Audience: General Public
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May Slugs and Steins with Professor Soraya Murray
TECHNOTHRILLER: Film and the American Imagination In this presentation, visual culture scholar Soraya Murray (Film + Digital Media Department, UCSC) shares her new book, TECHNOTHRILLER: Film and the American Imagination (MIT, Feb 2026). In TECHNOTHRILLER, Soraya Murray reveals how popular American films after the 1960s, in which technology assumes a central role—mainly biotech, military, and computational—channel our cultural…
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Learn more about high school health pathways
At this interactive info session about our new program for college-bound high schoolers, Dr. Deepthi Nair, senior director of the UC Santa Cruz Premed Postbacc Program, will talk about the UC Santa Cruz High School Health Pathways Summer Academy, a six-week session of transformative learning, in-person, at the Silicon Valley Campus of UC Santa Cruz. Get…
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Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism Book Talk with Thea Riofrancos
Please join The Community Studies Department together with The Center for Critical Urban and Environmental Studies (CUES), in the (The Barn), for talk by Thea Riofrancos about her recent book Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism.
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VMCC Talk with Jaleh Mansoor—Political Agency in The Anthropocene
In this presentation, Jaleh Mansoor will draw upon recent Italian Marxist Feminist perspectives on ecology and discourses on the Anthropocene to question how Italian feminist analyses of invisible labor came to be elided with the question of a wider, post anthropocentric ecological horizon. Jaleh Mansoor is a writer and an associate professor of Art History…
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SocDoc M.F.A. Thesis Screening
The Social Documentation M.F.A. Thesis Screening is a yearly event held by the Film and Digital Media Department. This event is part of the Social Documentation M.F.A. program, and involves second-year students presenting a 20-minute documentary film they have produced while in the program. Films are screened sequentially at the Del Mar Theater, with a…
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Wang, Q. (STAT) – Modern Statistical Methods for Modeling Spatial and Temporal Processes
Modern scientific studies increasingly rely on complex datasets exhibiting spatial and temporal dependence, particularly in social, environmental, and climate applications. This dissertation develops statistical models and computational methods for analyzing such data, with an emphasis on capturing dependence structures, nonlinear dynamics, and uncertainty quantification. A spatial deep learning framework is developed to extend classical geostatistical…
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Maram, S. (CM) – Scripture To Console: The Nexus between Religion and Digital Play
Religion has historically been a profound force for global mobilization, shaping geopolitics, economies, and geography. Similarly, contemporary interactive media, with video games at the forefront, has moved beyond mere entertainment to become a powerful vehicle for communication, narrative, and inspiration, reaching millions worldwide. This dissertation investigates the intersection of these two influential forces: religion and…
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Beautiful Universe – An astrophotography exhibit
Beautiful Universe is a pop-up exhibit in collaboration with the UC Santa Cruz Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics that will be on display at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History from May 21 to 31. In over more than 20 photos, you will see galaxies, novae, supernovae, reflection and emission nebulae, and interstellar…
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Ehrlich, D. (CM) – Designing Open Microscopy Tools for Neuroscience Research
Advances in microscopy have transformed our understanding of biological systems, yet the high cost and limited accessibility of commercial imaging platforms continue to re- strict their use in many research settings. This thesis presents the design and development of open hardware microscopy tools for neuroscience research, with a focus on integrating user- centered design principles…
