Social Justice & Community

UC Santa Cruz Alumni Association announces 2026 Alumni Award recipients 

John Torigoe, Melinda Aldrich, James Hein, Peter Coha, Jim Gunderson, and Stephanie Barron Lu are the recipients of the 2026 UC Santa Cruz Alumni Awards.

August 24, 2026

By Haneen Zain

The UC Santa Cruz Alumni Association is proud to announce the 2026 UC Santa Cruz Alumni Awards recipients. These awards celebrate individuals whose vision, leadership, and dedication have made a meaningful impact in their professions, in society, within the university community, and across the globe. Each honoree exemplifies the values and spirit of UC Santa Cruz through their achievements and contributions.

John Torigoe, Melinda Aldrich, James Hein, Peter Coha, Jim Gunderson, and Stephanie Barron Lu are the recipients of the 2026 UC Santa Cruz Alumni Awards. 

“This year’s Alumni Award honorees reflect the remarkable breadth of what UC Santa Cruz alumni go on to do and the many ways they contribute to their communities and the world,” said Chancellor Cynthia Larive. “Their accomplishments are distinct, but each has brought curiosity, purpose, and a commitment to making a difference to their work. We are proud to recognize them and celebrate the paths they have taken since their time at UC Santa Cruz.” 

The UC Santa Cruz Alumni Awards consist of five categories: Fiat Lux, Alumni Achievement, Distinguished Graduate Alumni, UCSC Ethos, and Outstanding Recent Alumni. 

The awardees will be honored at a celebration gala at UC Santa Cruz on Oct. 16. 

Read more about the 2026 Alumni Award recipients

John Torigoe – Alumni Achievement Award

The Alumni Achievement Award is presented to UC Santa Cruz alumni who are renowned for their distinguished professional achievement, leadership, and service to the community. 

John Torigoe (Porter ’86, psychology) is an award-winning international news photojournalist whose distinguished 40-year career is defined by his frontline reporting on major global events. After beginning his career on California’s Central Coast covering early assignments including the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, Operation Just Cause, and the Persian Gulf War, he went on to document conflict zones worldwide. 

UC Santa Cruz didn’t just teach progressive ideals; they were structurally woven into our daily lives. In an environment that championed collective governance, community-oriented action, and intrinsic growth and narrative evaluations over letter grades, we were encouraged to build our own opportunities rather than follow a pre-packaged track. UCSC demanded critical thinking and genuine collaboration.“

Dr. Melinda Aldrich – UCSC Ethos Award

The UCSC Ethos Award recognizes alumni whose work and contribution to their community embodies and reflects the ethos of UC Santa Cruz.

Dr. Melinda Aldrich (Stevenson ’92, biology) is an internationally known expert in lung cancer. Broadly, her research interests focus on lung cancer screening, risk prediction for early detection, the genetics of lung cancer, and assessment of lung cancer causes and outcomes. She is widely known for her research in the development and evaluation of risk prediction algorithms for lung cancer screening eligibility, with an emphasis on algorithm fairness. 

UC Santa Cruz helped shape the values that continue to guide me personally and professionally. UCSC’s culture of inclusion, intellectual curiosity, and respect for people of all backgrounds fostered a lasting sense of social responsibility. These experiences inspired my career-long commitment to addressing health inequities and ensuring that scientific advances benefit all populations.”

James Hein – Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award 

The Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award recognizes UC Santa Cruz graduate alumni for notable achievement in a career directly related to their degree program. The recipient’s graduate degree from UC Santa Cruz played a significant part in their career success. 

Dr. James (Jim) Hein (Ph.D. ’73, Earth sciences) was the first Ph.D. graduate under Professor Gary Griggs at UC Santa Cruz. He went on to a distinguished 43-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey.

An internationally recognized oceanographer and geologist, Hein led major international research collaborations involving scientists from more than 30 countries. His pioneering work on ocean history and marine resources advanced understanding of Earth’s oceans and resulted in more than 350 scientific publications and over 22,500 citations.

This is an unexpected and wonderful honor; I am so grateful that UC Santa Cruz provided me with what was needed to pursue, for a lifetime, what I love doing and therefore what I was successful at—intriguing research in ocean and Earth sciences. To be recognized for this love and success by UC Santa Cruz completes this incredible circle.”  

Peter Coha – Fiat Lux Award

The Fiat Lux Award honors UC Santa Cruz alumni and friends who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and distinguished service in support of the university’s programs and goals. 

Peter Coha (Kresge ’78, mathematics) has spent his career figuring out how complex systems reach equilibrium—technical, natural, economic—and how to make them work better. Over 35 years as a software developer, automation/IT engineer, and project manager, he rose to principal engineer at Intel, where he led factory management and operations projects for semiconductor plants worldwide before retiring in 2013.

My mathematics education at UC Santa Cruz gave me the foundation I built a technical career on and have kept building on ever since. It also taught me to work as part of a team—a skill that has mattered everywhere I’ve worked. And the people I met there were wonderful.”    

Jim Gunderson – Fiat Lux Award

The Fiat Lux Award honors UC Santa Cruz alumni and friends who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and distinguished service in support of the university’s programs and goals. 

After receiving his Bachelor’s in philosophy from UC Santa Cruz, Jim Gunderson (Rachel Carson ’77, philosophy) received his J.D. from UC Law San Francisco, briefly studied European law in Salzburg, then began his legal career in Amsterdam. He then worked at a Wall Street law firm before joining the legal department of Schlumberger, based in New York and then in Paris. 

Gunderson has been doing pro bono work for arts and education organizations since he was in law school, including co-creating two company-funded foundations. After retiring and becoming a consultant, he taught governance while advising and serving on international boards.

UC Santa Cruz exposed me to remarkable thinkers, providing much-needed humility while better preparing me to engage with the brilliant minds I later worked with. UCSC deepened my concern and engagement with critical issues, broadening my awareness of 20th-century art and music.”

Stephanie Barron Lu – Outstanding Recent Alumni Award

The Outstanding Recent Alumni Award recognizes UC Santa Cruz alumni who have graduated within the past 10 years who reflect the values and mission of UC Santa Cruz.

Stephanie Barron Lu (Kresge ’18, psychology) is best known in the Santa Cruz community for her work as the executive director of local social justice nonprofit Positive Discipline Community Resources, serving the Central Coast by bringing trauma-informed, mutually respectful parent and adult education across sectors of communities. Before taking on this role, she served as an administrative assistant at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History and co-led their research and Latinx engagement efforts with the Of/By/For All project, to identify barriers to access and participation of elite spaces. 

The decade since coming to UC Santa Cruz has been nothing short of extraordinary, which I measure through the value of the friendships and relationships nurtured and held through the crisis we’ve faced together as a patchwork quilt of strengths and needs. Ultimately this award gives me the encouragement and fuel to keep going.”