Ecology of Presence: Pathways to the Natural World
2026-01-21 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-01-22 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-01-23 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-01-24 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-01-26 12:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 11 Cowell Service Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Norris Center Art + Science Graduate Fellowship Exhibition
Ecology of Presence: Pathways to the Natural World brings together the work of ten graduate students supported by the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History Art + Science Fellowship, a program dedicated to creative research connecting art with the natural world. Across media – including sound, moving image, music, performance, installation, comics, social practice, photography, and storytelling – the artists in Ecology of Presence emphasize relationality and careful attention to place as essential to building relationships with environs. As accelerating environmental change and technological dependency threaten ways of belonging, the works in this exhibition maintain a steadfast commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that propose kinship with the natural world. By coming together, Art + Science Fellows artworks and social practices suggest ways of imagining human life in relation to the more-than-human world.

Successful Slug Workshop: Time Management (Zoom)
2026-01-21 14:30 - 15:30 | https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/7372922776?pwd=[REDACTED]
Time Management
Wednesday, January 21, 2:45–3:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom
Learn the ways you can manage your time and avoid procrastination/burnout.
Successful Slug Workshop Series
Join Learning Support Services (LSS) for Successful Slug Workshops on Tuesdays at noon and Wednesdays at 2:45 p.m.
These 45-minute workshops are open to all UCSC students and offer tools and strategies to support your academic success. Each session highlights best practices for effective, long-lasting learning and is led by LSS professional staff.
To get first priority, sign up on TutorHub or simply drop in. You can also sign up on TutorHub to receive email reminders.
Learn more and sign up: learningsupport.ucsc.edu/programs/workshops/
______________________________________________________________
You Belong Here: The programs and services described here are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities.
To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications.

Kraw Lecture: Sensing the Unseen: How Drones and Ground Sensors Reveal the Hidden Air Quality Impact
2026-01-21 17:30 - 19:30 | Silicon Valley Campus, 3175 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara, CA, 95054, United States
How can flying robots help us track the air we breathe and the pollutants we can’t see? In this talk, Assistant Professor Javier González-Rocha will share how his team uses drones to measure wind patterns and detect airborne pollutants in hard-to-reach places..
These systems help us understand how toxic pollutants and climate emissions move through the atmosphere and affect human health and the environment. From wildfire smoke to methane leaks from dairy farms and oil fields, these emissions are often poorly monitored—especially in rural or overburdened communities.
Low-cost, adaptable drone and ground sensor systems fill this gap. By combining real-time flight data, environmental measurements, and advanced modeling, González-Rocha and his team generate targeted observations that inform air quality assessments and improve emissions tracking.
This work sits at the intersection of engineering, environmental science, and community collaboration—building tools that empower people and support climate resilience from the ground up.
In-Person Reception: 5:30 p.m.
Lecture: 6–7 p.m.

Register Now

Applied Microeconomics and Trade Seminar Series Presents: Guo Xu
2026-01-22 01:40 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Applied Microeconomics and Trade Seminar
Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026
Time: 1:40 – 3:00 p.m.
Location: E2-499

Speaker: Guo Xu
Title: Associate Professor of Economics
Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Host: Ajay Shenoy

Seminar title: Personnel is Policy: Delegation and Political Misalignment in the Rulemaking Process

ABSTRACT: We combine comprehensive data on the U.S. federal rulemaking process with individuallevel personnel and voter registration records to study the consequences of partisan misalignment between regulators and the president. We present three main results. First, even important pieces of new regulation are frequently delegated to bureaucrats who are politically misaligned. Second, rules that are overseen by misaligned regulators take systematically longer to complete, are more verbose, generate more negative feedback from the public, and are more likely to be challenged in court. Third, in assigning regulators to rules, agency leaders often face a sharp tradeoff between political alignment and expertise. Agency frictions notwithstanding, they tend to resolve this tradeoff in favor of expertise.

Wellness in Action: Better Sleep for Busy Lives
2026-01-22 08:00 - 17:00, 2026-01-22 12:00 - 12:30 | CA
Thursday, January 22, 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM
This new Wellness in Action workshop series is designed to help you improve your health with a short session with simple tips you can try, and a follow-up session two weeks later to reflect on what worked, troubleshoot what didn’t, and learn what’s working for others.
In this workshop, you’ll learn simple strategies for winding down, improving sleep quality, and building a routine that fits your life.
In the follow-up session on Thursday, February 5 from 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM, you will have the opportunity to share your experience and learn from others in the group.
Register for Better Sleep for Busy Lives to receive the Zoom link.
Visit the Faculty & Staff Health and Well-being Workshops calendar to view more current events.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Parker, the Health and Well-being Specialist, at aseparke@ucsc.edu.

HSI Equity Talk
2026-01-22 08:00 - 17:00 | CA
Title: Understanding the advising praxes central to student success at a four-year Hispanic-Serving Research Institution
Presenter: Dr. Lydia Iyeczohua Zendejas
Location: Via Zoom (link provided via RSVP)
Abstract: Higher education scholars increasingly recognize academic advising as a critical strategy for supporting the persistence of systemically marginalized students. Since the 1990s, UC Santa Cruz has undergone significant growth and demographic shifts—undergraduate enrollment grew from 10,269 in 1999 to 17,517 in 2019, with sharp increases in underrepresented, first-generation, and Hispanic students—creating both challenges and opportunities for advancing equitable outcomes.
Dr. Zendejas’s interview-based qualitative study examines how UCSC’s decentralized, dual shared advising model shapes advisors’ ability to provide holistic, culturally responsive advising. In this HSI equity talk, she will share how advising structures, practices, and policies impact advisors’ capacity to support students, how the current model can act as a structural barrier to collaboration, and the advising praxis advisors identify as essential to student success, persistence, and retention.
Please complete this RSVP form if you plan to attend. The Zoom information and a calendar invitation will be sent to those who RSVP.

Info Session: Global Seminar Fish Biology and Evolution in Southern Africa
2026-01-22 11:00 - 12:00 | CA
Learn more at our upcoming Information Session: Thursday, January 22 at 11:00 am-12:00 pm via Zoom.
Register Here.
Earn 12 upper-division units on an experiential EEB program this summer on the UCSC faculty-led Global Seminar: Evolution and Fish Biology in Southern Africa. This program is taught by Giacomo Bernardi, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Quick Facts:

Locations: South Africa and Malawi
Courses: BIOE 157A: Ichthyology (5 units) and BIOE 157B: Evolution (7 units)
Led by: UCSC EEB Professor Giacomo Bernardi
Dates: June 15-July 13, 2026
Finances: Financial aid applies, and scholarships are available! The budget will be posted on the website when it is available.
How to apply: Visit here for instructions. Applications open on December 1 and close on March 2.
Get in touch: Email your questions to globallearning@ucsc.edu.

Program Description:
Dive into Evolution and Fish Biology through fieldwork and experiences in South Africa and Malawi. Begin your journey on a farm outside Pretoria, in Southern Africa, visiting the Sterkfontein Caves, one of the world’s most important archeological sites. Venture towards Kruger National Park, viewing evolution and evolutionary strategies. Fly to Cape Maclear in Malawi and embark on daily visits to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Lake Malawi National Park, an underwater park where you will snorkel and do hands-on experiments on how fish biology is performed in the field, specifically focusing on the huge variety of cichlids native to this region.

BME Seminar: Rotation Talks
2026-01-22 11:40 - 13:15 | Physical Sciences Building, Physical Sciences Building, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Presenter: Grad Students
Description: Rotation Talks
Bio: N/A
Hosted by: Professor Rebecca DuBois, BME Department

Renowned climatologist Zeke Hausfather speaks on "Progress and Peril in a Warming World"
2026-01-22 15:30 - 17:00 | Center for Adaptive Optics, 7487 Red Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Zeke Hausfather, noted climate scientist, is the climate lead at Stripe, writes for Carbon Brief, and is affiliated with Berkeley Earth and the Breakthrough Institute. He is a lead author on the IPCC AR7 report. His blog, The Climate Brink, is one of the most popular go-to spots for climate information on Substack.
Dr. Hausfather’s presentation abstract follows:
Recent progress on climate policy coupled with more rapid than expected declines in clean energy costs have bent down the curve of future emissions. Growing consensus is that 21st century warming will likely remain below 3˚C.
However it is difficult to fully preclude an eventual warming of 4˚C or more under a current policy world if there are continued positive emissions after 2100, or if carbon cycle feedbacks and climate sensitivity are on the high end of current estimates.
This talk will review our current climate trajectory and its impacts and assess measures needed to further reduce future warming and hedge against climate tail risks.
Please come in person to the Center for Adaptive Optics atrium, or zoom in to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84461520550?pwd=[REDACTED]
A special Q&A session for undergraduates will be held at the CfAO atrium from 2-3!
CfAO is adjacent to Earth and Marine Sciences and Natural Sciences II.

Crafting Your Personal Pitch | UCSC x COOP Careers
2026-01-22 16:00 - 17:00
Make your first impression count! Join COOP Careers for a dynamic and practical workshop designed to help you stand out at your next job fair. In Craft Your Personal Pitch, you’ll discover how to confidently and authentically talk about your story, your skills, and your goals. Learn COOP’s signature 3W’s personal pitch hack to help you introduce yourself with impact in any professional setting. This session will also include key strategies to help you navigate job fairs with purpose, clarity, and confidence.
Date: Thursday, January 22nd 2026
Time: 4:00 – 5:00pm
COOP Careers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for first-generation and low-income college graduates through hands-on training and mentorship. COOP helps participants launch meaningful careers in fields like data analytics, digital marketing, and tech sales by building real-world skills and strong professional networks.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how COOP can help you take your career to the next level!
YOU BELONG HERE
Programs and services are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities. To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications.

Sharma, R. (CSE) - Automatically Evolving GPU Libraries for Performance Portable AI Kernels
2026-01-23 09:30 - 11:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
GPUs are the workhorses of modern AI, widely deployed and developed by many vendors including Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. While these GPUs all offer high compute potential, programming them effectively is difficult because they differ in performance-critical features like SIMT width, cache capacity, and memory bandwidth, demanding different optimization strategies. Tunable kernels address this by exposing parameters such as tiling dimensions and workgroup sizes, enabling per-device specialization. Yet this produces static libraries: tuned once, then frozen, degrading as new hardware emerges. We propose automatically evolving libraries that expand their tuning knowledge as new hardware emerges, with minimal impact on user experience.
To build such libraries, we first need to understand the tuning landscape. We address this through GPU Goldmines, a WebGPU-based framework for exhaustively collecting tuning data across diverse devices. Our tuned matrix multiplication kernels outperform an optimized baseline by 8.4x on average, while matrix-vector kernels achieve 93% of platform bandwidth. We find that hyper-tuning for a single GPU causes 50% performance degradation on other devices, whereas data-driven portability methods recover 88% of peak performance. These kernels are fundamental to the prefill and decode phases of LLM inference. We integrate them into llama.cpp as our evaluation platform, where they outperform CPU and Vulkan backends.
Building on this data, we are developing Living Libraries to improve performance continuously without disrupting users. This means choosing good parameters upfront, learning from real-world execution, and knowing when to keep searching versus when to stop, though hand-designed parameter spaces remain inherently bounded. To move beyond this, we extend toward LLM-based kernel evolution, where language models propose entirely new kernel variants, opening a less structured but higher potential search space.
Event Host: Rithik Sharma, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science and Engineering
Advisor: Tyler Sorensen & Yuanchao Xu

Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92739836317?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Statistics Seminar: Heterogeneous Statistical Transfer Learning
2026-01-23 12:00 - 13:00 | https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/94465292273?pwd=[REDACTED]
Presenter: Subhadeep Paul, Associate Professor, Ohio State University
Description: In the first part of the talk, we consider the problem of Transfer Learning (TL) under heterogeneity from a source to a new target domain for high-dimensional regression with differing feature sets. Most homogeneous TL methods assume that target and source domains share the same feature space, which limits their practical applicability. In applications, the target and source features are frequently different due to the inability to measure certain variables in data-poor target environments. Conversely, existing heterogeneous TL methods do not provide statistical error guarantees, limiting their utility for scientific discovery. Our method first learns a feature map between the missing and observed features, leveraging the vast source data, and then imputes the missing features in the target. Using the combined matched and imputed features, we then perform a two-step transfer learning for penalized regression. We develop upper bounds on estimation and prediction errors, assuming that the source and target parameters differ sparsely but without assuming sparsity in the target model. We obtain results for both when the feature map is linear and when it is nonparametrically specified as unknown functions. Our results elucidate how estimation and prediction errors of HTL depend on the model’s complexity, sample size, the quality and differences in feature maps, and differences in the models across domains. In the second part of the talk, going beyond linear models, I will discuss a transfer learning method for nonparametric regression using a random forest. The unknown source and target regression functions are assumed to differ for a small number of features. Our method obtains residuals from a source domain-trained Centered RF (CRF) in the target domain, then fits another CRF to these residuals with feature splitting probabilities proportional to feature-residual distance covariance. We derive an upper bound on the mean square error rate of the procedure that theoretically brings out the benefits of transfer learning in random forests. Our results explain why shallower trees in the residual random forest in the target domain provide implicit regularization.
Bio:Subhadeep Paul is an Associate Professor in the Department of Statistics at The Ohio State University. He is also a faculty fellow and previously served as a co-director of the foundations of data science and AI community at the Translational Data Analytics Institute at Ohio State. He received his PhD in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017. His research focuses on statistical analysis of complex network-linked data and transfer and federated statistical learning. His research has been funded by two NSF grants from the algorithms of threat detection and mathematics of digital twins programs.
Hosted by: Statistics Department
Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/94465292273?pwd=[REDACTED]

SC County Spelling Bee 2026
2026-01-24 12:00 | CA
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education coordinates the Elementary (grades 4-6) and Junior High (grades 7-9) County Spelling Bee Competition. Students first participate in school spelling bees, and then advance to the county-level event. The countywide competition is open to two students from every private/public school in Santa Cruz County in grades 4-6 and grades 7-9 who have been certified as school champions by their school coordinator.
All participants will receive certificates of participation and the top three spellers in each grade level division will receive a trophy. Winners will be announced at the end of the event.
The top two spellers from each division, grades 4-6 and 7-9 will represent Santa Cruz County at the respective California State Spelling Championship

Like Water: A Participatory Walk from the Edge of the City to the Sea
2026-01-24 14:00 - 17:00 | Institute of the Arts and Sciences, 100 Panetta Ave, Santa Cruz, United States
Inspired by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Bruce Lee, and the Hong Kong protestors, join artist A. Laurie Palmer, in collaboration with Cid Pearlman and Ilia Dolgov to practice moving together as a body of water, walking west from the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, along Delaware Ave., to the ocean. On the way, participants will imagine and explore how this particular stretch of land has been inhabited, stewarded, enclosed, owned, and used—and how these histories shape contemporary borders between public and private space. From thousands of years of stewardship by the Awaswas-speaking Uypi people, through seizure by missionaries for pasturage, division into private ranchos for Spanish settlers and then parceled into lots for European/American settlers, to more recent developments including the creation of natural reserves, the land carries the effects of these experiences and relationships into the present.
How might a collective experiment in moving “like water” help one discover surprising ways to relate with a place, a social and environmental context, and a particular historical moment?
This event is presented as part of as part of the Intersections of Climate Change series, and is organized with the Friedlaender Lab, in conjunction with the Weather and the Whale exhibition, at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences.

—
EVENT AGENDA
part 1. 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Panetta Street to Natural Bridges St
part 2. 2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Natural Bridges to the Homeless Garden Project
part 3. 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Homeless Garden Project to Younger Lagoon
—
FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Intersections of Climate Change series:
– Thu., Jan. 29, 6:00 p.m.: Pesticide Impacts in and around Monterey Bay
– Thu., Feb. 5, 6:00 p.m.: Climate Justice and the Moss Landing Battery Fire
– Wed., Feb. 11, 6:00 p.m.: The California Firefighter Cancer Research Study with Shehnaz Hussain and Fire Captain Jamie Gabriel
– Thu., Feb. 26, 6:00 p.m.: The Whale Liberation Front—An electroacoustic performance and artist talk
– Wed., March 4, 6:00 p.m.: Unexpected Returns: The Historic Entanglements of Fire, Settlement, and Stewardship in the Santa Cruz Mountains
—
ADMISSION
– FREE and open to the public
– Attend in person at the intersection of Delaware Avenue and Natural Bridges Drive.
– This walk will be fully accessible up until the overlook of the Lagoon, at which point a technically accessible, but possibly slippery, trail (depending on the weather) meanders down hill. Participants are welcome to stay at the overlook, or go down to the water’s level in the company of a guide.
—
PARKING
– The entrance to the Institute of the Arts and Sciences is on Delaware St. and has an accessibility ramp.
– Free self-parking is available on Panetta Ave. and High Rd., immediately adjacent to the building.
– Accessible parking is on High Rd.
—
This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Battle of the Bands 2026
2026-01-24 19:00 - 22:00 | Porter/Kresge Dining Hall, 411 Porter-Kresge Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
The Kresge College Programs Office are excited to announce the 5th Annual Battle of the Bands event that will be happening on Saturday, January 24th from 7pm-10pm at the Porter/Kresge Dining Hall.
⭐️ We invite you all to check out our various student bands and be a part of the decision in choosing the WINNER of Battle of the Bands 2026! ⭐️
We can’t wait to see you all there!! 🎸😎
Any questions or accommodations, please email: kresgcpc@ucsc.edu

Barnstorm Presents: 24-Hour Theater
2026-01-24 19:30 - 21:30 | Theater Arts B100 Studio Theater, 453 Kerr Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
Using a random prompt, actors and a production team stage a fully-fledged production that is produced, blocked, and presented to an audience in just 24 hours. Audiences are invited to attend the culminating presentation on Saturday, January 24. Download and share the flyer here: 24 Hour Poster W26.
Co-Directed by Mim Nickel & Stephanie Kemple.
ABOUT BARNSTORM
UC Santa Cruz students experiment with and create their own innovative theater and gain a sense of operating and creating art in the Barnstorm Theater Company, a student-run theater arts production company established in 2004.
—
ADVISORIES
– Ticket holders not seated at least 10 minutes before the advertised start time may forfeit their ticket/seat and no refund will be issued.
—
ADMISSION
– Tickets issued through Eventbrite; Follow the Dept. of Performance, Play & Design on Eventbrite and Barnstorm on Eventbrite for notifications and updates.
– Free for UCSC undergraduate students (ticket required).
– General admission “Pay What You Like” options $5–20
– A limited number of tickets/seats may be available at the door, even after online ticket sales end or reach full capacity.
– Doors are scheduled to open 30 minutes prior to event start time.
—
PARKING
– Parking by permit or ParkMobile.
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event.
– Visitors with DMV placards or plates may park for free in DMV spaces, Medical spaces, or ParkMobile spaces without additional payment, or in timed zones for longer than the posted time.
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS)
—
This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Santa Cruz Pickwick Club presents: Bleak House
2026-01-25 13:00 - 15:00 | CA
Spontaneous human combustion! Evil lawyers! Detectives! Family intrigue! These all come together in Charles Dickens’s masterwork, Bleak House. This year, we will spend the year reading the 2026 Dickens Universe novel. Join Dickens enthusiasts and Pickwick Club members on Zoom for a series of discussions about this beloved book.
Register via Zoom
Reading Schedule:

OCT 26: Chapters 8-13
NOV 23: Chapters 14-19
DEC 28: No meeting
JAN 25: Chapters 20-25
FEB 22: Chpaters 26-32
MAR 22: Chapters 33-38
APR 26: Chapters 39-46
MAY 24: Chapters 47-53
JUN 28: Chapters 54-67 (End)

Recommended Edition: We recommend the Penguin Classics edition of the novel for its appendices and notes, but other versions are fine. First-time readers should avoid the Introduction if they don’t want spoilers. Download the novel to read at Gutenburg.org or listen to it at LibriVox.org.
The Santa Cruz Pickwick (Book) Club, a branch of the Dickens Fellowship, is a community of local bookworms, students, and teachers who meet monthly to discuss a nineteenth-century novel. The Santa Cruz Public Libraries provide support for the reading group.

Student Recital—Isabella Walsh, Soprano
2026-01-25 15:00 - 17:00 | Music Center Recital Hall, 400 McHenry Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Isabella Walsh, soprano, accompanied by Luke Shepherd, piano, presents works by Isabella Colbran, Johannes Brahms, Reynaldo Hahn, Amy Beach, and others in a Bachelor of Music recital.
—
ADMISSION
– FREE and open to the public
– Doors open 30 min. before the scheduled event start time.
—
PARKING
– Parking by permit or ParkMobile
– Arts Lot #126 is the closest parking lot to the event
– Visitors with DMV placards or plates may park for free in DMV spaces, Medical spaces, or ParkMobile spaces without additional payment, or in timed zones for longer than the posted time.
– More information provided by UCSC Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS)
—
This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Screening: Queering Movement, Stories Embodied Film Shorts
2026-01-25 17:00 - 19:30 | Institute of the Arts and Sciences, 100 Panetta Ave, Santa Cruz, United States
The IAS, BBQueer Fest, and Motion Pacific invite you to attend “Queering Movement: Stories Embodied,” an evening celebrating short films by local Black, brown and queer artists and dancers. The screening and Q&A with filmmakers and participants showcases the interplay of activism, movement, and performance. Social hour to follow! Light snacks and (non-alcoholic) refreshments will be provided. Films are in English, with English subtitles. moss time, crip time includes audio description as voice over.
Films:
moss time, crip time (Cynthia Ling Lee.)
Taste her Fruit, Bless the Whore (Diana Mulan Zhu)
Liberating Movement: Black, Brown & Queer All Over (Helen Aldana & Megan Martinez Goltz)

Echoes on the Hill | Techno Night
2026-01-25 18:00 - 21:00 | Colleges Nine and John R. Lewis College Multi-purpose Room, 615 College Nine Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Echoes on the Hill
Techno Night
A small concert spotlighting student talent — all students welcome!

Featuring student DJs + 6+ artists
Come through for good music, good vibes, pizza, drinks, and dancing

College Nine/John R. Lewis Dining Hall Multipurpose Room
Sunday, January 25
6–9 p.m.

You Belong Here: The programs and services described here are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities.
To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications.

ECE Seminar: Tactile sensing: At the boundary between mechanical and computational intelligence in robotic grippers
2026-01-26 10:40 - 11:45 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Presenter: Dr. Hannah Stuart, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
Description: Robot grippers typically include mechanical intelligence (e.g., underactuation, compliance) or computational intelligence (e.g., fully actuated with a wide array of sensors). Next generation grippers and hands will require both intelligences to work in concert across applications with resilience and dexterity. This talk will introduce the concept of mechanical and computational intelligence co-design through example case studies that focus on the particular importance of embodied sensitivity as a feature of the co-design process. For example, the most recent work on the Smart Suction Cup, conducted largely by Dr. Jungpyo Lee, demonstrates how design decisions like the number of sensitive chambers influences the resultant robot arm controller as well as physical compliance and manufacturing feasibility and cost.
Bio: Dr. Hannah Stuart is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering at the George Washington University in 2011, and her MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanics of physical interaction in order to better design systems for dexterous manipulation. Applications range from remote robotics to assistive orthotics. Recent awards include the NSF CAREER grant, NASA Early Career Faculty grant, Hellman Fellows Fund grant, and Johnson & Johnson Women in STEM2D grant. She is a Senior Member of IEEE.
Hosted by: Professor Soumya Bose, ECE Department
Zoom Link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/97975378707?pwd=[REDACTED]

Info Session: Global Seminar Latin American Spain
2026-01-26 11:00 - 12:00 | CA
Learn more at our upcoming Information Session: Monday, January 26, at 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. via Zoom.
Register Here
Earn 6 units on a summer program on the UCSC Global Seminar: Latin American Spain in Madrid this summer. This program is taught by Catherine S. Ramírez, Chair of the UCSC Latin American and Latino Studies Department.
Quick Facts:

Location: Madrid, Spain
Courses: LALS 184S: Latin American Spain (6 UC quarter units)
Led by: Catherine S. Ramírez
Eligibility: Good academic and disciplinary standing, Min Age: 18, 45 units completed at time of departure, Minimum GPA- 2.3 cumulative GPA or higher
Dates: June 22-July 24, 2026
Finances: Financial aid applies and is packaged at your home UC campus.
How to apply: Visit here for instructions. Applications open on December 1, 2025, and close on March 2, 2026.
Get in touch: Email your questions to globallearning@ucsc.edu.

Program Description:
What would gazpacho be without the tomato? What would LaLiga be without Messi? What would agriculture, restaurants, construction, and child and elder care be without migrants? Exploring subjects as varied as food, soccer, music, labor, and fascism, this course addresses these questions by examining Spain’s legacy as an imperial power in the Americas and the ways Latin Americans are transforming Spanish society and culture. This 6-unit Global Seminar fulfills UC Santa Cruz’s Cross-Cultural Analysis (CC) General Education requirement and is for undergraduates with a desire to learn about Spain’s diversity and dynamism from a Latin American and Latinx studies perspective. Students from any major who meet the standard eligibility requirements are welcome. The ability to speak Spanish is helpful, but not required. Discover more here.

Statistics Seminar: Boosting Biomedical Imaging Analysis via Distributed Functional Regression and Synthetic Surrogates
2026-01-26 12:00 - 13:00 | https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92479478035?pwd=[REDACTED]
Presenter: Guannan Wang, Associate Professor, The College of William & Mary
Description: Generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for synthesizing biomedical images, offering new solutions to challenges such as data scarcity, privacy constraints, and modality imbalance. However, the reliable use of synthetic images in scientific analysis requires principled statistical frameworks that can assess fidelity and rigorously quantify uncertainty. In this talk, I present a distributed functional data analysis approach for comparing original and AI- generated biomedical images through their mean and covariance structures. Using spline-based representations on complex imaging domains, we construct simultaneous confidence regions, enabling formal inference on original-synthetic differences and providing statistical safeguards for downstream analyses. Building on this foundation, I demonstrate how synthetic images can
be safely incorporated into functional regression models to learn spatially varying covariate effects when key imaging modalities are partially observed. Applications to large-scale neuroimaging studies illustrate how integrating generative AI with rigorous statistical inference enhances the reliability, interpretability, and scientific value of modern biomedical imaging analyses.
Bio: Guannan Wang is a Diamond Term Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at William & Mary. She received a Ph.D. in Statistics and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Georgia in 2015. Her research focuses on the statistical foundations of generative AI, distributed and federated learning, and spatial and functional data analysis, with applications to neuroimaging, public health, and environmental and social sciences. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading statistical journals, including JASA, JCGS, Statistica Sinica, Biometrics, and JMLR, and her work has been supported by the NIH, NSF, and the Simons Foundation.
Hosted by: Statistics Department
Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/92479478035?pwd=[REDACTED]

CM Seminar - "Revealing Hidden Stories: Co-Designing the Thámien Ohlone Augmented Reality Tour"
2026-01-26 12:30 - 13:30 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Presented by: Kai Lukoff
Description:
The Santa Clara University campus is adorned with symbols and monuments, including a Spanish Mission Church, that highlight its Catholic heritage. However, the presence and history of the Ohlone Native Americans, who have inhabited this land for thousands of years and continue to live in the region, receive little to no recognition. How can we utilize augmented reality (AR) to share these hidden stories?
In collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, our interdisciplinary team developed the Thámien Ohlone AR tour. This tour reveals hidden stories, encourages visitors to engage in critical reflection, and inspires visions of a more just future and received the Best Movie Award at CHI 2024, the leading conference in the field of human-computer interaction. This talk will share insights on co-designing location-based AR experiences for social impact and explore the potential of AR in preserving cultural heritage.
Bio: Kai Lukoff is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Santa Clara University. He leads the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, focusing on technologies with social impact. His recent work focuses on co-design methods for location-based augmented reality. His research has been featured in prominent conferences such as CHI, CSCW, IMWUT, and DIS, and he was honored with the 2023 Outstanding Dissertation Award from ACM SIGCHI.

Hosted by: Professor Sri Kurniawan
When: Monday, January 26, 2026 from 12:30PM to 1:30PM
Location:
IN-PERSON @ UCSC Main Campus, E2-280.
Viewing room @ SVC 3212.
LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED AT BOTH LOCATIONS! Faculty and students are highly encouraged to attend.
Zoom info:
https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/95105219890?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 951 0521 9890
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Career Success Drop-In Coaching at the EOP Office - Winter 2026
2026-01-26 13:30 - 15:00 | Academic Resources Center (ARC), 408 McHenry Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Drop-in with Career Coach & Engagement Specialist Bridge Kennedy to discuss Career Exploration, Job Search Strategy, Interview Prep, Grad School Prep, or whatever’s on your mind related to your career success!
Time: 1:30pm – 3:00pm
Dates: Mondays, Weeks 2, 4, 6, & 8 of Winter Quarter 2026
1/12, 1/26, 2/9, 2/23
Location: Academic Resource Center, EOP Lounge
YOU BELONG HERE
Programs and services are open to all, consistent with state and federal law, as well as the University of California’s nondiscrimination policies. Every initiative—whether a student service, faculty program, or community event—is designed to be accessible, inclusive, and respectful of all identities. To learn more, please visit UC Nondiscrimination Statement or Nondiscrimination Policy for UC Publications.
