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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250826T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250826T173000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250710T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231623Z
UID:10000068-1756229400-1756229400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Jobscan for Job Seekers: Tools to Help You Get Hired
DESCRIPTION:Make your resume work smarter with Jobscan \n\nLearn how to create tailored resumes and cover letters using Jobscan’s free AI-powered tools. In this hands-on session\, you’ll discover how to optimize your application materials for specific job postings\, track the positions you’ve applied to\, and make the most of Jobscan’s features to stay organized and stand out in your job search. \nThis session is open exclusively to UCSC and UCSC Extension students.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/jobscan-for-job-seekers-tools-to-help-you-get-hired/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250825T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250825T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250605T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231312Z
UID:10000033-1756144800-1756144800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Learn to build AI Applications
DESCRIPTION:Explore the future of AI with Praveen Krishna\nJoin Program Chair and AI expert Praveen Krishna for an insider’s look at the University of California’s first certificate in AI Application Development. Learn about the growing number of jobs involving AI\, the skills you'll need to build a competitive resume\, and the UCSC Silicon Valley classes that will support your development.  \n\nGet career-ready AI skills \nTaught by Silicon Valley leaders\, this program helps you master machine learning\, advanced AI techniques\, and portfolio-building projects. Whether you're in tech\, research\, or career transition\, this certificate gives you the skills to stand out in a fast-growing field. Don’t miss this chance to learn from the expert guiding the future of AI talent. \nThis info session event is sponsored by the AI Application Development Certificate program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/ai-application-development-info-session-2/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250825T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250825T090000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250819T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231630Z
UID:10000115-1756112400-1756112400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Hawthorne\, N. (ECE) - An Out-of-the-Incubator Platform for Fluorescent Neural Monitoring and Stimulation Experiments
DESCRIPTION:Live-cell fluorescence microscopy enables high-resolution\, non-invasive imaging and optical stimulation of biological processes\, yet existing systems are often prohibitively expensive\, mechanically complex\, and poorly suited for wide field-of-view\, high-speed\, multi-channel experiments—particularly those involving optogenetics. To address these limitations\, I developed a low-cost\, modular fluorescence microscope constructed from 3D-printed mechanical components and off-the-shelf optics. I also contributed to the engineering of the incubator to support long-term live-cell imaging. The platform accommodates multi-channel fluorescence imaging with simultaneous optogenetic stimulation\, features configurable optical paths for different fluorophores\, offers motorized positioning via a 3-axis manipulator\, enables dual-camera alignment for concurrent imaging\, and incorporates integrated brightfield capability. \nThe system’s performance was demonstrated by imaging mScarlet and GCaMP6f fluorescence in live human forebrain organoids\, enabling visualization of single neurons and calcium dynamics. This thesis presents a detailed evaluation of the microscope’s optical\, mechanical\, and electronic subsystems\, alongside biological validation using both the microscope and stage-top incubator. An in-well media perfusion device is proposed to further enhance tissue spheroid experiments. All 3D-print files and component specifications are provided to facilitate replication and adaptation by future researchers. The resulting open and modular platform offers a cost-effective\, high-performance alternative for advanced fluorescence microscopy and optogenetic studies\, improving tissue culture monitoring and experimental throughput while identifying remaining challenges and opportunities for further innovation in the field. \nEvent Host: Nico Hawthorne\, Ph.D. Candidate\, Electrical & Computer Engineering
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/hawthorne-n-ece-an-out-of-the-incubator-platform-for-fluorescent-neural-monitoring-and-stimulation-experiments/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250822T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250822T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250818T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231432Z
UID:10000113-1755867600-1755867600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Lei\, K. (CMPM) - Designing for Meaningful Large-Scale Online Communication\, Connection\, and Collective Insight
DESCRIPTION:Digital technologies have made large-scale online interaction a central part of how people communicate\, connect\, and work together. Yet scaling often comes at the cost of depth\, and interactions can become superficial and chaotic\, drifting away from the richer interactional contexts of small-scale or in-person settings that support trust and meaningful exchange\, and that make it possible for participants to respond to and build constructively on one another’s ideas. Although recent advances such as large language models have opened new possibilities for shaping online interaction\, there has been relatively little exploration of how to design interaction mechanisms that take advantage of large-scale engagement while fostering interactions that are engaged\, authentic\, connected\, and generative.\n    \nIn this dissertation\, I explore how large-scale online systems can be designed to support engaged and meaningful interaction at scale from three distinct angles: creating few-to-many conversation structures that enable broad participation while maintaining coherence and a high level of engagement; fostering authentic self-expression in ways that build connection; and designing mechanisms that allow participants to interpret and constructively build on one another’s contributions to generate collective insight. I begin by designing a chat-based interface that organizes conversations through multi-person conversational units\, enabling one or a few mentors to effectively mentor a large-group of students. I then examine how to design a gratitude-focused online community that supports authentic and positive expressions of gratitude\, cultivating positive cycles of reflection and connection. Finally\, I introduce a large language model–powered survey platform that blends qualitative depth\, quantitative structure\, and collaborative interaction\, enabling respondents to engage with and build on each other’s ideas while providing survey creators with richer and more interpretable results. My work demonstrates how technological affordances and large-scale participation can be combined to create interaction mechanisms that support the move from isolated contributions toward shared understanding\, offering unique forms of engagement that small-scale or in-person settings cannot provide. \nEvent Host: Kehua Lei\, PhD Candidate\, Computational Media \nAdvisor: David Lee
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/lei-k-cmpm-designing-for-meaningful-large-scale-online-communication-connection-and-collective-insight/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250626T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231619Z
UID:10000048-1755799200-1755799200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Regulatory Affairs and Medical Device Quality and Design – Fall Info Session
DESCRIPTION:Explore medical innovation with Kiran Gulati\nJoin medical device and biotech expert Kiran Gulati for a closer look at UCSC Silicon Valley’s Regulatory Affairs and Medical Device Quality and Design certificates. These programs equip you to navigate global regulations and bring safe\, effective products to market. \nBuild in-demand skills in a regulated field\nLearn FDA negotiation\, risk management\, and quality system standards like ISO 13485 and 14971. Whether you're aiming for RAC certification or advancing your career in biotech\, this session will highlight how these programs prepare you for success in the fast-moving healthcare industry. \nThis fall info session is sponsored by the Regulatory Affairs and Medical Device Programs.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/regulatory-affairs-and-medical-device-quality-and-design-fall-info-session/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250815T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231627Z
UID:10000106-1755781200-1755781200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Briden\, M. (CSE) -  Representation Learning and Generative Forecasting for Noisy and Limited Clinical Data: Applications in Wound Healing and EEG
DESCRIPTION:The rapid integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into clinical practice has driven advances in disease classification\, segmentation\, and clinical decision support. However\, the complexities of medical data pose a challenge to widespread adoption. The rarity of medical conditions\, ethical considerations\, and varying acquisition protocols leads to limited and noisy data. The time-intensive process of labeling data\, the high degree of accuracy required in clinical settings\, and the ill-defined nature of certain medical conditions further complicate the application and deployment of machine learning models. Likewise\, high‐stakes medical decisions demand trustworthy and interpretable predictions. However\, prioritizing trust and explainability is rarely a primary objective in most model designs. \nThis thesis addresses three key challenges in machine learning for healthcare. First\, we develop methods for learning under noisy and limited medical data\, focusing on representation learning strategies that improve generalization when datasets are small or contain mislabeled samples. Second\, we explore the prediction of generative outcomes amid label noise and data scarcity\, utilizing parameter-efficient and temporal generative models to forecast disease trajectories. Third\, we advance trustworthy and explainable medical artificial intelligence by designing deep architectures that provide interpretable outputs suitable for clinical decision-making. \nThese challenges are addressed in the context of two complementary medical modalities: wound healing images and electroencephalogram signals. Wound healing tasks focus on predicting healing trajectories while enhancing interpretability through segmentation-based explanations and training large models in light of extreme data noise and scarcity. Electroencephalogram-based tasks emphasize representation learning and explainability for non-invasive mental state classification. These experiments demonstrate the clinical relevance of the proposed approaches and their ability to operate under challenging medical conditions across both imaging and physiological signal domains. \nEvent Host: Michael Briden\, PhD Candidate\, Computer Science & Engineering \nAdvisor: Narges Norouzi
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/briden-m-cse-representation-learning-and-generative-forecasting-for-noisy-and-limited-clinical-data-applications-in-wound-healing-and-eeg/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250815T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231626Z
UID:10000104-1755777600-1755777600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:HireUC Alumni Career Fair
DESCRIPTION:The HireUC Alumni Career Fair is a hiring event designed for University of California alumni who are looking for early-and mid-level career opportunities. It offers a special chance for alumni to connect with employers from diverse fields and industries. Alumni from all 10 UC campuses are invited. UC alumni can attend the fair for free\, but it’s important to register in advance to secure participation.  \nAbout Hire Talent \n\nSince 2014\, over 100\,000+ attendees to Hire Talent Events\nCreated 1\,000s of new careers\n50% bachelors / 40% masters / 10% doctorate\nAverage experience of attendees: 6 years\n500+ University Partners\n25 Cities\n\nQuestions \n\nJeffrey Nortman jeff@gohiretalent.com\nPatricia Nguyen\, Director of Systemwide UC Santa Cruz Alumni & Diversity Initiatives patricia.nguyen@ucop.edu\n\nEmployers \nIf you work for a company looking to connect with alumni from the University of California graduating from various majors\, degrees and career levels\, please use the Employer Registration tab to get participate as a recruiter.  Employer registration is open to all employers not just UC Alumni.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/hireuc-alumni-career-fair/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250821T110000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250730T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231624Z
UID:10000082-1755774000-1755774000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:HireUC Alumni Career Summit
DESCRIPTION:About the career summit \nThe HireUC Alumni Career Summit\, in partnership with Hire Talent\, is a hiring event organized for University of California (UC) alumni who are looking for early- and mid-level career opportunities. It offers a special chance for alumni to connect with employers from diverse fields and industries.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/hireuc-alumni-career-summit/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Exhibits,Lectures & Presentations
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250820T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250820T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250717T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231623Z
UID:10000073-1755712800-1755712800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Project and Program Management Info Session
DESCRIPTION:Project Leadership with Tim Bombosch\nJoin Program Chair Tim Bombosch for UCSC Silicon Valley’s Project and Program Management certificate\, where you'll learn from PMI®-certified experts leading teams across top Silicon Valley companies. Gain the tools and strategies to define goals\, estimate costs\, manage risk\, and deliver successful outcomes \n.\nMaster Real-World Management Skills\nBuild expertise in both traditional and agile methods—Scrum\, Kanban\, SAFe\, and more. This program satisfies PMI® training requirements and prepares you for the PMP® and CAPM® exams while equipping you to lead teams and drive results in today’s fast-paced business environment. \n\nThis fall info session is sponsored by the Project and Program Management Certificate program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/project-and-program-management-info-session-4291/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250820T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250820T173000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250730T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231319Z
UID:10000083-1755711000-1755711000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:All UC Alumni Networking Mixer in Central California
DESCRIPTION:Alumni from all 10 University of California campuses are invited to our friendly and open networking mixer at a UC alumni-owned winery in Central California.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/all-uc-alumni-networking-mixer-in-central-california/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250818T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231432Z
UID:10000111-1755612000-1755612000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Bhatia\, N. (CSE) - Building Adaptive Intelligence into Wireless Sensing
DESCRIPTION:WiFi-based indoor positioning is a widely researched area focused on determining the location of devices. Accurate indoor positioning has numerous applications\, including asset tracking and indoor navigation. Despite advances\, their adoption in practice remains limited due to several challenges such as environmental changes that cause signal fading\, multipath effects\, and interference\, all of which reduce positioning accuracy. Moreover\, telemetry data vary across WiFi device vendors\, presenting distinct features and formats\, while use-case requirements can also differ significantly. At present\, there is no unified model capable of handling these variations effectively. \nWe present WiFiGPT\, a decoder-only transformer-based system designed to address these variations while achieving high localization accuracy. Our experiments with WiFiGPT show that it can effectively capture subtle spatial patterns in noisy wireless telemetry\, making them reliable regressors. Compared to state-of-the-art methods\, our approach matches and often surpasses conventional techniques across multiple types of telemetry. Achieving sub-meter accuracy for RSSI and FTM and centimeter-level precision for CSI highlights the potential of LLM-based localization to outperform specialized methods\, without the need for handcrafted signal processing or calibration. Other work includes EchoSense\, which utilizes CSI to monitor vital signs such as heart rate and respiration with high accuracy. \nEvent Host: Nayan Bhatia\, PhD Student\, Computer Science & Engineering \nAdvisor: Katia Obraczka
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/bhatia-n-cse-building-adaptive-intelligence-into-wireless-sensing/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250818T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231627Z
UID:10000112-1755612000-1755612000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Swaby\, A. (ECE) -  Improving X-ray Medical Imaging using Amorphous Selenium as a Photoconductive Layer
DESCRIPTION:The presence of coronary artery calcification is a strong predictor for future cardiovascular events where cardiac risk categories are quantified depending on calcification size. Dual-energy chest X-rays provide high contrast visualization to improve opportunistic screening for quantifying coronary artery calcifications\, determining bone mineral density (i.e.\, osteoporosis) and characterizing lung lesions. As a dual-energy imaging modality\, multilayer flat panel detectors acquire low- and high-energy X-ray images as a polyenergetic\, single-exposure. Combining two detectors into a dual-layer configuration\, weighted subtraction techniques in the resulting images allow for differentiation of soft tissue from the projection of the bone structures and other high attenuating materials. To improve detection of calcifications < 1 mm in size\, the performance of a dual-layer X-ray detector is investigated as a means of providing the necessary μm-resolution and spectral separation for enhanced contrast between low- and high-energy X-ray images. A cascaded linear systems model is used to simulate the modulation transfer function\, detective quantum efficiency\, and noise power spectrum of an amorphous selenium direct conversion top detector and a cesium iodide-based indirect conversion bottom detector. As the framework for system design and optimization\, a generalized task-based analysis is used to analyze how the signal projections\, noise contributions\, task function\, and weighting factors contribute to the detectability index of the dual-layer imaging system.  \nEvent Host: Akyl Swaby\, PhD Candidate\, Electrical & Computer Engineering \nAdvisor:  Dr. Shiva Abbaszadeh
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/swaby-a-ece-improving-x-ray-medical-imaging-using-amorphous-selenium-as-a-photoconductive-layer/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250813T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231430Z
UID:10000102-1755608400-1755608400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Moreland\, Z. (AM) - Transcriptomic and Computational Analysis of Burn and Excisional Wound Healing
DESCRIPTION:Accurate assessment of wound healing progress is critical for optimizing patient care and preventing complications\, yet clinicians currently lack precise tools to determine where a wound stands in the healing timeline. Wound healing progresses through overlapping stages of inflammation\, proliferation\, and maturation\, each marked by characteristic shifts in gene expression that are difficult to interpret without robust computational methods. This paper proposes to classify wound healing stages from transcriptomic data using support vector machines combined with biologically informed clustering to serve as features for the hierarchical SVM classifiers. This approach is applied to two distinct wound types: excisional wounds in pigs (21-day timeline) and burn wounds in mice (42-day timeline)\, enabling comparison of classification performance across different injury mechanisms. The models achieved high overall accuracy\, with the burn model performing better at the classification of the stages. Both models made mistakes in distinguishing inflammation from early proliferation\, highlighting the inherent biological overlap between these transitional healing stages. Overall\, we find that transcriptomic-based classification can reliably identify wound healing stages across different wound types\, providing a foundation for developing personalized diagnostic tools that could transform clinical wound management and improve patient outcomes. \nEvent Host: Zoe Moreland\, M.S. Candidate\, Applied Mathematics \nAdvisor: Marcella Gomez
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/moreland-z-am-transcriptomic-and-computational-analysis-of-burn-and-excisional-wound-healing/
LOCATION:Jack Baskin Engineering\, Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.000369;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Jack Baskin Engineering Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.000369
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250626T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231315Z
UID:10000049-1755604800-1755604800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Programming with Rust
DESCRIPTION:Join us in learning more about Rust\, one of the fastest-growing programming languages\, which continues to be ranked the most-loved language by its users. Its user base\, aka “Rustaceans\,” has tripled in just two years as more and more software products are being developed in Rust. \nIn this fast-paced virtual overview with Danesh Forouhari\, we’ll talk about: \n\nThe history of Rust\nProblems Rust solves\nComparing Rust to other programming languages\nBenchmarking data (vs. C & Go)\nThe good\, the bad\, and the ugly of programming with Rust\nRunning some sample Rust code\, if time permits\n\nSpeaker\nDanesh Forouhari\, M.S.\, has more than 20 years of experience in the software development industry. He teaches Python for Programmers. \nThis fall info session is sponsored by the UCSC Silicon Valley Professional Education Computer Programming certificate program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/programming-with-rust-6423/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250819T100000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250815T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231431Z
UID:10000105-1755597600-1755597600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Osorio\, S. (AM) - Image-Based Wound Infection Classification
DESCRIPTION:This thesis investigates the use of deep learning for classifying wound infections from photographic images\, using colony-forming unit (CFU) counts as a quantitative labeling standard. Leveraging the visual information in wound photographs and the clinical relevance of bacterial burden\, the study implements a multi-task U-Net architecture for both image reconstruction and binary classification in a shared-encoder framework. Three experimental conditions were explored: one using original images with positive class weighting\, one incorporating data augmentation to enhance visual diversity\, and one employing 5-fold cross-validation with augmentation to improve validation reliability. The non-augmented model achieved 91.7% accuracy at a threshold of 0.8\, correctly identifying 4 of 5 infected cases\, while Experiment 2 achieved 87.5% accuracy at a moderate threshold of 0.5 but became more conservative at higher thresholds. The third experiment reached 79.6% accuracy at a threshold of 0.3\, detecting all 11 infected cases despite signs of overfitting. These results highlight the model's strong performance in minimizing false negatives\, particularly in the non-augmented setting\, but also reflect limitations from the small dataset\, class imbalance\, and reliance on a small validation set. These factors suggest results should be interpreted cautiously and motivate further study with larger datasets\, improved regularization\, and more varied clinical scenarios. \nEvent Host: Sebastian Osorio\, M.S. Candidate\, Scientific Computing & Applied Mathematics \nAdvsior: Marcella Gomez
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/osorio-s-am-image-based-wound-infection-classification/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250818T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250818T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250807T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231429Z
UID:10000096-1755540000-1755540000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Model Context Protocol: Why It Matters
DESCRIPTION:The Impact of Model Context Protocol \nJoin us for an engaging exploration of the Model Context Protocol—a groundbreaking framework designed to improve communication and context-sharing across AI agents. As AI systems become more modular and collaborative\, MCP offers a powerful solution for maintaining continuity across tasks\, tools\, and models. This free\, online event is sponsored by the AI Program at UCSC Silicon Valley Extension. \n\nTopics \n\nThe origins and motivations behind MCP\nHow MCP structures and preserves context\nThe growing importance of MCP in the development of scalable\, interoperable AI agent systems\nReal-world use cases\nCurrent limitations of MCP\nHow MCP is shaping the future of AI infrastructure\nHow to advance your knowledge and skills in this frontier technology.\n\n\nSpeaker \nPraveen Krishna\, AI Program chair and platform architect for Audio AI/ML Solutions\, Performance & Power\, Intel\, teaches AI Essentials\, Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence\, Open Computer AI Agent by Hugging Face\, Practical uses of DeepSeek/Llama\, Computer Vision and Image Processing\, and Capstone Building Integrated AI Applications. \n\nInterested in a deeper dive into this topic? \nAI Technology Workshop Series: Model Context Protocol (Aug. 29)\nA one-day workshop held in person at the Silicon Valley Campus or online.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/model-context-protocol-what-you-need-to-know-why-it-matters/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250818T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250818T103000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250814T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231431Z
UID:10000103-1755513000-1755513000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Vats\, V. (CSE) - Learning to Remember: Multi-Agent Self-Refinement toward Persistent Machine Perception
DESCRIPTION:Modern machine perception is powerful yet brittle: failing in response to subtle data adversaries and lacking mechanisms to learn from their errors. We address this challenge by progressing from diagnosing such failures to developing a framework for persistent learning. We first investigate the sources of this fragility\, demonstrating how both naturally occurring adversarial artifacts\, like specular highlights\, and conditions of data scarcity fundamentally limit model robustness. We then replace a passive reliance on quality data curation with active\, multi-agent refinement: a Worker-Supervisor loop that iteratively critiques and corrects outputs to meet complex\, rule-rich guidelines at inference time. While this system achieves dynamic error correction\, it rarely remembers what was learned. We thus plan to tackle this problem of non-remembrance by proposing an experience memory that records validated fixes as reusable insights\, retrieves them when similar contexts recur\, and\, where available\, grounds them across viewpoints and time. Together\, these components turn momentary fixes into long-term skills\, paving the way for more capable and reliable perception in fields like augmented reality and robotics. \nEvent Host: Vanshika Vats\, PhD Student\, Computer Science & Engineering \nAdvisor: James Davis
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/vats-v-cse-learning-to-remember-multi-agent-self-refinement-toward-persistent-machine-perception/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250816T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250816T090000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250610T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231618Z
UID:10000035-1755334800-1755334800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:AI Workshop: Spiking Neural Networks
DESCRIPTION:Welcome to our immersive AI technology workshop series. During these sessions you will be introduced to new and established AI tools that will help you create and manipulate content in new and powerful ways. Each session is led by an industry expert who will guide you through the material and share its real-world implications. \nLearning Outcomes \nAt the conclusion of the workshop\, you should be able to \n\nDescribe and discuss the fundamental principles of Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs)\, including spike-based data representation\, key neuron models (e.g.\, Leaky Integrate-and-Fire)\, synaptic operations\, the current state-of-the-art in neuromorphic hardware\, and the realistic short-term and long-term potential of SNNs in the broader AI landscape.\nExplain the differences between Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) and traditional Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)\, articulating the motivational factors for SNN adoption such as energy efficiency and event-driven computation.\nDemonstrate an ability to properly and effectively implement simple SNN applications (e.g.\, the XOR problem and a more complex use case) using tools like Nengo\, understanding how information is encoded and processed through spike trains\, and applying different training approaches for SNNs while contrasting them with traditional backpropagation and evaluating the challenges and opportunities in SNN learning.\n\nTopics Include \n\nIntroduction to Spiking Neural Networks: What are SNNs? Visualizing spike-based computation.\nWhy SNNs Matter: Motivations (energy efficiency\, neuromorphic hardware)\, real-world applications (robotics\, IoT)\, and a realistic look at when they are most beneficial.\nCore Concepts of SNNs: Spike-based representation (events\, timing\, frequency)\, simplified neuron models (LIF)\, synaptic function\, and encoding strategies (rate vs. temporal).\nHands-On with SNNs (Nengo Demo): Interactive exploration of spike generation\, parameter tuning\, and visualizing network behavior.\nProblem Solving with SNNs:\nThe XOR problem: Understanding challenges with discrete logic.\nApplying SNNs to continuous\, real-world analog-like problems.\nTraining Spiking Neural Networks: Exploring alternatives to backpropagation (e.g.\, evolutionary computation\, PSO) and understanding the associated challenges.\nThe Neuromorphic Landscape: Introduction to key neuromorphic hardware (e.g.\, Intel Loihi\, BrainChip Akida)\, their architectures\, and real-world case studies.\nCurrent Limitations and Future Outlook: Discussing speed vs. efficiency\, challenges in tooling and frameworks\, and the short-term and long-term vision for SNN adoption.\n\nStudents are required to bring laptops for class exercises. \nThis event is co-sponsored by the UCSC Silicon Valley Professional Education Artificial Intelligence program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/ai-workshop-spiking-neural-networks/
LOCATION:Silicon Valley Campus\, 3175 Bowers Avenue\, Santa Clara\, CA\, 95054\, United States
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
GEO:37.3796975;-121.9765484
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Silicon Valley Campus 3175 Bowers Avenue Santa Clara CA 95054 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=3175 Bowers Avenue:geo:-121.9765484,37.3796975
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250815T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250815T110000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20240913T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231309Z
UID:10000003-1755255600-1755255600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Return to the Redwoods
DESCRIPTION:Return to the Redwoods is your chance to reconnect with friends\, family\, and fellow alumni while exploring the beauty of campus. Enjoy a variety of activities for all ages\, including a lively kick-off party\, Stars & S’mores\, guided hikes\, hands-on workshops\, and plenty of opportunities for fun and relaxation. \nYou definitely don’t want to miss out!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/return-to-the-redwoods-5670/
LOCATION:Porter College\, D-Building\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:36.9923139;-122.0581762
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Porter College D-Building Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=D-Building:geo:-122.0581762,36.9923139
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250924T212032Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250924T212032Z
UID:10000047-1755086400-1755086400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Lunch & Learn: Onboarding Graduate Students for Research
DESCRIPTION:Join colleagues from the Office of Research Compliance Administration and Baskin Engineering on August 13\, 12-1 p.m.\, for a practical overview of onboarding graduate students in their role as researchers. This session will cover key institutional requirements needed before students begin research activities. Speakers will highlight common pitfalls\, share best practices\, and offer strategies to set students up for success.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/lunch-learn-onboarding-graduate-students-for-research/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T100000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250806T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231625Z
UID:10000092-1755079200-1755079200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Asefi\, N. (ECE) - Generative Lagrangian Data Assimilation for Ocean Dynamics under Extreme Sparsity
DESCRIPTION:Reconstructing ocean dynamics from observational data is fundamentally limited by the sparse\, irregular\, and Lagrangian nature of spatial sampling\, particularly in subsurface and remote regions. This sparsity poses significant challenges for forecasting key phenomena such as eddy shedding and rogue waves. Traditional data assimilation methods and deep learning models often struggle to recover mesoscale turbulence under such constraints. We leverage a deep learning framework that combines neural operators with denoising diffusion probabilistic models (DDPMs) to reconstruct high-resolution ocean states from extremely sparse Lagrangian observations. By conditioning the generative model on neural operator outputs\, the framework accurately captures small-scale\, high-wavenumber dynamics even at $99%$ sparsity (for synthetic data) and $99.9%$ sparsity (for real satellite observations). We validate our method on benchmark systems\, synthetic float observations\, and real satellite data\, demonstrating robust performance under severe spatial sampling limitations as compared to other deep learning baselines. \nEvent Host: Niloofar Asefi\, PhD Student\, Electrical & Computer Engineering \nAdvisor: Ashesh Chattopadhyay
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/asefi-n-ece-generative-lagrangian-data-assimilation-for-ocean-dynamics-under-extreme-sparsity/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250813T100000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250805T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231428Z
UID:10000089-1755079200-1755079200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Interested in a paralegal career?
DESCRIPTION:You are invited to join a free\, online informational session to learn more about the Center for Legal Studies Paralegal Certificate Course©\, a professional education program taught through the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Paralegal Studies program. \nTopics \n\n\nCareer growth and earning potential \n\n\nAn overview of how CLS works with accredited college and university partners \n\n\nCourse pricing and payment options \n\n\nCourse materials and textbooks \n\n\nInstructor and peer/student interactions \n\n\nHow the online course works \n\n\n\nQ&A: There will be 15 minutes dedicated to Q&A\, so please bring any questions you might have.  \nRegister to receive the event recording \nIf you are unable to attend the webinar at this date and time\, please still register and the BARBRI team will send out the recorded webinar for you to view. \nThis event is co-sponsored by the UCSC Silicon Valley Professional Education Legal Studies program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/interested-in-a-paralegal-career-8312/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Training
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T173000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250724T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231319Z
UID:10000081-1755019800-1755019800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Effective Multigenerational Communication
DESCRIPTION:Join the Silicon Valley NHRA and learning partner Steps for an interactive session using drama-based learning to improve communication across generations in the workplace. Through scenario-based activities\, you'll explore real-world challenges and uncover how different generations approach work\, communication\, and leadership. Learn how this approach supports HR and talent strategies by equipping teams with the tools to build stronger connections and a greater sense of belonging. Discover how generational differences can become a strength—not a barrier—to organizational success. \nThis event is sponsored by the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Human Resource Management Certificate Program.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/effective-multigenerational-communication/
LOCATION:Silicon Valley Campus\, 3175 Bowers Avenue\, Santa Clara\, CA\, 95054\, United States
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations,Meetings & Conferences,Training
GEO:37.3796975;-121.9765484
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Silicon Valley Campus 3175 Bowers Avenue Santa Clara CA 95054 United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=3175 Bowers Avenue:geo:-121.9765484,37.3796975
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250808T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231429Z
UID:10000097-1755000000-1755000000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:BME Special Seminar: La protein and the RNA Polymerase III transcriptome
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Richard J Maraia\, MD\, Senior Investigator and Head of the Section on Molecular and Cell Biology in the Intramural Research Program\, NICHD \nDescription: The La protein is a eukaryote-ubiquitous RNA-binding protein that (in the organisms examined) stabilizes newly synthesized RNA polymerase (Pol) III transcripts by transiently protecting their 3’-ends prior to maturation as abundant stable noncoding (nc)RNAs. While Bacteria and archaea use a single RNA polymerase to produce their cellular RNAs\, Pol III is specialized to synthesize short RNAs in large amounts\, e.g.\, tRNAs at &gt;10-fold molar levels relative to ribosomal RNA synthesized by Pol I. tRNA genes are the most numerous of Pol III-transcribed genes\, followed by 5S rRNA and a few single-to-low copy noncoding (nc)RNA genes. The numbers of tRNA genes have been expansive and dynamic in eukaryotes\, presumably facilitated by their “internal split promoter” (A-box and B-box) which roughly correspond to the most conserved regions of tRNAs\, the D and T loops. The Pol III-specific transcription factor\, TFIIIC binds to this promoter and directs transcription at the upstream initiation site\, i.e.\, even if the tRNA sequence is inserted at a different locus. Transcription termination by Pol III is by a unique mechanism\, directed by its second largest subunit\, RPC2 which together with help of another Pol III-specific subunit reads the ≥4 consecutive Ts on the nontemplate strand as a pause signal that results in release the RNA. The first part of the talk will be on a paper under revision\, A POLR3B-variant reveals a RNA Polymerase III transcriptome response dependent on the SSB/La protein. In this study\, we performed extensive molecular characterization on a patient case that we found in the NIH Undiagnosed Disease Program (UDP) with homozygous SNPs in RPC2 and gained new insight as per the title. The second part of the talk will be related to a paper published in July 2025 that reflects diversity of tRNA genes. More specifically\, we discovered a tRNA gene with apparent latent noncanonical activity to activate cellular interferon signaling\, in addition to its mRNA decoding activity\, and characterized its features and those of a minority subset of other human tRNA genes that exhibit this activity from those in a majority that don’t. \nBio: Richard J. Maraia focuses on RNA polymerase III\, Genetics\, RNA\, Small nuclear RNA and RNA polymerase II. The study incorporates disciplines such as Inverted repeat\, Genomic organization\, Termination factor\, Molecular biology and Heterochromatin in addition to RNA polymerase III. His Molecular biology research incorporates elements of Apoptosis\, Mdm2\, Cancer research and Small interfering RNA. \nHis studies in RNA integrate themes in fields like Transcription and Protein biosynthesis. The concepts of his Small nuclear RNA study are interwoven with issues in RNase P and RNA recognition motif. Richard J. Maraia has included themes like General transcription factor and DNA polymerase in his RNA polymerase II study. \nHe is the ongoing chair of the NIH RNA club and serves on the organizing committees of the international biennial conferences on RNA polymerases I & III and the biennial conferences on La and related protein (LARP). He served on the Earl Stadtman Investigator Search committees for Molecular Biology and Biochemistry as chair and for RNA Biology at the NIH. He had speciality training in pediatrics and interinstitute medical genetics at the NIH. \n\nHosted by: Professor Todd Lowe\, BME Department
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/bme-special-seminar-la-protein-and-the-rna-polymerase-iii-transcriptome/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250717T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231318Z
UID:10000075-1755000000-1755000000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:What the Mouth Remembers: Lost Recipe\, Found Words
DESCRIPTION:What the Mouth Remembers is a research-creation project that explores how spoken language\, especially when fragmented\, mistranslated\, and passed down across migration\, family histories\, and colonial ruptures\, becomes a site of embodied memory\, survival\, and imaginative reconstruction. At the heart of the project is the Jeju language\, not as a fixed object of preservation but as a way of understanding and relating that vibrantly moves through sound\, memory\, and gesture. \nJoin us from noon to 3 p.m. daily during the exhibition\, Jeju Seaweed Soup (Mom-guk) will be available for visitors to taste. Participants can choose either the classic pork-based version or a vegetarian alternative\, both of which include rice\, kimchi\, and seaweed (in this case\, from Monterey Bay Seaweeds)\, prepared using Yoon’s mom’s traditional Jeju recipe for mom-guk. \nYoonkyung Lim is a visual artist and Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media at the University of California\, Santa Cruz. Yoon’s art is participatory. The environment she creates around a theme allows an open space for interaction\, discussion\, and shared responsibility. Visitors are not merely viewers\, they become co-creators. Her recent work investigates feminist oral histories\, alternative archives\, and diasporic modes of translation. She has exhibited at the Gangwon International Triennale (2024)\, MMCA Seoul and Gwacheon and the Coreana Museum of Art. Lim holds a BFA from Korea National University of Arts\, an MFA from UCLA\, and completed the Whitney ISP.  Artist website: www.yoonkyunglim.com
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/what-the-mouth-remembers-lost-recipe-found-words-6767/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T100000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250811T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231626Z
UID:10000098-1754992800-1754992800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Mawhorter\, R. (CSE) - Certified Synthesis for Interactive Media: High Assurance Metroidvania Generation
DESCRIPTION:Program verification has been applied in many contexts (including videogames)\, but the scale and complexity of the examples that have been analyzed fall short of the ability to analyze many existing games without massive computational costs. My research focuses on automatic analysis and design of one particular game: Super Metroid\, with the goal of creating general methods for efficient analysis that address these issues. In pursuit of this goal\, I develop novel abstraction strategies that can be reapplied in other contexts. I also show that these same techniques can also be used to synthesize games\, and I develop a paradigm for understanding procedural generation problems as verification problems. This paradigm enables generators to certify their output\, and these certificates act as a powerful debugging tool. My research expands on existing techniques for applying symbolic search to large state spaces\, exploring many different ways of optimizing the state space representation\, and reporting on their relative effectiveness in real-world contexts. I also demonstrate how multiple layers of abstraction can be used to enhance existing search algorithms. Using these methods\, I show how verifying properties of software with respect to the humans that interact with it can be practically achieved. \nEvent Host: Ross Mawhorter\, PhD Candidate\, Computer Science & Engineering \nAdvsior: Adam Smith
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/mawhorter-r-cse-certified-synthesis-for-interactive-media-high-assurance-metroidvania-generation/
LOCATION:Engineering 2\, Engineering 2 1156 High Street\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
GEO:37.0009723;-122.0632371
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Engineering 2 1156 High Street:geo:-122.0632371,37.0009723
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250812T090000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250806T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231428Z
UID:10000093-1754989200-1754989200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Ghosh\, S. (CMPM) - Scientific Sensemaking with Spatial Data in Collaborative Virtual Reality
DESCRIPTION:Collaborative virtual reality environments have the potential to greatly impact scientific progress\, especially those relating to existential human problems. Within these virtual environments\, scientists could view and interact with spatial data in applications as part of their sensemaking process\, however\, there are design challenges and barriers to development. This advancement document presents research questions related to the design of these technologies\, and a project schedule for completing the dissertation. In the first part\, Virtual Reality for Scientific Sensemaking\, I describe prior\, current\, and future work related to collaboratively designing interfaces with scientific domain experts across civil engineering and marine science. In the second part\, Taxonomy\, I describe current and future work to categorize and generalize XR input patterns for collaborative virtual environments\, as these works have been shown to fundamentally enable the design of many apps. In the final part\, Open Source Infrastructure Stability\, I describe my effort to support the ecosystem through the contribution of interoperable\, low-resource\, and extensible open source software. \nEvent Host: Samir Ghosh\, PhD Student\, Computational Media \nAdvisor: Katherine Isbister
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/ghosh-s-cmpm-scientific-sensemaking-with-spatial-data-in-collaborative-virtual-reality/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250811T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250811T183000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250924T212216Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250924T212216Z
UID:10000080-1754937000-1754937000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:August Slugs & Steins with Professor Nancy N. Chen
DESCRIPTION:Breathing in the Anthropocene: Reflections on Breath\, Air\, and Vitality \nThis presentation examines breathing in the present moment when humans vastly transform Earth ecosystems that impact health and well-being. Atmospheric transformations via worsened air highlight connections of breath with health. How might breath be shaped by cultural and individual experiences? Ethnographic research at the intersections of medical and environmental anthropology have renewed attention on energetic relations between bodies\, landscapes\, air\, and health\, especially the role of vital energy in qi\, prana\, or ha. In addition to these breath centered approaches\, we examine recent biomedical research on breath management across a broad range of complementary medicine and health interventions.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/august-slugs-steins-with-professor-nancy-n-chen/
LOCATION:CA
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250811T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250811T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250806T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231428Z
UID:10000095-1754920800-1754920800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Montenegro\, C. (ECE) - Control of Uncertain Hybrid Systems
DESCRIPTION:Machine learning endows autonomous systems to uncover underlying structures and physical laws from measured data and to leverage these models for prediction and decision-making. As the costs of data acquisition\, processing\, and storage decline—and sensors become increasingly widespread alongside ever-improving algorithms—artificial intelligence has attracted significant attention in research and industry. \n Machine-learning methods are particularly attractive when an analytical model is too difficult—or even impossible—to derive because the underlying principles are poorly understood. As control engineering enters such domains—for example\, physical human-robot interaction and self-driving vehicles—data-driven models offer a practical alternative to classical system-identification techniques for model-based control. In addition\, we know that robotic or control systems seldom work in ideal conditions. Sensor noise\, incomplete state information\, and uncertain parameters are everyday realities\, and controllers must be robust—able to attenuate these disturbances—and be backed by formal guarantees of stability and safety. \n Coupling physical dynamics with embedded computation and communication introduces new challenges. Hardware elements such as analog-to-digital converters\, sample-and-hold circuits\, and quantizers\, together with events like timers\, resets\, and impacts\, yield an even more complex class of control systems in which designing controllers that remain robust to unmodeled dynamics and disturbances—and providing formal certificates of stability and safety—becomes harder. Cyber-physical systems that have continuous dynamics with event-driven behavior\, therefore\, require control strategies that explicitly account for these events and stay robust to adversarial uncertainties. \n Therefore\, the focus of this proposal is to design learning-based certificates and control techniques for hybrid systems with uncertainties in the form of unmodeled dynamics and unknown disturbances. We propose four research thrusts in this proposal. The first one addresses the problem of learning a surrogate model of the unmodeled using learning-based models that are both statistically sound and directly usable for feedback design. In the second thrust\, we develop a safety control framework for systems whose dynamics are learned with high probability using a set-valued and variational analysis. In our third thrust\, we consider the problem of learning certificates—in particular\, Lyapunov functions and cost upper-bound surrogates—for hybrid systems. Finally\, we tackle the optimal control problem for hybrid systems under unknown disturbances in our fourth thrust. \nEvent Host: Carlos Montenegro\, PhD Student\, Electrical & Computer Engineering \nAdvisor: Ricardo Sanfelice
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/montenegro-c-ece-control-of-uncertain-hybrid-systems/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250808T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250808T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T125357
CREATED:20250805T070000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250925T231428Z
UID:10000090-1754665200-1754665200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Vera-Choqqueccota\, S. (BMEB) - A CRISPRi-Based platform for multimodal functional analysis of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders risk genes in engineered mouse cortical neurons
DESCRIPTION:Neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders (NPDs)\, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia\, are among the most heritable yet mechanistically complex conditions. While large-scale genomic studies have identified hundreds of high-confidence risk genes\, the lack of scalable and integrative platforms has limited our ability to functionally characterize these genes. To address this\, I am developing a CRISPR interference (CRISPRi)-based screening platform using mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) engineered to express Ngn2 for rapid and standardized neuronal differentiation and dCas9-KRAB for gene repression. In Aim 1\, I will generate and validate this cell line\, enabling reproducible and scalable perturbation of disease-relevant genes. In Aim 2\, I will apply this system to characterize the effects of knocking down ten NPD-risk genes using multimodal analysis of morphology\, transcriptomics\, and electrophysiology. In Aim 3\, I will build a framework to crowdsource functional analysis of NPD risk genes to design gRNAs\, access experiments remotely\, and analyze data using simplified\, accessible tools. Together\, this project advances both scientific understanding of NPD mechanisms and equitable access to functional analysis. \nEvent Host: Samira Vera-Choqqueccota\, PhD Student\, Biomolecular Engineering & Bioinformatics \nAdvisor: David Haussler
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/vera-choqqueccota-s-bmeb-a-crispri-based-platform-for-multimodal-functional-analysis-of-neurodevelopmental-and-neuropsychiatric-disorders-risk-genes-in-engineered-mouse-cortical-neurons/
LOCATION:CA
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR