Events

Drop-in Figure Drawing
2026-05-27 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center, Baskin Service Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Drop-In Draw provides a live model and room monitor. There is no formal lesson and only dry media is allowed (no paints).
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ADVISORIES
– These events contain mature content and nudity.
– Drop-In Draw is subject to the possibility of last-minute cancellation without notification, and sessions are not guaranteed.
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ADMISSION
– FREE and open to the public
– UCSC Art Department Room M-101
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
This series occurs weekly on Wednesday evenings during spring quarter, including the following:
Wednesday April 1, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 8, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 15, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 22, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday April 29, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday May 6, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday May 13, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday May 20, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Wednesday May 27, 2026, 7:00–9:00 p.m.
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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).
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This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Lounge 'n Lei
2026-05-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Terry Freitas Commons, 600 McLaughlin Dr. College Nine, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Join AA/PIRC and APISA on Wednesday, May 27th from 6:30-8pm at Terry Freitas Commons to learn about the significance of different leis in Pasifika culture before making your own candy, ribbon, and ti leaf leis!
Register at bit.ly/aapirc-lei
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.

Build better chips
2026-05-27 18:00 - 19:00 | Silicon Valley Campus, 3175 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara, CA, 95054, United States
Verify faster. Build better chips.
Semiconductor Design Info Session
Explore the fast-paced world of semiconductor design and verification, and how advanced tools—including AI—are transforming the industry.
At this info session, instructor Mandar Munishwar, a formal verification architect at the Intel Data Center and AI Division, will discuss his SystemVerilog Assertions and Formal Verification course which prepares you to write assertions, create verification test plans, and use simulation and formal tools to catch design issues early and improve first-pass silicon success.
Discover how this hands-on, lab-based course builds practical skills in SystemVerilog, assertion-based verification, and formal verification using industry-standard tools like VCS and VC Formal. You’ll better understand emerging trends such as AI-assisted assertion generation and debugging.
See how this course in the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Semiconductor Design program can help advance your career in chip design and verification engineering.
Claim your seat!
You might also be interested in:

Physical Design Flow From Netlist to GDSII | June 5
Practical Design with Xilinx FPGAs | June 15
System and Functional Verification Using UVM | June 18
SystemVerilog Assertions and Formal Verification | June 22
Advanced Verification with SystemVerilog OOP Testbench | June 25
Comprehensive Signal and Power Integrity for High-Speed Digital Systems | June 25

College Night: Performing Arts of the World
2026-05-27 17:00 - 20:00 | College Nine and John R. Lewis Dining Hall
College Nine and John R. Lewis College, in collaboration with UCSC Dining, present “Performing Arts of the World”, featuring performances from various student orgs. Join us Wednesday, May 27 from 5–8 p.m. at the College Nine/John R. Lewis Dining Hall for a night of activities, fun, community, and a special themed menu. Standard dining hall entry pricing applies, and all students, faculty, and staff are invited.
Please note: The dining hall will be closed from 2–5 p.m. for event preparation.
Learn more about College Nights at dining.ucsc.edu/events.
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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.How to Use the Statement Across Communication Channels

“So, There We Were...” – Celebrating the Untold Stories Behind the Discoveries
2026-05-27 17:00 - 19:30 | Hay Barn, 94 Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
To celebrate another year of profound discoveries, uplifting unheard voices, and opening up the world for the next generation of students, the Academic Senate is planning a year-end celebratory event on Wednesday, May 27, 5-7:30 pm (week 9), at the Haybarn. But lest you think this is yet one more end-of-year academic event with mind-numbing presentations and hard-to-read powerpoint slides, think again. This Scholarly Event is an excuse for us to do what we never get to do: come together to share the real stories behind our work and, most of all, HAVE FUN! In this spirit we are launching a celebratory event to feature the true but unknown, the odd, the awkward, and just plain unbelievable stories behind our research:
“So, There We Were…”
Celebrating the Untold Stories Behind the Discoveries

These might be the adventures, misadventures, revelations, miscues, or simply the “you would never believe it all worked out” moments that we have all experienced but rarely talk about (at least not in public). These are the stories that our friends, neighbors, and students want to hear, but never would make it into scholarly publications or presentations. These are the stories we swap with our colleagues over drinks. While this event is intended primarily for faculty, the campus community and community members will be welcome to attend (in other words, feel free to bring your kids, your partner, your neighbors).

We are therefore soliciting applications (or nominations if you know someone—including yourself—who really needs to share that story) to regale your colleagues with details about “that time that…(fill in the blank),” while showing how those hidden moments shaped what finally came out of that research. This is meant to be a lighthearted and fun event, so while having the audience learn something about what you do and why it is SO COOL is very good, our focus will remain on humor, fun, and engaging tales. As the Ig Nobel Awards put it: “First make them laugh…then make them think!”

Presenters will give a ~10 min TED style talk. Talks must begin with the phrase “So, there we were” (or “So, there I was” ) and they should feature the adventurous, the bizarre, and ideally the humorous in your research. Absolutely no tedious PowerPoints, jargon, or literature background review will be allowed.

A reception will follow. Or it may precede, or even take place during, the event. But rest assured, we will be celebrating in style.

NB: There may well be prizes. But we have not gotten quite that far yet.

Your Next Degree: Graduate School
2026-05-27 17:00 - 18:30 | CA
Careers and academic interests often evolve over time, and many people choose to pursue graduate education after gaining experience in the workforce or further exploring their fields. Whether you are considering a master’s or PhD, in an academic or professional program, graduate school can be a powerful step toward advancing your goals, shifting career paths, or deepening your expertise.
This UCLA Alumni webinar will explore what it takes to apply to graduate school across a range of disciplines. The application process can differ significantly from other advanced degrees and depends on your individual goals and motivations. You will gain an overview of the process and timeline, hear from a representative from the UCLA Division of Graduate Education, and learn how to evaluate programs such as those offered through the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. A UCLA Career Center representative will also share insights on how graduate education can help unlock future career opportunities.
Whether you are actively preparing an application or just beginning to consider graduate school, this session will help clarify the process and available pathways.
This program, hosted by UCLA, is open to UC alumni from all 10 campuses.
Website for additional information
Registration link

Panel Discussion—Let the City Speak: The Sonic Journey of Quetzal—Arts Dean's Speaker Series
2026-05-27 16:00 - 18:30 | Digital Arts Research Center, 407 McHenry Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Audiences are invited to Let the City Speak: The Sonic Journey of Quetzal—a conversation and panel discussion with filmmaker Akira Boch and Quetzal members Martha Gonzalez and Quetzal Flores. Introduced by Interim Dean and Professor of Film and Digital Media Lawrence Andrews. Conversation and panel discussion with UCSC Professors Russell Rodriguez and Felicity Amaya Schaeffer (4:00–6:00 p.m.) with reception (6:00–6:30 p.m.) immediately following the panel.
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ABOUT THE SERIES
This event is presented as part of the “Arts Dean’s Speaker Series,” an annual event focused on bringing together scholarship and practice related to critical issues of our time in the Arts, in order to expand our students’ imaginations on what is possible, the importance of ambition and aspiration and tackling real structural problems and exclusions in our society and in the arts.
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ADMISSION
– FREE and open to the public.
– REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE here for the 4:00 p.m. panel event due to limited venue capacity.
– Attend in person in the Dark Lab (DARC 108) at the Digital Arts Research Center at UC Santa Cruz.
– Doors open 30 minutes prior to the scheduled event start time.
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
noon–1:30 p.m.: Film screening of Let the City Speak: The Sonic Journey of Quetzal (no registration needed for the screening)
4:00–6:30 p.m.: Conversation and panel discussion with UCSC Professors Russell Rodriguez and Felicity Amaya Schaeffer (4:00–6:00 p.m.) with reception (6:00–6:30 p.m.) immediately following the panel.

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PARKING
– Parking by UCSC 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).
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This program is open to all members of the public consistent with state and federal law.

Exhibit Opening Event! "Improvising in fields of constraint": How Feminist Studies at UCSC was made, changed and unmade"
2026-05-27 16:00 - 17:00 | McHenry Library, 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Join us on on May 27th from 4-5pm for the opening of “Improvising in fields of constraint”: How Feminist Studies at UCSC was made, changed and unmade”!
An April 9, 2026 press release from the U.S. Department of Education, titled, “Victories for Higher Education: Ending Gender Extremism and Cutting Underused Programs,” celebrated the closure of Gender Studies departments in U.S. universities. The closure of UCSC’s Feminist Studies department in July 2025 was listed as an example of the necessary end of an “underused,” “low-value” and “extremist” program of study that was “incapable of providing workforce-benefiting skills” to students. But for students, faculty, and staff, Feminist Studies was a center of intellectual and political life at UC Santa Cruz. The persistent struggle to make, define, change, and maintain the department over its 50-year history underscores feminisms’ continued significance in the university, even in a time of departmental closures and other forms of peril for the discipline.
This exhibit draws its title from feminist scholar Judith Butler’s evocative phrase in the book, Undoing Gender, which describes sexuality as an “improvisational possibility within a field of constraints.” The exhibit tracks the constraints within which UCSC’s Feminist Studies department took shape.
Curated by Madhavi Murty, Jess Fournier, Liliana Mata and Nithya Raghunath
We hope to see you then!

Let's Talk
2026-05-27 16:00 - 17:00 | https://events.ucsc.edu/event/lets-talk-4/2026-05-27/
Need to talk? We’re here to listen! Drop in for a confidential chat with a professional counselor who can provide support, advice and information.
Let’s Talk Zoom Meeting Link

Meeting ID: 361 824 8222
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Facilitator: Haidi Song, Ph.D. (831) 459-5883
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.

Career Success Drop-Ins at the Cantú - Week 9
2026-05-27 13:00 - 14:30 | Cantu Queer Center, Crown Lane, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Drop-in at the Cantú 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!
If you need accommodations please email bridgekk@ucsc.edu

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.

Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making, Acts Of Resistance, And Imagining Otherwise
2026-05-27 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-26 12:00 - 17:00 | Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 11 Cowell Service Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board, card, role-playing, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists, faculty, alumni, and students, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives.
In part, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems, lived experience, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible, intervene in them, and imagine alternatives.
All games embody values, whether intentional or not.
– Mary Flanagan, game designer and scholar
Across all of these works, games are not only forms of entertainment, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects, as systems, as artworks, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership, capitalism, race and identity, civil rights and protest, fascism, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience, distribute power, and produce meaning.
Games are the art of agency.
– C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher
The exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.
Some works use rules to model systems, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation, inviting players to imagine alternative futures, worlds, and the systems that might shape them.
The imagination is an instrument of change.
– Ursula K. Le Guin, author
The focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face, handled, read aloud, and experienced together, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction, but through lived, embodied experience.
Ultimately, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play, the social and political systems they model might be understood, challenged, and reimagined.
Games are not apolitical.
– Kishonna L. Gray, media scholar

Gallery Reception
May 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery

Art Friday
Hands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.
ALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!

Visualizing Abolition Screening Series: Beyond Access
2026-05-27 12:00 - 17:00 | Institute of the Arts and Sciences, 100 Panetta Ave, Santa Cruz, United States
On view in the IAS Screening Room is a selection of short films curated by Visualizing Abolition Visiting Faculty Fellow Dr. Pooja Rangan.
Prisons deny and censor the access of those trapped inside them—to information, to intimacy, to community, to meaningful work, to nourishment of all kinds, and perhaps most cruelly, to care. This program assembles a series of films, including works by filmmakers incarcerated in California as well as others without that lived experience. Together, these works confront the debilitating impacts of these restrictions and reveal how the disabling logic of the prison is extended to other institutional spaces (the hospital, the university), turning access into a scarce commodity by enclosing what should be held in common. Questioning the carceral and state-sponsored productions of disability and accessibility, the short films together reveal the courage of people working despite limitations to produce collective access for one another, described simply and beautifully by disability justice activist Leah-Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha as “revolutionary love without charity.”
Thanh Tran
Dying in Prison, 2022
HD Video (color, sound), 3 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Carolyn Lazard
Pre-Existing Condition, 2019
HD video (color, sound), 6 minutes
Courtesy of the artist and Trautwein Herleth3
Anthony Alejandrez
Another Rainy Day, 2023
Phone video (color, sound), 3 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Jordan Lord
After…After… (Access), 2018
HD Video (color, sound), 16 minutes
Courtesy of the artist
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas
Friendly Signs, 2023
Video (color, sound) 21 minutes
Courtesy of Tommy Wickerd, Empowerment Ave & System Impact Media

Spring Exhibitions at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences
2026-05-27 12:00 - 17:00 | Institute of the Arts and Sciences, 100 Panetta Ave, Santa Cruz, United States
Visit the IAS, UCSC’s premier art galleries, for our spring exhibitions. On view April 10–August 16, 2026 are three diverse and interdisciplinary shows: Libia Posada: Everything is Going Right, the first US solo exhibition by the Colombia-based artist and medical doctor; Gina Athena Ulysse: A Redwoods Rasanblaj, a site-specific and immersive exploration of the Haitian kreyol conception of rasanblaj; and Ronaldo V. Wilson: There Are No Words, But Melodies, a mixed-media exhibition emerging at the intersections of Black poetics, performance, and visual art.
The IAS Galleries are open Wednesday-Sunday, 12 pm – 5 pm. Admission is free to the public.
Libia Posada: Everything is Going Right
Libia Posada’s first solo exhibition in the United States features installations, sculptures, and drawings meticulously constructed from surgical instruments, gauze bandages, crutches, used books, and domestic picture frames. The new and existing works in the exhibition powerfully stitch together the personal, social, and political disorders and afflictions that currently trouble the world, from the wars that resonate across the globe to the violences of aging in US prisons.
Gina Athena Ulysse: A Redwoods Rasanblaj: Origins & Disentanglements
The internationally-lauded work of humanities professor Gina Athena Ulysse is on view as a premier Faculty Spotlight Exhibition. The site-specific installation, produced in community from things collected, found, purchased and donated, centers on the Haitian concept of rasanblaj, a form of assembly and collage that transcends the formal use of materials to draw together people, spirits, and ideas.
Ronaldo V. Wilson: There Are No Words, But Melodies
Collage is both a material practice and a structural interrogation in the Faculty Spotlight Exhibition artworks by literature professor Ronaldo V. Wilson. In video, painting, and installation, layers and folds conceal and reveal, delving into the experience, both bodily and emotive, of living in times of violence.

Zheng, Y. (CSE) - Extending eBPF Beyond Kernel Extensions: Verified Interfaces for Runtime System Extensibility
2026-05-27 12:00 - 14:00
Modern system software increasingly needs runtime extensibility: userspace applications need safe ways to expose domain-specific extension points, GPU resource management needs workload-specific memory and scheduling policies, and kernel eBPF JIT compilers need different runtime optimizations as workloads and hardware vary. However, built-in policies are safe but difficult to specialize across rapidly changing workloads and hardware environments, limiting efficiency, while code modifications are flexible but difficult to deploy safely. This dissertation argues that verified eBPF interfaces can turn eBPF from a kernel-extension mechanism into a general substrate for safe runtime extensibility. In this model, trusted mechanisms expose narrow, constrained programmable hooks; extensions declare their requirements; verifier-enforced checks preserve safety; and execution remains low-overhead.
I develop this thesis through three systems spanning userspace applications, heterogeneous GPU subsystems, and the kernel eBPF compiler itself. EIM, implemented in bpftime, applies verified eBPF interfaces to userspace applications, allowing application behavior to be extended through explicit constraints and efficient userspace eBPF execution. gpu_ext extends the same idea to heterogeneous systems by exposing programmable resource management hooks for GPU memory and scheduling policy across driver and device. BpfReJIT with kinsn makes the eBPF JIT compiler itself extensible: it enables runtime-guided optimization through dynamic recompilation and extends eBPF bytecode to express diverse hardware capabilities. Together, these systems show how verified eBPF interfaces can support safe programmability, separation of policy and mechanisms, and runtime specialization across applications, GPU subsystems, and the kernel JIT infrastructure.
Event Host: Yusheng Zheng, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science & Engineering
Advisor: Andi Quinn
Zoom: 504 350 0245
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Film Screening—Let the City Speak: The Sonic Journey of Quetzal—Arts Dean's Speaker Series
2026-05-27 12:00 - 13:30 | Digital Arts Research Center, 407 McHenry Rd, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064

Engineering Teaching Community (Faculty)
2026-05-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Jack Baskin Engineering, Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
During the chaos of a quarter, is it hard to find time to reflect and improve as an instructor? Would you like to be a part of an inclusive, supportive group of engineering instructors who do this in community? ETC is for sharing teaching experiences, classroom ideas, research on learning, and methods that support instructors and students. All are welcome, and lunch is provided. Please reach out to Jenny Quynn with questions.

CSE Colloquium - Learning to Image: Computational Microscopy for Dynamic Systems
2026-05-27 11:00 - 12:30 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Presenter: Laura Waller, UC Berkeley
Abstract:
Computational imaging jointly designs hardware and algorithms to push beyond the classical limits of imaging, enabling measurement of new quantities (e.g. 3D, phase, and super-resolution) with simple, inexpensive hardware. These approaches have already transformed consumer photography; our goal is to achieve a similar transformation in scientific microscopy.
In this talk, I will show how end-to-end learning is reshaping the design of imaging systems, from programmable illumination with LED arrays to compact, lensless cameras built from Scotch tape. By combining physical models with neural networks, we can jointly learn how to capture data, reconstruct images, and self-calibrate systems that would otherwise be too complex to model. However, many computational methods rely on multiple measurements, limiting their use for live, dynamic samples. I will introduce new space-time algorithms based on implicit neural representations (INRs) that jointly recover structure and motion, correct artifacts, and enable high-resolution imaging in regimes where traditional approaches fail.
Bio:
Laura Waller is the Charles A. Desoer Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. She received B.S., M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004, 2005 and 2010. After that, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer of Physics at Princeton University from 2010-2012. She is a Packard Fellow for Science & Engineering, Moore Foundation Data-driven Investigator, OSA Fellow, and Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. She has received the Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award, OSA Adolph Lomb Medal, the SPIE Early Career Award and the Max Planck-Humboldt Medal.
Hosted by: Professor Alvaro Cardenas
Location: Engineering 2, Room E2-180 (Refreshments such as fruit, pastries, coffee, and tea will be provided.)
Zoom Option: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93445911992?pwd=[REDACTED]

FINS: Fisheries Insights Narratives and Stories seminar series featuring Lisa Uttal
2026-05-27 10:30 - 12:00 | Ocean Health Building, McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Please join us for the final talk in the FINS: Fisheries Insights Narratives and Stories seminar series featuring Lisa Uttal.
FINS: Fisheries Insights Narratives and Stories Seminar Series
Lisa Uttal, Marine Biologist for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
Title: Science Unlocked: Translating Research into Public Stewardship
When: Wednesday, May 27th from 11am-12pm
Where: Ocean Health Building Rm 118, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 and on Zoom
Agenda:

10:30 am – 11:00 am – Professional Networking Session (in person only – light snacks and refreshments provided)
11 am to 12 pm – presentation followed by Q & A
12 pm – 1pm – student lunch with the speaker in OHB courtyard → sign up here

Zoom Meeting Registration: https://ucsc.zoom.us/meeting/register/NwH0_qUbSeuIm3A76DY-Dg

Tu, H. (CSE) - From Evaluation to Adaptation: Building Reliable Multimodal Intelligence
2026-05-27 09:00 - 11:00
Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) are rapidly becoming general-purpose AI systems, yet their capabilities are advancing faster than our ability to evaluate, improve, and validate their reliability in realistic use. Standard benchmarks mainly measure in-distribution final-answer accuracy, leaving critical gaps in safety, robustness, fine-grained reasoning evaluation, and reliability in real-world agentic settings. My research proposes an evaluation-to-adaptation framework for building reliable multimodal intelligence: developing rigorous evaluations that expose failures beyond conventional benchmarks, learning feedback models that guide inference-time reasoning, and studying how multimodal systems can adapt through experience. We instantiate this agenda through two completed works and two proposed directions. Unicorn evaluates safety and robustness under out-of-distribution and adversarial conditions, revealing substantial vulnerabilities across 22 vision-language models. ViLBench studies vision-language process reward modeling as both an evaluation challenge and a mechanism for inference-time improvement, showing that process-guided reasoning selection can improve reliability. Building on these foundations, we further study test-time experience accumulation and explore reliable multimodal agents for GUI and computer-use tasks. Together, my research aims to move beyond capability-driven progress alone, toward multimodal AI systems whose reliability can be evaluated, improved, and tested in realistic deployment settings.
Event Host: Haoqin Tu, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science & Engineering
Advisor: Cihang Xie
Zoom: 964 1355 0550
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Baskaran, D. (CM) - More than Just Fun: Exploring Meaningful Play, Communities of Play, and Relatedness of Play
2026-05-27 09:00 - 11:00
Play is often seen as a form of entertainment, leisure, or childhood development. However, it also acts as a meaningful experience that shapes how people connect with others and interact with the world around them throughout their lives. Prior work on meaningful play and communities of play has mainly focused on individual experiences and participation, giving less attention to how meaning is socially co-constructed through playful interactions and to how these experiences contribute to relatedness, or the human need to feel connected to and belong with others, across physical, digital, and hybrid environments.
Using qualitative methods, this dissertation proposal explores how meaningful play is collectively constructed within communities of play and how it shapes relatedness among members. This work positions meaningful play as a socially and technologically embedded relational phenomenon rather than solely an individual experience. Across case studies of PlayStation trophy hunting, Pokémon Nuzlocke, LEGO, and theme park communities of play, this research explores how meaningful play within these communities contributes to relatedness among members. Ultimately, this dissertation proposal aims to advance a more holistic understanding of play as a process through which people build shared meaning, connection, and belonging in increasingly digital and hybrid social spaces.

Event Host: Derusha Baskaran, Ph.D. Student, Computational Media
Advisor: Kathryn Ringland

Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96290198842?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

The Deep Read: The Literature and Poetics of Fungi Salon
2026-05-26 18:00 | Hay Barn, 94 Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
Join us for a salon-style event at the Hay Barn on campus where we will hold a salon focused on the literary and poetic influence of fungi and its relation to Entangled Life. The salon will feature Professors Hannah Cole (Assistant Professor of Literature at UC Santa Cruz), Brenda Hillman (Professor Emerita of Poetry at Saint Mary’s College), A. Laurie Palmer (Professor Emerita of Art at UC Santa Cruz), and Jennifer Tseng (Associate Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at UC Santa Cruz) in conversation with moderator Laura Martin and the Deep Read community. Participants can also attend virtually.

In person at the Cowell Ranch Hay Barn. Doors open at 5:30pm.
Event Logistics: Bicycling, carpooling, ridesharing, and public transportation are encouraged as parking is limited on campus. If you drive to the event, please plan to park in UCSC Lot #115 or #116. To reach these lots, proceed through the main entrance to campus, continue up the hill from the information kiosk on Coolidge, then turn right at the Ranch View/Carriage House Road stoplight into the Carriage House/Campus Facilities parking lot. The Hay Barn is a 5-minute walk across the street from the parking lot. There will be directional signage to help you get to the correct parking lot and the Hay Barn entrance. Overflow parking will be available in lot #122. View the campus parking map here.

Additional Events of Interest:
Entangled Life Faculty Salon: On May 19, 2026, at 6pm, we will hold a salon-style event at the Hay Barn on campus where a group of Deep Read faculty—Professors Breen, Gilbert, and Haraway —will give brief presentations and discuss Entangled Life with moderator Laura Martin and the Deep Read community. Participants can also attend virtually.
Author Event – A Conversation with Merlin Sheldrake: On May 31, 2026, at 4pm, we will welcome Merlin Sheldrake to the Quarry Amphitheater on campus where he will be in conversation with Associate Professor of History, Benjamin Breen. This will be an in-person event, and, as always, it will be free and open to the public.

The Deep Read is an annual program of The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz made possible through the generous support of the Helen and Will Webster Foundation. We invite curious minds to think deeply about books and the most pressing issues of our contemporary moment.

Test Anxiety Workshop for International Students
2026-05-26 13:30 - 14:30 | https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/6299323184?pwd=[REDACTED]
Test Anxiety Workshop
Facilitated by Jen Emmett, MA (Counseling & Psychological Services)

Date: May 26, 2026
Time: 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/6299323184?pwd=[REDACTED]

Do you freeze up during exams? You know this feeling: you worked hard all quarter and studied for the final, but suddenly your mind is blank. Learn practical, effective strategies for managing anxiety and improving your academic performance and confidence. This event will be tailored specifically for international students, but it is open to all!

If you have any questions, please contact us at caps@ucsc.edu or iprogramming@ucsc.edu.

Let's Talk
2026-05-26 13:00 - 14:00 | https://events.ucsc.edu/event/lets-talk-2/2026-05-26/
Need to talk? We’re here to listen! Drop in for a confidential chat with a professional counselor who can provide support, advice and information.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 831 459 2572
Password: [REDACTED]
Facilitator: Erica Lopez, LMFT (831) 459-2572
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.

Narcan Training for Faculty and Staff
2026-05-26 13:00 - 13:30 | CA
Register for the Zoom link.
Narcan is a life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug. Join us in this workshop as we learn the following:

How to use Narcan
When to use Narcan
Narcan FAQs
Where to find Narcan locally

Register for the Zoom link. To learn more, please visit the Narcan wellness initiative webpage. For trainings, please visit the Occupational Health Training website.
For questions or to schedule a training for your team, please contact Occupational Health Specialist, Elizabeth Tomlinson, at ektomlin@ucsc.edu.

Liu, P. (CM) - Reimagining Workplace Concern Reporting: From Emotional Harm to Co-Designed Futures
2026-05-26 11:00 - 13:00
Workplace concern reporting infrastructure, including human resources (HR) portals, grievance procedures, and whistleblower hotlines, is the formal channel through which employees in most organizations raise concerns about harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Yet existing research consistently finds that these systems fail the employees they are meant to protect: reports stall, concerns get filtered, retaliation occurs, and marginalized employees face disproportionate risk. This dissertation examines workplace concern reporting as relational, emotional, and processual rather than procedural and discrete, and pursues this account through three studies. Study 1, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 12 HR professionals and 10 employees in California, develops the concept of emotional re-victimization to describe how reporting infrastructure produces additional harm at multiple stages of the reporting process. Study 2 returns to the same corpus with a different theoretical lens to develop the concept of buffer spaces: intermediary practices through which employees navigate the gap between informal sense-making and formal escalation. Study 3 will move the dissertation from diagnostic to practical work in two phases. Phase 1 uses speculative co-design with employees and HR professionals to surface what each group would build if they could redesign concern reporting infrastructure together. Phase 2 translates design directions from Phase 1 into prototypes, iterated with participants across both groups to develop design artifacts that have been shaped by the people who would use them. The dissertation as a whole moves from documenting harm, through identifying workarounds, to imagining redesign, contributing to HCI/CSCW scholarship on workplace technology, labor studies on employee voice and accountability, and methodological work on cross-stakeholder speculative design.
Event Host: Peiyao Liu, Ph.D. Student, Computational Media
Advisor: Norman Makoto Su
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/99335305923?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Castro, S. (CSE) - Agentic AI for Security: Adversarial Foundations for Autonomous Cyber Operations
2026-05-26 10:30 - 12:30 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Autonomous Cyber Operations (ACO) agents promise effective security automation with minimal human intervention, yet their deployment raises three interconnected challenges: agents must be realistic (reproducing diverse attacker sophistication), secure (preventing autonomy from becoming an attack surface), and feasible (safely replicating human behavior at full autonomy).
We argue that these three properties are requirements for ACO agents. Existing approaches do not address them together and lack diverse adversarial coverage, formal threat models for attacks against the agents themselves, and systematic evaluation of multi-agent topologies.
We advance all three ACO properties: (1) For realism, we establish adversarial foundations by discovering Windows OS vulnerabilities and releasing two exploits reliable across XP through 11. (2) For security, we formalize ACO meta-attacks and meta-defenses, propose the first invariant-based Meta-IDS detecting both sensor and actuator meta-attacks, and introduce the first hybrid LLM–RL ACO integration for defense with a novel inter-agent communication protocol. (3) For feasibility, we present MaLO, the first dynamic-topology multi-agent ACO system, achieving a 78.6% success rate across a new 42-task security benchmark and solving operations up to 40× faster than human experts. We further propose the Security Operation Complexity Index (SOCX) classification and the T×V×O taxonomy as the first objective-driven evaluation methodology for coding-agent attacks.
Together, these contributions demonstrate that ACO agents can match real-world adversarial sophistication, resist meta-attacks, and outperform human operators on complex security tasks. Open challenges remain in adaptive adversaries, LLM–RL co-training, dynamic topology selection, and deployment beyond simulated environments.

Event Host: Sebastián R. Castro, PhD Candidate, Computer Science & Engineering
Advisor: Alvaro A. Cárdenas
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/2267557290?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Harsh, B. (CSE) - SUPERSCALAR, MULTIPLE TAKEN BRANCH PREDICTOR
2026-05-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
This work addresses improvements in branch prediction mechanism to support high perfor-
mance processors. The state of the art aims to balance the prediction latency and prediction
accuracy using multi level correcting predictors [27]. Prior published work focusses on scalar
designs and prediction accuracy improvement for hard to predict branches employing tailor
made, non generic and non transferrable solutions [8]. Recent work also proposes ahead pre-
diction [42–44] to solve the problem of low accuracy of L0 predictor.
This work proposes efﬁcent, generic and transferrable solutions to reduce mispredic-
tions and to use the fetch bandwidth more efﬁciently. This includes a biased overriding multi-
level hierarchy with three predictor levels (L0, L1, L2). L0 uses a High-Conﬁdence-Only Taken
(HOTP) predictor that only predicts high-conﬁdence taken control-ﬂow instructions. This work
further uses L1-L2 biased training to decrease mispredictions by L2 while it trains on branches
on which L1 has reached high conﬁdence. This work proposes a superscalar predictor built
using the state of the art scalar predictor. Superscalar predictor is implemented by sizing a su-
perscalar TAGE variant (BATAGE) using Optuna-based search. with varying table sizes and
aspect ratios. The work further proposes a branch predictor frontend design (nTakenBP) to de-
liver multiple taken branch predictions per cycle. Unlike prior work, nTakenBP achieves this by
extending the existing BTB and TAGE tag-comparison logic rather than deepening lookahead.

Event Host: Bhawandeep Singh Harsh, Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science & Engineering
Advisor: Jose Renau
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/4166778865?pwd=[REDACTED]

ECE Seminar: Advanced Sensing and AI Technologies for Food Safety and Precision Agriculture
2026-05-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Presenter: Hamid Jafarbiglu, Agricultural Technology Evaluator, Big Idea Ventures
Description: California agriculture is increasingly adopting organic and regenerative production systems, creating a growing need for technologies capable of monitoring complex agricultural environments, assessing food safety risks, and supporting data-driven management decisions. Emerging tools such as drones, hyperspectral scanning, environmental sensors, and artificial intelligence provide new opportunities for continues field-scale monitoring, risk detection, and precision management while supporting sustainable agricultural practices. This talk highlights several applied research projects focused on the use of drone-based sensing, spatio-spectral responses, soil and environmental sensors, and machine learning approaches to address real- world challenges in specialty crop production. These projects demonstrate how sensing technologies and advanced analytics can improve field-scale monitoring, continuous risk assessment, early detection, and suitability in food production. Building on these experiences, future research directions will focus on the intersection of food safety, organic and regenerative agriculture, and precision agricultural technologies.
Bio: Hamid Jafarbiglu is a researcher specializing in remote sensing, spectral analysis, and machine learning for agricultural systems. His work focuses on enhancing food safety, crop monitoring, and precision decision-making in high-value specialty crops.

Dr. Jafarbiglu earned his Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering from the University of California, Davis, following six years of intensive field research. His expertise integrates drone-based remote sensing, hyperspectral imaging, and AI to identify crop stress, pest/disease outbreaks, and nutrient deficiencies at their earliest stages.

During his tenure at the UC Davis Digital Agriculture Lab, Dr. Jafarbiglu’s doctoral and postdoctoral research resolved critical limitations in aerial spectral measurements. This work led to superior accuracy in drone-based sensing under variable field conditions and the development of scalable image-processing pipelines and digital orchard models for deep learning applications.
Beyond research, Dr. Jafarbiglu is an experienced extension professional. He has delivered hands-on training in drone operations and geospatial analysis to growers, researchers, and industry stakeholders, bridging the gap between data-driven innovation and real-world adoption.

His background also extends to the commercial sector; as an Agricultural Technology Evaluator with Big Idea Ventures, he conducted technical and market assessments for agri-food innovations, including early-stage bio-based products. Today, Dr. Jafarbiglu’s work continues to advance the integration of AI and remote sensing to foster sustainable, regenerative farming and robust food systems across California and beyond.
Hosted by: Professor Marco Rolandi, ECE Department
Zoom Link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96727838511?pwd=[REDACTED]

Weber, Z. (ECE) - Sustainable Bioinspired Polymer–Mineral Composites for Adaptable Repair in Conservation Applications
2026-05-26 09:30 - 11:30 | Jack Baskin Engineering, Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Every year, tens of thousands of tons of plaster-based materials are used in restoration and conservation applications, many of which are derived from non-renewable sources and discarded at the end of their service life. Here, we introduce a biodegradable, bio-derived composite based on chitosan and calcium carbonate that is composed of simple, widely available constituents and designed for adaptable repair applications. By varying polymer molecular weight, concentration, and mineral content, the composite can be formulated to span injectable, paste-like, and putty-like behaviors, enabling accommodation of diverse structural filling and stabilization needs. We examine relationships between composition, flow behavior, and mechanical performance through rheological characterization of the wet composite and measurements of bulk density, porosity, and compressive strength in the hardened state. Rather than targeting a single optimized formulation, this work demonstrates a tunable material platform in which relationships between composition, flow behavior and mechanical performance guide selection of material behavior based on application requirements. Future applications of this approach include sustainable repair and conservation materials for exhibits, architectural restoration, and other contexts where adaptable handling, mechanical integrity, and biodegradability are desired.
Event Host: Zoë Weber, Ph.D. Student, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Advisor: Marco Rolandi
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96509847894?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]
