Prospective Student News
- November 01, 2024
Legacy of helping minoritized students thrive in STEM careers faces uncertain future
If ultimately fully funded, the MPC2SC Program will start by identifying 10 students at the community college during their freshman year. They will then be guided through a targeted curriculum that will prepare them to transfer to UC Santa Cruz the fall of their junior year.
- November 01, 2024
Distinguished leaders join inaugural Chancellor’s Advisory Board
With a goal of advancing the mission of UC Santa Cruz and broadening the university’s impact, Chancellor Cynthia Larive has announced the formation of an external Chancellor's Advisory Board.
- 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
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
Modern politics reexamined through classic play ‘Inspector General’
Michael Chemers’, a professor of Performance Play and Design and chair of the department at University of California, Santa Cruz, most recent project adapts The Inspector General, a Russian play by Nikolai Gogol which criticized 19th century Russian politics, for a contemporary audience. The show will open on November 15 and runs through November 24 at the Theater Arts Mainstage on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus
- 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 21, 2024
David Lee appointed inaugural Director of Research Pathways for Baskin Engineering
To increase undergraduates’ engagement with research opportunities within the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, Assistant Professor of Computational Media David Lee has been appointed as the school’s inaugural Director of Research Pathways
- 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 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 10, 2024
UC Santa Cruz and Hartnell College awarded grant to strengthen transfer pathway for Central Coast students
UC Santa Cruz and Hartnell College have long shared a commitment to empowering students from California’s Central Coast to achieve their educational and career goals. Now, thanks to a two-year, $250,000 American Talent Initiative (ATI) IDEAS Grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the two institutions will strengthen that partnership and expand opportunities for students.
- 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
New AI-driven multimedia lab bridges art and technology
This year the UC Santa Cruz Art Division is introducing a state-of-the-art AI multimedia lab. The Ai Art Augmentation and Acceleration Lab, also known as A4, is aimed at assisting students across the Arts Division and includes $50,000 dollars worth of state-of-the-art equipment.
- 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
2025 CITRIS CIDER Pilot Training Program open for applications
The application period for the UC Santa Cruz CIDER Pilot Training Program is open through Nov. 4. In late November, 35 students will be selected to participate in an immersive experiential learning program centered around the use of drones and their application.
- 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 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.
- October 01, 2024
Students fired up for Downtown Day
As the fall 2024 quarter begins, students wrapped up Welcome Week with Downtown Day, presented by campus and business leaders to connect students with downtown Santa Cruz businesses and job opportunities.
- 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
New initiatives to strengthen campus climate, combat hate
With funding from the UC Office of the President, UC Santa Cruz will be offering additional mental health resources, community-building events, educational programming, professional development, and opportunities to share feedback to improve its campus climate.
- 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 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 17, 2024
UC Santa Cruz celebrates 60 years of leading change
Founded in 1965, the campus is preparing to mark six decades of educational excellence, groundbreaking teaching and research, and lasting accomplishments in 2025, while looking with anticipation toward an ascendant future.
- September 17, 2024
UC Santa Cruz celebrates National Postdoc Appreciation Week
Postdoctoral scholars at UC Santa Cruz participate in cutting-edge research while in this ultimate phase of their academic training. Many are preparing to enter the academy, while some are preparing for non-academic careers or professions that merge the two domains.
- 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 16, 2024
Election forum series to foster dialogue and empower students for active democratic participation
This fall, the University of California, Santa Cruz will host the 2024 U.S. Elections Forum Series: Power, Politics, and Our Democracy, a six-part event series designed to foster open dialogue and engage students and the public in critical conversations about democracy, media, and voter participation.
- September 13, 2024
UC Santa Cruz receives funding to continue undergraduate STEM diversity program
UC Santa Cruz has secured funding to support 100 students in completing bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) through the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP)—a program that has helped more than 300 students from historically underrepresented backgrounds earn undergraduate STEM degrees from the university over the past two decades.
- 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.
- September 10, 2024
Estimated $20 million gift to UC Santa Cruz for undergraduate scholarships to support educational excellence, access
The late Richard “Rick” Sabatte (Kresge ’75, psychology) established a scholarship fund that will provide full four-year scholarships and living expenses to hundreds of student-scholars with demonstrated financial need over the next three decades.
- September 10, 2024
New book explores the limits of technology in addressing food system problems
A new book from UC Santa Cruz Professor Julie Guthman warns that technological solutions are no match for structural problems in our food system. She hopes the book will help more people realize that we need to respond to these problems with social action.
- 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 26, 2024
Distinguished Arts and History of Consciousness Professor Sir Isaac Julien elected as a Fellow of the British Academy
Sir Isaac Julien, University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Professor of the Arts and Humanities, has been named a Fellow of the British Academy, joining a prestigious group whose past members include Sir Winston Churchill and the celebrated poet and playwright Seamus Haney.
- 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 14, 2024
New internship program gives high school students a hands-on education in art
A first for high school students in Santa Cruz County, the Institute for Arts & Sciences just wrapped up its inaugural youth program, Art For All. Funded by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation,The program brings together high school juniors and seniors from around the Santa Cruz area to give them a hands-on, behind-the scenes look at cultural spaces and exhibition curation.
- 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 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 18, 2024
UC Santa Cruz colleges awarded planning grant from Teagle Foundation
The UC Santa Cruz colleges have been awarded a $25,000 planning grant from the Teagle Foundation to enhance liberal education for all students using equity-minded, high-impact practices. Specifically, the project will develop a common reading list of transformative texts and common experiences that all UC Santa Cruz first-year students will share.
- 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 12, 2024
Researchers win best paper award for introducing new AI method for minimum-effort materials engineering
UC Santa Cruz researchers devised a new method for materials engineering that incorporates novel mathematical and deep learning techniques which won them the prestigious 2024 O. Hugo Schuck Best Application Paper Award from the American Automatic Control Council.
- July 12, 2024
Students across the region invited to help shape the future of semiconductors
As AI weaves itself into more areas of life, scientists and engineers at UC Santa Cruz have come together to develop a better component that serves as the "neuron" in brain-inspired computing. The imperative to make such processing much more energy efficient, and faster, means that those who can design and build these next-generation devices will be in high demand on the job market.
- 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.
- July 02, 2024
Iconic concert film ‘Stop Making Sense’ playing at the Quarry Amphitheater
Of the many iconic figures who’ve come to Kresge Hall, none seem to be remembered as widely or as fondly as Talking Heads. Their 1977 performance and its history is what, in-part, led Jose Reyes-Olivas, the events and facilities general manager of the Quarry Amphitheater, to host a showing of the bands 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense.
- June 26, 2024
EmpowHer Sound: A seminar to help pave the way for women in music
UC Santa Cruz will be hosting EmpowHer Sound, a three hour exploration of a music production for women. The July 11 event is free for everyone. As an introductory course audience members will learn basic skills and tools to help that on their career journey in music.
- 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 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 12, 2024
Fort Ord reserve inspires youth to consider careers in natural science, conservation
As the only full-time staff member at UC Santa Cruz's Fort Ord Natural Reserve, Director Joe Miller doesn't need to create more work for himself. And yet, he's managed to do just that by successfully partnering with a nearby charter high school that brings students onto the 610-acre property to teach them about local natural history and introduce them to career pathways in natural science and conservation.
- 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 03, 2024
The print sale celebrates its 50th anniversary
The Art Department is celebrating the 50th anniversary of UC Santa Cruz’s annual print sale. The widely beloved event features unique, handmade works and it is open to the public.
- 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
Fashion, community, and academics: First-gen student Izzy Zazueta’s path to graduation
Izzy Zazueta (John R. Lewis ’24, politics), a third year, dean’s honors, and first-generation student, will graduate from UCSC with extensive research experience, involvement with nearly a dozen organizations, and will be attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Sociology Ph.D. program.
- May 29, 2024
First-gen student Renata Lopez reflects on community, career, and graduation
First-generation student Renata Lopez (Oakes ‘24, computer science) talks about finding her community with Chicanx and Latinx Resource Center, El Centro, and post-graduation plans.
- 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
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
Student Kristi Truong finds home in UCSC’s soccer program
Kristi Truong (Stevenson ’26, global community health) played soccer since she was seven years old. When choosing where to attend college, she overcame pressures to attend a school with a D1 program, and chose UC Santa Cruz.
- May 15, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents "Iolanthe"
Iolanthe may not be Gilbert & Sullivan’s best known work but according to music lecturer Sheila Willey “I actually think the music is more interesting and a little bit more sophisticated, but not less accessible,” than their other productions. The upcoming performance of the operetta at UC Santa Cruz marks the first time in five years the music department has put on a Gilbert & Sullivan show since they did Pirates of Penzance in 2019.
- May 15, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division Presents 'Find Your Path!'
Find Your Path! is a two-day experience that guides students through potential career pathways through both in person and online events.
- 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
$1M grant to help prepare students for impactful careers in the arts
The UCSC entity Moving Image Lab, a new partnership between the Isaac Julien Lab and The Humanities Institute, will receive the prestigious Mellon Foundation funding that will provide the hands-on experience and career-building training in production, curation, and research and publication that distinguishes this project.
- 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 07, 2024
UC Santa Cruz continues to pursue ambitious plan to increase student housing by 40 percent by 2030
Within walking distance to other UC Santa Cruz facilities and direct bus routes to the residential campus, the Delaware Avenue project will provide housing for about 400 upper-division undergraduate students and more than 60 employees.
- 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 23, 2024
UC Santa Cruz physics department honored for improving undergraduate experience
The Physics Department has been honored by the American Physical Society (APS) for improving undergraduate physics education. At its April meeting, APS announced UC Santa Cruz as one of just three universities nationwide whose physics departments share in this year’s award.
- 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 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 17, 2024
Slug 48: The new 48 hour film challenge for students
The Department of Film and Digital Media is introducing the first event of its kind, Slug 48. Participating undergraduates will have 48 hours to create a film from start to finish including script writing, filming, and post production. Students can participate in groups or sign up alone, it all starts this Friday April 19.
- April 16, 2024
Arts Division alumnus and artist, Fritz Chesnut, teaches art workshop for students
Recently, the University of California, Santa Cruz Arts Division hosted a workshop with alumnus and noted artist Fritz Chesnut. For three days Chesnut worked with a group of Art students teaching them a technique for applying paint distinctively to canvas using unexpected tools and materials as a new mode of creating abstract art.
- April 11, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Digital Arts and New Media program presents the 2024 MFA exhibition: "Embodiments"
The Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) program is showcasing the students’ best work in its annual MFA exhibition. Entitled Embodiments, the show features multimedia exhibits including visual novels, games and virtual reality as explorations into identity.
- April 11, 2024
Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organelle
In two recent papers, an international team led by UC Santa Cruz scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell. The organelle is the fourth example in history of primary endosymbiosis — the process by which a prokaryotic cell is engulfed by a eukaryotic cell and evolves beyond symbiosis into an organelle.
- April 11, 2024
Embracing identity: Tchad Sanger's advocacy and leadership at UC Santa Cruz
Tchad Sanger, UC Santa Cruz university registrar and alum, found his identity and purpose on campus. Now, he's an advocate for student rights and inclusivity. His journey from student to administrative leader reflects his commitment to the university's mission.
- 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 10, 2024
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents “Search Party”
The Environmental Art & Social Practice (EASP) MFA looks at the intersection of the arts in terms of climate change and other systemic conflicts. This year’s MFA show is the second ever and features work from seven artists.
- April 09, 2024
Art of hope: Celebrating the teaching and activism of Corita Kent
The latest exhibition at Cowell College’s Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, "A Sign of Hope: The Art and Teaching of Corita Kent," reintroduces an artist who challenged societal norms and championed hope and love.
- 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 05, 2024
Ph.D. student takes gut-wrenching research to the stage
Natalie Pedicino, a Ph.D. student in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, will bolt up to San Francisco on May 3 to distill her past three years of research into a three-minute lightning talk that will test her stage presence and science-communication skills.
- 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 21, 2024
Kat Gutierrez wins LEAD California's 2024 Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement
In acknowledgment of her dedication to community engagement, LEAD California awarded Kat Gutierrez, assistant professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the prestigious 2024 Richard E. Cone Award for Emerging Leaders in Community Engagement.
- March 20, 2024
Diana Hernandez: From Hartnell College to UC Santa Cruz
Meet Diana Hernandez, a student parent who transferred to UC Santa Cruz from Hartnell College. Diana is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in literature, psychology, and Latin American and Latino Studies. In this Q&A, she discusses how she balances academics and parenting while staying involved in research and the Student Parent Organization on campus.
- March 18, 2024
April in Santa Cruz Creative Music and Arts Festival 2024: "A Time For Change"
The annual month-long celebration of the arts is back at UC Santa Cruz. There will be a dozen performances by talented professionals in art forms including dance, animation and much more.
- March 14, 2024
Equity, civic-mindedness drive UC Santa Cruz’s Global and Community Health Program
Many of UC Santa Cruz’s core values are embodied in the Global and Community Health Program, which draws students who seek to study real-world problems encountered locally and worldwide, preparing them for a career in health care, policy, research or advocacy.
- 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 08, 2024
Industrial fishing poses greater risk to marine life due to untracked activity, UC Santa Cruz researchers find
A new study led by a scientist at UC Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences finds that blue whales, tunas, and other top predators in the northeast Pacific Ocean face greater risk of harm from industrial fishing than previously thought.
- 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 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 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 22, 2024
Kimberly Lau appointed provost of College Nine and John R. Lewis College
The Division of Social Sciences has selected Literature Professor Kimberly Lau as the new provost of College Nine and John R. Lewis College.
- February 20, 2024
Net wins
The UC Santa Cruz table tennis team, an informal group formed only in 2022, quickly began finding success at tournaments—but its biggest wins may be the community, friendship, and leadership skills the team has built along the way.
- 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
Legal Studies major Lauren Elscott found her passion with music and events on campus
Lauren Elscott is senior in the legal studies program whose true passion lies in music and events. At UC Santa Cruz she discovered the electronic music minor and how to be involved on campus.
- February 14, 2024
Slugs in love: Celebrating love stories from UCSC alumni
Fourteen alumni share how they found love as students at UC Santa Cruz.
- 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
The UCSC’s African American Theater Arts Troupe presents Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage
Light-hearted comedy captures the struggles of the formerly incarcerated staff as they hope for a better life
- 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
UC Santa Cruz Summer Session offers exclusive tuition discount to California Community College students
UC Santa Cruz Summer Session is launching a new 50 percent per-credit Summer Session tuition discount exclusively for California Community College students.
- 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
A new cohort of drone pilot students start in the 2024 CIDER Drone Pilot Training Program
The CITRIS Initiative for Drone Education and Research (CIDER) welcomed its 2024 Drone Pilot Training Program cohort in an orientation session on January 8.
- January 30, 2024
2023-24 CITRIS UC Santa Cruz Tech for Social Good Program's student project teams kick off
The 2023-24 CITRIS Tech for Social Good program at UC Santa Cruz started in January with kick-off meetings with the winning technology development track teams.
- 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 23, 2024
Renowned chef, food activist Bryant Terry to deliver keynote address at 40th Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation
Acclaimed chef, author, and food justice advocate Bryant Terry will deliver the keynote address at UC Santa Cruz’s 40th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation. The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Doors open at 6 p.m.
- 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
Terrie Williams honored with 2024 National Academy of Sciences Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal
The National Academy of Sciences will honor 20 individuals with awards recognizing their extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide range of fields spanning the physical, biological, social, and medical sciences. Among the esteemed awardees is Terrie M. Williams, a comparative ecophysiologist from the University of California, Santa Cruz, who will be honored with the 2024 NAS Award in the Evolution of Earth and Life - Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal.
- 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 17, 2024
STEM Education Central Coast Conference connects teachers with each other and a wealth of local resources
UC Santa Cruz faculty and staff helped to organize an upcoming conference that will share strategies for student success in STEM and connect teachers from 11 local school districts and offices of education with more than 20 local organizations to exchange ideas on region-specific science topics to engage students.
- 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 09, 2024
Plan for Summer this Winter
UC Santa Cruz Summer Session offers courses spanning various disciplines each summer. The various sessions run from June 24 through August 30 and attract a diverse community of continuing students, visitors, and high school students. Explore the available summer courses at summer.ucsc.edu now and prepare for open enrollment starting on May 1.
- 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.