Media Coverage
-
The national housing crisis is reviving the debate over rent control
Efforts to control rental increases have led to unintended yet serious consequences, observers say. Gonzalo Respighi Grasso, a doctoral candidate in economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has made rent control the focus of his research.
-
San Jose: $197 million project completed to improve flood protection along south San Francisco Bay shoreline
“We’ve built megacities of the world on coasts,” said Gary Griggs, a distinguished professor of earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz, in 2022 when the Alviso project broke ground. “We didn’t think of sea level rise 100 years ago, and now we are having to pay the price.”
-
Lasers, fiber optics and tiny vibrations tease a way to warn about earthquakes
Emily Brodsky, a professor of earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was not involved in the research, said “earthquake early warning could be dramatically improved tomorrow” if scientists are able to broker widespread access to existing telecommunication networks. Additional coverage in SFGate.
-
California Launches First Solar-Covered Canal
The decision to cover canals with solar panels was influenced by a 2021 study from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The study suggested that shading California’s canals could save 63.5 billion gallons of water annually, enough to meet the residential water needs of over two million people.
-
Earthquakes Release Energy Mostly Through Heat, Not Ground Shaking
A new laboratory study in AGU Advances finds that shaking accounts for only 1 to 8 percent of the energy released in an earthquake, while up to a whopping 98 percent of that energy dissipates as heat. One advantage of the work is that it used a new technique measures the alignment of magnetic minerals…
-
Caltrans to reopen Highway 1 at Regent’s Slide in Monterey County in March 2026
Professor Gary Griggs estimates that large slides on Highway 1 in Big Sur each cost some $50 million to fix, and proposes a toll for motorists to travel the stretch of highway. Caltrans estimates the total cost of repairing Regent’s Slide at $82 million.
-
UC Santa Cruz engineers unveil AI wearable to speed wound healing
KSBW features a-Heal, a wound-healing device developed by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Marco Rolandi, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mircea Teodorescu, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics Marcella Gomez and collaborators at UC Davis.
-
India in the cross hairs
In an opinion article, Distinguished Professor of Economics Nirvikar Singh argues that India should view the latest U.S. move on H-1B visas as a wake-up call to work on becoming a global skilling hub.
-
‘The Blob’ marine heat wave now spans an area the size of the US
Rachel Holser, a scientist at UC Santa Cruz who studies the California Current ecosystem, explained to SFGATE what scientists call the “blob” is a phenomenon best understood as a series of “distinct” heat waves. It first appeared from 2013 to 2015, followed by a second iteration in 2019, with each defined by its own conditions.
-
Academic Freedom Under Fire with Scholar Bettina Aptheker
Distinguished Professor of Feminist Studies Bettina Aptheker recently gave a speech about academic freedom and its role in American universities. This radio segment presents that speech interwoven with Aptheker’s recollections of her life and career and her unshakable belief in the value of free expression.
-
An interstellar object is passing through our solar system. This UC program says to stay calm and carry on
One of those scientists who you can shadow is Raja GuhaThakurta, faculty director of UC Santa Cruz’s department of Creating Equity in STEAM. For GuhaThakurta, who started the Shadow the Scientists program in 2020, the hysteria around the alien spaceship — or artifact — theory is not only misguided. “This kind of sensationalism ends up ultimately… causing…
-
Comedy fans express free speech concerns after ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel
Nolan Higdon, a UC Santa Cruz lecturer with Merrill College and the Education Department, expects that Kimmel’s suspension will have far-reaching impacts. Higdon noted that comedians and entertainers have historically played a significant role in debates around free speech in the United States.