News & Events
Constitution Day 2016
July 16, 2024
Student Resources
July 16, 2024
Loss of oxygen in lakes and oceans another sign of Earth systems under strain
July 15, 2024
New essay co-authored by UC Santa Cruz researcher says aquatic deoxygenation is intertwined with climate change and other 'planetary boundary' processes
Artist-led walk-through offers rare opportunity to hear a creator discuss their own work in relationship to peers'
July 12, 2024
Seeing Through Stone opened in April, but is now hosting a unique opportunity to walk through the exhibition with one of the artists.
Students across the region invited to help shape the future of semiconductors
July 12, 2024
As AI weaves itself into more areas of life, scientists and engineers at UC Santa Cruz have come together to develop a better component that serves as the "neuron" in brain-inspired computing. The imperative to make such processing much more energy efficient, and faster, means that those who can design and build these next-generation devices will be in high demand on the job market.
Environmental toxicologist wins funding to use feathers to test for lead exposure in birds
July 11, 2024
Myra Finkelstein, adjunct professor in microbiology and environmental toxicology, was one of nine researchers nationwide honored on July 8 by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) for developing humane solutions to human-wildlife conflicts. Each researcher will receive a grant of up to $15,000 as part of the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award, which honors AWI's late founder and longtime president.
UC Santa Cruz astrophysicists honored for advancing research on the mysterious FRB
July 9, 2024
Fast radio bursts are sudden flashes of radio waves coming from random parts of the sky. Each one is on only for a few milliseconds, but they are extraordinarily bright: In those few milliseconds, they put out more energy than our sun does in an entire year. We also know that they come from objects in distant galaxies, sometimes billions of light years away.
Hydrothermal vents on seafloors of ‘ocean worlds’ could support life, new study says
June 24, 2024
Many lines of research suggest that some ocean worlds release enough heat internally to drive hydrothermal circulation under their seafloors. This heat is generated by radioactive decay, as occurs deep in the Earth, with additional heat possibly generated by tides.
UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience partners with BIMS to incorporate perspectives from Black marine scientists
June 19, 2024
Today, UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) and Black in Marine Science (BIMS) announce a formal partnership to meet shared aims to expand opportunities for Black scholars, particularly for understanding risks to coastal communities from climate change and identifying solutions that reduce these risks.
Ph.D. student leads effort to open Kosovo's first observatory
June 13, 2024
Earth’s newest observatory will open to the public on June 20, 2024, coinciding with the summer solstice, thanks in large part to a UC Santa Cruz student from Kosovo who discovered her love of astronomy as a child amidst the chaos of the country’s brutal war for independence over 20 years ago.
Fort Ord reserve inspires youth to consider careers in natural science, conservation
June 12, 2024
As the only full-time staff member at UC Santa Cruz's Fort Ord Natural Reserve, Director Joe Miller doesn't need to create more work for himself. And yet, he's managed to do just that by successfully partnering with a nearby charter high school that brings students onto the 610-acre property to teach them about local natural history and introduce them to career pathways in natural science and conservation.
Earliest, most distant galaxy discovered with James Webb Space Telescope
May 30, 2024
An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the two earliest and most distant galaxies yet confirmed, dating back to only 300 million years after the Big Bang.
New study discovers tiny target on RNA to short-circuit inflammation
May 24, 2024
UC Santa Cruz researchers have discovered a peptide in human RNA that regulates inflammation and may provide a new path for treating diseases such as arthritis and lupus. The team used a screening process based on the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR to shed light on one of the biggest mysteries about our RNA.
New exoplanets catalog showcases diverse, exotic worlds
May 23, 2024
Our understanding of exoplanets, those strange worlds that orbit stars beyond our solar system, is now broader and deeper thanks to separate studies published this week featuring the work of researchers at UC Santa Cruz.
Sea otters use tools when feeding to survive a changing world
May 16, 2024
Sea otters are one of the few animals that use rocks and other objects to access their food, and a new study has found that individual sea otters that use tools—most of whom are female—can eat larger prey and reduce tooth damage when their preferred prey becomes depleted.
Francis Nimmo elected to prestigious fellowship of UK's Royal Society
May 16, 2024
Francis Nimmo, professor of earth and planetary sciences, has been named a fellow of the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of sciences. The society announced today the election of 90 researchers from around the world as new fellows, citing their "invaluable contributions to science."
UC Santa Cruz biologist tapped to contribute to national report on nature's role in society
May 16, 2024
For America's first-ever report on nature’s inherent worth, and its contributions to the economy, our health and well-being, UC Santa Cruz's Malin Pinsky will co-author a chapter on nature and climate change. He is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and one of 10 authors contributing to the chapter.
Student Kristi Truong finds home in UCSC’s soccer program
May 16, 2024
Kristi Truong (Stevenson ’26, global community health) played soccer since she was seven years old. When choosing where to attend college, she overcame pressures to attend a school with a D1 program, and chose UC Santa Cruz.
Championing Native American DNA
May 14, 2024
Kimberly TallBear, this year’s recipient of the University of California, Santa Cruz Distinguished Humanities Graduate Student Alumni Award, is being honored for her work in championing indigenous rights and protecting Native American DNA from exploitation.
$1M grant to help prepare students for impactful careers in the arts
May 10, 2024
The UCSC entity Moving Image Lab, a new partnership between the Isaac Julien Lab and The Humanities Institute, will receive the prestigious Mellon Foundation funding that will provide the hands-on experience and career-building training in production, curation, and research and publication that distinguishes this project.
New study discovers cellular activity that hints recycling is in our DNA
May 10, 2024
Introns are perhaps one of our genome’s biggest mysteries. They are DNA sequences that interrupt the sensible protein-coding information in your genes, and need to be "spliced out.”
Improved nutrition, sanitation linked to beneficial changes in child stress and epigenetic programming
May 6, 2024
A new study led by a global-health researcher at UC Santa Cruz provides some of the clearest and most comprehensive evidence to date on what is known about stress physiology and “epigenetic programming.”
UC Santa Cruz Arts Division presents "An Iliad"
May 2, 2024
Professor Patty Gallagher, in collaboration with other UCSC faculty, arranged an upcoming of 'An Iliad,' a retelling of Homer's classic. The show represents years of work, and has been showing around the world since 2022.
Ecological Society of America names Dan Costa a lifetime fellow
April 30, 2024
Dan Costa, distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of UC Santa Cruz's Institute of Marine Sciences, has been named a 2024 Fellow of the Ecological Society of America.
Three University of California, Santa Cruz professors receive Mellon Foundation Affirming Multivocal Humanities grants
April 29, 2024
The Mellon Foundation has awarded three University of California, Santa Cruz, departments prestigious grants of $100,000 each for work that champions groundbreaking research in the realms of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
April 26, 2024
Three professors at the University of California, Santa Cruz were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
UC Santa Cruz physics department honored for improving undergraduate experience
April 23, 2024
The Physics Department has been honored by the American Physical Society (APS) for improving undergraduate physics education. At its April meeting, APS announced UC Santa Cruz as one of just three universities nationwide whose physics departments share in this year’s award.
UC Santa Cruz scientists reveal new path to increasing lactation for nursing mothers
April 19, 2024
Scientists at UC Santa Cruz have discovered a cellular process in the breast that can increase milk production by pregnant women, revealing a potential path to addressing lactation insufficiency syndrome—the inability of a nursing mother to produce sufficient milk to meet their infant’s nutritional needs.
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members named 2023 AAAS fellows
April 18, 2024
Three UC Santa Cruz faculty members have been named 2023 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, emerita distinguished research professor of anthropology; longtime journalist Robert Irion, emeritus director of UC Santa Cruz’s science communication master’s degree program; and acclaimed paleo-geneticist Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
UC Santa Cruz researchers receive grants for early-stage technology innovations and climate action solutions
April 18, 2024
Eight UC Santa Cruz research teams focusing on some of the most pressing issues of our time, such as cancer detection, data encryption, and climate change, received more than $350,000 in awards as part of this year’s Innovation Catalyst Grant program, administered by the university’s Innovation & Business Engagement Hub.
UC Santa Cruz ‘Shadow the Scientists’ program honored for astronomical DEI efforts
April 17, 2024
A science-inclusion program based at UC Santa Cruz that has allowed thousands of school-age children, educators, and inquisitive individuals to look through world-class telescopes alongside trained astronomers has been honored for opening up scientific exploration to those from underrepresented backgrounds around the world.
Humanities program provides rewarding research experience—and also crucial career prep
April 16, 2024
Employing Humanities–funded undergraduate students have begun working with faculty in paid research opportunities that connect their classroom curriculum with hands-on training.
New study finds potential targets at chromosome ends for degenerative disease prevention
April 11, 2024
Published online today in Science, a new study finds that telomere lengths follow a different pattern than has thus far been understood. Instead of telomere lengths falling under one general range of shortest to longest across all chromosomes, this study finds that different chromosomes have separate end-specific telomere-length distributions.
Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organelle
April 11, 2024
In two recent papers, an international team led by UC Santa Cruz scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell. The organelle is the fourth example in history of primary endosymbiosis — the process by which a prokaryotic cell is engulfed by a eukaryotic cell and evolves beyond symbiosis into an organelle.
UC Santa Cruz researchers value salt marsh restoration as a crucial tool in flood risk reduction and climate resilience in the San Francisco Bay
April 11, 2024
Salt marsh restoration can mitigate flood risk and bolster community resilience to climate change in our local waterways, according to a recent study published in Nature by a postdoctoral fellow with UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR).
Ph.D. student takes gut-wrenching research to the stage
April 5, 2024
Natalie Pedicino, a Ph.D. student in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, will bolt up to San Francisco on May 3 to distill her past three years of research into a three-minute lightning talk that will test her stage presence and science-communication skills.
First results from DESI make the most precise measurement of our expanding universe
April 4, 2024
We now have the largest 3-D map of our cosmos ever created, thanks to DESI—a powerful instrument mounted atop a telescope in Arizona with a robotic array of 5,000 fiber-optic “eyes” that look into the night sky.
The Science Division announces recipients of Distinguished Alumni Awards
April 2, 2024
Dr. José de Jesús González, Dr. Maximiliano Mateo Cuevas, and Dr. Charles A. Lawson are this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients for the Science Division.
Championing inclusion: Nancy Kim’s leadership in UCSC’s resource centers
March 27, 2024
Nancy Kim graduated from UCSC in 1994, became the university’s founding Director of the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center, and currently serves as the Executive Director of Resource Centers.
UC Santa Cruz joins consortium advancing Earth system science programs
March 27, 2024
UC Santa Cruz has joined a nonprofit consortium of 126 North American colleges and universities focused on research and training in Earth system science.
STEM Diversity Programs grows team to support graduate student success
March 26, 2024
STEM Diversity Programs welcomes two new team members, including a graduate advisor and program coordinator.
Diana Hernandez: From Hartnell College to UC Santa Cruz
March 20, 2024
Meet Diana Hernandez, a student parent who transferred to UC Santa Cruz from Hartnell College. Diana is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in literature, psychology, and Latin American and Latino Studies. In this Q&A, she discusses how she balances academics and parenting while staying involved in research and the Student Parent Organization on campus.
Balancing carbon sequestration and community benefits
March 15, 2024
UCSC student Cole Seither addresses the delicate balance between agroforestry, carbon sequestration, and community benefits in combating climate change. His research is supported by the Earth Futures Institute’s Frontier Fellows program.
Teri Greeves, Oakes '95
January 25, 2016
Craft becomes art for celebrated Kiowa artist and alumna
Lasting friendship, enduring inspiration: J. Herman Blake and Don Rothman move crowd at forum
April 30, 2012
Blake, founding provost of Oakes College, and Rothman, emeritus writing lecturer, spoke of interdisciplinary learning, empathy and the value of listening
Lasting friendship, enduring inspiration: J. Herman Blake and Don Rothman move crowd at forum
April 30, 2012
Blake, founding provost of Oakes College, and Rothman, emeritus writing lecturer, spoke of interdisciplinary learning, empathy and the value of listening