Interdisciplinary

Steven Ritz stepping down after 10 years as director of particle physics institute

Jason Nielsen, professor of physics, will take over as director of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP) in the new year.

Research partnership explores bonds between mothers and nonspeaking autistic children

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz and the University of Virginia have been collaborating to better understand behaviors and beliefs that may strengthen relationships between mothers and children with nonspeaking autism.

National Academies report on sustainability education features UC Santa Cruz expertise

UC Santa Cruz professor Anne Kapuscinski chaired the committee that developed the report, and campus initiatives were highlighted within as examples of innovative sustainability education.

UCSC offers new M.F.A. degree program in Environmental Art and Social Practice

The UC Santa Cruz Art Department is now accepting applications for a new M.F.A. degree program in Environmental Art and Social Practice (EASP), set to begin in fall quarter of 2021.

AXA Chair at UC Santa Cruz funds efforts to build coastal resilience naturally

Marine scientist Michael Beck was awarded the chair to support his work on natural defenses to enhance coastal resilience to flooding, erosion, and sea level rise.

UCSC iGEM team wins gold, nominated for best environmental project

Thirteen undergraduates were recognized for their research accomplishments at the world’s largest competition in synthetic biology.

'Living in a Frayed Democracy': Ethics lecture to feature noted alumnus Ezra Klein

UC Santa Cruz will present "Living in a Frayed Democracy," a trans-Atlantic public dialogue, featuring noted UCSC alumnus and journalist Ezra Klein and London political economist William Davies, as part of the Humanities Division’s Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture Series on Dec. 5.

Radioactive elements may be crucial to the habitability of rocky planets

Earth-size planets can have varying amounts of radioactive elements, which generate internal heat that drives a planet’s geological activity and magnetism.

Arts professor micha cárdenas wins IndieCade Award for climate art game

Sin Sol (No Sun), an art game by UCSC assistant professor of Art & Design: Games and Playable Media, micha cárdenas, has won the Impact Award at the 2020 IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games.

Doctoral candidate wins Switzer Fellowship for environmental justice research in El Salvador

James Alejandro Artiga-Purcell, a Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Studies, was recently selected for the 2020 Switzer Environmental Fellowship as part of a cohort of 20 top scholar-activists from around the country.

‘Visualizing Abolition’ series kicks off with conversation featuring Angela Davis and Gina Dent

The UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences has joined forces with associate feminist studies professor Gina Dent to offer a year-long online series featuring artists, activists, scholars, and lawyers united by their commitment to the struggle for prison abolition.

Challenging how we see the prison-industrial complex

An ambitious two-part exhibit, titled Barring Freedom and Visualizing Abolition, organized by the UC Santa Cruz Institute of the Arts and Sciences, combines art and activism to address prison and policing issues.

10-screen film installation and photo exhibition by professor Isaac Julien opens at McEvoy Arts

The McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco will present the West Coast debut of 'Lessons of the Hour,' a moving image and photography exhibition about the life of Frederick Douglass by British filmmaker, installation artist, and UC Santa Cruz professor of the arts, Isaac Julien.

LALS doctoral candidate Candy Martínez awarded Native American Scholars Initiative Fellowship

Candy Martínez, a PhD. candidate in Latin America Latino Studies, has been named a 2020-2021 Andrew W. Mellon Native American Scholars Initiative Fellow at the American Philosophical Society.

The global land rush

In her new book, 'Fields of Gold, Financing the Global Land Rush,' Madeleine Fairbairn looks at forces and players that have transformed farmland into a novel financial asset class.

John R. Lewis College: Providing the tools to stand up against injustice and create change

John R. Lewis College students take on social justice issues while pushing for positive growth and progress in society.

History professor Eric Porter examines musical improvisation as a response to crisis

"Playing for Keeps: Improvisation in the Aftermath" is an exploration of the various ways that musical improvisation can be used as a method for responding to crisis and dealing with trauma and stress.

UCSC partners with CSUMB for postdoctoral training and mentorship program

A $4.2 million NIH grant to UCSC’s Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells is funding an innovative program to address underrepresentation of minorities in biomedical faculty.

College Nine: Embracing world cultures and developing tomorrow’s leaders

College Nine encourages students to take part in experiential learning opportunities and inspires them to become global citizens.

Sparking girls’ interest in computing through ‘social wearables’

NSF grant funds development of a summer camp for middle school girls focused on designing wearable technologies to support social interactions in role-playing games.

Humanities Institute and Cabrillo Festival to celebrate fight for equal voting rights

The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz has teamed up with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and Bookshop Santa Cruz to present "Celebrating Woman Suffrage and the Struggle for Voting Rights"—a live Zoom panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Virtual Dickens Universe to spotlight link between Victorian and African American studies

For nearly four decades, the Dickens Project at UC Santa Cruz—the largest multi-campus consortium on Victorian studies in the world—has presented the Dickens Universe, a week of intense study and festivities among the redwoods. But this year, due to the pandemic, it will instead be hosting a weeklong "Virtual Dickens Universe."

CITRIS UCSC funds new pandemic-related research projects

The campus seed funding program is providing $40K grants for three new projects to address the challenges of COVID-19.

Merrill College: Embracing individuality and cultural identities

Merrill College values diversity, inclusion, and experiential learning.

UCSC collaborates with Santa Cruz Shakespeare for virtual Shakespeare Summer Series

The Humanities Institute and Shakespeare Workshop at UC Santa Cruz are joining forces with Santa Cruz Shakespeare to present their first virtual Shakespeare Summer Series.

UC COVID-19 seed funding supports UCSC coronavirus genome browser

The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute’s Genome Browser Team has received UC seed funding for its work on the UCSC Genome Browser for SARS-CoV-2.

Give revolution a chance

History of Consciousness Professor Massimiliano Tomba's prestigious Princeton University fellowship will enable him to spend the next year advancing his reinterpretation of the concept of revolution

NOAA funds new Cooperative Institute for Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Systems

CIMEAS supports the ongoing collaboration between UC Santa Cruz and the National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Emerald predators: Ohlone tiger beetles reclaim territory with the help of local scientists

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists released 43 Ohlone tiger beetles to a new home in Santa Cruz County earlier this year with the help of UC Santa Cruz students and reserve managers

Cowell College: Blazing the trail to lifelong learning

UC Santa Cruz’s first college prides itself on academic rigor and the spirit of community, living up to its motto: “The pursuit of truth in the company of friends.”

Double fellowships

History of Consciousness Associate Professor Banu Bargu will use two fellowships to complete her book on human bodies, violence and political expression

UC Santa Cruz diagnostic lab to begin coronavirus testing May 1

The UCSC Molecular Diagnostic Lab will be conducting tests for coronavirus infections for the Student Health Center and local medical providers.

Agroecology major available this fall

Beginning this fall, students will have an opportunity to enroll in a new agroecology major, an interdisciplinary program housed in the Environmental Studies Department.

Planetary scientist Myriam Telus wins NASA Early Career Award

Myriam Telus, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences, has received funding from NASA through the Planetary Science Early Career Award program to support her research in cosmochemistry, the chemical analysis of extraterrestrial materials.

New program advances global and community health

As countries across the globe fight the coronavirus pandemic, UC Santa Cruz is creating a new program that will prepare students and provide research to solve current and future global health problems.

UCSC researchers are taking on the coronavirus challenge on multiple fronts

From developing diagnostic tests to conducting surveys of infection prevalence, campus researchers are doing what they can in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UC Santa Cruz campus was ready for its close-up

Producers of 'Devs,' the new sci-fi thriller that premiered March 5 on Hulu, were looking for just the right location to depict a high-tech corporate campus with a tinge of dystopia. It needed to look like Northern California — sort of Silicon Valley-ish — and it needed to say science and tech. UC Santa Cruz was the right place at the right time.

UCSC thin-film expertise to help develop NASA’s next generation of space telescopes

Engineer Nobuhiko Kobayashi's expertise in thin-film technology could improve the performance of NASA’s next generation of space telescopes.

Astronomers use slime mold model to reveal dark threads of the cosmic web

The problem-solving prowess of a simple slime mold has been harnessed to trace the large-scale structure of the universe.

Elaine Sullivan uses 3D technologies to peel away the layers of history

A new "born-digital" publication by UC Santa Cruz associate history professor Elaine Sullivan takes a fresh look at the ancient Egyptian burial site of Saqqara to demonstrate how it has evolved over more than 2,500 years.

Presentation on zombie insects wins Grad Slam top award

UC Santa Cruz leads collaboration to speed wound healing with a novel smart bandage

With up to $16 million in funding from DARPA, UC Santa Cruz engineers will work with doctors and scientists at UC Davis and Tufts University to develop bioelectronic intelligent control of wound regeneration.

UC Santa Cruz joins national "tech for social good" network

UC Santa Cruz has been accepted into a new national network of colleges and universities that have made an explicit commitment to developing technology that will advance the public interest.

Aquaculture to benefit people and the environment

Two graduate students have received a one-year, $150,000 grant to create environmentally sound seaweed and sea cucumber farms on the coasts of Kenya and The Gambia.

Norris Center aims to inspire naturalists across campus

Jessica Correa has loved insects since she was a little girl. Today she is an instructor with the Bird School Project. The Norris Center for Natural History gave her the support that launched her career in environmental education.

Art professor’s exhibition in Spain addresses algae and climate change

UC Santa Cruz art professor Jennifer Parker believes that algae are an “unsung hero of the planet”--noting that these photosynthetic organisms produce one half of the total global oxygen, while absorbing one third of the carbon dioxide produced worldwide...

Using isotopes to reconstruct life histories within the transatlantic slave trade

Four hundred years after the displacement of millions of Africans began, anthropologist Vicky Oelze wants to use isotope biogeochemistry to trace back and identify the origins of individuals who were abducted and perished in the Americas.

Humanities Institute launches new ‘Deep Read’ initiative with spotlight on Margaret Atwood

The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz has launched “The Deep Read,” a new initiative that invites the campus—and the community at large—to take a deep dive into literature, art, and the most pressing issues of the day.

UCSC taking art/science LASER talk series downtown for special evening at Rio Theater

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences will bring its local LASER—now in its seventh year of quarterly talks on campus—downtown for a special evening at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, beginning at 7 p.m.

The power of research

Wilfrido Hernández Flores discovered social science research in the Culture and Achievement Collaborative, and it changed his life

Breaking down barriers to success

First-gen student Reina Garay-Solis is doing undergraduate research to help identify common challenges for first-gen and underrepresented students and find effective institutional practices to address them