• AM Seminar: Dissecting Complex Disease Mechanisms with Causal Inference and Deep Learning

    Jack Baskin Engineering Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Dr. David A. Knowles, New York Genome Center & Columbia University Description: Many human diseases have a substantial genetic component, which association studies are increasingly capable of characterizing, empowered by ever-growing sample sizes. These associations have the potential to elucidate complex disease biology and prioritize therapeutic interventions. However, it is challenging to determine the […]

  • ECE Seminar: Multiscale Sensing for Specialty Crop Systems: From Field Monitoring to Food Safety Application

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Eve Laroche-Pinel, Postdoctoral Researcher, California State University, Fresno Description: Advances in remote sensing, drone platforms, and data analytics are enhancing the ability to monitor agricultural systems at fine spatial and temporal scales. This presentation will highlight applied research using multispectral and hyperspectral data from satellites, drones, aircraft, and ground platforms to assess crop water […]

  • CSE Colloquium – Safety Alignment of LMs via Non-cooperative Games

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    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: generating adversarial (harmful) prompts and fine-tuning LMs to defend against them. We introduce a different paradigm: framing safety alignment as a non-zero-sum game between an […]

    Free
  • BME80G Seminar – Ann Mc Cartney, “The Why, What and How of Indigenous Data Sovereignty”

    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) that supports Indigenous Peoples’ inherent rights to self-determination and governance over Indigenous Peoples, territories and resources. This codification in an international treaty led to the […]

  • BME 280B Seminar: Speaker Dylan Shropshire – “How did Wolbachia become Earth’s most pervasive animal symbiont?”

    Biomedical Sciences Building 575 McLaughlin Drive

    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 […]

  • ECE Seminar: Advanced Sensing and AI Technologies for Food Safety and Precision Agriculture

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    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 […]

  • FINS: Fisheries Insights Narratives and Stories seminar series featuring Lisa Uttal

    Ocean Health Building McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA

    Please join us for the final talk in the FINS: Fisheries Insights Narratives and Stories seminar series featuring Lisa Uttal giving her talk, “Science Unlocked: Translating Research into Public Stewardship”.

    Preceding the talk please join us for a networking coffee hour (snacks provided) and a student-only lunch after the talk.

  • CSE Colloquium – Learning to Image: Computational Microscopy for Dynamic Systems

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    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 […]

    Free
  • BME 280B Seminar: 4th Year Grad Talks

    Biomedical Sciences Building 575 McLaughlin Drive

    Please join us for our BME 280B seminar series Thursday (5/28/26) in person at Biomed 200. The event will run from 11:40 AM to 1:15 PM and feature our 4th year grad talks. 11:40AM – 11:50AM: Ivana Pacar 11:53AM – 12:03PM: Jesus Gonzalez Ferrer 12:06PM – 12:16PM: Connor Mattingly 12:19PM – 12:29PM: Samira Vera 12:32PM – 12:42PM: Nick Chu 12:45PM […]

  • BME80G Seminar – Katherine Bonini, “Rethinking Familial Risk in Genomic Medicine: Ethical Approaches to Cascade Screening”

    Jack Baskin Auditorium 191 Baskin Cir, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Katherine Bonini, Senior Genetic Counselor @ Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai   Description: It has long been argued that families are central to genomic medicine. Genomic risk, diagnosis, and management are rarely confined to a single individual, and separating patients’ interests from those of their relatives is often neither straightforward nor desirable. Despite this, […]

  • ECE 290 Seminar: Memristors for a brain-scale neuromorphic chip

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Sung-Mo “Steve” Kang, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor, UC Santa Cruz   Description: Recently, applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have far outpaced Moore’s law in chip development, thus creating an increasingly large gap between user demand and the supply that the semiconductor industry can deliver. In this talk, we will discuss the unique […]

  • CM Seminar – Alex Olwal, “Human-Centered Augmentation: Interacting with Matter, Humans, and Machines”

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presented by: Alex Olwal Description: “In this talk, I will share my perspectives on the evolution and future of human-centered augmentation, through the lens of two decades of research and development. Drawing from experiences across academia and industry, I will discuss insights from having led projects in augmented reality, accessibility, electronic textiles, novel sensing and […]

  • Seminar Series | What you may not know about groundwater management in California with Ruth Langridge

    Interdisciplinary Sciences Building 7487 Red Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

    Host: ENVS Personnel Committee Groundwater is a critical source of California’s water supply. Many basins in critical overdraft are now being managed under the 2015 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to support state goals of sustainable and equitable management. However, court adjudicated basins that encompass over 8,000 square miles and are home to nearly 11 […]

  • AM Seminar: Using Math and Experiments to Study the Control of Cell Metabolism

    Jack Baskin Engineering Baskin Engineering 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Denis Titov, Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley Description: Cells run thousands of chemical reactions simultaneously, and these reactions must be precisely controlled—like a thermostat that prevents overheating. When this control fails, diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and fatty liver disease result. One key control mechanism is allosteric regulation, where a small molecule binds […]

  • Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Sai Teja Peddinti, Google Abstract: As the digital landscape expands, traditional models of threat mitigation and user support are failing to keep pace with the unprecedented security, privacy, and safety challenges. Fortunately, the rise of large language models (LLMs) offers a powerful new paradigm for defense. This talk explores how LLMs are being leveraged […]

    Free
  • BME 280B Seminar: Accelerating the diagnosis of rare diseases using multi-omics

    Biomedical Sciences Biomedical Sciences Building Red Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Stephen Montgomery, Endowed Professor of Pathology, Genetics, Biomedical Data Science, Computer Science, Stanford University   Description: N/A   Bio: Stephen Montgomery is an Endowed Professor of Pathology, Genetics, Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, Computer Science at Stanford University. He has trained in multiple countries including Canada, Germany, England, and Switzerland. He is best […]

  • BME80G Seminar – Sheril Kirshenbaum, “Science in Policymaking”

    Jack Baskin Auditorium 191 Baskin Cir, Santa Cruz, CA

    Please note: Following this lecture, the Genomics Institute’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee will host a reception on the Baskin Engineering Lanai with Dr. Kirshenbaum where we can continue the discussion on how to effectively engage lawmakers and the public to value and support genomic science. Presenter: Dr. Sheril Kirshenbaum Abstract: Science shapes our world, but meaningful policy engagement […]

  • BME/Genomics Seminar: Supervised and Unsupervised DeepGene Finding and Genome Foundation Models

    Engineering 2 Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA

    Presenter: Mario Stanke, Professor of Bioinformatics, University of Greifswald Description: This talk will explore recent machine learning approaches for eukaryotic genome annotation. Our supervised ab initio deep gene finder, Tiberius, correctly predicts more than four times as many human protein-coding gene structures as its father, Augustus, and in some clades, it approaches the accuracy of […]