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Resources for Learning and Research
University Library | Computing Facilities and Services | Research Programs and Facilities
University Library
The handsome McHenry and Science & Engineering libraries house the increasingly impressive collection of UCSC’s University Library. In more than four decades, the collection has grown from a few shelves of books and a substantial dependence on the libraries of UC Berkeley, to 1.5 million volumes, over 25,000 periodical titles (including online journals), over 725,000 microforms, and more than 400,000 nonprint items, including films, slides, and audio and video recordings.
As part of the statewide University of California library system, the University Library also serves as gateway to millions of other books and periodicals at other campuses throughout the state. The library’s efficient Interlibrary Loan service is heavily used, especially the online request service of the California Digital Library. Faculty, staff, and graduate students may also use the Document Delivery Service for on-campus delivery of local materials.
The University Library collection is divided into two parts. Resources in the humanities, arts, and social sciences are contained in McHenry Library at the heart of the campus, while the engineering, mathematics, and natural sciences collections are housed in the beautiful Science & Engineering Library, conveniently located on “Science Hill.”
Subject bibliographers manage the growth and development of UCSC’s collection and provide in-depth research assistance.
Most of the holdings of the University Library are shelved in open stacks. Students and faculty are encouraged to help themselves, using information found via the local CRUZCAT online library catalog, the systemwide Melvyl® catalog, and the library home page. The library home page provides a convenient gateway to the CRUZCAT and Melvyl® catalogs, the California Digital Library, and a host of other electronic information resources, such as article databases and online journals. The library staff is also eager to offer its assistance at any of several service points.
At the reference desks in both libraries, reference librarians give individual guidance:
general orientation for the newcomer and specialized help for the researcher. Librarians assist in the use of a wide range of indexes—in print or online, and in more than 200 online article databases to which the library subscribes. Librarians also offer group instruction: orientation sessions at the beginning of each quarter, library research workshops, special web seminars for students and faculty, and upon request, specialized instruction to classes in all disciplines.
The Reserve desks lend copies of assigned class readings on a short-term basis, operate a web-based electronic reserve system, and provide protection for vulnerable circulating materials and heavily used periodicals. In addition, the Science & Engineering Library Reserve Unit provides access to recent newspapers.
Special Collections at McHenry Library contains rare, valuable, and often fragile materials that do not circulate. Holdings focus on local history and 20th-century literature and book arts. Special Collections also houses the official campus archives, as well as the archives of George Barati, Gregory Bateson, Thomas Carlyle, Lou Harrison, Kenneth Patchen, Edward Weston, the Grateful Dead, and the Shameless Hussy, Trianon, and Turtle Island presses.
Other important collections and services include the following:
- Government Publications, a selective depository for documents published by U.S., California, and Santa Cruz government agencies
- The Media and Electronic Resource Center (MERC), which provides access to CD-ROMs, computer files, and language-related audio and video recordings; electronic support for language study at UCSC; and printing support for the Electronic Reserve System (ERes)
- The Map Collection, with maps and aerial photographs of Santa Cruz and adjoining counties and topographic, nautical, and aeronautical maps from all over the world
- The Mary Lea Shane Archives of the Lick Observatory, a national resource for the history of astronomy
- The Film and Music Center, which houses music recordings and a growing collection of videos and DVDs
- The Regional History Project’s documentation of Central California history
- The Visual Resource Collection, which emphasizes art history but also includes slides on science, history, and the UCSC campus and offers the web-based SlideCat slide catalog
For more information, see the library’s home page, library.ucsc.edu.
The CTE is a professional resource dedicated to promoting, sustaining, and recognizing teaching excellence at UCSC. Serving the faculty and graduate students, CTE programs and services support instructors in their efforts to develop as teachers, to enhance the quality of instruction, and to improve students’ learning.
Regular programs and services include Instructional Improvement Grants, Excellence in Teaching Awards, Teaching Symposia, Mid-quarter Class Interviews, Electronic Mid-quarter Analysis of Teaching, UCSC Instructor Evaluation, and Faculty Focus, a quarterly newsletter featuring the voices of the UCSC community speaking out on teaching and learning.
CTE is located in 133 Kerr Hall. For more information, visit the web: ic.ucsc.edu/CTE.
Computing Facilities and Services
ITS at UCSC provides a broad spectrum of IT-related resources and services that support instruction, learning, research and administrative operations by providing information technology to students, faculty, and staff in the areas of instructional computing; administrative computing; network, voice, and data services; information systems security; web services; media services; technical support; and training.
ITS operates the UCSC network, which interconnects the campus network, the student residential network, and the Internet. On-campus network resources include academic, library,
and administrative computing, database, and information servers. Many instructors choose to provide course materials via the web or electronic mail, and the UCSC and UC-wide library catalogs are web accessible.
If you are planning to buy a new computer, UCSC recommends purchasing a laptop with both wired and wireless network capability. Last year, 98 percent of students who came to campus had a personally owned computer in their residential housing rooms.
The campus community embraces both PCs and Macs, and in some circles, Unix-based Sun Solaris and Linux are popular. The Humanities Division and the Arts Division both are heavily Mac oriented. The Social Sciences Division and the Physical and Biological Sciences Division use both Macs and PCs. The School of Engineering uses primarily PC/Windows and PC/Linux (as well as Sun Solaris), and there is an emerging interest in Macs with the Unix-based OS-X environment.
All students at UCSC are eligible to receive discounts on the purchase of a computer at the Bay Tree Bookstore. For more Information, please visit slugstore.ucsc.edu.
If you have a disability and will require adaptive or assistive technology to use lab computers, library facilities, or other campus services, please contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) right away so that they can coordinate services for you. Computing labs have common adaptive technologies, such as enlarged type for students with low vision and Dvorak keyboards for students with repetitive strain injuries. If you need accommodations, please call the DRC at (831) 459-2089 (voice), or 459-4806 (TTY).
The 12 computing labs on campus are equipped for use as classrooms and can be reserved by instructors for teaching. When classes are not in session, labs are available to students on a drop-in basis to work on assignments, collaborate with peers, use University-owned software, print, etc.
Most labs are open from early in the morning until late at night with some labs open 24 hours. The 12 lab locations are geographically distributed across campus for easy access from wherever you are.
Labs with Macintosh, Windows, and Unix (Solaris) computers are available with an extensive software library already installed. Instructors can request the installation of additional software for course use.
Digital and analog video editing equipment is installed at some locations along with various other peripherals including scanners, slide scanners, zip drives, floppy drives, etc. CruzNet wireless access is available at most lab locations. For more information, please visit ic.ucsc.edu/services/computer_labs.
Every lab is open to every student, no matter what his or her major. Assistive technologies are provided to disabled students who request services via the Disability Resource Center.
If you need assistive technologies, please see www2.ucsc.edu/drc and make your request so ITS can provide services for you in a timely manner.
The WebCT Learning Management System is an integrated set of web course tools that can be used to supplement a class taught mostly face-to-face or can be used to teach a course entirely at a distance (where students mostly “go to class” online using the web with few if any visits to campus).
WebCT can be used by instructors to easily create a class web presence without needing to know how to construct a web page. WebCT can be used to move some of a course’s learning activities online to free up in-class time for higher value collaborative interactions and to encourage student-to-student and student-instructor collaboration outside of class time.
ITS staff are available to help instructors use WebCT effectively and easily. Several WebCT workshops are available for faculty along with Instructional Design Support to help ensure pedagogical effectiveness of WebCT course materials. For more information, please visit ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning _management_system.
ResNet, a high-speed data residential network, is available in nearly all residence halls and apartments. Students can connect to the ResNet and access campus resources and the Internet from their rooms at speeds significantly faster than provided by modems. The CruzNet wireless network is available campuswide at its.ucsc.edu/service_catalog/cruznet.
UCSC is connected to other UC campuses and the Internet via a high-speed connection to the UC network. UCSC is also part of the state and national initiatives for the next-generation Internet, joining the other UC campuses and select California universities in this project.
To access any of the central computing services, including e-mail, individuals must have a UCSC account called “CruzID.” Registered students are assigned an e-mail account and may set the initial password via the web at any of the computing labs or from their own computers at my.ucsc.edu. Faculty and campus units send e-mail about classes and student services to this account. Students may forward e-mail sent to their UCSC e-mail account to another address via a web form. For CruzID information, please visit cruzid.ucsc.edu.
ITS provides computer and technical support for its services to students, faculty, and staff. This support includes walk-in, phone, and online support. For support, please call (831) 459-4357 (459-HELP), e-mail help@ucsc.edu, or visit itrequest.ucsc.edu.
Research Programs and Facilities
Research at UC Santa Cruz is thriving, facilities are excellent, and the amount of external funding received for research continues to grow. In addition to their individual research projects, faculty are involved in organized research on various scales, from small focused activities within academic divisions, to large research units, some with campuswide scope and others with wider connections to the whole 10-campus University of California system.
Specialized research facilities in addition to those listed below are described in the programs and courses section.
The Arboretum at UCSC is a research and teaching facility committed to plant conservation and serves both the campus and the public. Its rich and diverse collection, containing representatives of more than 300 plant families, provides beginning students with a broad survey of the plant kingdom. Facilities for growing plants offer students and research faculty opportunities to experiment with living plants. The Arboretum maintains collections of rare and threatened plants of unusual scientific interest. Particular specialties are world conifers, primitive angiosperms, and bulb-forming plant families. Large assemblages of plants from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and California natives are displayed on the grounds. Many of the species in these collections are not otherwise available for study in American botanical gardens and arboreta.
Arboretum events educate and engage the public about plant diversity and conservation. Of service to the public and the nursery industry are the Arboretum’s activities in importing, selecting, and breeding choice ornamental plants, especially those that are drought tolerant and pest resistant. To date, the Arboretum is the original importer of more than 1,500 different selections of choice ornamentals. Many of these have been and will continue to be the plants of future California gardens.
Norrie’s, the Arboretum’s volunteer-run gift shop, supports the Arboretum and is open every day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Arboretum: (831) 427-2998; Norrie’s gift shop: (831) 423-4977; e-mail: arboretum@ucsc.edu; web: arboretum.ucsc.edu
IC has two labs that primarily serve the Arts Division: the IC Arts Mac Lab and the IC Music Lab. The IC Arts Mac Lab at Porter is equipped with Arts-specific software, including high-end video-editing, graphics, web-development and sound-editing software. The Music Lab includes hardware and software for music editing, notation and working with MIDI. See hardware and software details at ic.ucsc.edu/labs.
These Instructional Computing labs are open to all UCSC students. In addition, the Arts Division manages computer labs with specialized equipment and software for the exclusive use of students taking classes in the Art, Film and Digital Media, and Theater Arts Departments, and the Digital Arts and New Media M.F.A. program.
ARI funds and facilitates the research and creative work of individual arts faculty, as well as collaborative research, symposia and other creative activities and events. Grants and awards from the ARI have helped to support performances, exhibitions, software design, manuscript preparation, digital recordings, international field research, collaborative colloquia, on-site installations, operas, and electronic productions. These and other innovative projects in arts practice and theory are among the research areas and interests supported by the Institute. For complete details, see the ARI web site at arts.ucsc.edu/ARI or contact the ARI administrator, Christina Waters, Ph.D., at xtina@ucsc.edu or (831) 459-2256.
The BSOE occupies principally the Baskin Engineering and Engineering 2 Buildings. Some laboratories and offices are also in the Physical and Biological Sciences Building and Sinsheimer Laboratory Building. BSOE maintains a strong presence at the UCSC Silicon Valley Center (SVC) located on the grounds of NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. Many BSOE faculty members maintain offices and research labs and teach classes at the SVC and have joint research agreements with NASA and the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). BSOE is working to develop additional locations off the main campus. Web: www.soe.ucsc.edu.
BSOE operates a computing network of several hundred Unix, Windows and Macintosh computers and several computer laboratories. These labs support research and graduate instruction in applied mathematics and statistics, biomolecular engineering, computer engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering. Undergraduate computing is supported by a combination of BSOE Undergraduate Laboratories (BELS Labs) and the campus’s Instructional Computing Laboratories (IC Labs). For graduate and research computing, the ITS/BSOE computing support team operates a high-speed 100/1000 megabit-per-second network with fiber-optic backbones and redundant core routers and paths. This service has multiple connections to the main campus’s computing network via four separate Tier 1+ data centers, all with UPS and air-conditioning support. Two of the data centers have backup power generation and the other two use a campus cogeneration facility for backup power. For graduate and research computing, BSOE supports the following:
- Central fileservers for core services such as mail, name service, file sharing, and backup
- Several general-access Unix systems
- Multiple compute servers
- Research computing clusters
- BSOE maintains several general-use research computing clusters, in addition to the clusters used by individual research groups. These clusters are available to all faculty and graduate students for general-purpose computations:
- Several graduate student computer labs with a mix of Windows, Linux, and Solaris workstations and network printers
- A variety of software purchased in cooperation with UCSC central computing, BSOE computing, and individual faculty members
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A variety of computer-aided-design software, including Altera, Agilent Advanced Design System, AutoCAD, Cadence, Maple, Matlab, Mentor Graphics, National Instruments Labview, Qualnet, Synopsys and Xilinx
Baskin Engineering Wireless Networking. BSOE has an installed wireless computer network that covers nearly all interior building spaces of the Baskin Engineering, Engineering 2, and portions of the Physical Sciences Buildings. This service (SOENET) is separate from the UCSC campus wireless network (CruzNet). SOENET allows for much greater flexibility in operations and for greater performance as required by SOE’s faculty and researchers. To gain access to SOENET, BSOE faculty or staff member register their computers for use on SOENET. In addition to SOENET, the campus’s wireless computing service, CruzNet, is also installed in parallel in several of the undergraduate laboratory spaces of the Baskin Engineering Building. Details of BSOE computing services can be found at www.soe.ucsc.edu/administration/computer.
Undergraduate Engineering Laboratories (Baskin Engineering Lab Support–BELS). BSOE operates the following special instructional laboratories for the exclusive use of engineering students. These laboratories are typically open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during instructional quarters. The instructional labs available in 2008 are listed below. Please check the web site for updates as new instructional laboratories are being added:
- Digital Logic Design Laboratory
- Controls, Signals, and Instrumentation Laboratory
- Analog Circuits Laboratory
- Electrical Engineering Senior Projects Laboratory
- Optics and Laser Laboratory
- Computer Engineering Projects Laboratory
- Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency Laboratory
- Physical Electronics Laboratory
- Computer Networking Laboratory
- Computer Game Design Laboratory
- Engineering Honor Society Hardware Laboratory
Detailed information about these labs can be found at the following web site: www.soe.ucsc.edu/bels.
UCSC Instructional Computing Laboratories. In addition to the facilities provided by the Jack Baskin School of Engineering, students have access to the computing facilities of the UCSC Instructional Computing (IC) Labs. These include several labs located around the campus consisting of Unix, Mac, and Windows workstations. There are two large IC Labs located in the Baskin Engineering Building. Check the UCSC Instructional Computing web site for details on these labs and hours of operation: ic.ucsc.edu.
BSOE operates and supports the following research laboratories. Current information about BSOE Research Labs can be found at www.soe.ucsc.edu/research/labs.
Applied and Nano-optics Group. The Applied and Nano-optics group covers a wide range of optical research with an emphasis on experimental nanoscale optics. New methods and devices are developed for optical studies of single particles such as molecules, photons, or nanomagnets. A variety of optical and nanoscale characterization techniques such as time-correlated single-photon counting, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, or scanning-probe microscopy are used and investigated. Applications include integrated biomedical sensors, high-density magnetic memory, single-photon light sources and detectors. Web: http://photon.soe.ucsc.edu/
BSOE supports a broad range of biomolecular-engineering (BME) research activities through the use of more than seven state-of-the-art research labs in the department. Areas of research include systems biology, comparative genomics, HIV vaccine development, stem-cell research, nano-device fabrication and DNA-sequencing-device development. BME departmental laboratory facilities include a variety of equipment used for molecular biology, cell biology, protein chemistry, immunology, virology and computational biology. Specific equipment includes high- and low-speed centrifuges, PCR machines, CO2 incubators, bacterial shakers, microtiter plate readers, microtiter plate washers, microscopes (inverted, upright, fluorescence), spectrophotomters, protein-chromatography equipment, a variety of gel eletrophoresis equipment including power supplies, gel dryers, gel-imaging equipment, vacuum concentrators, and cryopreservation equipment. Recently acquired and planned equipment purchases to be shared with other investigators include a Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS), and next-generation DNA sequencing devices. Shared equipment rooms contain a variety of common equipment including freezers, glass-washing equipment, autoclaves, and refrigerators. Most labs are supplied with basic utilities such as air, gas, vacuum and reverse-osmosis de-ionized (RODI) water. The BME research groups have several computer clusters, one with more than 1000 CPUs. There is additional access to BSOE laboratories and facilities within other departments. Many of the BME research groups have cooperate closely with the Electrical Engineering Department, which operates a clean room, a scanning electron microscope and semiconductor fabrication facilities. Collaborative research with faculty from the Physical and Biological Sciences Division is frequent with routine access to a wide range of biology and chemistry laboratory facilities. Web: www.soe.ucsc.edu/research/labs/.
Clean Room. The Electrical Engineering Department operates a shared Class 10,000 clean room for use by researchers in Electrical Engineering. This clean room is undergoing certification in 2008 to become a Class 1000 clean room. The Biomolecular Engineering Department also uses this facility. Web:www.soe.ucsc.edu/research/labs/.
Computer Communication Research Group (CCRG). This group is dedicated to basic and applied research in computer communication. CCRG research focuses on new algorithms, protocols, and architectures for wireless networks based on packet switching (packet-radio networks), Internetworking, multipoint
communication, and the control of resources
by multiple administrative authorities. Web: www.cse.ucsc.edu/labs/ccrg
Design and Verification Laboratory. This lab facilitates research in software and system design methods, embedded software design, software and system verification, game theory, formal methods. Web: dvlab.cse.ucsc.edu/
Geospatial Visualization Laboratory. This
lab creates a consistent four-dimensional
space-time visualization of geospatial data and intelligence associated with the environment. This task requires intelligent collection of data using various sensors, including a variety of cameras, LIDAR data, and multispectral
imagery in all kinds of frequency bands. The
spatiotemporal GIS (geographic information systems) visualization will bring together several layers of information including terrain data, street maps, buildings, environment data, aerial images, and mobile-objects data. Web: www.cse.ucsc.edu/lodhagisviz/index2.html
Group Researching Advances in Software Engineering (GRASE). This laboratory performs research in the areas of software evolution and reengineering, and software-configuration management. Current research includes identifying unstable areas of evolving software, automatic generation of software configuration-management repositories, and development of web-based versioning and configuration-management infrastructure. Web: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/labs/grase
High-Speed Network Laboratory. Members of this lab explore and expand the field of
high-speed computer networking and communication. Current areas of research include high-speed switching, traffic-scheduling algorithms for providing quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees in packet networks, ATM congestion control, and optical networks. Projects are funded by NSF, ARPA, and private industry.
Image Processing and Multimedia Laboratory (IPMML). This lab is the central venue for ongoing research into topics in image processing and multimedia. Areas of interest include wireless digital video; virtual scene and panorama generation; natural and machine-generated image compression; video capture, processing, and editing techniques; color printing technology; image libraries; and combinations of the above.
Information Retrieval and Knowledge Management Lab (IRKM). This lab conducts basic and applied research in information retrieval and data mining. Projects include developing a proactive personalized information-retrieval system (funded by NSF), adaptive information filtering (funded by AFOSR), and collaborative personalized search, recommendation and advertising (with industry funding from Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, NEC, Nokia, Bosch).
Internetworking Research Group (i-NRG). This group conducts research in the design, experimental evaluation, and implementation of network protocols for both wired and wireless internetworks. Research activities include a number of areas in computer networks and distributed systems. Web: inrg.cse.ucsc.edu
Micro-Architecture at Santa Cruz (MASC). MASC’s focus is on computer-architecture research, with emphasis on energy/performance trade-offs, thread-level speculation, simulation tools, FPGAs, and design complexity. Web: masc.soe.ucsc.edu
Multidimensional Signal Processing Research Group (MDSP). This group’s interests are
in the area of inverse problems in imaging, statistical detection and estimation, and associated numerical methods. Current projects include image-resolution enhancement and superresolution, computationally efficient image-motion estimation, shape reconstruction from local and global geometric data, multiscale modeling and analysis of signals and images, radon transform-based algorithms for deformation analysis and dynamic imaging, image processing and inverse problems in remote sensing, and automatic target detection and recognition. The group is also associated with the Image Processing and Multimedia Lab. Web: www.cse.ucsc.edu~milanfar/MDSP
Network Management and Operations Lab. BSOE, in partnership with Cisco Systems, has established this lab to serve as a “network-systems teaching hospital” where real-world problems and projects are addressed by students and faculty. Projects range from the routine (e.g., quality-assurance and release testing of new products) to the advanced (e.g., research into new architectures for network systems). Students employed as interns work with faculty researchers on these projects in BSOE facilities equipped for the specific needs of the projects. Web: soe.ucsc.edu/labs/nmolab
Quantum Electronics Group. This group’s interests are in the mutual interaction of heat, light and electricity in nano- and microscale materials and devices. Studies and experiments are done in which this mutual interaction is used to improve device or circuit performance for communication, computing or energy-conversion applications. Examples include microrefrigerators on a chip that could be used to remove hot spots in microprocessor chips and internally cooled semiconductor lasers. The group has developed novel thermal-imaging techniques that can provide transient temperature maps of active devices with submicron spatial resolution. The group is also investigating optoelectronic and thermoelectric properties of quantum-wire and quantum-dot materials and the design of low chirp, narrow line-width and widely tunable passive microring-coupled lasers. The group maintains several electrooptics labs with femtosecond lasers, cryogenic and high-temperature setups, confocal and Raman microscopy and houses an on-site molecular beam epitaxy thin-film growth facility. Web: quantum.soe.ucsc.edu
Santa Cruz Laboratory for Visualization and Graphics. Recent research at this lab includes animal modeling and animation, environmental visualization, isosurfaces, d.v.r., hierarchies, irregular grids, massively parallel volume rendering through the net, uncertainty visualization, virtual reality in scientific visualization, nomadic collaborative visualization, tensor visualization, and flow visualization. Web: www.cse.ucsc.edu/labs/slvg
This center is composed of faculty from the Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Electrical Engineering Departments and the Technology and Information Management Program, and is funded by the NSF, Depart-ment of Energy, and companies such as NetApp, Symantec, HP, LSI, Data Domain, and Agami. Current research topics include long-term archival storage, scalable indexing and metadata, petabyte-scale storage systems, and file systems for next-generation storage technologies such as non-volatile memories and probe-based storage. Issues of particular concern include performance and scalability, reliability, and security. The SSRC’s resources include several computing clusters, the largest with more than 80 processor-disk nodes, as well as over 10 terabytes of dedicated storage. In addition, there are several hardware-software testbeds for projects such as self-managing archival storage and large-scale distributed file systems. The SSRC also maintains a PlanetLab site at UC Santa Cruz, allowing researchers to run experiments on the PlanetLab global-scale distributed testbed. Web: www.ssrc.ucsc.edu
UCSC Broadband Communications Research Group. The members of this group investigate the fundamental limits and performance analysis of protocols in wireless ad hoc networks, space-time signal processing, and development of signal processing and coding techniques for wireless communication systems. Web: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~hamid/ucbc/index2.html
UCSC Scientific Visualization Laboratory. This lab provides the means for creating visualizations from scientific data. Projects include a simulation of an “extensive air shower” striking the Milagro detector at Los Alamos National Lab, representing a subsonic flow over a delta-wing aircraft, a demonstration of direct volume rendering on a multiple-gridded space-shuttle launch vehicle, an N-body simulation of large-scale structure in the universe, and a representation of a diving whale based on location data from a Monterey Bay tagging experiment. Web: vizwww.cse.ucsc.edu.
UCSC Visual Computing Laboratory. This lab explores visual tracking, stereo and sparse IBR, facial modeling and analysis, and image and video processing. Web: soe.ucsc.edu/research/labs.
For additional information regarding BSOE, please check the web site: www.soe.ucsc.edu.
The splendid Norman and Charlotte Strouse Collection of Thomas Carlyle in Special Collections at McHenry Library is the focus
of an exciting and innovative effort by an international group of scholars to publish an eight-
volume critical edition of Carlyle’s major
works. Headquartered at UCSC, it is the first
“scientific” edition of Carlyle, using computer technology to compare all the lifetime editions of each work in order to establish an accurate text, as well as providing explanatory notes for the modern reader. The edition promises to set the agenda for work on Carlyle and the Victorian era for the next generation. In addition to producing a much needed critical edition of the works of Carlyle, the project is using the campus’s computer facilities to develop and demonstrate
many state-of-the-art applications of data-processing technology in the humanities, from optical scanning of some editions and machine-assisted collation and proofreading, to desktop typesetting and the creation of an online Carlyle textual archive. The first volume, On Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History, was published in 1993 by the University of California Press. The second volume, Sartor Resartus, was published in 2000. Historical Essays, in 2003, and Past and Present, in 2006. The French Revolution is forthcoming. Web: www.nd.edu/~carlyle/strouse.html
UCSC is one of three UC campuses sponsoring the QB3, a California Institute for Science and Innovation (CISI). This cooperative effort among three campuses of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and San Francisco, and private industry harnesses the quantitative sciences to integrate our understanding of biological systems at all levels of complexity—from atoms and protein molecules to cells, tissues, organs, and the entire organism. This long-sought integration allows scientists to attack problems that have been unapproachable before, setting the stage for fundamental new discoveries, new products, and new technologies for the benefit of human health.
The institute involves more than 180 scientists, including 44 from UCSC. It builds on strong biology programs at the three campuses as well as individual campus strengths in biomolecular and computer engineering and mathematical sciences at UC Santa Cruz, biomedical engineering and physical sciences at UC Berkeley, and medical sciences at UC San Francisco. Harnessing these strengths, QB3 is developing effective new solutions to the world’s most urgent biomedical problems through multidisciplinary research, innovative educational programs, and industrial and venture capital partnerships.
The institute facilitates access to state-of-the-art resources to enable scientists and engineers to develop devices, drugs, and therapies that save human lives, as well as technologies to prevent or mitigate environmental damage and improve energy production and use. Research areas include bioengineering and biotechnology, bioinformatics and computational biology, structural and chemical biology, experimental genomics, proteomics, and biochemistry. Through QB3, researchers in all of these fields come together to develop interdisciplinary collaborations.
In addition to the creation of fundamental new knowledge and potent new technologies, a major goal of the institute is to train a new generation of students able to fully integrate the quantitative sciences with biomedical research.
QB3 fosters industry and venture capital partnerships by identifying potential opportunities for research collaborations and support, and by assisting faculty with intellectual property and technology transfer issues.
QB3 is administered at UCSC through the Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering and involves faculty from the Departments of Biomolecular Engineering; Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology; Chemistry and Biochemistry; Electrical Engineering; Applied Mathematics and Statistics; Computer Science; and Computer Engineering.
Find more information at www.qb3.org.
The CASFS is a research, education, and public service unit of the Division of Social Sciences, dedicated to increasing ecological sustainability and social justice in the food and agriculture system. CASFS researchers investigate the ecological basis for sustainable agriculture and the cultural, political, and economic aspects of developing sustainable food and agricultural systems. The work of CASFS is multifaceted, and includes research (theoretical and applied), education (practical and academic), and public service (with audiences ranging from local schoolchildren to international agencies). Much of the farming-systems research takes place on organic and conventional farms throughout the region, including a number of projects in the Santa Cruz/Monterey area and the Elkhorn Slough watershed. CASFS social issues staff organize and participate in the Agrifood Working Group for UCSC faculty, researchers, and graduate students, which meets regularly to discuss topics related to food systems.
CASFS facilities and resources are available to all UC Santa Cruz undergraduate and graduate students. Students can take part in ongoing research and education efforts, or design their own projects and internships in collaboration with affiliated faculty and staff. Many undergraduate students participate in the CASFS as part of the environmental studies and as participants in the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture (see below). The graduate program in environmental studies includes a focus agroecology and sustainable food systems; graduate students have access to CASFS facilities and staff assistance for field based work. Students have also pursued undergraduate and graduate studies with the center by working through the Departments of Biology, Education, Anthropology, and Sociology.
In addition, about 35 people complete a six-month apprenticeship organized and taught by CASFS staff each year, earning a Certificate in Ecological Horticulture through UCSC Extension. Through workshops, lectures, and hands-on instruction, apprentices master basic organic farming and gardening techniques.
CASFS gives high priority to forging links with, and serving as a resource for, researchers on and off campus, government agencies at many levels, nongovernmental organizations, producers, consumers, students, gardeners, and other individuals interested in multiple aspects of sustainable agriculture and food systems. Staff coordinate major agricultural conferences, teach short courses, make presentations at agricultural and ecological events, and publish a newsletter twice yearly. In addition, CASFS hosts a growing number of international researchers interested in working with faculty and staff.
CASFS manages two facilities: the 25-acre Farm on a lower meadow of campus and the two-acre Alan Chadwick Garden on the upper part of campus. As the primary on-campus research facility, the CASFS Farm includes research plots, raised-bed gardens, row crops, and orchards, as well as staff offices, a laboratory, greenhouses, and a visitor center. The Chadwick Garden showcases small-scale intensive horticulture and supports a diverse collection of ornamentals, food crops, and native California plants.
The CASFS Farm & Chadwick Garden are open to the public daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. In conjunction with the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden, the center sponsors a variety of public education events for the community. For further information, contact the center at (831) 459-3240; for directions to the Farm & Garden, call (831) 459-4140. Web: casfs.ucsc.edu
The CBSE fosters interdisciplinary research and academic programs that address the scientific questions of the post-genomic era—the scientific opportunities arising from the completion of the Human Genome Project and the sequencing of other model organisms. As they further our understanding of biology, these scientific investigations have potential applications to medicine, agriculture, and ecology. The center serves as an umbrella organization at the University of California, Santa Cruz, spanning the Baskin School of Engineering and the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences in pursuit of the following goals:
- Promote interdisciplinary research in areas that encompass the study of genomic information and structural biology.
- Support the UCSC Genome Browser, a crucial resource for the international scientific community.
- Support core facilities, such as the computational cluster used for the UCSC Genome Browser and genome research, the microarray facility, the embryonic stem cell facility, and the transgenic mouse facility.
- Help meet the need for trained professionals in industry and academia by developing training programs in the areas of bioinformatics and biomolecular engineering.
- Attract research funding for the center, for affiliated faculty, and for students from federal, state, and private agencies.
- Cultivate and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with industry through research collaborations, internship opportunities, and gifting programs.
For more information about CBSE, visit the web site: www.cbse.ucsc.edu.
The Center for Cultural Studies builds on UCSC’s strong history of innovative scholarship in the humanities, and particularly on its unusual strength in interdisciplinary and global cultural studies. The center sponsors conferences, lectures, film series, seminars, scholarly visits, workshops, and discussion groups. It also organizes and supports research clusters of faculty and graduate students working on a variety of topics, including cultural theory, critical regional studies (Asia-Pacific-America, Africa and African Diaspora, and Latin America have been recent foci), contemporary cultural production, minority discourse, and queer studies. The center is based in the Humanities Division, but it also sponsors collaborative work involving faculty and graduate students from the social sciences, the physical and biological sciences, and the arts. From 2003 to 2006, the center hosted several visiting scholars each year in conjunction with an ongoing project on “Other Globalizations,” funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. It also sponsors an unfunded residency program for U.S. and international scholars in cultural studies. The center publishes a quarterly newsletter listing events and activities and maintains a web site with programs, schedules, and other material at humanities.ucsc.edu/CultStudies. The center can be reached at (831) 459-4899, by e-mail at cgirs@ucsc.edu, or by U.S. mail at Oakes College Academic Services.
The CGIRS was established within the Division of Social Sciences in 1996, bringing under one umbrella the Center for the Study of Global Transformations, the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)–UCSC Campus Program, the UC Pacific Rim Research Program, the Global Information Internship Program (see Global Information Internship Program section), the Global Studies Honors Program initiative, and related research, teaching, conferences, workshops, and public-education activities. CGIRS is organized around the idea that human activities, although anchored in specific regions and nation-states, are increasingly integrated by social, economic, and cultural networks to states, regions, and communities in other parts of the world. Accordingly, globalization processes and responses to them are a major research focus of CGIRS. The center sponsors collaborative research groups under four rubrics: Innovation, Security, Identity and Sustainability (ISIS). CGIRS is funded by the Division of Social Sciences, the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, multicampus research units, private donors, and foundation support. For further information, e-mail global@ucsc.edu or visit the web site: cgirs.ucsc.edu.
The CILS was created in 2002 through a Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) grant from the National Science Foundation. The primary intent of this center is to strengthen K–12 science and mathematics education through deepening the understanding of informal learning and the alliances informal science environments can have with schools. CILS is a collaboration among UC Santa Cruz, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and King’s College London, England. All three institutions offer CILS graduate programs.
CILS programs at UC Santa Cruz offer doctoral and postdoctoral research support to study the nature of informal learning in diverse settings and in diverse communities traditionally underserved by schools. UC Santa Cruz CILS programs include the following:
CILS doctoral students at UCSC receive support to pursue a Ph.D. through either the Science and Mathematics program in the Education Department or the Developmental Psychology program in the Psychology Department. CILS students complete the requirements in their department, as well as attend joint doctoral seminars.
This two-year program is aimed at new Ph.D. recipients who want to develop their research in directions compatible with the goals of CILS. Postdoctoral researchers collaborate with one or more faculty members in developmental psychology, or science and mathematics education, on research of mutual interest.
This program offers three quarters of support for students at UC Santa Cruz who are working on their doctorates in the fields of natural or social sciences and who want to deepen their understanding about informal science learning and connections among diverse learning environments. CILS Science Fellows participate in a core course, colloquia, and a practicum in informal science education and informal learning with other CILS Ph.D. students.
For further information on CILS at UCSC, e-mail sallyd@ucsc.edu. For information on all CILS programs at all three institutions, visit the web site: www.exploratorium.edu/cils.
The CITRIS is one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation created in 2000. Supported by state, federal, and private funds, the centers concentrate on areas of science and innovation that are of special importance to California’s high-tech economy and to emerging renewable energy technologies.
CITRIS is seeking new ways to help realize information technology’s potential for solving many of the complex problems facing society, including those in transportation, education, science, management, engineering, emergency response, health care, and the environment. At their core, such issues depend on widespread, reliable, and secure information systems that adapt to the varied needs of users and continue to perform even if part of the system is down, disabled, or threatened.
With participation from more than 200 engineers, scientists, and social scientists, the focus of the institute is to develop the technical foundations of such societal-scale information systems (SIS) to meet many of California’s infrastructure needs. Initial work will provide distributed “smart classrooms” for enhanced education and training; “smart buildings” that adapt their environment to their inhabitants; an urban SIS for transportation management, disaster response, seismic planning, and environmental monitoring; and a medical alert network to monitor and treat patients.
CITRIS’s lead campus is UC Berkeley. UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Merced are partners in the institute. Web: www.citris-uc.org
The Information Technologies Institute (ITI) is a focused research activity (FRA) founded in 2001 and housed at the Baskin School of Engineering. ITI’s objective is to provide an environment in which its members can attract large-scale projects that bridge technology research from concept to prototype and solve problems in social and commercial sectors nationally.
In ITI, advanced Internet applications provide the impetus and focus that bring together the components of research related to the rapidly expanding world of networks, distributed computing, “smart” sensors, and Internet appliances. As electronics and packaging developments lead to powerful low-cost sensors, resulting in a broad array of instruments, these become Internet devices, bringing a significant increase in the data captured, transmitted, stored, managed, and displayed.
Through its research centers, ITI focuses on interrelated areas in computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering as well as physics, chemistry, and applied mathematics. Areas of emphasis follow:
- Internet and information systems: architecture, performance, and applica tions
- Multimedia systems and applications in education, telecommuting, and distance learning
- Design and development of complex net- worked systems and software technologies
- Storage systems and databases
- Communications
- Optoelectronics (including nanotechnology devices)
- VLSI design, packaging, testing
- Sensors and Internet appliances
- Visualization and computer graphics
ITI manages the participation with other research partnerships of its faculty, including the activities of the Baskin School of Engineering in the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), with UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Merced; the High Dependability Computing Consortium (with NASA Ames, Carnegie Mellon, and other universities); the National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (NPACI) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center; and local universities and organizations with mutual research interests, including the Naval Postgraduate School; San Jose State University; California State University, Monterey Bay; and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Web: www.iti.ucsc.edu
The Center for Integrated Water Research at UC Santa Cruz undertakes research to help provide safe and reliable supplies of fresh water. Fresh water is critical to our health and quality of life, to providing ample food supplies, to maintaining a vibrant economy, and to supporting the environmental systems we depend on and enjoy. The center provides fresh water through ingenious combinations of natural and engineered systems, which require vast amounts of financial, human, and natural resources to develop and maintain. Billions of dollars and millions of skilled workers are employed in the water sector. Policies on fresh-water management have profound impacts that can last for decades.
Influences on fresh water supply in the early 21st century include growing demand from all categories of water users, replacing and upgrading aging infrastructure, declining water quality, and changing climate and groundcover that affect water availability and quality.
To meet these challenges, society has developed an array of new water-treatment and supply technologies, as well as new approaches to managing when and how water is gathered and used. Many technologies are so innovative they do not fit in well with our existing laws, regulations, and division of responsibilities for water. The roles of water agencies are in flux as water treatment agencies take on water supply roles.
The center provides research expertise in policy, economics, management, and communication related to fresh water. Current projects include the treatment of impaired waters (desalination and water reclamation and reuse), communications between water agencies and the public, design of regional water supply and treatment strategies, and measuring the reliability of alternative water supplies.
The center builds research teams that bring other needed areas of expertise to our projects; collaborates with other universities, government agencies, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector; focuses on applied problems, building theory out of specific cases; and sponsors a Fellows Program that includes nationally and internationally respected scholars.
The center serves the UCSC campus by providing internship opportunities and supporting conference attendance by students, and it develops and maintains relations with individuals in the business, finance, and regulatory sectors, who often lecture at UCSC, thereby helping students learn the cutting-edge issues.
The center works to resolve major debates on water supply, quality, and reliability in the United States; strives to increase the quantity and quality of research on fresh-water policy, economics, and communications nationwide; and hopes to refine and develop concepts and methods of studying water that will help regions, states, and nations make good choices regarding water in the 21st century.
Further information is available on the web at http://ciwr.ucsc.edu, by e-mail at ciwr@ucsc.edu or kkoeppe@ucsc.edu, or by phone at (831) 459-3114.
The CJTC was established in 2000 as part of the Division of Social Sciences. CJTC is an interdisciplinary applied research center tackling issues of social justice, diversity and tolerance, and the building of collaborative communities. Current research projects include studies of educational equity, public attitudes toward social and economic policies, the digital divide, environmental justice, homelessness and the impact of welfare reform on low-income women and others. While the mix of work includes considerations of fundamental issues of discrimination, power, and domination, the center actively seeks to play a public role in providing research that can inform policy and programs to improve equity. To ensure a public presence, the center sponsors an annual lecture series as well as smaller events bringing together community leaders and academic researchers. The center draws researchers from various divisions and includes opportunities for postdoctoral and affiliated researchers. For more information, contact CJTC at cjtc@ucsc.edu or (831) 459-5743. Web: cjtc.ucsc.edu
The center, established in 1992, brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, from the Departments of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology; Chemistry and Biochemistry; and Biomolecular Engineering, whose common interest is to understand the structure, function, and biological roles of DNA’s intriguing cousin, RNA. The center promotes interaction between structural biologists, molecular geneticists, biochemists, and computational biologists. Major funding for the center has been provided by the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, the W. M. Keck Foundation and individual research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other extramural sources. Creation of the center was prompted by exciting developments in the molecular biology of RNA in recent years. Unlike DNA, RNA has the ability to fold into complex and unusual three-dimensional structures that confer its biological functions. RNA, like protein, may possess enzymatic activity and can catalyze specific biochemical reactions. Therefore, RNA may have preceded both protein and DNA in the early molecular evolution of life. Studies on the human genome have shown that, while only a small fraction of the genome codes for protein, the majority of it is transcribed into RNA. Although several new classes of functional RNAs have been discovered recently, including those that regulate development of higher organisms, the roles of most noncoding RNAs are still unknown. New insights into the fundamental properties of RNA will benefit a wide range of medical research projects. For example, a rigorous molecular understanding of RNA viruses—such as HIV, SARS and avian influenza—has become a national priority; knowledge of the molecular structure of the ribosome is leading to the development of new antibiotics. The center’s facilities are located in Sinsheimer Laboratories, a state-of-the-art research center. Among the areas currently under investigation by members of the center are RNA splicing, protein synthesis, ribonucleoprotein assembly, RNA-protein recognition, the x-ray crystal structures of RNA and RNA-protein complexes (including the ribosome), the structure and mechanism of action of catalytic RNAs and micro-RNAs, in vitro evolution of novel catalytic and other functional RNAs, and RNA genomics, using diverse approaches including cryo-EM reconstruction, DNA microarrays and high-throughput sequencing. Members of the center participate in the research training of postdoctoral scientists and doctoral students in graduate programs offered by the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Department of Biomolecular Engineering. Web: rna.ucsc.edu/rnacenter
The CLRC is an internationally recognized, cutting-edge organization dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary, comparative, multilingual, and cross-border scholarship on the Americas. Research focuses on the politics, cultures, migrations, economics, histories, and societies of Latin America broadly conceived, including Chicana/o and Latina/o communities in the United States, the Caribbean, and wider global linkages to the Americas resulting from the influences of peoples, cultures, histories and economies. The CLRC supports a range of thematic and topical research clusters, sponsors conferences, workshops, colloquia, special events, and publications. Affiliated faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates make up a lively, active intellectual community. Programs include faculty research support, graduate student research grants, an undergraduate research apprenticeship program (URAP), and a working paper series. The center provides opportunities to critically engage and reflect on issues of contemporary importance such as globalization, immigration, and social justice as well as questions of identification including gender, sexuality, race, and nationality. For further information, e-mail clrc@ucsc.edu or visit the web page: http://clrc.ucsc.edu/.
Through a regular program of conferences, courses, and scholarly gatherings, the Dickens Project coordinates research and instruction in the work, times, influence, and achievement of Charles Dickens. Twice a year, faculty members and graduate students from the nine general campuses of the University of California, joined by colleagues from other universities, present their research findings to conference participants, interested undergraduate and graduate students, and members of the general public. They meet on the Santa Cruz campus each summer and at another university each winter. The featured novels for summer 2008 are Hard Times and Mary Barton. Each year, the conference is available as a regular Summer Session undergraduate course. The project also publishes its own newsletter and curricular materials, cosponsors international conferences, and sponsors a web site, humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens. Founded in 1981, the Dickens Project is a multicampus research group of the University of California.
Established in 1999, the EPC coordinates UCSC’s new and long-standing student academic preparation efforts with the goal of increasing access and opportunity to postsecondary education for students in the Monterey Bay and Silicon Valley/San Jose regions. EPC is a research- and data-driven umbrella organization for a variety of complementary, integrated academic preparation and educational partnership programs serving students, teachers, and families from kindergarten through college. To build a college-going culture, EPC partners with K–12 middle and high schools and districts and the 13 regional community colleges in San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Monterey Counties to help students and families navigate the college-going pathway and achieve their higher-education goals.
The EPC’s mission is to build college-bound communities that improve student learning and increase college-going rates among students from low-income and traditionally non-college-going families in collaboration with school, college, business, and community partners. An array of direct services and programs support students on the college-going pathway through tutoring, mentoring, academic planning and counseling, leadership training, test preparation, college awareness and enrichment, family involvement initiatives, transfer-student support, and teacher professional development.
The EPC’s key to success is providing an integrated facility that brings all of the student academic preparation programs together and creates synergy across programs that are each grounded in measurable goals and research-based best practices. Coordinating services across the middle school, high school, and community college programs has been essential to providing students and families with vital information on the various pathways to college. In addition, the Business Office; Partnerships, Policy, Research, and Evaluation Department; Student Employment Office; and Development and Communication Department provide essential support for the following direct services and programs:
California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP) is one of nine California subject-matter projects; it supports professional development opportunities for teachers of reading and literature in K–12 and university classrooms. Governed by the UC Office of the President, CRLP helps ensure that pre-K–12 students in the Monterey Bay region achieve the highest standards of academic performance through developing teachers’ content knowledge and expanding their teaching strategies; focusing on academic English language development to prepare all students to meet or exceed academic content standards; creating a statewide pool of expert teacher leaders to train other teachers on sound classroom practices; and linking universities, schools, and districts together in collaborative partnerships to improve teaching and learning through teacher professional development.
California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) is a four-week summer residential program at four UC campuses that provides students with an unparalleled opportunity to work side-by-side with outstanding researchers and university faculty, covering topics that extend beyond the typical high school curriculum. The academic experience includes nine clusters taught by UCSC faculty, special discovery lectures, academic field trips, and enrichment sessions. Students’ residential life includes weekend events and fun-filled peer activities, and COSMOS alumni have opportunities to attend the California Nobel Laureate event, receive research awards and college scholarships, and participate in an industry internship program.
California Student Opportunity and Access Program (Cal-SOAP). The San Jose Cal-SOAP program supports and sustains a college-going culture by providing academic support and advising services and helping students explore and clarify career interests and make the connection between postsecondary education and future career aspirations. Cal-SOAP also provides transfer student support through “Transfer: Making it Happen” and helps students and parents access important financial- aid information through the annual Cash for College Campaign workshops and events. In addition, the San Jose Cal-SOAP Consortium convenes key stakeholders from higher education institutions, K–12 districts, county offices of education, City of San Jose, and community agencies and businesses to collaboratively develop and implement academic preparation activities to maximize resources and avoid duplication of efforts.
Developing Effective Engineering Pathways (DEEP). UCSC has joined with Foothill College, De Anza College, and the Collaborative for Higher Education to launch a multiyear effort to increase the number of community college students completing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses and transferring to four-year degree programs. Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, DEEP identifies and supports community college students from underrepresented populations to enter the field of engineering and provides ongoing advising, academic support, and enrichment opportunities to help students create a successful educational plan leading to a career in engineering. DEEP is designed to address the changing needs of engineering students as they move through the community college system, transfer as juniors to UC Santa Cruz, and graduate from the UCSC Jack Baskin School of Engineering.
Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP): The University of California’s largest academic preparation program, EAOP works with students at underserved schools to prepare for postsecondary educational opportunities, complete all UC/CSU eligibility requirements, and apply for college and financial aid. EAOP partners with families, schools, and communities to make college dreams a reality and provides a variety of year-round services designed to increase the academic preparation, awareness, and motivation of middle and high school students toward higher education and to inform parents about available education opportunities.
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) is a federally funded discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Through the collaborative efforts of school and district partners along with additional business and community partners, GEAR UP provides critical academic preparation and support for students and families to help them navigate the college-going pathway. GEAR UP partnerships supplement existing school reform efforts and use research-proven practices to promote academic rigor and student achievement. The program brings much-needed resources to increase student academic performance and preparation for college, increase student and family college awareness, increase teachers’ capacity to prepare students for college, and create a college-going culture within the broader community. EPC provides a variety of school-based academic services in its three GEAR UP partnerships in Watsonville/Pajaro Valley and north and south Monterey County.
Girls in Engineering. Inspiring students to envision themselves as future engineers and scientists, Girls in Engineering brings middle school girls with an interest in mathematics together for a unique, two-week introduction to engineering at the Jack Baskin School of Engineering during the summer. Designed to broaden the STEM pipeline, students participate in hands-on STEM projects, such as building and programming robots; exposure to STEM college and career pathways through guest speakers, industry panels, and special lectures from faculty; research lab tours and visits to engineering and manufacturing firms and museums; early college experiences through UCSC campus tours and college-prep presentations; and other academic enrichment opportunities.
Kids Around the University (KATU). The KATU curriculum, materials, and activities introduce elementary students to the idea of higher education to build it into their vision of the future. KATU publishes a colorful student-authored book that has been widely adopted by elementary teachers in the Monterey Bay region and provides teacher training and tours of the UC Santa Cruz campus. The goal is to start building college awareness and motivating students to dream big at the earliest grade levels.
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Schools Program, a statewide program through the UC Office of the President, provides academic development for middle and high school students to prepare for baccalaureate degree programs in mathematics and science and careers in engineering and other mathematics-based scientific fields. The program’s primary goal is to support students from underserved communities through fun-filled, hands-on projects and other college awareness activities to promote STEM college and career pathways. The UCSC MESA program provides academic support, enrichment opportunities, parent leadership, and college awareness to students, families, and partner schools in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The annual MESA Day Preliminary Competition brings hundreds of students to campus to compete against their peers in a variety of science, math, and engineering events.
Transfer Partnerships Program (TPP) identifies and supports prospective community college transfer students through academic planning and guidance services to strengthen the transfer process and help students make the successful transition to a four-year institution. Transfer outreach representatives visit the 13 community colleges in the immediate region around UCSC on an ongoing basis and meet with students and support their transfer goals. TPP helps students advance on the college-going pathway through academic planning and guidance; financial aid workshops and information about scholarships; transfer and UC application workshops; referrals to campuses of interest; course, major, and general articulation; UC Transfer Admission Guarantee referrals; transfer survival-skills workshops; UC campus tours; and invitations to UCSC-sponsored events.
University of California Summer Algebra Academy: Developed by the UC Office of the President, the Summer Algebra Academy initiative is a five-week program for rising ninth-grade students centered around a college awareness theme, focusing on increasing student academic performance in mathematics, introducing families to higher education, initiating systemic change within high school, and creating a college-going culture. Summer Algebra Academy is not a remedial summer school
program; instead, the emphasis is on getting students ready for success in algebra in high school, a critical gatekeeping course in the A-G curriculum. The summer initiative also proactively addresses any potential barriers to going
to college and supports students’ successful transition from middle to high school. Students receive about 100 hours of engaging, hands-on mathematics instruction to increase readiness for ninth-grade algebra as well as 40 hours of college awareness services, including tutoring, mentoring, intensive counseling, academic and college planning, and family college visits. The concurrent Parent Academy introduces families to higher education and empowers parents with knowledge to help their children succeed.
Three policy groups advise and inform EPC and its partnerships, programs, and services. The Monterey Bay Educational Consortium (MBEC) is a strategic alliance among the public educational institutions in the Monterey Bay area dedicated to increasing the levels of educational attainment of all students in the region by focusing on collaborative activities. MBEC convenes the top administrative officers of the three county offices of education, school districts, regional community colleges, and public higher education institutions on a quarterly basis. The MBEC Teacher Workforce Initiative addresses teacher recruitment, retention, and preparation issues in the region; its purpose is to develop an effective data-driven process that begins with the collection of accurate yearly information about the teacher workforce.
The Chancellor’s Educational Partnership Advisory Council (CEPAC) engages deans, vice chancellors, and other key campus administrators from all UCSC divisions in discussions about educational partnerships and collaborations throughout the academic pipeline, from K–12 to postsecondary education. This leadership group leverages resources and expertise across the campus to address P-20 issues and advises the chancellor on education outreach and access programs and informs policy related to student academic preparation.
The UC Santa Cruz–Community College Regional Council brings together leaders of area educational institutions to develop, initiate, and maintain successful collaborative efforts to increase transfer rates from community colleges to the University of California. This group, comprising 13 community college presidents and the UCSC Chancellor, covers a broad geographical region that includes not only Monterey Bay and Silicon Valley but also the three community colleges in San Mateo County.
EPC is located at the University Town Center in downtown Santa Cruz at 1101 Pacific Avenue, Suite 210. For more information, call (831) 459-3500 or visit online at http://epc.ucsc.edu.
The FRA in VPS housed at Cowell College develops multidisciplinary and integrated approaches to performance, visual studies, and the arts. Faculty and graduate students come from three Divisions: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Major grants received: UCHRI conference grant, France-Berkeley Fund, ARI collaborative research grants, UC Presidential Chair funds. The FRA supports graduate RAships, Fulbright Fellows, and other visitors.
The FRA explores how working across the disciplinary boundaries of theater, dance, music, art, literary theory, anthropology, and history can uncover new methodological approaches to the study of performance and visual culture. VPS emphasizes both historical and socially aware approaches.
The intersections of new media, aesthetics and anthropology, of literature and performance, of dance and ethnography, and of all of these with the visual dimension of representation have become ever more intensive areas of interdisciplinary research since the 1980s. The “performativity” of viewing also contributes to our field of study. Today, performative and visual media interact and redefine our understanding of culture, causing critical approaches to be of paramount importance to the future. Our work generates new theories of interpretation and meanings through conferences, seminars, publications, and classes. The FRA sponsors a yearly seminar series and special events. Seminar series 2004–06: Visualities/Geographies; 2007–08: Visual Histories, Performance Histories. Open to all interested graduates students and faculty. For further information, e-mail cmsoussl@ucsc.edu or tsangrey@ucsc.edu.
GIS refers to a computerized information system that works with data referenced by spatial or geographic coordinates. GIS integrates procedures designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling, and display of data for solving complex environmental planning and scientific problems. GIS allows researchers to work with vast amounts of information—ranging from local field data to satellite imagery to the U.S. Census. During the last several decades, GIS has become well established in environmental sciences, city and county planning departments, and resource management agencies, to map everything from vegetation and endangered habitat to transportation routes.
The laboratory is used for environmental and policy research and training, including teaching and self-instruction. Beyond serving the training and research needs of the campus, the lab serves as a regional resource through data and technology exchanges (e.g., with NOAA, the California Coastal Commission, U.S.G.S.). GIS brings technology to bear on critical science and policy issues and provides scientists and policy makers with a new way to analyze, simulate, and visualize alternatives.
Housed on the fourth floor of the Interdisci-plinary Sciences Building, the laboratory consists of networked workstations and numerous peripherals including global positioning system (GPS) equipment. It is administered by the Environmental Studies Department, Division of Social Sciences, which offers Environmental Studies 115A (see Environmental Studies course listing). Among the donors who have helped establish the lab are ESRI (ARC/INFO software), Sun Microsystems, ERDAS (imaging software), and the Instructional Improvement Grant Program. Interested students may contact the GIS coordinator at (831) 459-2890 (fulfrost@ucsc.edu). Web: gis.ucsc.edu
The focus of the IAFR is feminism and the public sphere. IAFR sponsors projects that are historical, international, and interdisciplinary in their conception, and collaborative and experimental in their practice. Employing scholarly methodologies and activist strategies, participants address a range of intellectual and academic problems. They seek, above all, to engage current political debates, including those from which feminist critiques have been largely absent.
Centrally, the institute facilitates sustained conversations among individuals who do not ordinarily have the opportunity to brainstorm and act in concert: scholars, artists, activists, journalists, community people and public intellectuals; people of different generations from diverse geographical areas; those who define themselves as feminists and those who do not. These conversations create new conceptual spaces, theoretical formulations, and strategic interventions: written work of varying length—popular as well as academic—films and art shows, conferences and symposia, working groups and public policy collectives.
For information, e-mail iafr@ucsc.edu or call (831) 459-3882. Web: iafr.ucsc.edu
The IHR was established in the fall of 1999 with funding from the Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor’s Office and the Humanities Dean’s Office. The mission of the IHR is to enhance the environment for faculty and graduate-student humanities research on the UCSC campus. Recognizing that humanities research is an important component of a first-rate research university and is crucial to excellent teaching and scholarship, the IHR provides time, space, and support for the maintenance of a lively, active research community. The IHR includes research units in Critical European Studies, Cuba in Americas and Transatlantic Contexts, History and Philosophy of Science, Language and Linguistics, Living Writers, Mediterranean Studies, Modernist and Avant-Garde Studies, Pre- and Early-Modern Studies, and Psychoanalyis and Sexuality. It supports the Humanities Research Fellows Program, Faculty Research and Travel Grants, Graduate Dissertation Fellowships, Graduate Research and Travel Grants, and special events. In addition, the IHR sponsors Humanities in the Schools, an outreach initiative to middle and high schools in the region that includes the Graduate Students Speakers Bureau and the Teacher Scholar Seminars. Further information is available on the web: humanities.ucsc.edu/ihr. The IHR may be contacted by e-mail at ihrstaff@ucsc.edu, by campus mail at IHR, Cowell College, or by phone at (831) 459-4899.
UC’s IGPP, a multicampus research unit, includes a branch at UCSC. The IGPP supports a wide range of basic research on the origin, structure, and evolution of Earth, the solar system, and the universe. One of the goals of this research is to predict future changes in global systems that may affect human life.
The UCSC branch of the institute addresses fundamental questions relating to Earth’s environment, global change, and planetary sciences. The UCSC branch includes five interdisciplinary research centers: the Center for Origin, Dynamics, and Evolution of Planets (CODEP); the Center for Dynamics and Evolution of the Land-Sea Interface (CDELSI); the Center for the Study of Imaging and Dynamics of the Earth (CSIDE); the Center for Remote Sensing (CRS); and the Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO). These interdisciplinary centers serve to create bridges between different departments and heighten the focus on collaborative research efforts. A Massive Computer Simulation Facility (MCSF) has been established with a large parallel supercomputer for conducting geophysical and astrophysical modeling.
CDELSI brings together faculty from six Departments: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Ocean Sciences, Environmental Toxicology, Anthropology, and Environmental Studies. Researchers in these departments are at the forefront of efforts to understand the complex processes and interactions occurring at the continental margin. A primary concern is the impact of global and regional climate change on key processes in the coastal environment, such as atmospheric circulation, ocean temperature and currents, nutrient cycling, and the geological processes that shape the continental margin.
CODEP brings together faculty from the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Physics. The interests of CODEP researchers include Earth’s internal dynamics, the formation of planets, how planetary systems evolve, and the discovery of new planets outside the solar system. This is a joint effort to understand as much as possible about planets in general, both in our own solar system and around other stars. The center encourages Earth scientists and astronomers to bring their different perspectives to bear on planetary issues.
CSIDE coordinates research in seismology, geodynamics, geomagnetism, hydrology, geomorphology, active tectonics, and mineral physics addressing structure and dynamics of the Earth’s interior. Thermal, chemical, and dynamic processes are studied in six affiliated research laboratories. CSIDE hosts a major industrial consortium focused on development of new seismic-imaging technologies.
CRS coordinates research efforts of faculty in the Departments of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Ocean Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Engineering for the use of satellite and airborne remote sensing in studying processes occurring on the surfaces of Earth and other planets. Specific interests include astrogeology; plant ecology; coral reef health; volcanic, geothermal, and earthquake processes; climate change; submarine and coastal geology; ocean surface processes and marine habitats; and engineering development.
The Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO) is a new UC multicampus center within the IGPP. Adaptive optics (AO) is an enabling technology that sharpens images by removing optical aberrations. This technology is transformative for ground-based astronomical telescopes, because it removes blurring due to turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. An exciting spin-off application is the use of AO for imaging the living human retina. The mission of the IGPP’s CfAO is to develop, apply, and disseminate adaptive optics science and technology in service to scientific research, health care, and industry. To accomplish these goals it will connect the different UC campus communities, foster research collaborations across campuses and disciplines, and develop the next generation of young leaders in this new field. The UC CfAO grew out of the successful NSF Science and Technology Center of the same name.
The IGPP was established in 1946 at UCLA. Other branches are located at UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A key objective of the IGPP is to encourage and support cooperative projects that bring together researchers from different disciplines, campuses, and institutions. The UCSC branch was established in 1999. Web: igpp.ucsc.edu
With the dynamic combination of university marine scientists, state-of-the art facilities and analytical equipment, collaborative research, and an overriding commitment to quality, UC Santa Cruz is on the forefront of marine sciences research, education, and outreach. Set in the biologically rich environment of Monterey Bay and the nation’s largest national marine sanctuary, the campus provides students and scientists who seek to study the ocean and its life a unique opportunity to pursue their dreams.
Established in 1972, the IMS is composed of 42 affiliated faculty; 162 researchers, project scientists, specialists, postdoctoral researchers, and research associates; and 30 support staff. Marine scientists from the Departments of Ocean Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Environmental Toxicology, and Chemistry and Biochemistry conduct their research within the shared focus of the institute. The institute provides facilities and administrative and technical support for faculty, researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students involved in marine sciences. Faculty and researchers work independently and collaboratively within seven clusters:
- Coastal marine biology
- Marine vertebrate biology
- Ocean processes/oceanography
- Paleoceanography and climate change
- Marine and coastal geology/geophysics
- Environmental toxicology
- Fisheries and fisheries management
An undergraduate major leading to a B.S.
in marine biology is described on page 139;
a two-year graduate program leading to an
M.S. in ocean sciences is described on page 375. Doctoral students pursue marine research through the Ph.D. programs in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, environmental Toxicology, or Ocean Sciences.
The institute’s on-campus complex includes the IMS administrative office; research laboratories; offices for researchers, postdocs, and visiting scientists; state-of-the-art analytical labs for marine chemistry, biology, and geology; a computer laboratory; culture rooms for invertebrates and algae; portable seagoing analytical labs; and support facilities for cruise staging.
The Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory, an onshore site three miles from campus on the shoreline of the nation’s largest national marine sanctuary, has running seawater capabilities that increase opportunities for research and instruction. Facilities include research laboratory buildings; outdoor tanks for research involving marine mammals (dolphins, seals, sea lions, and otters), seabirds, and fish; and teaching laboratories. Specialized laboratories and facilities for marine physiology, ecology, and marine mammal bioacoustics studies are available. Adjacent to the lab are 55 acres of land for which plans have been developed and approved for an expanded marine lab campus with space for future research and educational facilities. The marine sciences campus also has a protected lagoon, a sandy beach, and rocky intertidal platforms for field research. Because Long Marine Lab is close to the campus, work there is easily incorporated into daily campus activities. A campus–LML shuttle operates regularly.
Each year, over 55,000 people—including 10,000 schoolchildren—tour the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at Long Marine Lab. Trained volunteer docents welcome visitors, guide groups through the laboratory, and provide information on research in progress. The Seymour Center houses an aquarium, exhibits that interpret the research underway within the institute, two classrooms for school groups, and an auditorium. All are open to the public—including K–12 classes—for a modest fee. In addition, a Center for Ocean Health at Long Marine Lab houses offices and labs for marine sciences faculty and their research programs, as well as two nonprofits: the Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Waters Program and Island Conservation.
IMS maintains a number of small vessels equipped for nearshore coastal research, several small craft for inshore work, and a scientific diving program. In addition, IMS-associated faculty, researchers, and students work around the world aboard larger oceanographic vessels.
IMS has scientific control over use of Año Nuevo Island, the largest elephant seal rookery on the Pacific coast (see Año Nuevo Island Reserve section)..
IMS maintains active cooperative research agreements with both the Biological Resources Division and the Coastal and Marine Group of the U.S. Geological Survey that have 50 agency scientists now housed adjacent to Long Marine Laboratory.
The institute maintains a cooperative agreement with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In 2000, this agency completed a fisheries laboratory at Long Marine Lab, which houses 55 scientists and staff working on salmon, bottom fish, and fishery-management issues. NMFS scientists study causes of variability in abundance and health of fish populations and the economics of exploiting and protecting natural resources. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also located sanctuary staff within this federal building. The California Department of Fish and Game operates a Marine Wildlife Research Center at Long Marine Lab, which provides interior lab space and outdoor pool space for research on sea otters and the effects of oil and other contaminants on marine mammals and seabirds.
Additional collaboration also takes place with scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Hopkins Marine Station, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
IMS web sites: ims.ucsc.edu and www2.ucsc. edu/seymourcenter
The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group (SCPBRG) was formed in 1975 to restore an endangered peregrine falcon population in California. SCPBRG researchers advise students on their senior theses, direct interns in individual studies, and hire biologists in entry-level field-biologist positions for wildlife management and field research on birds.
SCPBRG has become a resource to agency biologists, industry, and university researchers who require expertise with problem solving and management of avian species, especially raptors. Having accomplished most of its goals with peregrine falcon management, the group now applies its expertise to a wider range of species. Current studies involve international bald eagle satellite telemetry studies, helping restore the delicate ecology of California’s Channel Islands, research to mitigate impacts to endangered birds by raptors, and research on solutions for avian electrocutions, wire strikes, and wind-farm fatalities along California’s power transmissions network. SCPBRG is also expanding its activities to increase educational outreach through school assemblies and training for professionals. SCPBRG is located at the Long Marine Laboratory. For more information, review the web site at www.scpbrg.org.
The university’s Diving Safety Program (DSP) is housed within the Institute of Marine Sciences, with offices at Long Marine Lab. Scuba diving and small boats are tools used in science classes and by UCSC faculty, staff, and student researchers in Monterey Bay and at study sites worldwide. In order to ensure safe scuba diving and scientific boating practices, DSP provides training and oversight for all scuba diving (scientific and recreational) and scientific boating activities conducted under UCSC auspices. The diving safety officer teaches Biology 75, Scientific Diving Certification, which is a prerequisite for all UCSC courses and research using scuba diving as a tool. DSP maintains a fleet of boats and diving equipment for researchers to use. DSP assists faculty, staff, and student researchers in complying with federal OSHA standards for scientific scuba diving. Anyone who needs to use scuba diving or small boats for scientific purposes should contact the DSP Office at srclabue@ucsc.edu. Web: www2.ucsc.edu/sci-diving.
Recreational diving opportunities offered by the Office of Physical Education, Recreation, and Sports (OPERS) include numerous scuba courses and the Scuba Club. The web address is www.ucsc.edu/opers/scuba.
The LRC exists to facilitate research in theoretical linguistics by all members of the linguistics community at UCSC (faculty, students, and visiting scholars) and to disseminate the results of that research. To accomplish this mission, the LRC hosts visiting scholars, organizes workshops, engages in online publication, coordinates externally funded research projects and in general works to enhance the environment for linguistic research at UCSC. Founded in 1981 and currently housed in Stevenson College, the LRC is one of the research units of the Institute of Humanities Research (page 67), and sponsors joint enterprises involving linguistics and a variety of related disciplines in language and cognitive science (philosophy, psychology, computer science, language engineering, among others). Since 2005, there has been active and ongoing research collaboration with the speech technology group at UARC (page 74, NASA Ames Research Center). Besides supporting basic research, the LRC plays a vital organizational role in many projects and undertakings. Examples include the 1991 LSA Summer Linguistic Institute, the editing of the Squibs and Discussions section of Linguistic Inquiry (1993–1996), and the hosting of various conferences, such as SALT (Semantics and Linguistic Theory 1999), WCCFL (West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 2002), and CGSW (Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop 2006). For further information on current research projects and the LRC visiting scholar program, see the web site at lrc.ucsc.edu or e-mail lrc@ling.ucsc.edu.
UCSC has played a leading role in the development of a multi-institutional center for science, technology, education, and policy—the MBEST Center—as a cornerstone of the Fort Ord defense conversion redevelopment plan. In 1994, about 1,100 acres at the former Fort Ord Military Reservation were conveyed to the University of California. Of that land, 479 acres are planned for development into the research and technology center, and 605 acres of adjacent natural habitat are now part of the UC Natural Reserve System. Investments in roadway and utilities infrastructure have been completed, making 55 acres of real estate available for development. In addition, the UC MBEST Center headquarters and a high-technology business incubator were completed in 2001.
The mission of the MBEST Center is to promote collaborative interaction among private businesses, government research agencies, public and private education and research institutions, and policy makers in strategic alliances to address the environmental opportunities and challenges of the new millennium. MBEST Center activities will focus initially on environmental science and technology, biotechnology and bioresources, information science and technology, and multimedia. And, by leveraging the strengths of over 20 public and private research and training assets of the Monterey Bay Research Crescent, the UC MBEST Center is anticipated to be a key stimulus for sustainable economic development and job generation.
The first base reuse activity began in January 1995 at the MBEST Center when UCSC Extension started offering technical training classes there in environmental remediation. Since then, several tenants have occupied existing facilities at MBEST, including an office of the U.S. Geological Survey, an organic farming operation, a recycling plant, and an office of the Coastal Ocean Currents Monitoring Program (COCMP), a multi-institution interagency collaboration that is part of a nationwide effort to develop an Integrated Ocean Observing System.
Information about the center is available from the UC MBEST Center Office, 3239 Imjin Road, Marina, CA 93933, (831) 582-1020; via e-mail: info@ucmbest.org; web: www.ucmbest.org.
The purpose of the NRS is to establish and maintain for teaching and research a system of natural areas that encompass diverse and undisturbed examples of California’s terrain, both aquatic and terrestrial. The reserves are open to all qualified individuals and institutions for scholarly work concerned with the natural environment. Such work usually deals with ecological topics or experimental studies in a natural setting.
The University of California administers 34 natural reserves throughout the state. Santa Cruz has responsibility for four—the Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve, Fort Ord, Año Nuevo Island, and Younger Lagoon—in addition to the campus’s own reserve. Information about the system’s holdings and management is available from the director, NRS, University of California, 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94607-5200, (510) 987-0150. Web: nrs.ucop. edu. You may also contact the UCSC natural reserve director, c/o Environmental Studies Department, 467 Natural Sciences 2 Building, (831) 459-4971, ghdayton@ucsc.edu. Web: ucreserve.ucsc.edu
About 400 acres of campus wildlands were designated by the Regents in the 1988 Long-Range Development Plan as a Campus Natural Reserve. This reserve contains redwood forest, springs, a stream, vernal pools, secondary madrone/ Douglas fir forest, chaparral, and many soil types and geological formations and structures. Supported by a modest field-studies center, the reserve is used for research and teaching and is operated by the UCSC natural reserve director, c/o Environmental Studies Department, 467 Natural Sciences 2 Building, (831) 459-4971, ghdayton@ucsc.edu. Web: ucreserve.ucsc.edu/. Students may join the volunteer program by contacting the steward: eahoward@ucsc.edu.
This 4,000-acre reserve is located in the Santa Lucia Mountains on the Big Sur coast, about two hours by car from the campus. The reserve includes the lower portions of an undisturbed watershed containing numerous terrestrial and aquatic habitats and several geological formations and associated fault systems. The watershed is protected by the Ventana Wilderness of the Los Padres National Forest. The reserve’s four miles of rocky coastline, located within the California Sea Otter Refuge area and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, is now a California Department of Fish and Game Marine Protected Area and provides opportunities for marine research. There are campsites, a modest field-laboratory facility, a cabin for long-term researchers, and a small storage facility. The Big Creek Reserve is managed by the onsite reserve director. Access is controlled, and applications for use should be made to the resident reserve manager, Big Creek Reserve, Big Sur, CA 93920, (831) 667-2543, bigcreek@ucsc.edu. Web: www.redshift.com/~bigcreek
This 600-acre reserve was added to the system in 1996. It contains Monterey Bay maritime chaparral, an endemic plant community, and coast live oak woodland, grassland, and coastal scrub, including nine species of plants and animals that are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special status. The reserve was part of the former Fort Ord army base and its habitats are relatively intact. The reserve specializes in studies of rare species management and habitat restoration. It is a 45-minute drive from campus. For information, contact the UCSC natural reserve director, c/o Environmental Studies Department, 467 Natural Sciences 2 Building, (831) 459-4971, ghdayton@ucsc.edu Web: ucreserve.ucsc.edu
A 26-acre coastal lagoon and beach next to UCSC’s Long Marine Laboratory is part of the NRS. Its waters are a haven for many species of migratory birds, and many small mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates live in its marsh and bank vegetation. Younger Lagoon is managed by the UCSC natural reserve director, c/o Environmental Studies Department, 467 Natural Sciences 2 Building, (831) 459-4971, ghdayton@ucsc.edu. Web:ucreserve.ucsc.edu
This 25-acre island, part of the 4,000-acre Año Nuevo State Reserve 20 miles north of Santa Cruz, is a university research reserve of the NRS. Its rich variety of resident and migratory wildlife and proximity to campus make this an ideal location for research. Northern elephant seals, California sea lions, northern sea lions, and harbor seals breed and haul out at different seasons. The reserve’s breeding colony of elephant seals has been the subject of a remarkable 40-year study by UCSC scientists. More than 300 species of land, shore, and sea birds reside in or migrate through the area, which also has a diversity of fish and intertidal organisms. Access to the island is restricted, and UCSC’s research use is managed by the UCSC Institute of Marine Sciences (see Institute of Marine Sciences section). An annual use agreement with California State Parks allows research and field work throughout Año Nuevo State Reserve. A small research facility is located on the island, and a day-use facility is available in the state reserve. For further information, call (831) 459-2883, e-mail pamorris@ucsc.edu, or visit the web: nrs.ucop.edu/ano-nuevo.htm.
The NTC is a national resource focused on new teacher and new administrator development. The center works in the areas of teacher preparation, teacher induction, teacher leadership, and school administrator training and support, and conducts research addressing these topics. It is supported by the University of California, National Science Foundation, California Postsecondary Education Commission, and contributions from 50 foundations, corporations, and individuals. Staff members consult with policy makers, colleges and universities, county offices of education, and school districts throughout California and in 41 other states. NTC is located at 725 Front Street, Suite 400, in downtown Santa Cruz; (831) 459-4323, e-mail ntc@ucsc.edu. Web: www.newteachercenter.org
Biomedical Research. The Division of Physical and Biological Sciences supports a broad range of biomedical research in the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Environmental Toxicology; and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Structural biology, the molecular biology of RNA, genetics, bioinformatics, neurobiology, and developmental biology are areas of particular strength. Small faculty-led teams conduct their research in state-of-the-art laboratories, with additional access to shared facilities, equipment, and computational tools. Collaborative research is frequent, both among investigators within the division as well as with faculty in the Baskin School of Engineering, which is internationally recognized for its expertise in computational biology. These collaborative efforts are facilitated by the university’s Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering. There are excellent training opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and graduate and undergraduate degree programs in areas of biomedical research and the health sciences. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu
Center for Tropical Research in Ecology, Agriculture, and Development (CenTREAD) is a coalition of faculty and students spanning several departments and centers at UC Santa Cruz. The center fosters interdisciplinary research and training to understand tropical environmental issues and develop ecologically based, economically viable, culturally respectful, nonexploitative solutions that serve as a foundation for future generations. The center offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses at UCSC, and strives to provide educational opportunities to U.S. citizens who work in tropical countries and to students from tropical countries. Web: centread.ucsc.edu
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computer (SciDAC) and the Supernova Science Center. The center consists of a partnership among UCSC, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Arizona, Stanford University, State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Johns Hopkins University. This group strives for a full understanding, through numerical computation, of how supernovae of all types explode and how the elements have been created in nature. Web: www.supersci.org
Chemical Screening Center (CSC). UCSC’s CSC offers access to high-throughput screening technologies to speed the identification of small molecules that modulate biochemical or cellular processes and have the potential to alter disease states. The CSC maintains a suite of modern robotic instrumentation that permits high-throughput biochemical and cell-based screening of up to 30,000 compounds a day. In addition to targeted and known drug libraries purchased from commercial vendors, the CSC curates a growing collection of natural products. All libraries housed at UCSC are submitted to a panel of screens in diverse organisms, paring each compound with a broad bioactivity profile. Active compounds are prioritized based on potency and phenotype, and target ID may be immediately pursued using affinity approaches. Through collaboration with UC investigators, the CSC aims to accelerate the path from new discoveries in biology to validated biological targets to provide novel small-molecule therapies for fighting diseases such as cancer, malaria, Parkinson’s disease and cholera. Web:
biomedical.ucsc.edu/ChemScreen.html
Climate Change and Impacts Laboratory (CCIL). The lab is a computational facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the California Energy Commission, and UCSC. The facilities include a 32-processor (quad core) Dell PowerEdge M1000e supercomputer, numerous high-performance workstations, and multiterabyte data storage and backup facilities. The goals of CCIL are to calculate scenarios of likely future climate change and to investigate the possible impacts of climate change on the various dimensions of a given region, providing a multidisciplinary and multidimensional view of the possible effects of future climate change at regional scales. The current focus is concentrated on a region centered in California because of its complex topography, diverse microclimates and ecosystems, large and growing population, and vulnerability to water. CCIL members are scientists from the departments of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Environmental Toxicology, and Ocean Sciences, and represent a wide range of expertise on aspects of California’s human and natural systems. Web: ccil.ucsc.edu
Confocal Microscopy Facility. The facility houses a Zeiss LSM5 Pascal Confocal Microscope System, providing outstanding optical resolution, as well as high-speed scanning. UCSC investigators currently use this system to study neuronal receptor cellular localization, neuronal targeting, Vibrio cholerae biofilm formation, and immune cell interactions during immunological tolerance. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/Confocal.html
Crustal Imaging Laboratory (CIL). The lab provides researchers with the sophisticated hardware and software resources necessary to perform high-resolution studies of the Earth’s surface and outer layers. Although still under development, CIL facilities will consist of a state-of-the-art network of Sun and PC workstations, a variety of input/output and mass-storage devices, and both commercial and academic multichannel seismic-processing packages for seismic and surface imaging, and geodesy. Research is focused on remote sending and GPS analysis, surface bathymetric and roughness mapping, and microscopic and submersible-mounted digital photo imaging. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/research/crustal.html
Earth System Modeling Laboratory. The lab is home to the Paleoclimate and Climate Change Research Group, which is presently focused on past and future climatic and environmental change, and hosts several national and international visitors each year. This research takes many forms and involves the use of various kinds of models and observations, as well as a wealth of paleoclimate proxy data from many marine and terrestrial locations. The lab contains Sun Ultra10 and Ultra5 workstations, a Sun Enterprise 4-processor server, a Sun Ultra 80 4-processor server, a Sun Raid StorEdge device, SGI and Macintosh computers, and printers. The larger computers provide a cluster of parallel servers for intensive numerical modeling. The laboratory's computing resources are used for global and regional climate-modeling efforts and data analysis. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/research/earthsys.html
Electron Microscopy and Digital Imaging Facility. This facility provides instruments and equipment for light and electron microscopy and digital imaging. Two transmission electron microscopes (TEM) are available. A JEOL 1200 EX TEM equipped with a, 4pi x-ray analyzer and a Gatan Bioscan digital camera is used for general room-temperature applications. The lab also houses a state-of-the-art JEOL 1230 TEM equipped with a Gatan cryostage and transfer device, a Gatan Ultrascan digital camera, and a Gatan 626 video camera. Scanning electron microscopy is done using the lab’s Hitachi S-2700 SEM, equipped with a 4pi x-ray analyzer and digital imaging system. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/EM.html.
Electron Spin Resonance Facility. The facility is used to examine the structure and properties of metal-containing inorganic complexes, peptides, proteins, enzymes, nanoparticles, and biological membranes. The facility’s Bruker ELEXSYS 580 X-band spectrometer operates in either continuous-wave or pulsed mode, with variable temperature control. A high-sensitivity Bruker EMX is especially useful for the limited sample sizes often encountered in biological studies. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/ESR.html
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory. The GIS lab is described above.
Greenhouses. The facility provides core support for plants used in the instructional and research programs of the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology; and Environmental Studies. Three separate growth areas are located on Science Hill to maximize exposure to sunlight as well as provide convenient access for the research and instructional labs housed in the buildings below. Web: greenhouse.ucsc.edu
Hydrogeology Facilities. These facilities include numerous dedicated and shared labs for field, laboratory, and computational research and for general student use. Two computer labs are used by both undergraduate and graduate student researchers for a variety of research projects and course work. In addition, there is storage and staging space used to hold instruments, equipment, and supplies and to prepare for short- and long-term field and lab experiments, and lab space dedicated to sediment analysis, including instruments for geotechnical and hydrologic testing of core samples. Outstanding analytical facilities are also available throughout the Earth and Planetary Sciences and Ocean Sciences Departments, the Institute of Marine Sciences, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/research/hydro.html
W. M. Keck Isotope Laboratory. The Laboratory comprises two mass spectrometers (a thermal ionization mass spectrometer and a ThermoFinnigan Neptune multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer) and wet chemical labs, all housed in a class 1000 suite of clean labs. The thermal ionization mass spectrometer is a fully automated, nine-Faraday collector VG Sector 54 equipped with a WARP filter and an ion counting Daly. Offering high-precision isotope measurements for almost all elements in the periodic table, the Neptune is equipped with nine Faraday collectors and four ion counters, one of which is located behind an RPQ filter to give high-abundance sensitivity. The facilities include separate rooms for cleaning, dissolution and acid preparation, Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf separations, and U-Th-Ra-Pa separations. Single zircon analysis may also be conducted using the mineral separation lab equipped with a Leica binocular microscope. Projects covering Earth sciences, marine sciences, environmental
science and archaeology frequently use the W. M. Keck Isotope Laboratory facilities for high-precision isotope measurements. Web: keckisotope.ucsc.edu
W. M. Keck Seismological Laboratory. Researchers at the W. M. Keck Seismological Laboratory are investigating problems in earthquake seismology, plate tectonics, global Earth structure, seismic wave propagation and nuclear testing treaty monitoring. This research is conducted using a computing facility that consists of networked Solaris Workstations, a 23-node Linux cluster and networked Macs and PCs. Field equipment includes 11 portable broadband seismic stations, seven dual-frequency GPS receivers and antennae and a tripod-mounted LiDAR. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/research/seis.html
Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography Facility. The facility houses a state-of-the-art rotating-anode/imaging-plate X-ray crystallography data collection suite, a cryosystem, and a collection of Apple, SGI and Linux computer workstations and software for crystallography data collection and computation, molecular visualization, and model building. UCSC scientists have used the facility to investigate the structure of the ribosome, catalytic RNA (“ribozymes”), and a variety of protein structures, including systems that diffract to subatomic resolution. Users of the facility also collaborate with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source synchrotron radiation facility and the Stanford Synchrotron Light Source. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/Xray.html
Marine Analytical Laboratories. The Marine Analytical Labs are a part of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. They consist of a general access analytical facility for the support of research in the marine sciences. Scientific instruments and other equipment to aid research in marine chemistry, biology, geology, and environmental toxicology are housed in a central lab complex within the Earth and Marine Sciences Building. Access is provided to all qualified users. Analytical instrumentation; instruction in use of the equipment; consultation in experimental design, sampling, analysis, and data interpretation; and general assistance in all aspects of analytical science are provided by the lab manager. Web: ims.ucsc.edu/mal
Mass Spectrometry Facility. Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of chemical ions. The facility currently houses two mass spectrometers: a Thermo Finnigan LC/MS/MS (LTQ) and an Ettan MALDI-TOF. This equipment is capable of determining the molecular weight of both small molecules and peptides, identifying proteins, and characterizing protein modifications. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/MassSpecFacility.htm
Microarray Facility. Used for genome-wide splicing and expression analyses of diverse organisms, from microbes to humans, the facility supports both spotted microscope slide and Affymetrix microarray research. Equipment includes an Affymetrix GeneChip system, a robotic microscope slide arrayer, an Axon slide scanner, and a 96-channel automated liquid handler. The staff offer wet-lab expertise to investigators, with bioinformatics specialists from the School of Engineering providing computational support. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/Microarray.html
Mineral Physics Laboratory. Experiments to determine the thermochemical and elastic properties of planetary materials at ultrahigh pressure (up to 150 GPa) and temperature (up to 6000 K) are conducted in this lab. High P-T conditions are generated using the diamond anvil cell coupled with laser heating. Presently, both Raman and infrared spectroscopic facilities are available for characterization of the structural and bonding properties of minerals and fluids in situ at pressures and temperatures characteristic of planetary interiors. In addition, a high-intensity x-ray generator is used to determine the equations of state and phase equilibria of mineral assemblages relevant to the Earth’s mantle and core. Finally, a transmission electron microscope is used to analyze crystal defects and for micro-phase identification. Web: www.emerald.ucsc.edu/research/mineral.html
Molecular Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics Facility. The MEEG facility provides molecular technologies for analyses of the structure and dynamics of genetic diversity found in animal, plant, and microbial populations. The facility includes two ABI 3100 Genetic Analyzers for analysis of DNA sequences and DNA fragments, a Packard Multiprobe II Automated Liquid Handling System to facilitate DNA preparation, and a Becton Dickenson FACSCalibur Flow Cytometer, for immunophenotyping, analyses of cellular ploidy level, absolute cell counting, and cell sorting. The facility is capable of assessing hundreds of samples each week for differences in the DNA sequence of individual genes, specific genetic markers, and overall DNA content. Web: microbiology.ucsc.edu/meeg.html
Nanosecond Time-resolved Laser Spectroscopy. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry maintains several laser spectroscopy systems capable of measuring time-resolved spectra from the far UV to the near IR regions. Various systems are optimized to measure nanosecond-resolution time-resolved absorption spectra, linear dichroism spectra, circular dichroism spectra, magnetic circular dichroism spectra, optical rotatory dispersion, or magnetic optical rotatory dispersion. Software is available to collect and analyze data to obtain kinetics and spectra of reaction intermediates from nanosecond to second time scales. These facilities are used in a wide variety of research, including photochemical and photobiological studies, examination of functional and folding mechanisms of peptides and proteins, and investigation of fast electron and proton transfer in proteins involved in mitochondrial and bacterial respiration. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/Laser.html
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance/Mass Spectroscopy Facilities. The NMR facility brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers from the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. Ongoing research includes structural elucidation of anticancer natural product isolation from marine organisms, organic intermediates for drug synthesis, specially designed peptide intermediates, and oligonucleotide derivatives that remain attached to solid supports. At present, the facility manages four high-resolution NMR spectrometers: two 3-channel Varian Unity+ 500s with indirect and direct detection probes; a state-of-the-art multinuclear, 3-channel, waveform generator, PFG, automated Z-axis gradient shimming Varian INOVA 600 system with broadband inverse detection capabilities and a 600-MHz HCN 5mm cold probe system; and a Bruker AC250. Initial funding was from the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust and the W. M. Keck Foundation, as well as individual research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other sources available to UCSC. Web: chemistry.ucsc.edu/research/nmr.html
Paleomagnetism Laboratory. This lab is located in a remote building specially constructed with nonmagnetic materials and isolated from major sources of man-made magnetic noise. Inside this building, a magnetically shielded room houses a state-of-the-art superconducting magnetometer, a sensitive spinner magnetometer, thermal and alternating field demagnetizaters, and paleointensity equipment. A second lab, devoted to the study of rock and mineral magnetic properties and housed in the Earth and Marine Sciences Building, contains another spinner magnetometer, devices for measuring Curie temperatures, magnetic susceptibility and its anisotropy, hysteresis loops, and computer facilities for data analysis and graphics. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/~paleomag/facility.html
Proteomics Facility. Designed to perform large-scale comparisons in protein expression, such as in cancer progression, Parkinson’s disease and manganese toxicity, the facility houses an Amersham Ettan Proteomics Lab with Differential Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE) technology. School of Engineering computer scientists will assist in processing the large amounts of protein data generated. Web: biomedical.ucsc.edu/Proteomics.html
Rock Preparation Facility. The facility is fully equipped to aid researchers in petrographic section making, rock crushing, sample sieving, and mineral separation. A full-time technical staff member oversees the facility. Web: www.es.ucsc.edu/research/rock.html.
Stable Isotope Laboratory. This facility has two mass spectrometers used to determine elemental composition, a FISONS Optima, and a FISONS Prism. Both are equipped with automatic carbonate devices. In addition, the Prism is fitted with the VG “Multi-prep” autosampling system for carbonates and oxygen analyses of waters, and the OPTIMA is fitted with a Carlo-Erba CHN Analyzer for continuous flow measurement. Web: es.ucsc.cdu/%7E~silab
The Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection (Ray FASC) is a focused research activity
concentrating on the films and other artistic works of Satyajit Ray, one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. Ray FASC maintains, in addition to 35 mm films and videocassettes of Satyajit Ray’s films, a collection of the Ray papers: books, articles, letters, screenplays, sketchbooks, costume designs, music tapes/recordings, posters, stills, illustrations, and other examples of Ray’s multifaceted genius. Ray FASC has received the Lethbridge Collection of some 1,500 volumes/items of works on Ray and by Ray in some 10 world languages. The gift has come from Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert Lethbridge of Melbourne, Australia. With a major grant from the Packard Humanities Institute, Ray FASC has prepared an inventory, catalog, and database of the materials in the archive. Ray FASC hosts lectures, film screenings, seminars, and exhibitions. It helped organize several recent Ray retrospectives nationally and internationally; plans for more are under way. Student internships and research projects in the archives are welcome. For further information, call (831) 459-4012, fax (831) 459-1925, e-mail rayfasc@scilibx.ucsc.edu, or check the web site: satyajitray.ucsc.edu.
The SCCIE is a group of UCSC and other scholars working in the field of international economics, broadly defined to cover international finance, open-economy macroeconomics, international trade, development economics (and linkages with environmental issues), and international political economy.
The objective of SCCIE is to broaden understanding of international economic issues by sponsoring research, conferences, graduate studies, and the exchange of scholars. The center also supports and participates in activities designed to bring greater public awareness and understanding to policy issues involving international economics.
To this end, SCCIE supports public seminars, publication of working papers, and occasional public forums.
For more information, visit the SCCIE web site: http://sccie.ucsc.edu; call (831) 459-1553; fax (831) 459-5077; or e-mail: sccie.ucsc.edu.
The SCIPP was established on the Santa Cruz campus by the Regents in 1980 to coordinate research and instruction in elementary particle physics and related areas. Its staff members, as well as visiting scientists, are engaged in theoretical and experimental particle physics and particle astrophysics projects that concern the fundamental interactions of matter. Additional work includes projects in neurobiology and radiobiology. They are also involved in graduate and undergraduate instruction as regular faculty or adjunct professors, usually with the Department of Physics.
Experimental work such as the design, testing, and construction of large-scale particle detectors, as well as associated electronics, takes place in the development laboratories on campus. Many of the experiments are ultimately performed at large facilities, national or international laboratories, or using space-based detectors.
The detector development at SCIPP is largely concerned with miniaturization of detectors. Design and testing of custom-integrated circuitry is a major facet of this effort. At present the institute’s principal experimental projects include the following:
- Analysis of data from the BaBar detector, with an emphasis on matter-antimatter mixing for charmed particles, and rare “radiative penguin” decays in which a bottom particle decays into an array of light particles accompanied by the emission of a single high-energy gamma ray
- Studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray showers at facilities associated with Los Alamos National Laboratory and the VERITAS telescope array
- Scientific exploitation of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider facility at the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, of which SCIPP played a major role in design and construction; research and development of the future upgrade to the ATLAS detector, including radiation-hardened electronics and silicon sensors and high-speed data transmission, is a parallel activity
- Development of the ground station and flight components for the BARREL balloon program to study the loss of relativistic electrons from the Van Allen belts to Earth’s atmosphere
- Development of the ADELE airborne gamma-ray detector to study particle acceleration associated with lightning
- Scientific exploitation of the GLAST orbiting gamma-ray telescope of which SCIPP played a key role in the design and fabrication
- Both graduate and undergraduate students take part in these projects, which give them opportunities for thesis work, independent study, and part-time employment. Students have gained experience in electronics, computer-aided design (CAD) and use of scientific instrumentation as well as in actual experimentation and data analysis.
- The institute’s theorists have broad interests in high-energy physics, astrophysics, and cosmology—subjects that have become increasingly interrelated in recent years. Topics of their recent work have included the following:
- Phenomenological properties of Higgs bosons and formulation of search strategies for their discovery
- Development and analysis of other new theories of particle physics that can be tested at present and future accelerators, especially supersymmetric theories
- Investigations of gauge theories of strong and electroweak interactions, topics in quantum field theory and string theory
- Physics of the early universe including the origin of matter-antimatter asymmetry, inflation, and the nature of the dark matter and dark energy
- Theories of galaxy formation
The theory group collaborates with the SCIPP experimental group, the UCSC astrophysicists and astronomers associated with Lick and Keck Observatories, the large theoretical physics group at SLAC, and theorists at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara. The theory group supports the research and thesis work of graduate students and occasionally supervises undergraduate theses. Web: scipp.ucsc.edu
CineMedia Project (CMP). This is a noncirculating research archive dedicated to the study of Latin American and Latino film and video. CMP, located on the first floor of Casa Latina at Merrill College, is open to UCSC faculty, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates. Noncampus users of the facility are invited to become CMP Associates. Web: lals.ucsc.edu/research.html
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Laboratory. The GIS lab is described above.
Life Lab Science Program. Life Lab helps schools develop gardens where children can create “living laboratories” for the study of the natural world. Web: www.lifelab.org
Museum of Natural History Collections (MNHC). The MNHC is dedicated to cultivating an increased understanding and appreciation of the natural world by promoting the use of its natural science collections for teaching, research, and aesthetics. The museum, part of the Environmental Studies Department, is the main repository for natural science collections at UC Santa Cruz. Collections include specimens of plants, fungi, insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Web: mnhc.ucsc.edu
Physical Anthropology and Archaeology Laboratories. These laboratories are dedicated to teaching and research in both physical (biological) anthropology and archaeology. Within the labs are spaces for the study of comparative anatomy, osteology, forensic anthropology, zooarchaeology, landscape archaeology ceramics, lithics, and Monterey Bay archaeology. The laboratories maintain collections of comparative vertebrate osteology and taphonomic specimens. Web: anthro.ucsc.edu/labs.shtml
Plant Growth Facility (Greenhouses). The greenhouses are described above.
Social Sciences Media Laboratory. This lab is an academic resource center for media equipment and services within the Division of Social Sciences. The Media Lab provides technical consultation and support; equipment training; and equipment loans for faculty, students and staff in the Division of Social Sciences.
The Social Sciences Media Lab houses darkroom facilities, digital-photography workstations, audio workstations and video post-production suites. The lab’s facilities are available for use by Social Sciences faculty, undergraduates and graduate students doing funded research, course work, independent studies and undergraduate or graduate thesis work.
The media lab offers production classes in video, audio, and photography. Students enrolled in lab classes learn the fundamentals of video field production, still photography, and audio production.
The lab may be contacted by phone at (831) 459-4010 or by e-mail at mlab@ucsc.edu. Web: http://socialsciences.ucsc.edu/administration/media_lab
UCSC Farm and the Alan Chadwick Garden. The USCS farm and Alan Chadwick Garden are described above.
Founded to integrate science, technology, engineering, policy, and society, the STEPS Institute seeks workable solutions to critical environmental problems. The institute focuses on major global environmental issues through initiatives on climate change, biodiversity, and water resources that confront the biological and social effects of altered environments. The institute provides fellowships for interdisciplinary graduate research and research grants to faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students. It also works to increase dialogue among environmental researchers, policy makers, and resource managers through lectures, seminars, and workshops, leading to broader collaborations within California, nationally, and internationally.
Current research addresses a wide range of issues:
- How do we link science, policy, and management in coastal ecosystems?
- How do we translate the science and technology of climate modeling and data collection into effective planning tools for fisheries, agriculture, forestry, urban centers, and overall ecosystem management?
- How do we confront scientifically and socially the rapidly changing biodiversity of all ecosystems that is being driven by fragmentation of landscapes and the introduction of nonnative species of plants, animals, and microbes?
The STEPS Institute harnesses the expertise and resources of dozens of departments and research units campus-wide, drawing especially from researchers in the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences, Division of Social Sciences, and Jack Baskin School of Engineering. For more information, e-mail steps@ucsc.edu or call (831) 459-1310.
Web: www.steps.ucsc.edu
Under a 10-year, $330 million research contract between NASA and the University of California, which began in September 2003, UC Santa Cruz is leading the UC-wide UARC at NASA Ames. Research, which takes place at the NASA Ames’s Moffett Field facility, as well as at several UC campuses, focuses on multidisciplinary research in the following:
- Nanotechnology
- Information sciences
- Biotechnology and fundamental space biology
- Aerospace systems
- Astrobiology (space, life, and Earth sciences)
In addition to research, UARC offers an educational program via its Systems Teaching Institute, which provides opportunities for students to work alongside university and Ames researchers, enhancing their educational experiences while training them to become 21st-century world-class scientists, engineers, and educators.
To learn more about UARC and its programs, go to uarc.ucsc.edu.
Lick Observatory was established on Mt. Hamilton in the 1880s as a result of the gift of James Lick, a Pennsylvania piano maker who came to San Francisco in 1848 and amassed a fortune through investment in California real estate. The observatory has been part of the University of California since 1888, when the Lick Trustees conveyed the just completed original installation to the Regents.
UCO/Lick astronomers became a partner with California Institute of Technology astronomers to operate and provide instruments for the W. M. Keck Observatory, located at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The two Keck 10-meter telescopes began operating in 1993 and 1996. These are the largest and most capable optical/IR telescopes in the world.
In 1988 the Regents established an organization to manage the university’s ground-based optical and infrared observatories as a single unit. Known as the University of California Observatories (UCO), the organization includes Lick Observatory and UC’s component of the Keck Observatory. UCO is headquartered at UCSC; the Lick director serves also as the director of UCO. UCO/Lick plays a large role in the Keck enterprise: both of the Keck telescopes’ secondary mirrors were polished in the optical laboratory at Santa Cruz, and the high-resolution echelle spectrograph (HIRES), designed and constructed in the instrument-development laboratories here, was the first Keck instrument to become fully operational. The laboratories have also designed and constructed instruments for the second Keck telescope, including a powerful new optical instrument to aid in the search for dark matter (DEIMOS) and a new medium-resolution echelle spectrograph and imager (ESI). Web: www.ucolick.org.
As resident members of the Santa Cruz faculty, the UCO/Lick staff are members of UCSC’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which offers the graduate program in astronomy and astrophysics and an undergraduate minor (see the Astronomy and Astrophysics program description). A B.S. degree in astrophysics is offered through the Physics Department (see the Physics program description). The astronomy library and laboratories are located on campus, as are optical, electronics, engineering, programming, and detector and instrument-development groups. There are resources for measurement, analysis, and computation of data on campus as well.
The telescopes and accompanying facilities on the 3,762-acre reservation on Mt. Hamilton east of San Jose are operated as an observatory, with faculty, research, and student observers commuting to the facility. Telescopes include the Lick 36-inch refractor, the Carnegie 20-inch twin astrograph, and the CAT 24-inch, Crossley 36-inch, and Nickel 40-inch reflectors. The newest telescope is the Katzman 30-inch robotic reflector, dedicated to searching for supernovas. The largest and most powerful of the Lick instruments is the Shane 120-inch reflector, which was completed in 1959 and is one of the world’s most effective telescopes. The observatory’s equipment also includes a variety of auxiliary instruments used in connection with observations at the 120-inch telescope. Among the most recent is the Hamilton echelle spectrograph, judged to be one of the world’s most efficient instruments for high-resolution analysis of the light of stars and galaxies and the instrument by which astronomers have discovered new planets outside our solar system. Other instruments include the Kast double spectrograph, a pioneering example of UCO/ Lick’s innovative instrumentation capabilities; the multiple-object spectrograph, which gives astronomers the opportunity to look at the spectra of 100 objects simultaneously; and the prime-focus Wide Field Camera, capable of taking digital images of large areas of the sky. One of the most exciting technological innovations developed at Lick Observatory, in conjunction with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is the use of an adaptive-optics system with an artificial laser-produced guide star to correct distortions to incoming light caused by the blurring effects of the atmosphere. The observatory is a systemwide facility used extensively by observers and students from other UC campuses and the national laboratories.
UCSC’s courses in astronomy and astrophysics are taught on campus. Advanced students gain observing experience with the Mt. Hamilton telescopes and conduct research directed by the staff. Visiting astronomers use the equipment to investigate special problems.
UCO/Lick astronomers work on a wide variety of astrophysical problems, including solar system and star formation, stellar evolution, the origin and evolution of the Galaxy and external galaxies, abundances of the chemical elements, and the size, structure, and evolution of the universe. During the summer, UCO/Lick and the department host a conference on topics in astronomy and astrophysics, which brings international scholars and students to UCSC.
Since 2000, UCO has been a partner in a project to build a giant telescope (30-meter diameter primary mirror) and the adaptive optics systems and instruments that will make this the most powerful astronomical facility of the coming decades. This project—in a $63 million design and development phase—is called the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT).
The CfAO is a Science and Technology Center funded by the National Science Foundation. As of January 2008, it is also a multicampus research center within UC’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. The CfAO’s mission is to advance the technology of adaptive optics (AO) in service to science, health care, industry, and education. Its goal is to lead the revolution in AO by developing and demonstrating the technology, creating major improvements in AO systems, and catalyzing advances nationwide. The CfAO has implemented a highly successful education program to teach our graduate students methods of inquiry-based science teaching, and to apply this knowledge in programs that attract and retain a new generation of scientists, particularly among women and underrepresented minorities. The NSF CfAO comprises 11 research universities, a dozen national laboratories and eye institutes, and a dozen industrial partners. Headquartered at UCSC where it is housed in its own building, the NSF CfAO was funded in 1999 for five years and in 2003 was renewed for a final five years. Center researchers are particularly interested in applications for large astronomical telescopes, searches for planets around nearby stars, and vision science. As an outgrowth of the center, a Laboratory for Adaptive Optics within UC Observatories was established through a $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This state-of-the-art laboratory explores new AO techniques and develops and tests new components. E-mail: cfao@ucolick.org. Web: cfao.ucolick.org and lao.ucolick.org
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