Santa Cruz.
May 29, 2024
Researchers explain social media’s role in rapidly shifting social norms on gender and sexuality
A new paper by UC Santa Cruz psychologists describes how social media has supported an explosion of diversity in gender and sexuality in America by empowering authentic self-expression. However, these technologies have also equally enabled a cultural backlash.
May 24, 2024
New study discovers tiny target on RNA to short-circuit inflammation
UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered a peptide in human RNA that regulates inflammation and may provide a new path for treating diseases such as arthritis and lupus. The team used a screening process based on the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR to shed light on one of the biggest mysteries about our RNA.
May 24, 2024
Engaging faculty through partnership development with institutions abroad
In spring 2024, UC Santa Cruz faculty participated in three delegation visits to institutions in Mexico, the UK/Northern Ireland, and India to explore partnership opportunities.
May 23, 2024
New exoplanets catalog showcases diverse, exotic worlds
Our understanding of exoplanets, those strange worlds that orbit stars beyond our solar system, is now broader and deeper thanks to separate studies published this week featuring the work of researchers at UC Santa Cruz.
May 20, 2024
The UCSC Arts Division presents Los Mejicas annual Spring show ‘Grupo Folklorico’
As one of the oldest organizations on campus, Los Mejicas has over half a century of bringing people together to celebrate their Mexican heritage. Their upcoming annual spring show, which marks the 52nd anniversary of the groups existence, celebrates traditional dance forms from six different regions in Mexico.
May 17, 2024
Ukraine blackouts caused by malware attacks warn against evolving cybersecurity threats to the physical world
A new paper presents the first study of how two major malware attacks in Ukraine operated and interacted with the physical power system equipment to cause blackouts.
May 16, 2024
Sea otters use tools when feeding to survive a changing world
Sea otters are one of the few animals that use rocks and other objects to access their food, and a new study has found that individual sea otters that use tools—most of whom are female—can eat larger prey and reduce tooth damage when their preferred prey becomes depleted.
May 16, 2024
Francis Nimmo elected to prestigious fellowship of UK's Royal Society
Francis Nimmo, professor of earth and planetary sciences, has been named a fellow of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. The society announced today the election of 90 researchers from around the world as new fellows, citing their "invaluable contributions to science."
May 14, 2024
Stem cell study reveals distinct population of ‘troublemaker’ platelet cells that appear with aging and lead to blood clotting, disease
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Camilla Forsberg and her research group have discovered a distinct, secondary population of platelets that appears with aging and have hyperreactive behavior and unique molecular properties, which could make them easier to target with medication.
May 10, 2024
New study discovers cellular activity that hints recycling is in our DNA
Introns are perhaps one of our genome’s biggest mysteries. They are DNA sequences that interrupt the sensible protein-coding information in your genes, and need to be "spliced out.”
May 08, 2024
UCSC will lead a Regional Hub of the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Alliance: the Engineering PLUS Alliance to serve those underrepresented in STEM
The Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz has been selected to lead the inaugural Western regional hub for the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Alliance: the Engineering PLUS Alliance to serve underrepresented academics in engineering.
May 07, 2024
California State Board of Food and Agriculture visits campus
On April 30, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary Karen Ross and members of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture held their April Board meeting at the Hay Barn on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.
May 06, 2024
Improved nutrition, sanitation linked to beneficial changes in child stress and epigenetic programming
A new study led by a global-health researcher at UC Santa Cruz provides some of the clearest and most comprehensive evidence to date on what is known about stress physiology and “epigenetic programming.”
April 25, 2024
UC Santa Cruz students partner with community groups for a service-learning spring break
On March 23, fifteen students from UC Santa Cruz decided to redefine the essence of spring break. Opting out of traditional activities, they immersed themselves in a week-long critical service-learning experience, partnering with environmental and economic justice organizations in Watsonville as part of the Colleges Nine and John R. Lewis Alternative Spring Break program.
April 25, 2024
Anthropologists document how women and shepherds historically reduced wildfire risk in Central Italy
Fire management lessons from the past could help to improve resilience as the Mediterranean faces increased fire risk from climate change. UC Santa Cruz Anthropology Professor Andrew Mathews and his research partners show how traditional land management practices once dramatically reduced fuel for wildfires, and how these practices were forgotten, in part due to historical politics of classism and sexism.
April 22, 2024
UC Santa Cruz researchers’ tool creates ‘synthetic’ images of cells for enhanced microscopy analysis
UC Santa Cruz researchers have developed a method to use an image generation AI model to create realistic images of single cells, which are then used as “synthetic data” to train an AI model to better carry out single cell-segmentation.
April 22, 2024
New research center studies interconnections between urbanism and the environment, with a focus on lessons from the Santa Cruz region
The Center for Critical Urban and Environmental Studies tackles converging 21st Century urban and environmental crises—like climate change and housing affordability—to show how the pursuit of sustainability and social justice are often intertwined.
April 19, 2024
UC Santa Cruz scientists reveal new path to increasing lactation for nursing mothers
Scientists at UC Santa Cruz have discovered a cellular process in the breast that can increase milk production by pregnant women, revealing a potential path to addressing lactation insufficiency syndrome—the inability of a nursing mother to produce sufficient milk to meet their infant’s nutritional needs.
April 17, 2024
New grant supports UC Santa Cruz-led multi-UC campus effort to build network of open source program offices
A $1.85 million grant from the Sloan Foundation will serve to institutionalize the OSPO approach in the UC system by creating coordinated activities that support local campus OSPOs and building a network that can leverage multi-campus efforts.
April 17, 2024
UC Santa Cruz ‘Shadow the Scientists’ program honored for astronomical DEI efforts
A science-inclusion program based at UC Santa Cruz that has allowed thousands of school-age children, educators, and inquisitive individuals to look through world-class telescopes alongside trained astronomers has been honored for opening up scientific exploration to those from underrepresented backgrounds around the world.
April 11, 2024
New study finds potential targets at chromosome ends for degenerative disease prevention
Published online today in Science, a new study finds that telomere lengths follow a different pattern than has thus far been understood. Instead of telomere lengths falling under one general range of shortest to longest across all chromosomes, this study finds that different chromosomes have separate end-specific telomere-length distributions.
April 11, 2024
UC Santa Cruz researchers value salt marsh restoration as a crucial tool in flood risk reduction and climate resilience in the San Francisco Bay
Salt marsh restoration can mitigate flood risk and bolster community resilience to climate change in our local waterways, according to a recent study published in Nature by a postdoctoral fellow with UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR).
April 10, 2024
New diagnostic tool achieves accuracy of PCR tests with faster and simpler nanopore system
A new diagnostic tool developed by UCSC's Holger Schmidt and his collaborators can test for SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus with the same or better accuracy as high-precision PCR tests in a matter of hours.
April 09, 2024
Global social change leaders gather at UC Santa Cruz for Right Livelihood International Conference
From April 23 through 27, UC Santa Cruz will host social change leaders and student activists visiting from around the world for the Right Livelihood International Conference, which includes a series of public events and will launch a new international student network and international research partnerships.
April 04, 2024
First results from DESI make the most precise measurement of our expanding universe
We now have the largest 3-D map of our cosmos ever created, thanks to DESI—a powerful instrument mounted atop a telescope in Arizona with a robotic array of 5,000 fiber-optic “eyes” that look into the night sky.
April 04, 2024
Santa Cruz County youth aim to improve community mental health through better support for immigrants
A three-year partnership between UC Santa Cruz and United Way to empower young change-makers is wrapping up this spring, with youth leaders from across Santa Cruz County preparing to distribute resource kits for local immigrants.
April 03, 2024
UCSC ranked #12 among top public colleges for high-paying tech salaries in new Wall Street Journal list
New rankings from the Wall Street Journal and the Burning Glass Institute place UC Santa Cruz as the number 12 school for high-paying tech salaries.
March 26, 2024
New research reveals steps California must take to capture more jobs from lithium battery boom
A new study from the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Social Transformation, New Energy Nexus, and the UC Berkeley Labor Center demonstrates the need for strategic investments and policy approaches to encourage build-out of the lithium supply chain within California in an environmentally friendly and economically inclusive manner.
March 21, 2024
Research on understudied lung cancer drivers may improve treatments
Angela Brooks has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s prestigious R01 program to study how gene isoforms impact cancer progression and what treatments might be most effective or lead to drug resistance.
March 18, 2024
The Hindustani music concert featuring Uday Bhawalker accompanied by Sukhad Manik Munde
As a part of the (unofficially titled) Indian Music Series, University of California, Santa Cruz is welcoming Uday Bhawalkar to campus for a concert on Friday, April 12. The renowned vocalist will be performing Dhrupad music, one of the oldest musical genres in the Hindustani tradition.
March 08, 2024
Scientists find unexpected proteins in bacteria motors
A team of scientists, co-led by Karen Ottemann, a professor of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, recently found three unexpected proteins while studying the motors that power the flagella of a species called Helicobacter pylori. The proteins, which are normally found in another type of appendage on a separate group of bacteria, seem to exert control over the motion of the flagella. These proteins, known as PilN, PilO, and PilM, had never been found associated with a flagella before.
March 06, 2024
‘Digital twins’ project will help clean up space junk, repair and decommission spacecrafts
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ricardo Sanfelice and a team of researchers have been awarded $2.5M to model complex aerospace engineering problems.
March 06, 2024
UC Santa Cruz breaks records with increased applications for Fall 2024
The University of California, Santa Cruz has once again received a record number of applications highlighting the desirability of the educational experience the campus provides. Leading at the intersection of innovation and social justice, UC Santa Cruz is actively fostering a community of forward-thinkers committed to driving positive change. The campus draws a diverse and accomplished applicant pool, comprising scholars poised to catalyze positive change worldwide.
February 29, 2024
UC Santa Cruz-based center leads system-wide commitment to White House food security initiative
The Center for Economic Justice and Action (CEJA) at UC Santa Cruz will lead the University of California’s participation in the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities.
February 29, 2024
Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu launches her new book: "The Movies of Racial Childhoods"
To celebrate, Shimizu will be hosting a book launch on the University of California, Santa Cruz Campus at the Sesnon Gallery, where the book will be available for purchase from Two Birds Books. The book will be discussed in conversation with Shimizu and the Sesnon Gallery director Valeria Miranda.
February 27, 2024
Center for Research in Open Source Software welcomes James Davis as new faculty director
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering is the new faculty director of the Center for Research in Open Source Software (CROSS).
February 26, 2024
The UCSC Music Department presents "The World Making Aura of Sonic Blackness" with Moor Mother & James Gordon Williams
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the University of California, Santa Cruz Music Department presents a very special performance by guest artist Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and James Gordon Williams, assistant professor of music composition at UC Santa Cruz in the Recital Hall of the Music Center.
February 23, 2024
Scientists begin to crack open climate-change riddles hiding in ancient coral
An international team of researchers on an expedition co-led by UC Santa Cruz Professor Christina Ravelo collected cores of fossil coral off the coast of Hawai'i to look for signs of climate and sea-level change over the past half million years.
February 22, 2024
Stranger Things VR game co-written by UCSC’s Samantha Gorman launches in partnership with Netflix, Meta
A new virtual reality (VR) game set in the world of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things launches today — and UC Santa Cruz Assistant Teaching Professor of Computational Media Samantha Gorman is a key creative mind behind it as the game’s co-writer and narrative director.
February 20, 2024
Chemists use peptides from Alzheimer’s and Type II diabetes to describe five new rippled beta-sheets
Scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz, synthesized peptides from proteins associated with Alzheimer’s and Type II Diabetes and described five new rippled beta-sheet structures.
February 20, 2024
Community Voices Series event remembers Santa Cruz's fourth Chinatown
The second UC Santa Cruz Community Voices Series event featured a conversation between UC Santa Cruz Community Archivist Rebecca Hernandez and local philanthropist and developer George Ow Jr.
February 15, 2024
UC Santa Cruz earns national acclaim: awarded NAFSA’s 2024 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization
In recognition of excellence in internationalization efforts, the University of California, Santa Cruz has been selected to receive the prestigious 2024 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
February 14, 2024
Student Gabriella Goss wins $500 Alumni Leadership Award from Ecology Project International
Her project draws inspiration from her Ecology Project International (EPI) course experience in the Galapagos Islands, where she witnessed the thriving wildlife in an ecosystem largely spared from human interference. This prompted her to explore the negative impact of human activities on animal habitats, specifically focusing on the millions of animals killed annually by vehicles.
February 13, 2024
Protein designer awarded $2.5M to develop bioluminescent protein for deep tissue imaging
Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Andy Yeh was awarded a nearly $2.5 million grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to develop completely artificial enzymes that can produce bioluminescence in the body for deep tissue imaging.
February 13, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Physicist Joel Primack wins 2024 AAAS Abelson Prize
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded the prestigious 2024 Philip Hauge Abelson Prize to Joel R. Primack, distinguished professor of physics emeritus at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a key architect of the Cold Dark Matter theory.
February 12, 2024
Widespread machine learning methods behind ‘link prediction’ are performing very poorly, study shows
New research from UC Santa Cruz Professor of Computer Science and Engineering C. “Sesh” Seshadhri published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences establishes that the metric used to measure link prediction performance is missing crucial information, and link prediction tasks are performing significantly worse than popular literature indicates.
February 09, 2024
UCSC Central Asian Ensemble honors traditional Uzbek music with special guest master dutarist Rozibi Khodjaeva
UC Santa Cruz is home to the only Western dutar ensemble. They will be playing along with Rozibi Khodjaeva, a master dutar player who is visiting from her home in Uzbekistan. Under the instruction of associate music professor Tanya Merchant, the show will be a culmination of what her students have learned so far.
February 07, 2024
Bioelectronics enable precise control of organoids for better understanding of neuro diseases, neuron circuits
UC Santa Cruz researchers have developed a new plug-and-play bioelectronics system that enables researchers to precisely control neuronal activity in cortical organoids, which will help unlock new discoveries on how brains form neural circuits and the underpinnings of neurodevelopmental and degenerative diseases.
February 07, 2024
To plan a sustainable future for seafood access in small island developing states, researchers highlight solutions hiding in plain sight
To better understand how fisheries-based food systems might respond to change, a research team led by UCSC Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Katherine Seto took a deeper look at the strategies that people in the small island developing state of Kiribati currently use to access seafood.
February 06, 2024
Undergraduate Public Fellows Program connects humanities studies with real-world impact
The Humanities Institute's Public Fellows Program offers a mutually enriching opportunity for students to bring the humanities skills and knowledge they acquire in their university courses to diverse roles at non-profit organizations, museums, cultural institutions, and publishing venues.
February 06, 2024
Bryant Terry touts power of food and community at 2024 Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation
Food justice advocate, chef, and author Bryant Terry called on people to seek alternatives to the industrialized food system during his keynote address for UC Santa Cruz’s 40th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation.
January 30, 2024
Renowned Sitarist Nishat Khan playing at UC Santa Cruz
The classical Indian musician will play at Music Center Recital Hall along with tabla player Nitin Mitta. The two are internationally recognized musicians. We will be welcoming Khan back after he last played in 2015.
January 30, 2024
Music Professor Russell Rodriguez wins the Américo Paredes Prize
The American Folklore Society awarded UC Santa Cruz professor Russell Rodriguez the annual Paredes prize in recognition of his work in the arts with the local community and his contributions to folklore and tradition.
January 29, 2024
Do tree-planting campaigns follow best practices for successful forest restoration?
Environmental Studies Professor Karen Holl's latest research reviewed publicly available information to see if there have been improvements in recent years in whether tree-planting organizations apply best practices for successful reforestation.
January 24, 2024
National Endowment for the Humanities gives $60,000 award to two UCSC faculty members
The National Endowment for the Humanities included two UC Santa Cruz professors in their most recent round of grants and awards. Drs. Jennifer Derr and Stacy Kamehiro are using their newly awarded funding to continue in the projects that focus on diverse groups and global impacts.
January 22, 2024
Innovative PET technology will enable precise multitracer imaging of the brain
UC Santa Cruz Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Shiva Abbaszadeh is developing technology that will enable precise multitracer positron emission tomography imaging of the human body’s most complex organ with the support of a $4 million NIH grant.
January 22, 2024
Duke University Press publishes Arts Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s new book: The Movies of Racial Childhoods
UC Santa Cruz’s Dean of the Arts Division, award-winning filmmaker and author publishes her fourth sole-written book, exploring contemporary representations of Asian American youth.
January 18, 2024
UC Santa Cruz will lead development of next-generation telescope alignment system
The National Science Foundation recently awarded $3.9 million to researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz as the lead institution for the development of a next-gen telescope alignment system. The researchers will work with an international team to build and test systems in Santa Cruz and eventually install the final designs in seven telescopes at three ground-based observatory sites around the world.
January 18, 2024
Students search for hidden black hole activity
When stars get too close to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, the black holes shred them apart in a process called a tidal disruption event (TDE). These TDEs cause bright flashes, but recent models suggest that scientists should see more of them than have been observed.
January 17, 2024
Insights from UCSC-made COVID-19 tracking tool will guide the future of studying pathogens in real time
A new paper by a team of UCSC pathogen genomicists offers guidance for the future of web tools for tracking pathogen evolution.
January 16, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Humanities Division secures $1 million grant for Employing Humanities initiative
Investment from the Mellon Foundation will propel new program focused on experiential learning and career readiness for humanities students.
January 11, 2024
Training program helps prevent harassment in fieldwork environments
Fieldwork often puts researchers and students in remote environments that have unique challenges. The unusual setting of fieldwork can make sexual harassment and assault more likely, and it also calls for distinct approaches to prevent and respond to it. To address this systemic problem, University of Santa Cruz scientists developed a sexual harassment prevention and awareness training program specifically tailored to fieldwork environments.
January 08, 2024
Global study shows extreme short-term drought has even greater impacts on grasslands and shrublands than previously thought
UC Santa Cruz scientists supported a new global study showing that the effects of extreme short-term drought have been greatly underestimated for grasslands and shrublands.