Science Division staff honored with new award for outstanding service and dedication
April 14, 2025
The Science Division is honoring staff members Jeannette Peters, Patti Schell, and Deana Tanguay for demonstrating outstanding service, leadership, teamwork, innovation, or dedication to the division’s mission within the past five years.
UC Santa Cruz researchers honored in Hollywood style at Breakthrough Prize ceremony
April 7, 2025
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, established by Silicon Valley luminaries including the tech icons behind Google and Facebook, named UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist Rebecca Jensen-Clem and former postdoctoral researcher Maaike van Kooten as co-recipients of the early-career New Horizons in Physics Prize.
SCIPP scientist Simone Mazza honored with international physics award
February 7, 2025
Simone Mazza, an assistant research scientist at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics (SCIPP), has won an international award that recognizes contributions in the fields of fundamental interactions of matter. Mazza received the 2024 INFN Bruno Toushek Award from the Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation.
Building the tools to explore new worlds
January 16, 2025
UC Santa Cruz Engineering Fellowship supports alumnus Michael Gonzales’ role with SCALES
Genomics Institute faculty and staff help create non-profit to center Indigenous Knowledge while accelerating conservation genomics research
December 3, 2024
Several current and former UC Santa Cruz faculty and staff have joined with leading experts in the field of conservation genomics to launch Wise Ancestors, a non-profit centering Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities as co-creators of biodiversity conservation projects
Physics experiment proves patterns in chaos in peculiar quantum realm
December 2, 2024
Where do you see patterns in chaos? It has been proven, in the incredibly tiny quantum realm, by an international team co-led by UC Santa Cruz physicist Jairo Velasco, Jr. In the journal Nature, the researchers detail an experiment that confirms a theory first put forth 40 years ago stating that electrons confined in quantum space would move along common paths rather than producing a chaotic jumble of trajectories.
Physics Department improves undergraduate experience for non-majors
November 12, 2024
These fundamental teaching strategies—of making room for failure, and being explicit and transparent about how students’ knowledge will be assessed—combine to create an atmosphere that is more conducive to learning than traditional forms of physics instruction.
Former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan honored for historical narratives of his field
October 17, 2024
The American Physical Society awarded former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan on October 15 with its Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics.
Science Division debuts ‘degree-defining experiences’ drawing on UC Santa Cruz’s unique strengths
October 15, 2024
The Science Division has received a $1 million donation to begin a major new program on “degree-defining experiences.” The program will pilot 17 projects across campus that aim to profoundly inspire undergraduate students and fill them with the kind of optimism that forever changes how they see their time at UC Santa Cruz and their future careers.
A wobble from Mars could be sign of dark matter, new study finds
September 17, 2024
New simulations suggest that there are enough primordial black holes—potential dark matter candidates—in the universe for one to pass through the inner solar system every decade. The work builds upon an astrophysical theory that has growing popularity.
International body honors UC Santa Cruz physicists with Frontiers of Science Award
July 22, 2024
UC Santa Cruz physicists Stefania Gori and Wolfgang Altmannshofer were honored by the International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) at a July 14 ceremony in Beijing with a Frontiers of Science Award in the category of particle-physics phenomenology.
U.S. ATLAS collaboration names UC Santa Cruz alum ‘Outstanding Graduate Student’
July 18, 2024
The organization representing the U.S. contingent of the international ATLAS experiment conducted with the world's most powerful particle accelerator has presented its 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award to Yuzhan Zhao, who graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Ph.D. in physics this year.
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.
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.
