Student Experience
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With fastest solver and fourth place for D1 schools, UC Santa Cruz finishes strong at 2025 Codebreaker Challenge
The challenge tasks students to develop their reverse engineering and cryptography skills using a realistic cybersecurity scenario
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UCSC’s Right Livelihood Center empowers the next generation of activists
The Right Livelihood Center at UC Santa Cruz offers students a range of opportunities to connect with global visionaries. Students Natalie Capobres (Kresge ’26, environmental studies) and Kevin Lin (Kresge ’26, community studies) share their experiences.
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Against all odds, popular math animator Grant Sanderson wooed into the redwoods
Mathematics Department convinced famous YouTuber to speak on campus, enthralling a full house with visualizations of high-dimensional geometry that powers large language models
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In Crown College’s innovation lab, students work on industry-driven challenges
In Crown College’s Corporate Innovation Laboratory (CRWN 102), students like Evan Rantala and Julien Howard address industry-driven challenges alongside tech and community partners. The course, part of Crown’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate, pairs academic learning with hands-on experience that extends beyond the classroom.
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The creation of the Cigarette Surfboard
Alumnus Ben Judkins’s (Kresge ’17, film and digital media) award-winning documentary follows the creation of the Cigarette Surfboard: A surfboard created by friend Taylor Lane from 10,000+ cigarette butts collected off beaches. Judkins’s documentary has helped influence legislation in Santa Cruz County, and will be screened at UC Santa Cruz on March 8.
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Slugs in Love 2026: Celebrating love stories from UCSC alumni
UC Santa Cruz alumni share their stories of how they found one another among the redwoods.
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Why more UC Santa Cruz students are graduating in three years
Three-year graduation is becoming more common at UC Santa Cruz, where intentional planning and advising have helped raise the three-year graduation rate to 10.3 percent, the highest in the University of California system.
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Immersion in childhood cancer research transforms undergrads into scientists—and advocates
The Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative is giving 80 students the opportunity to become cancer researchers for a quarter, thanks in part to generous funding from the UCSC Degree-Defining Experiences Program and the Dragon Master Initiative.
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From founding faculty to future generations
Celebrating Jim Pepper’s 50-year legacy of teaching, mentorship, and environmental leadership
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Two UC Santa Cruz alumnae make their Off-Broadway debut
Rosie Glen-Lambert (Porter ’14, theater arts) and Hailey McAfee (Rachel Carson ’13, theater arts) make their Off-Broadway debut at Soho Playhouse from January 14 to February 13. The limited Off-Broadway engagement follows a sold-out run at the Hollywood Fringe Festival where the duo’s production received multiple honors.
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Apply for CITRIS STEM weekend workshop: ¡Valle! Get Your Start in Tech!
This program is designed to equip students with the skills, confidence, and connections needed to pursue rewarding careers in the tech industry.
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How quiet galaxies stay quiet: cool gas feeds black holes in ‘red geysers’
New paper led by UC Santa Cruz undergraduate suggests that long-dormant galaxies deemed to be dead may actually be stunted by the dynamics of supermassive black holes at their center