Inspiring Change: Breakthrough Research
-
Bradley Colquitt wins McKnight Foundation award to continue neuroscience research
The Colquitt Lab studies neural circuits in songbirds to understand how complex behavior emerges and evolves
-
The best pollinators can drive evolutionary changes in flowers, new study finds
Researchers find hummingbirds to be better pollinators of mountain flowers than bees, prompting the plants to adopt traits that favor the fast, feathered carriers over the fuzzy, buzzy ones
-
Extended reality experience invites people to act as the hands of AI in the real world
A speculative fiction project, which won the XR Experience Jury Award at SXSW 2026, prompts reflection on the increasing presence of AI
-
Extinction is not inevitable: Genomics symposium explores using DNA to save life on Earth
Conservation genomics is a bold new tool for protecting life on earth, but it will take all of us to slow the extinction crisis.
-
Engineer to develop secure data center hardware for the public cloud with NSF CAREER award
Yuanchao Xu will lead this research with the support of one of the most prestigious grants in support of early-career faculty
-
Professors Adina Paytan and Douglas Lin elected to National Academy of Sciences
Lin, emeritus distinguished professor of astronomy and astrophysics, also elected to the UK’s Fellowship of the Royal Society
-
New initiative will immerse learners worldwide in Indigenous forms of scientific inquiry, understanding
‘Shadow Indigenous Worlds’ will use an educational model pioneered at UC Santa Cruz that allows students anywhere to closely observe and converse with scientists over Zoom as they conduct research in real time
-
NSF awards 20 students and alumni with highly coveted Graduate Research Fellowships
The fellowship program is one of the nation’s most prestigious of its kind. Awardees at or from UC Santa Cruz represent fields ranging from engineering to the physical, biological, and social sciences.
-
Acclaimed astrophysicist and electric slam poet blend science and storytelling
Slam poet Jasmine Schlafke and UC Santa Cruz professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz blend science, poetry and storytelling to explore our deepest origins and shared humanity at the second annual Landesman Lecture on April 28.
-
DESI completes largest high-resolution 3D map of universe to date
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has completed its originally planned five-year mission and mapped more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, and will continue observations into 2028 and further expand the map.
-
Incoming: New fellow will probe moon’s magnetic past for clues about its formation and interior
51 Pegasi b Fellow Sarah Steele will spend three years at UC Santa Cruz working with Earth and planetary scientists to advance her work to decode ancient magnetic records preserved in rocks
-
UC Santa Cruz among top 10 public U.S. universities with high-impact research, analysis shows
The campus ranks among the top 10 public universities in the United States home to high-impact researchers, according to a recent analysis by Clarivate.