UC Santa Cruz Science

students in group in water in Alaska

diver in kelp

@ucscscience.bsky.social is reshaping what learning looks like, taking students down to Alaskan kelp forests, up to mountaintop observatories, and into cutting-edge cancer research labs. The skills and courage they build go far beyond graduation.

Photo credit: 1. Dave Benet, 2. Sofia Orelind

In Memoriam: Joel Primack Distinguished emeritus professor was a towering figure in theoretical physics and cosmology, a visionary educator, dedicated mentor, and passionate advocate for the role of science in society

In memoriam: UC Santa Cruz honors the passing of physicist and cosmologist Joel Primack, co-developer of the cold dark matter theory and a leader in linking science with public policy.

Please join us in honoring the life of a dedicated mentor and truly seminal scientist: bit.ly/4rDCZ7e

Please 🙏 Register in advance and submit your questions for the Q&A: events.ucsc.edu/event/the-en...

Social card for UC Santa Cruz's Science in the Neighborhood talk by Carol Greider

Neighbors! Get the scoop on what your local Nobel laureate is working on now to reveal the roots of cancer and other diseases. Our NEW "Science in the Neighborhood" public lecture series kicks off w/ UCSC's Carol Greider!

Sign up now. It's free and starts at 6pm on Dec. 11 at our coastal campus 🌊

Are you experienced? Students from first year of immersive-learning initiative share stories of profound impact From aquatic adventures and mountaintop stargazing to lab work aimed at saving lives, students describe how the Degree-Defining Experiences Program fosters unforgettable moments and deepens meaning

Our Degree-Defining Experiences program at @ucscscience.bsky.social is now a year old, and the results have been transformational! As Zimin Cohen puts it: “This is the kind of science I want to do.”

Read more: news.ucsc.edu/2025/11/degr...

Twenty-five UC Santa Cruz researchers earned a spot on the 2025 Highly Cited Researchers, placing their work among the top 1% most cited globally. The list included faculty and staff from across @baskinengineering.bsky.social, @ucscscience.bsky.social and @ucscgenomics.bsky.social ⬇️

A Lifeline for Salmon: UCSC and NOAA Join Forces to Secure a Future for California's Most Iconic Fish A decades-long collaboration is giving Central California’s dwindling coho salmon population a fighting chance.

Nearly every day for the past 20 years, UC Santa Cruz and NOAA scientists have waded into Scott Creek in search of endangered coho salmon. Their long-term research could hold the key to the species’ recovery across California. 🐟

Read more: news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/cali...

graphic image with collage of pictures of students in the labs and fields with a banner that says "UC Santa Cruz Giving Day 2025"

It’s Giving Day at UC Santa Cruz! Support high-impact science by giving to the projects that inspire you most. With 40+ initiatives in the Science Division, from student experiences to equity and access, every gift makes a difference. See all projects here: sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/giv...

Natalie Batalha looking at a projection of an exoplanet on a wall in front of her

Artist rendition of an exoplanet and a sun

Natalie Batalha on stage speaking with a creative graphic being projected behind her

6,000+ exoplanets and counting—just this year. This Thursday, Nov. 6, hear from Natalie Batalha, UC Santa Cruz’s director of astrobiology & former NASA Kepler scientist, on the search for life beyond Earth. 🌌
Free talk, hybrid format, and open to all. More info here: events.ucsc.edu/event/59th-f...

student in lab

student and faculty looking at whiteboard

student and faculty member looking at electronic in optics lab

student on computer in optics lab

Today’s undergraduate STEM majors are tomorrow’s K-12 teachers, and Cal Teach is preparing them to transform how students see science, math, and their own potential. 🌱

This #GivingDay, your gift helps fund scholarships & training for future math + science educators: give.ucsc.edu/giving-day-2...

It was very inspiring last night to hear from @ucscscience.bsky.social professor @roxannebeltran.bsky.social about her research, in which she uses tagged seals to explore our oceans. Just fourteen tagged seals can provide detailed data on 1% of the entire 3D volume of the world’s oceans every year!

Andrew Moore honored for decades of selfless service to ocean sciences community The Edward A. Flinn III Award recognizes scientists who embody the American Geophysical Union's motto "unselfish cooperation in research"

Ocean sciences prof Andrew Moore @ucsantacruz.bsky.social receives AGU’s Edward A. Flinn III Award for “unselfish cooperation in research,” for decades of work w/ peers @rutgersu.bsky.social on one of the world’s most widely used community ocean models 🌊

Read more: news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/moor...

"Data shows that expansion of those who participate in academic science produces better science that has a wider impact." From a new research-backed defense of DEI programs published today by Needhi Bhalla @ucsantacruz.bsky.social and peers @ucsdmedschool.bsky.social and @uofmass.bsky.social 👏🏾👏🏼👏

Andy Fisher smiling at the camera holding up his award.

Wong and Dayton smiling at the camera holding up their awards.

Congratulations to NEXTies Earth + Sea winners: UCSC professor Andrew Fisher won the "Brainwave Award" for his work as a scientist in the field of hydrogeology, and Darryl Wong and Gage Dayton shared the honor of winning the "Big Idea Award" for their environmental project work. 🏆👏

Danny Cruz

Ciara Bolt

From @ucscscience.bsky.social, Danny Cruz (Porter, biomolecular engineering and bioinformatics) is a Cellular and Molecular Biology Ph.D. Student at the University of Michigan, and Ciara Bolt (Kresge, B.S. Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology) is a research associate at Natera.

High-proof alcohol preserved century-old fish DNA to enable ‘genomic time travel’ Unusual preservative in specimen jars proved to be a sweet solution for studying changes in genetic diversity among fish populations in the Philippines since the early 1900s

Need proof that the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is worth preserving? Here are century-old fish preserved in essentially rum–a sweet twist that kept their DNA intact 🧬
What that DNA is telling us today is surprising even the most seasoned scientists:
news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/rum-...

NIH awards Fitnat Yildiz $7.7 million to find new molecular paths for preventing cholera Grants will fund research to determine the mechanisms and consequences of a molecule produced by the bacteria that causes the disease

Congratulations to Fitnat Yildiz, distinguished professor of microbiology and environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz, for receiving $7.7 million in funding from the NIH to conduct precision research aimed at preventing cholera – a global health problem.

Read more: news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/yild...

New research from UCSC’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience puts a dollar value on the storm protection mangroves provide—showing they reduce hurricane property damages by millions to billions. Read more:
news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/mang...

Carol Greider receives American Cancer Society Professor Award The award includes a grant that will support Greider's research that advances her Nobel-winning discovery of the DNA caps at the ends of chromosomes called telomeres

Nobel laureate Carol Greider has been named an @americancancersoc.bsky.social Professor 🎉 Her work at @ucsantacruz.bsky.social aims to overcome longstanding barriers to new cancer treatments—understanding how telomere length is regulated and accurately measuring it.
🔗 news.ucsc.edu/2025/10/grei...

tim with jane

In the wake of Jane Goodall’s passing last week, many of our researchers here at UC Santa Cruz shared fond memories of Goodall and appreciation for her role as a champion of the natural world. Hear from a few faculty members who have been and will continue to be inspired by her legacy ⬇️

three people standing around machinery in discussion

two people in a lab smile in discussion

two people in the lab smile at the camera amongst machinery

🔬Our 8-foot-tall cryoEM microscope is one of only 232 in the world—helping researchers fight influenza, RSV & more. Through global partnerships, we’re breaking down cost + distance barriers so scientists everywhere can accelerate discovery. 🌍✨ bit.ly/4nz9ml4

@ucsantacruz.bsky.social

portrait of Ciara Bolt in gown sitting at a microscope and smiling at the camera

portrait of Ciara Bolt in gown standing outside of the UCSC sign holding a diploma

Just one year after graduating from UC Santa Cruz, Ciara Bolt (Kresge ’24, MCD biology) is thriving as a research associate at Natera, a global leader in cell-free DNA testing.

“UCSC greatly prepared me for my career path,” Bolt said.

Read the full article: news.ucsc.edu/2025/09/ciar...

two people with AR goggles

group of people engaging at a table indoors

fog catchers art installation outdoors with blue sky

four people gather in a field and fly a drone

A powerful gathering at the Communicating Climate Solutions Symposium in mid-September, hosted by UCSC's Science Communication Program and the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, focused on how we share and shape solutions to climate challenges. 🌍

Read more: news.ucsc.edu/2025/09/crea...

Graphic flyer with whale butterflies and shoreline with text that describes event details.

portrait of Andrew Fisher smiling at the camera with a forest in the background.

🌊🌍 This Friday, Oct 3, at the Seymour Center, the NEXTies: Earth + Sea honors the environmental pioneers who’ve made Santa Cruz a leader in climate resilience, including amazing UC Santa Cruz faculty and staff. Don’t miss it!

🎟️ seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/calendar_eve...

fog rolling low in the redwoods with a pink sunset sky

🌫️ UC Santa Cruz researchers Peter Weiss-Penzias and Eyal Rahav have recently been awarded a $737k grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation to find out what’s really in the fog that rolls across California’s coast and how a warming climate might affect it.

Learn more: bit.ly/42cycyu

New students in UC Santa Cruz's Science Division

UC Santa Cruz Science Division Dean Bryan Gaensler casually chatting with a new student.

Students holding t-shirts up to their chest to see if they will fit.

When the new year starts, we come out as one to greet new first-year and transfer students. A warm hello helps them feel seen, supported and stoked about their young journey in the sciences.

The chats b/w the students and folks across our division was a true warm-up for the start of classes today!

Drone pilot on a boat at sea

Student holding a drone while on a boat.

Sign for University of Washington Friday Harbor Labs.

Aerial view of the rocky intertidal.

Out @ Friday Harbor Labs with our drone team conducting intertidal habitat surveys for colleagues from @ucscscience.bsky.social as part of an @waseagrant.bsky.social project. Back to Seattle tomorrow. #drone #drones #dronesforconservation

Congratulations to Valery Ortiz, currently a graduate student at the Scripps Research Institute (@scripps.edu) and former undergraduate in my lab @ucscscience.bsky.social @ucsantacruz.bsky.social, funded through the ACCESS and MARC programs run by the STEM Diversity Program!🥳🎉🎊

Population Genomics, Local Adaptation and Cryptic Speciation in a Temperate Reef Fish, the Black Surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni, Using Genome‐Wide Resequencing The black surfperch, Embiotoca jacksoni , exhibits limited dispersal due to its lack of a pelagic larval stage and offers a unique model for studying local adaptation and potential cryptic speciation...

Our new paper on population genomics of black surfperch. I am incredibly happy, decades in the making....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Digital collage graphic featuring a woman surfing, monarch butterflies, and a whale tail. Text reads "The NEXTies Earth and Sea" with additional text below Seymour Marine Discovery Center October 3, 2025 6:00pm

On Oct. 3, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center and Event Santa Cruz will host "The NEXTies: Earth and Sea," an evening celebrating the environmental pioneers who’ve made Santa Cruz a leader in climate resilience. Submit your nominations by Aug. 3 & get tickets: seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/calendar_eve...