Alumna Olivia Ross, winner of this year's prestigious Steck Award, took on the daunting quest of trying to find primordial black holes. Her faculty mentor calls this young, tireless scientist a "one-in-a-generation gem."

Marine scientist Stacy Jupiter, the 2020 Alumni Achievement Award winner, translates science and analysis in ways that inspire people to change behaviors.

Stories of resilience and loss are preserved in The Empty Year: An Oral History of the Pandemic(s) of 2020 at UC Santa Cruz, an immersive project that includes a 540-page published book

Alumna Ann Starrs, director of family planning at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, came to reproductive health work from a steadfast commitment—strengthened by her time at UC Santa Cruz—to feminism, gender equality, and women’s empowerment.

This year’s Alumni Week will feature a virtual fireside chat with Terri McCullough, an Oakes '91 politics alumna who is now chief of staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A Superior Court judge. The director of the public art program for Los Angeles. A defense attorney. They all believe in public service, and they all say their time at UC Santa Cruz changed their lives in permanent ways.

Alumnus Darren Thompson, an accomplished chemist and student mentor, overcame a dark turn in his life with help from his determination, his Christian faith, and a UC Santa Cruz professor.

Radio producer and alumna Nikki Silva teams up with photographer Shmuel Thaler to collect stories evoked by objects salvaged from the wreckage of homes destroyed in the CZU August Lightning Complex fire

Forrest Stuart has built his career pursuing burning questions about the societal underpinnings of poverty and criminalization across disciplines. Stuart said his research focus has been influenced both by his childhood and the formative experiences of his undergraduate education at University of California, Santa Cruz, where he earned his bachelor’s in politics in 2004.

UC Santa Cruz alumnus Joe DeRisi is one of the leading scientists in the fight against the novel coronavirus, helming a massive effort to ramp up state-of-the-art clinical laboratory testing for COVID-19 throughout California, while pioneering large-scale testing in Bay Area communities.

A book by two Science Communication Program alumni celebrates the human fascination with maps, displaying more than 200 maps across history (and even fiction) and exploring the intriguing stories behind them.

Wilfrido Hernández Flores discovered social science research in the Culture and Achievement Collaborative, and it changed his life

A new Field Guide to Plants of UC Santa Cruz makes exploring the landscapes of the campus—and the county—fun and rewarding.

Alumna Amita Kuttner, a current graduate student in the Physics Department, is running as a Green Party candidate for a seat in Canada’s House of Commons in order to make policy around climate change—a quest sparked by a devastating loss

Three huge clay sewer pipes carved by alumnus Tom Franco and a team of artists are now gracing Danville’s art gallery in an exhibit curated by a fellow Slug.

Mexico's new president tapped UC Santa Cruz alumna Irma Sandoval to lead the government's anti-corruption efforts.

After serving as science lead for NASA’s Kepler Mission from 2011 to 2017, Batalha is returning to UC Santa Cruz as a professor of astronomy and astrophysics.

With his smart phone in hand, Christian Schwarz is empowering "citizen scientists" to document today's biodiversity in hopes of inspiring action before it's too late.

This fall, UCSC alum Ricardo Garcia will take the helm of the LA County Public Defender's Office—the largest and oldest public defender's unit in the country.

Alumnus Alexis Harte’s long career as a singer/songwriter has included original albums and songs for TV and film, and his company has become a pioneer in scoring and sound design.

Alumna Caroline Carpenter was the first woman to graduate at the top of the Los Angeles Fire Department Academy—a testament to determination and grit.

Having been the music editor on over 60 outstanding films during the course of his career, Bill Bernstein’s musical talent is epic. From working on such movies as The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty (for which he won a Grammy), The Help and Skyfall to many Pixar hits including Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and Finding Dory…it seems like every project he touches is a resounding success.

Stephanie Allain is a rare gem in the film industry. Not only is she brilliant and successful, but as an African-American woman who got her start over 25 years ago in a notoriously and overwhelmingly white and male-dominated business, she has charged ahead to break open established perceptions.

With an amazing career in Hollywood spanning nearly 40 years, Dency Nelson has been the stage manager for almost every major award and event show for the past 25 years, including the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, and Kennedy Center Honors.

Benjamin Smithers is a double major in mathematics and physics who is now working on his Ph.D.: an expedition into the world of neutrino physics.

Vincent Williams uses graphic design, sculptural installations, collage, and photography to comment on the history of black identity both in the United States and in Western art.

For graduating senior Asante Nkosi, a double major in sociology and history allowed him to connect his experiences with his interest in black U.S. history, the Civil Rights Movement, and the contemporary moment.

Rachel Doran is a Ph.D. candidate in the graduate program in biomedical sciences and engineering, working on HIV immunogens. She has won a Graduate Research Symposium award for her presentation on “From armor to Achilles heel: Targeting the glycan shield of HIV in novel vaccine strategies".

Isabell Retamoza is a literature and feminist studies major and THI undergraduate fellow, with plans to study law at Northwestern University.

Henry Hinton, graduating with a bioengineering degree from the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, will be attending Harvard University for his electrical engineering Ph.D. in the fall.

This year's Distinguished Graduate Student Alumni honorees are making their mark on the world. During Alumni Weekend, they will be back on campus to inspire a new generation of scholars at a career panel.

Award-winning journalist and author Héctor Tobar and filmmaker Virginia Espino are the 2018 recipients of the Social Sciences Division's Distinguished Alumni Award.

Eight alumni are returning to campus this spring as guest lecturers in a special-edition public health class offered by Community Studies.

Chancellor George Blumenthal presented accomplished actress Adilah Barnes with the the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award for her many artistic contributions to UC Santa Cruz. Barnes was back on campus performing in a revival of "A Raisin In The Sun."

Being very successful for over 50 years in the entertainment industry is no small feat. But actress Adilah Barnes takes it all in her stride.

From his passion for the arts and accompanying his father on travels around the globe, to his keen enthusiasm for collaboration and bringing outstanding creative projects to fruition, it’s no wonder that Brian was destined to become such a successful Hollywood film producer.

If the right conditions arrive this winter, alumna Sarah Gerhardt could be among the first women to compete in the Mavericks big-wave surf contest.

Santa Cruz native and UC Santa Cruz alumnus, Michael Shipley, found Santa Cruz to be an idyllic place to grow up during the 1970s and ‘80s. It was the place where he discovered his creative passion, eventually leading him to become not only a very talented photographer and musician, but also an award-winning television writer and producer for highly successful television shows, including Family Guy and American Dad!.

Axel Alonso was editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics from 2011–2017, where he built a legacy by making comic book characters and their creators reflect the diversity of our world.

John Laird has watched his political capital rise over the years. In 1983, while serving on the Santa Cruz City Council, he became one of the first openly gay mayors in the United States.