Above: Undergraduate student Sadie Albert studying and working in the Science & Engineering Library (photo by Elena Zhukova)
Features
The troubled birth of psychedelic science
Historian Benjamin Breen explores the fraught history of Cold War–era psychedelic science in his acclaimed new book, Tripping on Utopia.
By Dan White
Employing Humanities initiative bolstered by $1 million grant
The Humanities Division at UC Santa Cruz has embarked on a transformative journey with a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to launch a groundbreaking initiative focused on experiential learning and career readiness for humanities students.
By Abby Butler and Grace Stetson
Students search for hidden black hole activity
When stars get too close to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, the black holes shred them apart in a process called a tidal disruption event (TDE). These TDEs cause bright flashes, but recent models suggest that scientists should see more of them than have been observed.
By Erin Malsbury
Insights into the study of pathogens in real time
Discoveries from the UCSC-made COVID-19 tracking tool offer guidance for the future of web tools for tracking pathogen evolution.
By Emily Cerf
Alumni profiles
A track record to smile about
Alumnus Leo Merle is juggling two major life goals: graduate from the University of Michigan with a doctorate in dentistry, and be the first American with cerebral palsy to run the 1,500-meter race in less than four minutes at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
By Haneen Zain (Rachel Carson ’21, politics)
Teaching for change
Alumnus David B. Goldberg solidified his passion for organizing at UC Santa Cruz. Now, he is the president of the California Teachers Association, the largest teacher’s union in the state.
By Rachel Raiyani
Sharing a love of history
Alumna Sage Michaels discovered her passion for history while taking humanities courses at UCSC. Now she works as an interpretive guide at two Massachusetts museums, where she’s focusing on the American Revolutionary War while getting ready to start graduate school.
By Dan White
Finding her voice with verse
Alumna Farnaz Fatemi’s poetry explores language, borders and selfhood with an emphasis on her Iranian American identity. The UCSC lecturer in writing, who is the Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate for 2023 and 2024, talks about embracing her identity, her career at UCSC, and her current work as poet laureate.
By Naomi Friedland