ECE Seminar: Multiscale Sensing for Specialty Crop Systems: From Field Monitoring to Food Safety Application
2026-05-19 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 status, detect disease, and estimate fruit composition. These efforts are developed in collaboration with growers and industry partners, with an emphasis on methods that are robust under field conditions and scalable across production systems. Building on this foundation, the talk will examine how similar sensing approaches could be extended to address food safety challenges in California agriculture, particularly in systems transitioning toward organic and regenerative practices . By linking environmental variability, water dynamics, and landscape features with potential contamination pathways, sensing technologies may support improved risk assessment and monitoring.
Bio: Eve Laroche-Pinel is a researcher specializing in the application of sensing technologies to agricultural systems, with a focus on translating data-driven methods into tools that support decision-making in real production environments. Her work sits at the intersection of agricultural engineering, remote sensing, and applied machine learning.
She holds a PhD from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (France), completed in partnership with industry, where she developed an operational service to monitor vineyard water status using satellite imagery. This work fostered a strong emphasis on applied research, system integration, and technology transfer to end users.
She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at California State University, Fresno, contributing to a research program that uses multispectral and hyperspectral data collected from satellites, drones, aircraft, and ground-based platforms. Her work addresses plant water status, disease detection, and crop composition, combining field measurements, laboratory analyses, and predictive modeling. These projects are conducted in collaboration with growers, industry partners, and multidisciplinary academic teams, with the objective of producing methods that are robust under field conditions and scalable across production systems.
She plans to increasingly focus on how sensing technologies could contribute to food safety challenges in specialty crops. By linking environmental variability, crop condition, and landscape features with potential contamination pathways, her future work would aim to support improved risk assessment and monitoring strategies, particularly in systems transitioning toward organic and regenerative practices.
Extension and stakeholder engagement are central to her approach. She works closely with growers and partners to co-develop field trials, adapt methodologies to operational constraints, and translate technical outputs into actionable guidance. Her work includes participation in workshops, training activities, and collaborative projects that connect research with practice.
Her long-term goal is to build integrated research and extension programs that combine drones, spectral sensing, and environmental monitoring to support safe, resilient, and technology-enabled agriculture.
Hosted by: Professor Marco Rolandi, ECE Department
Zoom Link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96727838511?pwd=[REDACTED]

Paul Pena, D. (CSE) - Efficient Pattern Counting in Sparse Graphs and Hypergraphs
2026-05-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Pattern counting is a fundamental problem in computer science with applications in many domains. For a fixed small pattern H, we are given a large graph G and we are asked to count the number of subgraphs or homomorphisms (edge-preserving maps) of H in G. For practical applications where the input graph can be very large, we are interested in finding efficient algorithms, that is, algorithms that run in linear or subquadratic time with respect to the size of the input.
Finding such algorithms in general (when G can be any graph) is not possible. Instead, we restrict our input to sparse classes of graphs. One family of graph classes that has been widely studied in the context of subgraph and homomorphism counting is bounded-degeneracy graph classes. Real-world graphs in many domains have bounded degeneracy, so studying these classes in theory can lead to practical algorithms.
A series of advances in the study of homomorphism counting led to a dichotomy theorem that exactly characterized which patterns were linear-time computable for bounded-degeneracy inputs. This dissertation builds on this result, extending it to other variants of this problem, and generalizing it to other different settings, like counting hypergraphs and notions of sparsity beyond degeneracy.
Our results help develop the theory of subgraph counting in sparse graphs and hypergraphs, and showcase how sparsity can be used both in theory and practice to develop faster algorithms.

Event Host: Daniel Paul Pena, Ph.D. Candidate, Computer Science & Engineering
Advisor: C. Sheshadhri
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/97685906168?pwd=[REDACTED]

Privacy’s Defender: Fight Against Digital Surveillance with Cindy Cohn
2026-05-19 12:00 - 13:30 | Humanities 1 Building, 257 Cowell-Stevenson Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, United States
Privacy’s Defender
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Executive Director Cindy Cohn’s Journey Inside the Privacy Battles That Shaped Today’s Internet
Cindy Cohn has devoted her life to the fight for digital rights. She’s tangled with federal officials to keep our online conversations secure from the government’s prying eyes, fought to ensure that you are told when your information has been turned over to the government, and argued before judges to protect our right to speak and to share science and knowledge on the internet.
In Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance (MIT Press), Cindy weaves her own personal story with her role as a leading legal voice representing the rights and interests of technology users, innovators, whistleblowers, and researchers during the Crypto Wars of the 1990s, battles over NSA’s dragnet internet spying revealed in the 2000s, and the fight against FBI gag orders.
During this national book tour, Cindy will be at UC Santa Cruz to give a book talk on May 19, 2026 from 12:00-1:30 pm.
Free and open to the public with registration.
RSVP HERE to attend in-person or on Zoom.
In-Person location: UCSC Humanities 1, Room 210 (map link)
Virtual: Zoom link will be sent separately
Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which works to ensure that technology supports freedom, justice and innovation for all the people of the world. Before becoming Executive Director a decade ago, Cindy was the organization’s Legal Director from 2000-2015, and led the organization’s impact litigation work on bringing balance to copyright law, stopping mass spying and protecting freedom of expression online. She’s won many awards for her work and even more court decisions.

UCSC co-sponsors:
Institute for Social Transformation, The Humanities Institute, Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), and the Security Research Lab.

Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making, Acts Of Resistance, And Imagining Otherwise
2026-05-19 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-20 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-21 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!

Let's Talk
2026-05-19 13:00 - 14:00 | https://live-events-ucsc.pantheonsite.io/event/lets-talk-2/2026-05-19/
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.

Bai, G. (BMEB) - Long-read single-molecule chromatin architecture and its role in transcriptome regulation
2026-05-19 13:30 - 15:30 | Biomedical Sciences Building, 575 McLaughlin Drive
Sequencing technologies have revolutionized our understanding of biology, yet many existing methods require fragmentation of DNA or RNA, fundamentally limiting our ability to study these molecules in their native, intact forms. Long-read sequencing overcomes this constraint by enabling the sequencing of long, single-molecule native DNA and RNA, providing simultaneous access to both sequence and base modifications that reflect epigenetic state. This capability has already yielded landmark achievements, including the first complete, gapless human genome assembly. Yet while our ability to decode genomic sequence has advanced dramatically, how chromatin structure shapes a cell’s transcriptome remains poorly understood. My thesis addresses this gap through three aims. First, I co-developed a novel long-read approach for profiling chromatin accessibility at single-molecule resolution using the small molecule angelicin. Second, I characterized how long-range chromatin states are associated with RNA processing and transcription, leveraging multi-omic long-read data in yeast. Third, I incorporate chromatin data into sequence-to-function deep learning models to interpret the mechanistic contribution of chromatin state to RNA processing. Together, these aims establish a new framework for studying the relationship between epigenetic state and transcriptome regulation at a resolution not previously possible.
Event Host: Gali Bai, Ph.D. Candidate, Biomolecular Engineering & Bioinformatics
Advisor: Angela Brooks
Zoom Meeting ID: 940 6201 8397
Passcode: [REDACTED]

The Deep Read: Faculty Salon on Entangled Life
2026-05-19 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 our participating Deep Read faculty, Professors Benjamin Breen (History), Gregory Gilbert (Environmental Studies), and Donna Haraway (History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies) will give brief presentations and discuss Entangled Life with the Deep Read community in a Q&A moderated by Deep Read Faculty Co-Lead, Laura Martin. 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:
The Literature and Poetics of Fungi Salon: On May 26, 2026, at 6pm, we will hold a salon at the Hay Barn focused on the literary and poetic influence of fungi and its relation to Entangled Life. The salon will feature Professors Cole, Hillman, Palmer, and Tseng in conversation 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.

Maram, S. (CM) - Scripture To Console: The Nexus between Religion and Digital Play
2026-05-20 08:00 - 10:00
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 video games, demonstrating the influence of religion on video games, the influence of video games on religion, and finally, how these two powerful mobilization forces can come together to solve global challenges.
First, I examine the current landscape of religious representation in commercial video games (e.g., Assassin’s Creed, SMITE). I analyze how key stakeholders i.e. players, game designers, and development studios, interpret and engage with embedded religious elements, drawing on existing critical reception and player discourse. This analysis identifies common narrative pitfalls and successful strategies for incorporating complex religious themes in digital spaces, culminating in proposed design frameworks for sensitive and effective representation.
Building on this foundational work, the thesis culminates in defining and validating a new interaction paradigm where learning meets religion through play. This paradigm focuses on intentionally leveraging religious content i.e. specifically its rituals and narratives as mechanics in serious games to drive motivation and learning toward collective action. I validate this paradigm through a comprehensive case study focused on climate change, arguably the most pressing issue of the modern era. This involves the design and empirical discussion of a serious game that incorporates specific religious mechanics, ethics, and narratives (e.g., stewardship, ritual) to effectively communicate the severity of the climate crisis and motivate stakeholders toward a collective solution.

Event Host: Sai Siddartha Maram, Ph.D. Candidate, Computational Media
Advisor: Magy Seif El-Nasr
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/91946426300?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Lucas, J. (BMEB) - Enabling Population-Scale Analysis of Human Centromere Diversity
2026-05-20 09:00 - 11:00 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 sequence diversity in these regions limit the utility of one reference sequence, however. Integrating centromeric and pericentromeric satellite DNA – which together constitute over 5% of the human genome – into genetic research requires access to diverse sequences and the variation between them. The HPRC’s Release 2 dataset, together with recent advancements in long-read assembly algorithms and new tools for sequence alignment and annotation, now make characterization of centromeric variation possible. In this proposal, I outline my work as part of the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium (HPRC) to create a diverse set of reference assemblies that accurately represent centromeric variation (aim 1), use novel tooling to characterize variation in centromeric regions (aim 2), and define the mutational processes that drive centromere evolution (aim 3). Completion of these aims will create a resource to enable the analysis and interpretation of centromeric variation data, bringing these historically inaccessible regions into mainstream studies of human genetics, evolution, and disease.
Event Host: Julian Lucas, Ph.D. Student, Biomolecular Engineering & Bioinformatics
Advisor: Karen Miga
Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/94129246296?pwd=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]

CSE Colloquium - Safety Alignment of LMs via Non-cooperative Games
2026-05-20 11:00 - 12:15 | Engineering 2, Engineering 2 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 Attacker LM and a Defender LM trained jointly via online reinforcement learning. Each LM continuously adapts to the other’s evolving strategies, driving iterative improvement. Our method uses a preference-based reward signal derived from pairwise comparisons instead of point-wise scores, providing more robust supervision and potentially reducing reward hacking. Our RL recipe, AdvGame, shifts the Pareto frontier of safety and utility, yielding a Defender LM that is simultaneously more helpful and more resilient to adversarial attacks. In addition, the resulting Attacker LM converges into a strong, general-purpose red-teaming agent that can be directly deployed to probe arbitrary target models.
Bio:
Arman Zharmagambetov is a research scientist in the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team at Meta. His research primarily focuses on machine learning and optimization, recently exploring their application in enhancing the security and robustness of AI systems. He received his PhD from the University of California – Merced. Afterward, he completed his postdoctoral research at FAIR, focusing on Reinforcement Learning, AI-guided design and Optimization.
Hosted by: Professor Alvaro Cardenas and Professor Sungjin Im
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 20, 2026 from 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
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]

Spring Exhibitions at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences
2026-05-20 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-21 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.

Visualizing Abolition Screening Series: Beyond Access
2026-05-20 12:00 - 17:00, 2026-05-21 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

✨ ✈️ 🌎Travel Your Way: The UCSC Partner Program Advantage 🌎 ✈️ ✨
2026-05-20 13:00 - 13:30 | https://live-events-ucsc.pantheonsite.io/event/%e2%9c%a8-%e2%9c%88%ef%b8%8f-%f0%9f%8c%8etravel-your-way-the-ucsc-partner-program-advantage-%f0%9f%8c%8e-%e2%9c%88%ef%b8%8f-%e2%9c%a8/
Are you looking for a global experience that fits your specific major, budget, and vibe? Whether you’re an engineer eyeing a semester in Korea, an artist dreaming of London, or a scientist looking for research in Norway, Partner Programs offer a unique, flexible path to going abroad. Join the Global Learning team for a quick, high-energy info session where we’ll break down how these programs work, how to use your financial aid, and why these “hidden gem” programs might be the perfect fit for your degree.
Register here.

Career Success Drop-Ins at the Cantú - Week 8
2026-05-20 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.

BME80G Seminar – Ann Mc Cartney, "The Why, What and How of Indigenous Data Sovereignty"
2026-05-20 13:20 - 14:25 | https://live-events-ucsc.pantheonsite.io/event/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 conceptualization of Indigenous Data Sovereignty in 2016. Indigenous Data Sovereignty is defined as the right of Indigenous Peoples to own, control, access and possess data that derive from them, and which pertain to Nation membership, knowledge systems, customs or territories and is not an internationally recognized concept. Practically, Indigenous Data Sovereignty gives decision-making authority to Indigenous Peoples and allows them to decide how best data should be collected, accessed, and used for nation-building. For this reason, Indigenous Data Sovereignty is inextricably linked to Indigenous Data Governance.
This lecture will dive into the why, what, and how of Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Beginning with dive into the history of genomics research and Indigenous Peoples. Then moving into a more in-depth description of both Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance. The lecture will close with highlighting three real world case-studies of genomics projects operationalising Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
About the speaker: Dr. Mc Cartney is a Full Researcher at the University of California, Irvine and a Consultant for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where she works at the intersection of bioinformatics, bioethics and policy across human and non-human species. Dr. Mc Cartney completed her PhD in Bioinformatics and Molecular Evolution from Dublin City University. After this she carried out a Genomics Aotearoa Postdoctoral Research Fellowship where she created culturally respectful genomic informatics pipelines for the project that were responsive to the needs and rights of Māori. She then moved Stateside and carried out a second Visiting Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Genome Informatics Section at the NHGRI. During this time, she also conducted a detail in the NIH Office of Science Policy. Dr. Mc Cartney then transitioned to the University of California, Santa Cruz’s Genomics Institute as an Assistant Researcher where she worked at the forefront of genomic sequencing technologies to develop more just genomic data infrastructures, policies and frameworks for engagement. She became an elected member of the Executive Council of the Earth BioGenome Project, the Vice-chair of the European Reference Genome Atlas, and the Director of International Partnerships for the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium. She also acted as a “technical expert” for many international science policy initiatives including the DSI Scientific Network, Native Biodata Consortium and the Informal Advisory Group on DSI for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Additionally, Dr. Mc Cartney was part of the team to build the first NIH-funded Tribal Data Repository for American Indian and Alaska Natives.

It Takes an Ecosystem: Staff and Faculty Perspectives on Collaboration at UC Santa Cruz
2026-05-20 15:00 - 16:15 | https://live-events-ucsc.pantheonsite.io/event/it-takes-an-ecosystem-staff-and-faculty-perspectives-on-collaboration-at-uc-santa-cruz/
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 in and connect the people, relationships, and infrastructures already engaged in transformative work?
Different from past Title V HSI grants, which have rigorously tested and sustained single interventions, CULTURA embraces an ecosystem approach. This approach recognizes that meaningful, sustained change depends on the investment in and coordination of those leading equity work every day: campus staff and faculty. The HSI Equity Talk centers their voices.
In June 2025, we launched the HSI CULTURA Staff and Faculty Survey, a collaborative effort* designed to surface insights from staff and faculty respondents. The survey explored key dimensions of the ecosystem: coordination among campus units, support (or lack thereof) available to equity-focused leaders, and collective and institutional capacity to collaborate, adapt, and transform campus culture.
In this interactive session, facilitators will share key survey findings as an invitation to collective sense-making. Together, we will discuss: What resonates? What is missing? How do these findings reflect or challenge your own experiences? How can we mobilize this collective knowledge to strengthen and coordinate our shared efforts toward student success and equity, especially amid severe financial constraints? Join us as we aim to deepen our coordination, elevate the voices of those leading change, and build a more connected ecosystem for student success and equity.
Please register to receive a calendar invitation and Zoom details.

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.

Queer Joy Crafting Time (Communi-tea)
2026-05-20 15:00 - 17:00 | Cantu Queer Center, Crown Lane, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
Drop by the Cantú Cabin to be in community with SHOP and talk about queer joy. Crafting supplies provided. Come for the raffle prize, stay for the community!
This event is supported by Student Health Services for Mental Health Awareness Month. You are invited to engage in a variety of campus-wide activities focused on mental health and wellness. Learn about support services, discover ways to help a friend in need, and explore strategies to care for your own well-being. Information is available on the Mental Health Month Event Calendar.
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.

Let's Talk
2026-05-20 16:00 - 17:00 | https://live-events-ucsc.pantheonsite.io/event/lets-talk-4/2026-05-20/
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.

The Helene Moglen Lecture in Feminism and Humanities: Donna Haraway
2026-05-20 17:30 - 19:00 | Merrill Cultural Center, 200 McLaughlin Dr, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 p.m., and a reception at the very end.
Merrill Cultural Center
In-person only
The sky has not fallen – yet. In troubled times, this lecture joins human and more-than-human companion species to ask how to think, really think, without either the apocalyptic violence or salvific comfort of human exceptionalism. Revisiting themes, images, arguments and collaborations from a lifetime of feminist work and play in science studies, biology, cultural studies, and arts, Haraway asks how to tell evidence-laden, effective stories for earthly flourishing in exterminationist times. Is it still possible to make powerful oddkin in opposition to techbro anti-immigrant pronatalism and extraterrestrial settler nationalism in order to partially heal devastated worlds together? If oddkin hold up the sky, we have a chance.
Donna Haraway is Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California Santa Cruz. She writes and speaks in science and technology studies, feminist theory, and multispecies studies. She is an active participant in the Science and Justice Research Center and Center for Cultural Studies. Attending to the intersections of biology with culture and politics, Haraway’s work explores the string figures composed by science fact, science fiction, speculative feminism, speculative fabulation, science and technology studies, and more-than-human worlding. Haraway’s renowned essay “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1985) is considered a foundational text in multiple scholarly fields. Some of her books include Staying with the Trouble:
This lecture is presented by the Center for Cultural Studies and made possible by the Helene Moglen Lecture in Feminism and Humanities for the Center for Cultural Studies Endowment, The Humanities Institute, and the Department of Polities.

VMCC Talk with Salar Mameni—Blood of Tulips
2026-05-20 17:30 - 19:00 | Porter College, D-Building, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 SWANA region.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Visual & Media Cultures Colloquium (VMCC) is an annual lecture series that brings cutting-edge scholars to speak on a broad range of subjects related to visual and media culture. The series is co-sponsored with the graduate programs in the History of Art & Visual Culture (HAVC) and the Arts Division.
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ADMISSION
– Attend in person.
– Porter College D245
– FREE and open to the public.
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This program is open to the public consistent with state and federal law.
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Save, download, and share the event flyer here:
image: blood of tulips by salar

Drop-in Figure Drawing
2026-05-20 19:00 - 21:00 | 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.

Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities—reception, screening, and discussion with the filmmmaker
2026-05-20 19:00 - 21:30 | Communications Building, 7487 Red Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
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 shops, public squares, and a park to ask the city’s inhabitants about their cultural and social beliefs and their embrace of new ideas. Gradually, he meets a group of marginalized individuals whose eccentric life choices contradict the general lifestyle in this religiously and socially conservative city. Through intimate conversations with a communist activist, a queer music producer, and other unconventional characters, Tripoli: A Tale of Three Cities explores the complicated relations one forms with a hometown in crisis. This contemplative urban symphony paints a picture of a city trapped in a self-spun web, paralyzed by a deep economic crisis, a faltering revolution, and a looming doomsday.

UC Santa Cruz affiliates are invited to a screening of the film, followed by a discussion between UCSC alum, Raed Rafei, and Professor of Film and Digital Media, Peter Limbrick.
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ADMISSION
– Attend in person at the Communications Studio C
– FREE and open to UCSC affiliates
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
5:30 p.m.—Reception in Communications 139
7:00 p.m.—Film Screening and Discussion in Studio C
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PARKING
– Parking by UCSC permit or ParkMobile.
– Baskin Engineering Lot #139A and Core West are the closest parking lots to the Communications Building.
– 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 UC Santa Cruz affiliates consistent with state and federal law.

Annual BE Student Project Showcase
2026-05-21 09:00 - 14:30 | CA
Join Baskin Engineering for our annual Student Project Showcase to celebrate the innovative work and accomplishments of undergraduate engineers in capstone courses and research pathways. The broader campus community, parents, and industry partners are invited to view the culmination of student work.
The day begins with oral presentations from nominated “best-in-class” teams and those working on industry-sponsored projects. Following this, all students will participate in a comprehensive Poster Session featuring project outcomes with some teams including table-top demonstrations of functional hardware.
Event Details:

Date: May 21, 2026
Oral Presentations (Nominated/Industry Teams): 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, Engineering 2, Room 180
Poster Session (All Student Teams): 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, Engineering Courtyard

Younger Lagoon Reserve Tours
2026-05-21 10:30 - 12:00 | Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060
Younger Lagoon Reserve tours are free and open to the public. Space is limited to 18 participants. Call 831-459-3800 or sign-up online. Virtual tours are available online.

BME 280B Seminar: Speaker Dylan Shropshire - "How did Wolbachia become Earth's most pervasive animal symbiont?"
2026-05-21 11:40 - 13:15 | 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 biological success now also underpins global biocontrol programs aimed at suppressing arboviral disease, lending applied urgency to a foundational question: how did a single bacterial lineage come to dominate the animal world? In this seminar, I will draw on my recent and ongoing work to explore facets of this question, leveraging Wolbachia‘s evolutionary diversity and wet-lab tools to define the mechanisms driving this microbe’s success across the animal world. Collectively, this work aims to clarify the determinants of Wolbachia‘s natural prevalence and to sharpen the predictive frameworks underpinning Wolbachia-based biocontrol of vector-borne disease.
Bio: Dylan Shropshire is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where he leads a research group studying mechanisms of Wolbachia-host interactions. He earned his PhD at Vanderbilt University as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and completed an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Montana. He is also a first-generation high school graduate and former Pell Grant recipient, experiences that motivate his commitment to high-quality mentorship and evidence-based pedagogical practices. His work has been recognized by the Charles E. Kaufman New Investigator Award, Lehigh’s Pre-Tenure Faculty Award, and the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
Hosted by: Professor Shelbi Russell, BME Department

Note Taking and Reading Strategies
2026-05-21 12:00 - 12:45 | Academic Resources Center (ARC), 408 McHenry Road, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064
In this workshop, you will: Learn reading and note-taking methods and why they work to help you learn.
The Successful Slug Workshop series, hosted by Learning Support Services Peer Coaches, are open to all UCSC undergraduate students and focus on academic skills and tools to support your success as a student. At each workshop, you will be introduced to a topic, engage in active learning, be given resources to begin implementing the same day, and have an opportunity to learn more if you are interested.
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.
