Press Releases
- March 11, 2025
Whale waste helps health of oceans by funneling nutrients to the tropics, new study shows
New research shows that whales move nutrients thousands of miles—in their pee and poop—from as far as Alaska to Hawaii, supporting the health of tropical ecosystems and fish. UC Santa Cruz professors Dan Costa and Ari Friedlaender contributed their marine-mammal expertise to the study, which was published on March 10 in the journal Nature Communications.
- March 11, 2025
New eye-tracking VR experience, Face Jumping, debuts at SXSW
The independent art and creative studio Tender Claws, co-led by Assistant Teaching Professor of Computational Media Samantha Gorman, will debut Face Jumping at the 2025 South by Southwest (SXSW) XR Experience Exhibition running March 9-11 in Austin, Texas.
- March 10, 2025
Jose Ramirez is helping one UC at a time
The University of California, Santa Cruz Arts Division is putting its mission into action with Art Matters, an upcoming event in Los Angeles that underscores the transformative power of the arts. The evening will bring together a dynamic mix of alumni, faculty, and supporters, including acclaimed Chicano artist José Ramírez. Ramírez, known for his vibrant and socially engaged work, has contributed a collection of prints for the silent auction and will take the stage as a featured speaker.
- March 10, 2025
Matt O’Hara and Katia Obraczka appointed interim provosts of Cowell and Crown for 2025-26
The Division of Undergraduate Education is proud to announce the appointment of Professor Matt O’Hara as interim provost of Cowell College and Professor Katia Obraczka as interim provost of Crown College for the 2025-26 academic year.
- March 06, 2025
Student-built app slashes weeks off brain mapping to speed up neuroscience research
UC Santa Cruz neuroscientists aiming to better understand how specific brain connectivity contributes to perception, thoughts, and behavior are leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance their study of brain function. By integrating AI, they are streamlining the process of aligning thin slices of mouse brain tissue with a reference atlas, helping to identify key details such as the brain region of origin more efficiently.
- March 05, 2025
Explaining how our biological clocks work and how to better regulate our circadian rhythms
As anticipation builds for the longer days that follow this weekend’s switch to daylight savings time, the moment seemed ideal to turn to one of the nation’s leading circadian-rhythms researchers, UC Santa Cruz’s Carrie Partch.
- March 05, 2025
AI chatbots perpetuate biases when performing empathy, study finds
A new study explores how GPT-4o, the latest model from OpenAI, evaluates and performs empathy compared to humans, and finds major gaps exist.
- March 03, 2025
New biology study reveals four novel genes required for male fertility in mice
The pioneering research of UC Santa Cruz’s Upasna Sharma to determine how a father’s life experiences and environment can influence the health and wellbeing of his children moves forward with the recent discovery of four genes required for male fertility and the creation of specific RNA molecules in sperm.
- March 03, 2025
Clinical pediatric cancer lab at UC Santa Cruz is cleared to accept and test patient samples
The UC Santa Cruz Colligan Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory has received its CLIA certificate of registration from the California Department of Public Health, which clears the way for it to begin accepting patient samples.
- February 26, 2025
Newest Genome Browser features highlight the power of generative AI and machine learning for biology
The UCSC Genome Browser has added two new datasets that leverage the power of generative AI and machine learning to interpret information about genetic variants and more rapidly assess which ones might be harmful to human health
- February 26, 2025
UC Santa Cruz welcomes future STEM leaders for annual MESA Day competitions
Pre-college students to showcase STEM skills through a day of hands-on challenges and interactive learning on March 1.
- February 25, 2025
Tools and training combat health impacts on farmworkers that are worsened by climate change
A UC Santa Cruz-led project has launched a new bilingual app allowing the public to assess and anonymously report climate-related health risks in agricultural communities statewide. Over 50 newly trained community health advisers will use the app and other tools to teach farmworkers about health risks worsened by climate change and the remedies available through state-mandated health protections.
- February 24, 2025
UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist explores the interconnectedness of art and science in 'Painting the Cosmos'
A new book by UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist and visual artist Nia Imara debuts tomorrow that explains the universe and traces how art has blended with science throughout human history.
- 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 21, 2025
Music Department showcases student excellence
Part of the University of California, Santa Cruz’s groundbreaking music education is ensuring students have a chance to perform. Throughout winter quarter, students have strived to perfect their sound and their work will culminate in a series of performances through February and March.
- February 21, 2025
Opera performance highlights Spanish music and Chicanx culture
Lecturer in Music Sheila Willey is bringing Spanish-language opera to the stage. The upcoming Opera and Zarzuela Scenes performance on March 13, 2025 at the Music Center Recital Hall on campus, will bring a wider cultural look at the artform from several Spanish-speaking countries.
- 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 18, 2025
Cosmic radiation from supernova altered virus evolution in Africa, study proposes
A new study led by recent undergraduate student Caitlyn Nojiri and co-authored by astronomy and astrophysics professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz and postdoctoral fellow Noémie Globus examined iron isotopes to identify a 2.5 million-year-old supernova. The researchers connected this stellar explosion to a surge of radiation that pummeled Earth around the same time, and they assert that the blast was powerful enough to break the DNA of living creatures.
- February 14, 2025
New book explores historical lessons on racial equity issues in the U.S.
The latest book from UC Santa Cruz Professor Emeritus of Politics Michael K. Brown takes a look back over a century of American history to explore how shortcomings in political philosophy have kept racial inequality problems stuck in place in the United States.
- February 13, 2025
Foraging seals enable scientists to measure fish abundance across the vast Pacific Ocean
A new study led by UC Santa Cruz marine biologist Roxanne Beltran to be published as the February 14 cover story for Science concludes that seals can essentially act as “smart sensors” for monitoring fish populations in the ocean’s eerily dim “twilight zone.”
- February 13, 2025
New study documents California coyotes eating harbor seal pups
A paper published on February 12 in the journal Ecology details how the researchers used motion-triggered cameras placed at MacKerricher State Beach on California's North Coast during harbor seal pupping season in the spring of 2023 and 2024.
- February 13, 2025
Young workers in Santa Cruz County may be poised to lead a ‘union boom’
Santa Cruz County has already been gaining national attention for groundbreaking unionization efforts led by young workers, including at local Starbucks and REI locations. Now, new survey data show why that trend is likely to continue.
- February 12, 2025
Economically, culturally important marine species vulnerable to changing climate, new study shows
Dungeness crab, Pacific herring, and red abalone are among the marine species most vulnerable to the changing climate's effect on California's coastal waters, a new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers finds.
- February 11, 2025
UC Santa Cruz sets fossil-free date
The University of California, Santa Cruz has announced it will reduce fossil fuel emission by 90% by 2045. The date was set based on recommendations from the Decarbonization and Electrification (D&E) team.
- February 10, 2025
Recent UCSC alumni take over the SF MOMA
Several University of California, Santa Cruz Arts and Engineering students and alumni worked together on two separate projects which are part of the same exhibition at the SFMOMA. Annalivia Martin-Straw (Porter ‘23, Art) worked with her collaborator to create an immersive racing game, which up to five visitors can play at a time.
- February 04, 2025
UC Santa Cruz scientists slither into the history books with first complete genome of a banana slug
Not only is the banana slug the endearing mascot for UC Santa Cruz — making the project fitting for campus researchers — but the slugs’ unique slime was a particularly challenging undertaking for UCSC’s experts in genomics.
- February 03, 2025
New research and art installation demonstrate the viability of using fog as a water source
In a state known for its droughts, where the southern half recently experienced devastating fires, understanding California’s natural water sources is more important than ever. Three University of California, Santa Cruz professors have teamed up to create a multipart scientific and artistic research study, Art+Fog as a collective,
- January 31, 2025
New grant funds effort to uncover therapeutic targets for neuropsychiatric disorders
A $10.3 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, will fund a multi-UC effort to better understand neuropsychiatric disorders.
- January 30, 2025
Innovative techniques aim for climate-safe restoration of Ms. Blue
A new project is underway to give Ms. Blue another life, this time enabling her to teach the community about the power of climate-safe innovation
- January 30, 2025
The Institute of Arts and Science curates two revolutionary exhibitions
The Institute of the Arts and Sciences (IAS) is starting the new year with two imaginative and heartfelt exhibitions exploring liberation and justice. EDELO and Our Bedrock, both of which run from Jan. 31 – April 20
- January 29, 2025
Climate change reshuffles species like a deck of cards, new study finds
A new study led by UC Santa Cruz ecology and evolutionary biologist Malin Pinsky finds that temperature changes due to climate change have a doubly detrimental impact: Not only do they destabilize animal populations, but the impacts accelerate as temperatures change more rapidly.
- January 28, 2025
UC Santa Cruz AgTech Alliance launches to support interdisciplinary collaboration
Building on the long history of innovation in agriculture at the campus, the AgTech Alliance will support research, education, events, and workforce development related to advancing agricultural technology in order to create more formalized opportunities for collaboration within the university and beyond.
- 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 24, 2025
Long read sequencing reveals more genetic information while cutting time and cost of rare disease diagnoses
A new study shows that long-read sequencing has the potential to improve the rate of diagnosis while reducing the time to diagnosis from years to days — in a single test and at a much lower cost.
- January 23, 2025
The teaching profession never really recovered from the pandemic. A new book explains why, and what we can do about it.
Education Professor Lora Bartlett and her collaborators collected detailed data on the pandemic and post-pandemic experiences of 75 teachers across the country, revealing how the pandemic era hastened a downward spiral in career satisfaction and longevity for teachers.
- January 23, 2025
Professor Patty Gallagher reimagines Comedy of Errors in a new era
Shakespeare is coming to the University of California, Santa Cruz. The upcoming February performances of Comedy of Errors at the Theater Arts eXperimental Theater embody comedy and heartfelt performances.
- 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
John Jota Leaños selected as new Interim Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the UC Santa Cruz Arts Division
The University of California, Santa Cruz brought on a new Interim Assistant Dean of Diversity Equity and Inclusion for the Arts Division. John Jota Leaños, a professor of Film and Digital Media (FDM) and Guggenheim Fellow, is a Mexican/Italian-American and Chumash-award winning interdisciplinary artist, documentarian, animator, and social art practitioner whose work engages the intersections of history, memory, and power through a social justice lens.
- January 17, 2025
Hubble Telescope images combined into giant mosaic of neighboring Andromeda Galaxy
Astronomers are celebrating the completion of a 2.5-billion-pixel panoramic picture of the entire Andromeda Galaxy. The team includes several UC Santa Cruz researchers who made significant contributions to the enormous photomosaic that combines some 600 snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over more than a decade and 1,000 orbits.
- January 17, 2025
Embedding equity in the financial sector
UC Santa Cruz alumna Alina I’vette Fernandez has built a career helping America’s largest banks operationalize their values and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Her work helps C-suite leaders understand the implications of their decisions for both employees and the communities they serve.
- January 17, 2025
New exhibition explores Afrofuturism through a look at the past
The newest exhibition at the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery explores African history and Afrofuturism through the art of current PhD candidate Aaron Samuel Mulenga. Ukupupuka: An Exploration of Transcendence integrates Mulenga’s doctoral dissertation research on World War I porters called TengaTenga with the concept of the Afronaut to explore concepts of mobility, transcendence and divinity.
- January 16, 2025
Fellowship to provide full tuition for up to 10 CA students to study Natural Language Processing at UC Santa Cruz
Up to ten California-residents will receive full scholarships to pursue a Masters of Science in Natural Language Processing for the 2025-26 academic year.
- January 15, 2025
Coral-reef restoration can be cost-effective for saving lives, money
A new study co-led by the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) at UC Santa Cruz shows coral reef restoration in Florida and Puerto Rico could save thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and economic interruption each year.
- 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,”
- January 14, 2025
Rick Flores named Executive Director of Arboretum & Botanic Garden
Rick Flores has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Arboretum & Botanic Garden at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
- January 13, 2025
New data shows how ‘rage giving’ boosted immigrant-serving nonprofits during the first Trump Administration
Nonprofits that provide legal services for immigrants ended up receiving increases in public contributions in the wake of Trump's attacks on immigrants, demonstrating a backlash effect that's sometimes called “rage giving.”
- January 13, 2025
Dean of Arts Celine Parreñas Shimizu’s newest work addresses sexuality and the importance of higher education and relationships between women in forging one’s power
Renowned filmmaker, film scholar, distinguished professor, and Dean of the Arts Division at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Celine Parreñas Shimizu will premiere her latest film at the 27th San Francisco’s Independent Film Festival on Friday, February 7, 2025 at the Roxie Theater.
- January 10, 2025
Researchers link mysterious cosmic signals to collapsed stars
An international team of scientists has provided the clearest evidence yet that some fast radio bursts (FRBs)—enigmatic, millisecond-long flashes of radio waves from space—originate from neutron stars, the ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that have exploded in a supernova.
- January 08, 2025
Basketball great, mental health champion to headline MLK Convocation
WNBA Hall of Famer Chamique Holdsclaw, an Olympic gold medalist and mental health advocate, will address the 41st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation on January 30.
- January 08, 2025
Researchers to develop technology for improving berry monitoring, harvesting, shipment
To investigate innovative methods to support the berry growing and harvesting process, UC Santa Cruz Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ricardo Sanfelice is launching a new agricultural technology project.
- January 06, 2025
Enhancing street safety for the UC Santa Cruz community
UC Santa Cruz is committed to fostering a safe and welcoming environment for everyone. To enhance safety, the campus is implementing a variety of new initiatives on campus roads.
- January 06, 2025
New strontium isotope map of Sub-Saharan Africa is a powerful tool for archaeology, forensics, and wildlife conservation
Researchers mapped predicted bioavailable strontium isotope ratios across most of the African continent. Matching values from the map against those observed in artifacts and plant, animal, and human remains will help to identify their most likely regions of origin within Africa.
