Centromeric DNA is critical for accurate chromosome segregation and genome stability, but due to its repetitive nature, it was only recently fully included in a human reference. Rapid evolution and […]
Presenter: Arman Zharmagambetov, Meta Abstract: Ensuring the safety of language models (LMs) while maintaining their usefulness remains a critical challenge in AI alignment. Current approaches rely on sequential adversarial training: […]
Presenter: Dr. Ann Mc Cartney Location: Virtual. Please register here: https://ucsc.zoom.us/meeting/register/ciShTZsyRViYxMDjCc_cAQ#/registration Abstract: In 2007 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) […]
Funded through a Department of Education Title V grant, a team at UC Santa Cruz launched CULTURA (Centering Undergraduate Latine Thriving with University Racial-Equity Action) in 2024 as a bold, campus-wide effort to reimagine how we can collectively advance student success and equity. At its core, CULTURA asks: What becomes possible when we intentionally invest […]
Donna Haraway, “Staying with the Trouble for Still Possible Times” Wednesday May 20, 2026, 5:30 p.m. There will be refreshments from 5– 5:30 p.m., the talk at 5:30 – 7 […]
What counts as life in the midst of war, genocide, and planetary destruction? What is death and how do ideas around martyrdom and sacrifice contribute to our understanding of sacred ecologies? In this talk, Mameni engages these questions based on research for his second book project focusing on ecologies of war and martyrdom in the […]
While living abroad, a filmmaker returns to Tripoli, Lebanon, to confront a hometown that once rejected him as a queer child. With a microphone in hand, he walks around coffee […]
The annual BE Student Project Showcase celebrates the innovative work and accomplishments of undergraduate engineers in capstone courses and research pathways.
Presenter: Dylan Shropshire, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University Description: Maternally transmitted Wolbachia bacteria inhabit roughly half of all arthropod species, making them likely the most common animal-associated microbe on Earth. Wolbachia alter host reproduction, persist across deep evolutionary timescales, and move into new host species in ways that we are only beginning to resolve. Wolbachia’s […]
In this intimate workshop, UC Santa Cruz students, faculty, and staff are invited into conversation with poets Ronaldo V. Wilson and Terri Witek. Something held by poetry is programmed for Wilson’s multimedia exhibition, there are no words, but melodies, currently on view at the IAS. RSVP is required. Ronaldo V. Wilson is a poet, interdisciplinary artist, […]
Join us for a conversation between Black feminist abolitionist, advocate, and researcher Aminah Elster, Black Feminist scholar Jennifer James, UCSF, and public health and medical anthropology reseaarcher Carlos Martinez, ucsc, on the intersection of prison abolition and healthcare. This conversation draws on research from the co-edited volume All This Safety Is Killing Us: Health Justice Beyond […]
Spontaneous human combustion! Evil lawyers! Detectives! Family intrigue! Join the Pickwick Club for a series of discussions about ‘Bleak House.’
Health and wellness content creators play an important role in shaping how people receive and engage with health information on social media. Beyond delivering information, they also convey care, build trust, and sustain relationships with audiences. As generative AI (GenAI) becomes increasingly integrated into creator work, existing research has examined AI disclosure, AI-mediated communication, and […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 . Prior published work focusses on scalar designs and prediction accuracy improvement for hard to predict branches employing tailor made, non generic […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]