Together we rise: a year in review

A look back at UC Santa Cruz achievements in 2019.

1.

Radical excellence

UC Santa Cruz was welcomed into the Association of American Universities. Membership—limited to the top echelon of research universities—provides the campus with opportunities to shape the future of higher education. The campus also debuted as the second best university in the country for social mobility, according to the 2020 U.S. News and World Report rankings.

2.

Self-driving cars: Fast-track to gridlock?

Self-driving cars will cruise to avoid paying to park, leading to nightmarish congestion, says transportation planner—meaning the time to make new transportation policy is now.

3.

Sound of silence

Teens who seek solitude may know what's best for them, research suggests.

4.

Astronomers make history in a split second

In a world first, an international team of astronomers determined the precise location of a powerful one-off burst of cosmic radio waves known as a fast radio burst.

5.

Plants don’t think, they grow

If a tree falls, and no one’s there to hear it, does it feel pain and loneliness? Nope, experts say.

6.

The art of writing software

Professor Warren Sack suggests an alternative history of computing that puts the arts at the center of software’s evolution.

7.

Serious about games

This fall the Baskin School of Engineering launched the first professional master’s degree program in serious games offered in the U.S.

8.

Youth activism is on the rise around the globe

Today's young leaders are working tirelessly for causes important to them, and adults should pay attention, says leading youth activism scholar Jessica Taft.

9.

Resistance, terror, and U.S. policy

In The Long Honduran Night, Honduras expert Dana Frank tells the dramatic story of life in that country after the 2009 military coup.

10.

Novel nanoprobes show promise for optical monitoring of neural activity

New approach for studying neural circuits offers advantages over both microelectrodes and fluorescence-based optical techniques that require genetic modifications