2026
-

Fall Move-In and Slug Start 2026: a welcome built on belonging
Move-in and Slug Start welcomed thousands of Banana Slugs to UC Santa Cruz, creating connections and community at the start of a new academic year.
-

How the visual cortex wires itself: targeted from the start, refined over time
A UC Santa Cruz study tracks how the visual cortex builds its long-range connections, finding that they target specific areas from early on, and offers a reference for studying how wiring may go awry in conditions such as autism.
-

UC Santa Cruz pediatric cancer lab earns prestigious CAP accreditation
The accreditation is widely regarded as the gold standard for clinical laboratory quality, and cements the credibility of the lab’s unique analyses for pediatric cancer tumors.
-

Legendary composer and performer Samuel L. Waymon coming to UC Santa Cruz
The visit includes two movie screenings and discussions that are free and open to the public.
-
Important health and safety info: Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and campus support resource
Learn how to prevent opioid overdose and find free Narcan and fentanyl test strips available to UC Santa Cruz students.
-

Astrophysicists win AI grant for ‘Holy Grail’ project to automate laborious calibration process
Anthropic’s AI for Science Program has awarded the UC Santa Cruz team nearly $50,000 in API credits to fund the development of an automated wavelength-calibration algorithm for astronomical spectra.
-

Jonathan Fortney, Dan Costa honored by American Geophysical Union
Astronomy and astrophysics professor Jonathan Fortney receives 2026 Whipple Award and ecology and evolutionary biology professor Dan Costa named 2026 AGU Union Fellow
-

Dear Slugs: Dean of Students welcomes students to a new academic year
Dean of Students Garrett Naiman welcomes Slugs to fall quarter with ways to connect, get involved and find support on campus.
-

Mitigating risks in free-flowing AI chatbot conversations
The NSF CAREER Award-funded research will focus on safety in addiction-recovery and teenage mental health scenarios, but can be applied to any chatbot use.


