January 2019 News Archive

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Mean streets: Self-driving cars will "cruise" to avoid paying to park

If you think traffic in city centers is bad now, just wait until self-driving cars emerge on the scene, cruising around to avoid paying hefty downtown parking

Study of brine discharge from desalination plant finds good news and bad news

Brine discharged from the Carlsbad Desalination Plant raises offshore salinity levels more than permitted, but researchers found no direct local impacts on sea

Mathematician Dan Cristofaro‑Gardiner wins IAS von Neumann Fellowship

Dan Cristofaro‑Gardiner, assistant professor of mathematics at UC Santa Cruz, has been awarded a prestigious von Neumann Fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study in

Jody Greene and Mary Beth Pudup named to inaugural board of UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement

UC Santa Cruz professors Jody Greene and Mary Beth Pudup are among 19 leading University of California scholars who have been named to the inaugural academic advisory board

Fentanyl makes its way to California

Many of you have read news headlines regarding fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has become a growing public health crisis in cities across the United States.

An unburied dream

It took professor emeritus Paul Skenazy many years to say, "I want to be a fiction writer." Now he's won a prestigious literary prize for his fiction debut,

Why beaked whales return to Navy sonar range despite frequent disturbance

A new study using underwater robots reveals dense patches of deep-sea squid attract beaked whales to a Navy sonar test range off Southern

MaNGA data release includes detailed maps of thousands of nearby galaxies

Major data release from Sloan Digital Sky Survey includes galaxy maps, new data access and visualization tools, and a huge 'stellar

Mentoring for a new millennium

Until recently, higher education faculty and staff were largely left to intuit the qualities of a good mentor or to replicate the mentoring habits–skillful or unskillful–that they themselves experienced as undergraduates, graduate students, or postdoctoral researchers.

UC Santa Cruz builds strong transfer, frosh applicant pool

The campus marked the first step toward building the Classes of 2021 (transfer) and 2023 (first-time), receiving 67,262 applications for fall 2019 enrollment.

Madeleine Albright in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning UCSC alumna Martha Mendoza on Feb. 5

Madeleine Albright, the first United States female Secretary of State, will speak about her new book, "Fascism: A Warning"--in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and UC Santa Cruz

Family support group sessions starting Wednesday

Formal Review-Employee Comment PPSM 63 Investigatory Leave

The University of California is proposing revisions to PPSM 63 - Investigatory Leave, which applies to all staff employees who are Professional & Support Staff, Managers & Senior Professionals, and Senior Management Group members.

'What refugees taught me about Shakespeare'

On Jan. 31, New York theater director Jessica Bauman will come to campus for a special evening at Kresge Town Hall titled 'What Refugees Taught Me About Shakespeare.'

Engineer Ali Yanik wins National Science Foundation CAREER Award

Grant will support Yanik's research into phononic metamaterials and their use in acousto-microfluidic technologies for biomedical

Art professor receives 2019 Creative Capital Award plus SFFILM artist residency for new documentary film

UC Santa Cruz professor of art Dee Hibbert-Jones has received a 2019 Creative Capital Award for "Run With It," a feature-length animated documentary film she is currently working

Gov. Newsom appoints UCSC alumna Kris Perry to key post

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed UC Santa Cruz alumna Kris Perry, a nationally recognized advocate for children, to a key post in his new

Enhancing campus internationalization

The American Council on Education (ACE) Internationalization Lab is off to a great start and steadily progressing. This effort will support the development of comprehensive internationalization strategies for our campus with the goal of integrating global perspectives in all areas of teaching, research, and scholarship, and leveraging the possibilities to move forward the Strategic Academic Plan.

Community dialogue on proposed changes to Title IX

Bay Tree Bookstore mail kiosk to be removed

The campus vendor providing the mail kiosk is exiting the postal kiosk business and no suitable vendor has been found to replace it. The

In Memoriam: John Mortenson

Questions That Matter public humanities series to spotlight ‘Data and Democracy’ at Kuumbwa Center

The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz will present "Data and Democracy"—the fifth installment of its signature Questions That Matter series—on Tuesday, January 29, at Kuumbwa Jazz

Waves in Saturn's rings give precise measurement of planet's rotation rate

Saturn's ring system acts as a sensitive seismograph, enabling scientists to measure the giant planet's vibrations and determine its rotation

Planetary scientist Francis Nimmo honored by Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has awarded the 2019 Harold Jeffreys Lectureship to Francis Nimmo, professor of Earth and planetary science at UC Santa Cruz.

In Memoriam: Arnold Klemola (1931–2019)

Arnold Klemola, a long-time staff researcher at UC Observatories, passed away on January 5, 2019. He was

Scientists to inaugurate a new type of gamma ray telescope at Whipple Observatory

The prototype Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (pSCT) is designed as a pathfinder telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope

Grad student working to advance Beyond Compliance initiative

Across the world, graduate student Alison Hanson has focused on preventing and responding to sexual violence. She's now bringing her expertise to UC Santa Cruz, where she's part

Idled farmland presents habitat restoration opportunities in San Joaquin Desert

Land no longer suitable for agriculture could be reclaimed as habitat for dozens of endangered species, according to a new

Seed-funding innovation

The UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board of Trustees seeks interesting new projects to

Janet Yellen: Honoring a living legend

Janet Yellen, widely regarded as one of the most successful Federal Reserve chairs in history, will receive the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Medal at a ceremony in Menlo

Upper-ocean warming is changing the global wave climate, making waves stronger

The energy in ocean waves has been increasing as a consequence of climate change, according to a new

2019 commencement schedule announced with new ticketing requirement

The 2019 commencement schedule has been released. Commencement weekend is an exciting celebration for our students and their friends and family.

In Memoriam: Sree Divya Alla

Divya passed away on Saturday, January 5, 2019. She was a vibrant member of our communities here at Colleges Nine and Ten. Please join us in expressing our deep condolences to Divya's family and friends.

Email Scam Targeting Students

The UC Santa Cruz Police Department has been notified of an email scam being perpetrated on students from someone saying they need to hire a student as a personal assistant. In the scam, a person identifying himself as Marcus Paredes is posing as a doctor who helps people with disabilities.

Improving the Strategic Academic Plan

The campus community is invited to a town hall on Friday to learn more about the reworked Strategic Academic Plan document.

In Memoriam: Cameron Poole

Cameron Poole, a junior at the university and a Kresge College student, died Jan. 8.

Cal Fire planning pile burns along Empire Grade

Cal Fire has advised campus officials that state fire crews in the coming weeks will begin burning vegetation piles they have assembled along Empire Grade. Conditions were too wet for burnling last week. However, the burns could start as early as this week, providing it is a permissive burn day.

Darrell Long to serve as strategic faculty advisor for Baskin School of Engineering

Alexander Wolf, dean of the Baskin School of Engineering, has appointed Long to serve as a strategic faculty advisor for the

Professor honored by Linguistic Society of America for decades of work on endangered languages

UC Santa Cruz emeritus professor of linguistics Judith Aissen was awarded the prestigious Kenneth L. Hale Award last week in New York City at the 2019 Annual Meeting

Regents to discuss Student Housing West next week

CruzHacks 2019 to be held at Stevenson Event Center January 18 to 20

With CruzHacks 2019 shaping up to be the biggest and most diverse UCSC hackathon yet, openings are still available for judges and

Biologist Jeremy Sanford awarded prestigious $1.85 million grant from NIH

MIRA grant funds Sanford to extend his studies of the mechanisms of RNA processing and RNA-binding proteins, which are involved in inherited diseases and

SAB blood drive on Jan. 30

Institute of Arts and Sciences to present talk by politically provocative artist Glenn Ligon

Glenn Ligon is perhaps best known for his landmark series of text-based paintings, which draw on the words of such diverse figures as Richard Pryor, Zora Neale Hurston,

In Memoriam: Shane Sanchez

Crown College CRE Shane Sanchez passed away during the winter break. He was a member of the CHES family since 2005, working with graduate student housing, the University Town Center, and joining the Crown/Merrill family in 2011 as the CRE for the Crown apartments.

UC Santa Cruz historian and founding faculty member John Dizikes dies at 86

John Dizikes, a professor emeritus of American Studies and a founding member of the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, died at his home in Santa

News about founding faculty member John Dizikes

John Dizikes, a founding UC Santa Cruz faculty member who helped establish this campus as a student-focused institution, died Dec. 26 at his home in Santa Cruz.

Partial shutdown of federal government

As I’m sure you know, the federal government is undergoing a partial shutdown. While approximately three-quarters of the government remains funded, significant portions including many federal research agencies are impacted.

Cal Fire planning pile burns along Empire Grade

Cal Fire has advised campus officials that state fire crews in the coming weeks will begin burning vegetation piles they have assembled along Empire Grade. The burns could start as early as this week, providing it is a permissive burn day.

Videos from town halls available online

We have posted videos from the campus community’s Dec. 3 input sessions with members of the chancellor search advisory committee. Additionally, we have updated the frequently asked questions section on the website.

Blia Yang appointed director of undergraduate admissions

NSF funds innovative stable isotope equipment at UC Santa Cruz

The new equipment will support research across a wide range of disciplines, ranging from oceanography and earth science, paleontology, anthropology, ecology and fundamental biochemical cycle research.

The Department of Athletics & OPERS launches a new facility access and registration software

In order to provide the best possible experience for UC Santa Cruz students, faculty, staff, and the local community, the Department of Athletics & OPERS is launching new software. Wednesday, January 2, will be the first day operating with the new software.