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DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260331T235959
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
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LAST-MODIFIED:20260223T210337Z
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SUMMARY:March is Hummingbird Month at the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden
DESCRIPTION:March is Hummingbird Month at the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden \nThis time of year\, the Arboretum hosts both Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds\, the two most common species in Northern California. “The density of hummingbirds—the number per area in the Arboretum—is ridiculously high\,” says Bruce Lyon\, Professor Emeriti of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCSC. “You can watch them feeding on ﬂowers\, you can watch their courtship\, you can watch them chasing different species. It’s a great opportunity to see some pretty amazing hummingbird biology.” \nIn celebration of this special time of year\, we invite you to visit the garden as much as possible! We will have presentations\, workshops\, and tours throughout the month. See our webpage for a schedule of activities and more information about hummingbirds and the abundance of plants at the Arboretum that attract them. \nWe will also feature hummingbird merchandise and hummingbird-attracting plants at our gift shop and nursery. Visit Norrie’s Gift & Garden Shop\, Tuesdays thru Sundays from 10 – 4. For more information visit: https://arboretum.ucsc.edu/garden-shop/ \nAll events are free with paid admission: Adults: $10\, Seniors $8 and Youth 4-17 $5. Current UCSC students are free. Rain cancels outdoor activities. \nCurrent Arboretum members are always free and enjoy other great benefits year-round!  Join Today at https://arboretum.ucsc.edu/get-involved/join-us/    \n  \n 
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/march-is-hummingbird-month-at-the-ucsc-arboretum-botanic-garden/
LOCATION:Arboretum\, 122 Arboretum Road\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260306T235959
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260226T205513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T205513Z
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SUMMARY:Optional Practical Training (OPT) Awareness Week
DESCRIPTION:Join us for OPT Awareness Week at UC Santa Cruz\, a supportive and informative series designed to help international students learn about and confidently prepare for Optional Practical Training. You’ll learn application steps\, key timelines\, and employment rules while connecting with advisors and peers who are here to help you succeed. Whether you’re just starting to explore OPT or ready to apply\, this week offers the tools and clarity you need to move forward with confidence. \nVisit our website to explore the different workshops and sessions.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/optional-practical-training-opt-awareness-week/
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T104000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T114500
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260224T232851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260224T232851Z
UID:10009353-1772448000-1772451900@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:ECE 290 Seminar: Precision Nuclear Medicine: Engineering Solutions from Acquisition to Analysis
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Spencer L. Bowen\, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering\, UT Southwestern Medical Center \nDescription: The Bowen Lab focuses on the development of tools for positron emission tomography (PET) and hybrid systems (e.g. PET/CT)\, to advance precision imaging for the care and study of oncology\, neurology\, and cardiology patients. Quantitative metrics from PET are integral to both patient workup and clinical research. However\, current approaches to enable quantitative imaging have substantial performance limitations that can compromise study conclusions\, fail to generalize across exams and scanners\, expose patients to additional ionizing radiation\, or necessitate invasive procedures. To address these key barriers\, Dr. Bowen and his team investigate advanced acquisition techniques\, image reconstruction algorithms\, and post-processing methods. Their studies span from digital simulations to human subjects research. This lecture will cover recent developments by the Bowen Lab\, including 1) advanced PET data correction methods for low-dose and standalone exams\, 2) non-invasive fully quantitative imaging\, and 3) leveraging topical sensors to detect faulty radiotracer injections. \nBio: Spencer L. Bowen\, Ph.D.\, is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He earned his doctorate in biomedical engineering from University of California\, Davis\, where he developed hardware and algorithmic solutions to enable quantification with a breast PET/CT scanner. Dr. Bowen then worked as a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital on precision PET imaging methods for combined PET/MR. Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020\, he served as a research assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech-Carilion. Dr. Bowen’s research program is funded by both industry and the NIH. His work has been featured on the cover of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and detailed by the press. \nHosted by: Professor Soumya Bose\, ECE Department \nZoom Link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/97975378707?pwd=ljcgaCfhMmhZ88Vt5dqQUBVQRjehOx.1
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/ece-290-seminar-precision-nuclear-medicine-engineering-solutions-from-acquisition-to-analysis/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Seminars
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T133000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260223T222143Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260223T223626Z
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SUMMARY:CM Seminar - "From Sibelius to Game: Crafting Adaptive Music for 'Kingdom Come: Deliverance'"
DESCRIPTION:Presented by: Adam Sporka \nDescription: “This talk explores the technical and creative processes behind the music of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II\, where I served as a music programmer\, and soundtrack contributor. Using our proprietary Sequence Music Engine and music logic module\, we authentically scored the game’s 1400s Bohemia setting with segment-based adaptive music driven by in-game variables. Our workflow centers around the notation program Sibelius and our custom tool Converdi\, which streamlines the production by converting the score symbols to preliminary MIDI streams per individual VSTs and by extracting the precise timing data necessary for the segment transitions. This enabled us to spend more time on the creative aspects of music and less time on production and implementation.” \nThe key takeaways from the talk are as follows: \n* Production should start with a complete score\, and not just the MIDI exports therefrom\n* Custom automation tools can streamline the music creation workflow and reduce the production time\n* Resequencing is more suitable for classical and medievalesque music than layering\n* Rapid music prototyping allows for early testing of adaptive music directly in the game \nBio: Adam Sporka is a software developer by trade\, a musician by domain\, and a scientist by approach. As a researcher\, developer\, and educator in game audio\, he places a special focus on interactive music. He has served as the technical music director for Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Warhorse Studios) and is the author of the Sequence Music Engine\, a proprietary adaptive music middleware used in both games. As a composer\, he contributed to the soundtrack of both Kingdom Come: Deliverance games\, writing some of the most memorable medievalesque and early renaissance pieces on the soundtrack. Currently\, he teaches game audio at the University of California\, Santa Cruz. He received his Ph.D. and habilitation in human-computer interaction from the Czech Technical University (Czech Republic) and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Trento (Italy). He has published more than 50 articles in the proceedings of international conferences and academic journals. Adam is currently appointed as a principal engineer at Embody\, a Sunnyvale-based game audio software company focused on the commercial applications of the head-related transfer function. \nHosted by: Professor Christina Chung \nWhen: March 2\, 2026 from 12:30PM to 1:30PM \nLocation:  \nIN-PERSON @  SVC 3212. \nViewing room @ UCSC Main Campus\, E2-280. \nLUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED AT BOTH LOCATIONS! Faculty and students are highly encouraged to attend. \nZoom info: \nhttps://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98763397019?pwd=XUG5pnMjgFgCEOlpunV41oRjNMZiO6.1 \nMeeting ID: 987 6339 7019\nPasscode: 273556
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/cm-seminar-from-sibelius-to-game-crafting-adaptive-music-for-kingdom-come-deliverance/
LOCATION:Silicon Valley Campus\, 3175 Bowers Avenue\, Santa Clara\, CA\, 95054\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminars
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T170000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260202T195322Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T195322Z
UID:10009146-1772467200-1772470800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Statistics Seminar: Decoding Phytoplankton Responses to a Changing Ocean
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Francois Ribalet\, Research Associate Professor\, School of Oceanography\, University of Washington \nDescription: François Ribalet will present new observational technologies and computational approaches for studying phytoplankton responses to ocean warming. Using SeaFlow\, a custom-built automated flow cytometer deployed on over 100 research cruises\, his team has collected nearly 850 billion cell measurements across global oceans. Matrix population models applied to these data reveal how temperature affects phytoplankton division rates and biomass. The research shows that Prochlorococcus\, the ocean’s most abundant photosynthetic organism\, experiences sharp declines in growth above 28°C. Climate projections incorporating these metabolic constraints predict a 40-60% decrease in Prochlorococcus production in tropical regions by 2100\, with Synechococcus partially compensating through a 20-40% increase. These shifts between dominant phytoplankton groups will likely disrupt ocean food webs and carbon cycling\, raising questions about whether tropical ecosystems can adapt to warming oceans. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBio: François Ribalet is a research associate professor at the University of Washington studying phytoplankton and their role in ocean food webs and carbon cycling. He combines field observations with statistical models to understand how environmental changes affect the growth and community dynamics of these microscopic organisms. \nHosted by: Statistics Department
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/statistics-seminar-decoding-phytoplankton-responses-to-a-changing-ocean/
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Seminars
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260302T170000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260225T181221Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260225T181221Z
UID:10009355-1772467200-1772470800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:AM Seminar: The Evolving Landscape of AI for Science and Engineering: Bridging Simulation\, Experiment\, and Multi-scale Dynamics
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Aditi Krishnapriyan\, Assistant Professor\, UC Berkeley \nDescription: Recent advances in large-scale scientific datasets are creating new opportunities for machine learning (ML) methods to more effectively capture scientific phenomena with greater accuracy and reach. In this talk\, I will discuss how these advances are both shifting ML design paradigms and enabling new scientific inquiries. This includes investigations into understanding if neural networks can autonomously discover fundamental physical relationships from data\, and demonstrating how more flexible machine learning modeling design choices enable capturing physical dynamics across multiple scales. I will also explore how generative modeling approaches rooted in statistical physics can be applied to accelerate the sampling of dynamic pathways\, and as a framework to align and bridge the gap between simulated data and experimental observations. \nBio: Aditi Krishnapriyan is an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley where she is part of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences\, and Berkeley AI Research; as well as a faculty scientist in the Applied Mathematics division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She holds a PhD from Stanford University\, supported by the DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship\, was the Luis W. Alvarez Fellow in Computing Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory\, and is a recipient of the Department of Energy Early Career Award and RCSA Scialog. Her research focuses on developing physics-inspired machine learning methods that bridge machine learning with physical science applications to capture phenomena across multiple length and timescales. \nHosted by: Applied Mathematics
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/am-seminar-the-evolving-landscape-of-ai-for-science-and-engineering-bridging-simulation-experiment-and-multi-scale-dynamics/
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Seminars
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://events.ucsc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ph.d.-presentation-graphic-option-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T121500
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260217T182353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260217T182353Z
UID:10009237-1772622000-1772626500@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:CSE Colloquium - Improving Efficiency and Reliability of Foundation Models in Clinical AI
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Vasiliki “Vicky” Bikia\, PhD\, Stanford Department of Biomedical Data Science and Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) \nAbstract: \nDeploying foundation models in health requires both computational efficiency and reliable generation. In this talk\, I present two studies that address these dimensions separately but with a shared goal of real-world clinical deployment. The first study focuses on reduced-resolution distillation for multimodal clinical data\, particularly medical imaging. As model and input sizes increase\, inference cost and memory constraints become major barriers to deployment. We investigate how high-capacity teacher models can transfer structured knowledge to compact student models trained on downsampled images\, using embedding-space supervision to preserve clinically meaningful representations while reducing computational footprint. The second study examines the reliability of AI-generated clinical text. Foundation models are increasingly used to produce discharge summaries and patient-facing explanations\, yet fluency does not guarantee safety. We develop a structured evaluation framework grounded in clinical error taxonomies and clinician-calibrated metrics to quantify hallucinations\, omissions\, and semantic misalignment. Together\, these studies emphasize that scalable clinical AI requires not only smaller and faster models\, but also rigorous evaluation of generative reliability before deployment. \nBio: \nVasiliki Bikia is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University\, affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Data Science and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). She received an Advanced Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki\, and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). Her research focuses on medical foundation models\, structured representations of health data\, and the evaluation of generative systems in clinical settings. Previously\, she was a Machine Learning Scientist at the Mussallem Center for Biodesign at Stanford University\, where she developed software pipelines to improve data accessibility and interoperability in digital health applications. Vasiliki was selected as an MIT Rising Star in EECS (2025) and as an Emerson Consequential Scholar (2025)\, and is actively engaged with the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem through collaborations at the intersection of research\, industry\, and healthcare. She is an organizing member of the Conference on Health\, Inference\, and Learning (CHIL) and serves as Unconference Chair for the 2025 and 2026 editions\, where she leads the design and execution of the entrepreneurship-focused track bridging academic research and real-world deployment. Her work has appeared in venues including IEEE journals\, npj Digital Medicine\, Nature Communications\, and leading AI conferences\, and she has contributed to multiple funded research proposals and clinical studies at the intersection of AI\, medicine\, and translational impact. \nHosted by: Professor Nikos Tziavelis \nLocation: Engineering 2\, E2-180 (*Refreshments such as coffee\, tea\, fresh fruit\, and pastries will be provided) \nZoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93445911992?pwd=YkJ2TQtF79h0PcNXbEcpZLbpK0coiY.1&jst=3
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/cse-colloquium-improving-efficiency-and-reliability-of-foundation-models-in-clinical-ai/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Seminars
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T170000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260217T222743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260219T210101Z
UID:10009243-1772629200-1772643600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Shields\, S. (CM) - Procedural\, Player-Centric Game Balancing
DESCRIPTION:Game balance is a term widely used among players\, researchers\, and designers of games. It is a concept that feels vitally important to how we make and play games – but when we try to define it or implement it\, we seldom get the same definition twice. Balance appears differently to whoever is judging it\, but as researchers and designers we still must translate this element of game design into technical practice. It also is an expensive and time-consuming subject\, one that requires a constant loop of playtesting and design iteration through nearly the entirety of the game development process. \nThis work seeks to focus our understanding of balance while offering procedural methods to either increase speed or improve quality when performing balancing tasks in game design and research. It accomplishes this by offering a taxonomy of balance alongside a generic design framework that can be used to apply balancing strategies to any game context. It additionally provides a catalog of balancing methods\, allowing designers to use common patterns to apply procedural balancing to their games. Finally\, I offer three technical examples using the taxonomy and framework\, putting theoretical knowledge of balance into concrete technical systems. \nBalance ultimately helps us design games that make us feel fairness in our play. By sharpening and optimizing our understanding of the term\, we improve the games we make and open new doors in game systems design. \nEvent Host: Sam Shields\, Ph.D. Candidate\, Computational Media  \nAdvisor: Edward F. Melcer \nZoom- https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/98956788669?pwd=ao7DzYQebCeS3SJ4PsGaZeGYhYMVNI.1 \nPasscode- 713173
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/shields-s-cm-procedural-player-centric-game-balancing/
LOCATION:Merrill College\, College Office\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Ph.D. Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T170000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260223T201548Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260223T211140Z
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SUMMARY:Sonic Icons: Relation\, Recognition\, and Revival in a Syriac World
DESCRIPTION:Talk Abstract: To the extent that Middle Eastern Christians register in Euro-American political imaginaries at all\, they are usually invoked to make a political point about the need for Western military intervention in places like Iraq or Syria\, or they are cited as an exemption to anti-Islamic immigration policies because of an assumption that their Christianity makes them easily assimilable in the so-called “Judeo-Christian” West. Sonic Icons argues that these views work against the very communities they are meant to benefit by tracking a diasporic network of Syriac Orthodox Christians—also known as Assyrians\, Aramaeans\, and Syriacs—in the Netherlands who intertwine religious practice with political activism to “save” Syriac Christianity from the twin threats of political violence in the Middle East and cultural assimilation in Europe. \nComing of age in a historical moment when much of their tradition has been destroyed or forgotten by war\, dispossession\, displacement\, and genocide—their story of self-discovery is a story of survival\, revival\, and reinvention. Their activism is oriented toward seeking a complex form of recognition for what they understand to be the ethical core of Christian kinship in an ethnic as well as in a religious sense\, despite living in societies that do not recognize this unhyphenated form of ethnoreligious identity as a politically legitimate mode of public identity. Drawing on both theological and linguistic theories of the icon\, Sonic Icons rethinks foundational theoretical accounts of ethnicization\, racialization\, and secularization by examining how kinship gets made\, claimed\, and named in the global politics of minority recognition. \n  \nSpeaker Bio: A cultural anthropologist by training (UCSC ’13)\, Dr. Sarah Bakker Kellogg is a sensory ethnographer whose research and writing documents minor traditions of knowledge\, care\, and relational world-making. Known for her methodological creativity\, her work centers questions of reproduction\, ethics\, and justice at the intersection of religious studies\, gender studies\, migration studies\, and political economy. The author of Sonic Icons: Relation\, Recognition\, and Revival in a Syriac World published by Fordham University Press (2025)\, she has also won numerous awards\, research grants\, and fellowships\, including the SSRC’s International Dissertation Research Fellowship\, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship\, and the Wenner Gren Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her new research project is an ethnographic and historical investigation of interfaith activist traditions organized around immigration\, racial reparations\, and economic justice.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/sonic-icons-relation-recognition-and-revival-in-a-syriac-world/
LOCATION:Social Sciences 1\, Social Sciences 1\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T193000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260203T172611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T223629Z
UID:10009144-1772645400-1772652600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:The UC Santa Cruz Kraw Lecture Series presents: Unmasking cancer's complete genetic code
DESCRIPTION:In this Kraw lecture\, Angela Brooks will discuss her work on cancer research. \nCurrent cancer research focuses almost entirely on finding errors—mutations—in DNA. This has given us incredible tools like precision oncology\, matching patients with targeted drugs. But cancer cells almost always develop drug resistance\, causing treatments to fail and limiting patient survival. An often-overlooked aspect of cancer genes is the messenger RNA\, which is copied from DNA\, then translated into protein to do the work of the cell. Over 95% of human genes have isoforms\, which are different versions of the RNA message created through a process called RNA splicing. These different messages lead to slightly different proteins\, and we believe our lack of knowledge of different isoforms is a missing cause of treatment failure. \n\nIn-Person Reception: 5:30 p.m.\nLecture: 6–7 p.m.\n\nREGISTER
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/the-uc-santa-cruz-kraw-lecture-series-presents-unmasking-cancers-complete-genetic-code/
LOCATION:Silicon Valley Campus\, 3175 Bowers Avenue\, Santa Clara\, CA\, 95054\, United States
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260304T193000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260112T231120Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260210T235227Z
UID:10008353-1772647200-1772652600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Unexpected Returns: The Historic Entanglements of Fire\, Settlement\, and Stewardship in the Santa Cruz Mountains
DESCRIPTION:Join UCSC  faculty members Miriam Greenberg and Andrew Matthews as they discuss the deep regional histories of fire\, from indigenous burning\, settler ranching\, fire suppression\, and much more.\n \nThis event is part of Intersections of Climate Change\,  a series organized with the Friedlaender Lab in conjunction with Weather and the Whale.\n\nADMISSION\n– FREE and open to the public \nPARKING\n– The entrance to the Institute of the Arts and Sciences Galleries is on Delaware Street and has an accessibility ramp.\n– Convenient and free self-parking is available on Panetta Avenue and High Road\, immediately adjacent to the galleries.\n– Accessible parking is on High Road.\n—\nThis program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/unexpected-returns-the-historic-entanglements-of-fire-settlement-and-stewardship-in-the-santa-cruz-mountains/
LOCATION:Institute of the Arts and Sciences\, 100 Panetta Ave\, Santa Cruz\, United States
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260305T114000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260305T131500
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260223T183015Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T202045Z
UID:10009267-1772710800-1772716500@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:BME 280B Seminar: Artificial intelligence systems to advance engineered T cell immunotherapy designs
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Zinaida Good\, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology and the Division of Computational Medicine\, Stanford University \nDescription: T cell immunotherapies have reshaped the treatment landscape for hematologic malignancies and are rapidly extending to solid tumors\, autoimmune diseases\, and transplant tolerance. Yet durable benefit remains inconsistent\, and toxicities remain clinically significant. The current discovery proceeds one edit at a time\, and existing preclinical models do not represent patient biology\, which often results in failure upon clinical translation. Overcoming these challenges to improve patient outcomes and reduce toxicities requires a systems-level understanding of the multiscale factors governing T cell function and toxicity in patients. Artificial intelligence (AI) approaches offer an exciting opportunity to tackle this problem by learning unified representations from diverse data types spanning molecular\, cellular\, and clinical modalities. I will provide an overview on our team’s approaches building AI systems that harness primary patient datasets to directly inform advanced T cell designs optimized for clinical outcomes\, with validation in preclinical models. \nBio: Zinaida Good\, Ph.D.\, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology and the Division of Computational Medicine at Stanford University. She also serves as the Director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy Data Hub. The goal of her research program is to understand and enhance engineered T cell immunotherapies for cancer and immune-mediated diseases through innovative computational approaches and systems immunology. Her lab leverages innovation in machine learning and clinical multiomic datasets to build artificial intelligence systems for advanced T cell therapy design. Dr. Good earned her Ph.D. in Computational & Systems Immunology from Stanford University. Her work includes 4 first-author papers (Nature Medicine 2018 & 2022\, Nature Biotechnology 2019\, Trends in Immunology 2019)\, 18+ co-authored papers (including Nature 2019\, 2022\, 2024\, Science 2021\, Nature Methods 2016\, 2022\, and NEJM 2024)\, and an initial senior author papers (ICML 2025\, NeurIPS 2025\, Frontiers in Immunology 2025). Her research is supported by the NIH/NCI Pathway to Independence Award\, NIH/OD Multimodal AI Initiative Award\, NIH/NCI Program Project Grant\, and the Weill Cancer Hub West. Dr. Good has been named an Arthur & Sandra Irving Cancer Immunology Fellow in 2022\, Parker Bridge Fellow in 2023\, and an AACR-Woman in Cancer Research Scholar in 2024. \nHosted by: Professor Vanessa Jonsson\, BMEbe Department
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/bme-280b-seminar-artificial-intelligence-systems-to-advance-engineered-t-cell-immunotherapy-designs/
LOCATION:Biomedical Sciences\, Biomedical Sciences Building Red Hill Road\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Seminars
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X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Biomedical Sciences Biomedical Sciences Building Red Hill Road Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Biomedical Sciences Building Red Hill Road:geo:-122.061118,36.999785
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260305T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260305T150000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260217T182432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260217T182432Z
UID:10009238-1772715600-1772722800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Xu\, Y. (CSE) - Right Place\, Right Time: Accelerating Edge Computation on Modern Heterogeneous SoCs
DESCRIPTION:Modern edge computing increasingly relies on heterogeneous System-on-Chip (SoC) architectures. These chips tightly integrate general-purpose CPUs with various specialized accelerators\, including GPUs\, FPGAs\, and AI accelerators\, all under a shared memory architecture. Although these shared-memory SoCs enable more efficient communication and data sharing between different processing units\, they are notoriously difficult to program and tune due to architectural diversity across vendors and asymmetric compute capabilities within each SoC. \nThis dissertation introduces Redwood and BetterTogether\, two frameworks that rethink CPU-accelerator collaboration on heterogeneous SoCs. Redwood targets a class of algorithms termed traverse–compute\, that combine irregular tree traversals with dense leaf-level computation\, e.g.\, Nearest-Neighbor Search and Barnes–Hut algorithm. \nIt addresses the efficient mapping of these algorithms onto heterogeneous systems by exploiting the architectural strengths of CPUs\, GPUs\, and FPGAs. BetterTogether extends this methodology to a different class of edge workloads\, specifically multi-stage pipelines and neural networks commonly used in computer vision tasks. Furthermore\, it introduces interference-aware analysis and scheduling techniques tailored for mobile SoCs. Finally\, to broaden the scope of heterogeneous acceleration\, we evaluated emerging domain-specific accelerators. We provide a preliminary analysis of Tensor Processing Units and Tensor Cores within the context of modern programming abstractions. \nEvent Host: Yanwen Xu\, Ph.D. Candidate\, Computer Science and Engineering \nAdvisor: Tyler Sorensen \nZoom- https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/5354629158?pwd=0CVhbwLuXDMX5fAGZd63tcfNqDWp0t.1 \nPasscode- 114514
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/xu-y-cse-right-place-right-time-accelerating-edge-computation-on-modern-heterogeneous-socs/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Ph.D. Presentations
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260306T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260306T193000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20260114T025211Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260205T000732Z
UID:10008381-1772820000-1772825400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Science in the Neighborhood: Transforming Pacific salmon recovery\, from genes to ecosystems
DESCRIPTION:Science In the Neighborhood\nA public lecture series hosted quarterly by the UC Santa Cruz Science Division \nTransforming Pacific salmon recovery\, from genes to ecosystems\nPresentation by Eric Palkovacs\, Professor\, UC Santa Cruz\nQ&A with Bryan Gaensler\, Dean of Science\, UC Santa Cruz \nRegister here. \nAn endangered Central California Coast coho salmon from the Scott Creek recovery program that UCSC operates in collaboration with NOAA. Photo credit: Joel Sartore / National Geographic Photo Ark.\nFor millennia\, Pacific salmon have been integral to the health of coastal ecosystems and human communities from California to Alaska. Salmon are ecological and cultural keystone species\, connecting marine and freshwater food webs and supporting thriving fisheries. Yet\, wild salmon have declined precipitously due to a combination of factors including dams\, harvest\, hatcheries\, water use—and now\, climate change. \nProfessor Palkovacs\, who leads UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries Collaborative Program\, will describe transformative approaches to recover wild salmon populations by connecting novel insights from the level of genes to ecosystems. Learn how this integrative research program can provide insights to transform the future for wild Pacific salmon and the ecosystems and fisheries they support. \nThe event is in-person only. Register here. \nMarch 6\, 2026 | 6:00–7:30 p.m.\nCoastal Biology Building. Rm. 110\nUC Santa Cruz Coastal Campus\n130 McAllister Way\nSanta Cruz\, CA 95060 \nThe screenshot below shows where to find the entrance of the Coastal Biology Building.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/transforming-pacific-salmon-recovery-from-genes-to-ecosystems/
LOCATION:Coastal Biology Building\, 130 McAllister Way\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95060
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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GEO:36.9530063;-122.0650862
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Coastal Biology Building 130 McAllister Way Santa Cruz CA 95060;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=130 McAllister Way:geo:-122.0650862,36.9530063
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260307T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260307T120000
DTSTAMP:20260421T152906
CREATED:20251211T171734Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251211T171734Z
UID:10005656-1772881200-1772884800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:First Saturday Tour at the Arboretum
DESCRIPTION:First Saturday Tours are a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the Arboretum or to deepen your knowledge of the Arboretum’s plant collections. Each tour is a little different depending on the time of year\, the interests of the tour guide\, and the people who join in. For example\, you might learn about the birds and mammals that make this land their home or about the amazing physical adaptations that plants have evolved to better deal with our extreme weather and climate conditions. Tours are free with paid admission.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/first-saturday-tour-at-the-arboretum/2026-03-07/
LOCATION:Arboretum\, 122 Arboretum Road\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
GEO:36.9838652;-122.0609079
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Arboretum 122 Arboretum Road Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=122 Arboretum Road:geo:-122.0609079,36.9838652
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END:VCALENDAR