Research
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NSF grant explores impact of embedding ethics into genomics, neuroscience, and AI
Professor Jenny Reardon will study how scientists working on high stakes emerging technologies are partnering with ethicists and social scientists to consider societal implications.
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New research shows how immigration status can become a death sentence during public health crisis
A study looking back on COVID-19 deaths in California found that immigrants who were potentially undocumented experienced much higher relative excess mortality during the pandemic, revealing failures in both public health and immigration policy.
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Center for Labor and Community partners with regional union leaders on state-funded push to ensure workplace rights, safety, and benefits
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Labor and Community will partner with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO on a state grant to educate workers across the Central Coast in sectors like agriculture, hospitality, construction, manufacturing, and retail.
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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.
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UCHRI grants advance Humanities research on campus
This year, UC Santa Cruz researchers are advancing cutting-edge projects that tackle critical issues such as antiracist education, environmental resilience, and the intersections of identity and power, with critical funding from the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI).
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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.”
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Imperial Valley’s lithium reserves could power a global energy transition. But will they also fuel local economies?
Professor Chris Benner’s latest book with coauthor Manuel Pastor, a professor at the University of Southern California, explores economic and environmental possibilities for a lithium boom in California’s Imperial Valley.
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Learning through participation
Barbara Rogoff has studied the collaborative method Mayan communities use to teach children for over 30 years
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.