Campus News
UC Santa Cruz community members honored with UC Regents Innovation Awards
The UC Regents awards, announced Sept. 16, honored 23 people in five categories.
Professor Richard E. Green, community leader Bud Colligan, and alumnus Joseph DeRisi were among the award recipients.
A UC Santa Cruz professor, alumnus and community partner were among those who received UC Regents Innovation Awards last week.
The UC Regents launched the awards in fall 2025, inviting nominations from the 10 campuses and three national laboratories. The program is helping to promote and celebrate research, technology, and entrepreneurship for the benefit of the public.
Two of the three recipients—Professor Richard E. Green and community leader Bud Colligan—were honored in spring 2026 with Chancellor’s Innovation Impact Awards.
The UC Regents awards, announced Sept. 16, honored 23 people in five categories.
Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for innovations that have led to long-term positive impacts on the lives of others and inspiring UC inventors and entrepreneurs
Richard Green, UC Santa Cruz
Richard (Ed) Green’s innovations in DNA sequencing have led to breakthrough discoveries about human evolution — including a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome — and forensic applications that have helped solve cold cases around the country through his company, Astrea Forensics. Green also founded two other startups, Dovetail Genomics and Claret Biosciences.
Green, a professor of biomolecular engineering, is the current director of the California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) at UC Santa Cruz. QB3 is the University of California’s hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in life science, working with UC researchers and other scientists at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz to launch startup companies and partner with industry.
Read more: From ancient DNA to modern medicine
Community Changemaker Award for improving social and economic prosperity by supporting UC’s innovation enterprise
Bud Colligan, Philanthropist
Bud Colligan established the Colligan Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz to provide regional COVID-19 testing and support pediatric disease research. Through early investments in Digital NEST and Central Coast Angels, he channels capital into California’s Central Coast to create technology jobs for local youth.
Read more: Empowering the Central Coast: Bud Colligan’s Legacy of Innovation
Best Startup Award for the new company using UC research to address societal needs
Joseph DeRisi (Crown ’92, biochemistry and molecular biology)
UC Santa Cruz alumnus and UCSF Professor Joseph DeRisi (Crown ’92, biochemistry and molecular biology) founded Delve Bio to pioneer a metagenomic test that diagnoses complex central nervous system infections when conventional testing fails. Its flagship service, Delve Detect, reduces unnecessary procedures, shortens hospital stays and gives hospitals nationwide access to advanced infectious disease diagnostics and expert neurological consultation.
Read more: One genomic test can diagnose nearly any infection