Awards and Honors
- April 09, 2025
David Deamer wins 2025 SETI Institute's Drake Award
The SETI Institute has honored David Deamer, an emeritus professor of biomolecular engineering, with its Drake Award
- April 07, 2025
UC Santa Cruz researchers honored in Hollywood style at Breakthrough Prize ceremony
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, established by Silicon Valley luminaries including the tech icons behind Google and Facebook, named UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist Rebecca Jensen-Clem and former postdoctoral researcher Maaike van Kooten as co-recipients of the early-career New Horizons in Physics Prize.
- March 27, 2025
Astronomy Ph.D. candidate researching mysteries of sub-Neptune planets wins fellowship
UC Santa Cruz astronomy Ph.D. candidate Sagnick Mukherjee has received one of the most sought-after postdoctoral awards in the field: the prestigious 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. In its March 27 announcement, the awarding Heising-Simons Foundation named Mukherjee one of eight new fellows, recognizing them as exceptional postdoctoral scientists who deserve support to continue their research in planetary astronomy.
- March 27, 2025
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members named 2024 AAAS fellows
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members have been named new fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS awarded the lifetime honor to professors David Deamer, Theodore Holman, and Raphael Kudela on March 27.
- March 27, 2025
Cynthia Lewis named 2025 Fellow of the American Educational Research Association
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has named Cynthia Lewis, professor emerita of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as one of its 2025 AERA Fellows.
- March 24, 2025
Six UC Santa Cruz professors awarded 2025 NEH Grants for groundbreaking research on AI, colonial violence, and social justice
Six UC Santa Cruz professors have received prestigious 2025 National Endowment for the Humanities awards this year, advancing scholarship on topics ranging from colonial violence to the ethical implications of artificial intelligence.
- March 12, 2025
Research Corporation for Science Advancement honors Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz has been named a recipient of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement’s (RCSA) Robert Holland Jr. Award, which honors outstanding contributions to research, leadership, and mentorship in the sciences.
- March 10, 2025
Biologist Erika Zavaleta receives Science Division’s Outstanding Faculty Award
The Science Division has announced that Erika Zavaleta, a professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, has won its 2023-24 Outstanding Faculty Award. The annual prize is the division's highest honor for faculty achievement, recognizing combined excellence in research, teaching, and service.
- February 28, 2025
UC Santa Cruz ocean scientist Adina Paytan honored for international research leadership
Adina Paytan, a professor in the Earth and Planetary Science Department and the Institute of Marine Science, has been awarded the Tommy and Yvette Edmondson Distinguished Service Award by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.
- February 21, 2025
Phillip Crews honored with inaugural ASP Mentorship Award
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Phillip Crews has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) Phillip Crews Mentorship Award.
- February 20, 2025
Professor Catherine S. Ramírez selected as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar
Catherine S. Ramírez, a UC Santa Cruz professor and chair of the Latin American and Latino Studies Department, was one of 15 thought leaders selected from top universities across the country to become a 2025-2026 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.
- February 11, 2025
AAAS names UC Santa Cruz organelle discovery most outstanding paper in 2024
The discovery by UC Santa Cruz researchers of a new organelle within single-celled algae that converts nitrogen gas into ammonia continues to be celebrated by the science community, this time by winning the prestigious AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize.
- February 11, 2025
NIH awards Kellogg Lab nearly $3 million to continue research on molecular mechanisms that control cell growth, size
Doug Kellogg, professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at UC Santa Cruz, has been awarded $2.95 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study control of cell growth and size in normal cells—and how it goes wrong in cancer.
- February 07, 2025
SCIPP scientist Simone Mazza honored with international physics award
Simone Mazza, an assistant research scientist at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP), has won an international award that recognizes contributions in the fields of fundamental interactions of matter. Mazza received the 2024 INFN Bruno Toushek Award from the Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation.
- January 31, 2025
Explorer society honors Roxanne Beltran for advancing scientific field research, education equity
Roxanne Beltran, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, is among 50 people from around the world being honored this year for “doing remarkable work to promote science and exploration.”
- January 27, 2025
UC Santa Cruz Innovation Catalyst Grant program propels research into real-world solutions
UC Santa Cruz has announced the Innovation Catalyst Grant proof-of-concept program awardees, showcasing the campus’s commitment to fostering transformative research with significant societal benefits.
- January 22, 2025
Luca de Alfaro selected as 2024 ACM fellow
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Luca de Alfaro has been selected a 2024 fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), one of the most prestigious recognitions in the computing field.
- January 21, 2025
Students make winning videos about importance of federal support for science research
Impactful scientific discovery isn't possible without funding to support the research, and three UC Santa Cruz students have created short videos that took top prizes in a national competition held by the Science Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to sustaining the federal government’s investment in basic scientific research.
- January 21, 2025
Five student projects funded through the 2024-25 CITRIS Tech for Social Good Program
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at UC Santa Cruz has selected five student projects for funding through the 2024-25 CITRIS Tech for Social Good Program.
- January 17, 2025
American Astronomical Society honors four UC Santa Cruz affiliates at national meeting
At this week's AAS national meeting, the society named UC Observatories Director Bruce Macintosh and two alumni, Laura Lopez and Mark Phillips, among the 24 new fellows chosen for 2025.
- January 15, 2025
2024 Outstanding Staff Award honoree seeks to lift campus educators as leaders driving equitable change
Kendra Dority, director of graduate student and postdoc professional development at the Teaching and Learning Center, has been awarded the 2024 Outstanding Staff Award. "I am proud to be part of a team that is so dedicated to supporting the teaching community at UC Santa Cruz,”
