Campus News
Five UC Santa Cruz innovators nominated for inaugural UC Regents Innovation Awards
The campus’s nominees span innovations in climate adaptation, disease treatment, health and community development.
UC Santa Cruz has five nominees: Gamechanger Award—Michael W. Beck; Disruptive Research Award—Ahmet Ali Yanik; Best Startup Award—Theodore Holman; Community Changemaker Award—Bud Colligan; and Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award—Richard E. Green
Five members of the UC Santa Cruz community are among the nominees for the UC Regents Innovation Awards, a new systemwide program to promote and celebrate research, technology and entrepreneurship for the benefit of the public.
The UC Regents launched the awards in fall 2025, inviting nominations from the 10 campuses and three national laboratories. The five award categories are Gamechanger, Disruptive Research, Best Startup, Community Changemaker and Distinguished Lifetime Achievement. Each award recognizes UC inventors and entrepreneurs whose work moves ideas and discoveries beyond the university and into technologies, products and services that can improve lives. The award winners will be announced Sept. 16.
Gamechanger Award
Michael W. Beck, director, Center for Coastal Climate Resilience
Michael W. Beck is nominated for the Gamechanger Award for advancing nature-based solutions that protect coastlines and communities from climate-driven storms and flooding. As director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, Beck has emerged as a global leader in quantifying how ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs, and wetlands reduce storm damage and flood risk.
Disruptive Research Award
Ahmet Ali Yanik, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering
Ahmet Ali Yanik is nominated for the Disruptive Research Award for NeuroSWARM3, a groundbreaking neurophotonic technology developed in the Yanik Lab that enables wireless, minimally invasive monitoring of brain activity at unprecedented scale and resolution. NeuroSWARM3 uses a biocompatible system-on-a-nanoparticle approach that can convert neural electrical signals into optical signals, allowing researchers to record activity across large regions of the brain without electrical implants or open-skull surgery.
Best Startup Award
Theodore Holman, professor of chemistry and biochemistry
Theodore Holman is nominated for the Best Startup Award. He founded Loxagen to develop the first oral therapy for Type 1 Diabetes, targeting the ALOX12 enzyme to protect vital pancreatic cells. Unlike current treatments that require painful, high-cost intravenous infusions, his targeted oral compound significantly reduces the treatment burden for patients and families while offering an affordable, scalable solution.
Community Changemaker Award
Bud Colligan
Bud Colligan is nominated for the Community Changemaker Award for his innovative use of venture capital and philanthropy to strengthen the economic vitality, health, and opportunity of the Monterey Bay and Central Coast regions. Following leadership roles in Silicon Valley, including work at Apple and service as CEO of Macromedia, Colligan turned his focus to building inclusive regional growth.
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award
Richard E. Green, professor of biomolecular engineering
Richard E. Green is nominated for the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for a career defined by groundbreaking innovation in genomics and computational biology, and for translating fundamental science into lasting societal impact. Green is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in paleogenomics, including key contributions to the Neanderthal Genome Project that helped establish an entirely new field of molecular evolution.
Photos by Carolyn Lagattuta