Congrats to Andy Yeh, assistant professor of biomolecular engineering who won an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award! 🎉 Yeh will use deep learning, protein design, and synthetic chemistry to develop “neoluminescence,” for biomedical imaging. Learn more: 🔗 bit.ly/4j8bj8y #BaskinEngineering

Two UC Santa Cruz faculty win NIH Director’s New Innovator Awards

The two awardees are Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Jaron Mercer and Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Andy Yeh

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What a way to kick off #Postdoctober 🎃 Congratulations to Genomics Institute postdoc @niasv.bsky.social in the @ali-shariati.bsky.social Lab on receiving a prestigious Pathway to Independence Award from the NIH! Estefania will study cell fate variability during the reprogramming process. 🎉

🎉 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering Assistant Professor Ashesh Chattopadhyay (@ashesh6810.bsky.social) who has been named a 2026 #AI2050 Early Career Fellow by @schmidtsciences.bsky.social! He will develop AI methods to predict weather and climate "grey swan events." 🌎 🔗 Learn more: bit.ly/4yqdyIZ

Ashesh Chattopadhyay named Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellow

Chattopadhyay will build steerable AI for science models with the prestigious fellowship

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We're excited to welcome two new faculty members to #BaskinEngineering for the 2026-27 academic year! 🎉 They bring expertise in artificial intelligence, information management, and probabilistic machine learning. Learn more: bit.ly/3TTuOYg

Congrats to #BaskinEngineering Assistant Professor Chenguang Wang, awarded an NSF CAREER Award! He's developing new methods to identify and prevent “interaction safety” risks in #AI chatbots, with applications in addiction recovery, teen mental health, & healthcare. 💬 Read on: bit.ly/4ybzuYl

Mitigating risks in free-flowing AI chatbot conversations

The NSF CAREER Award-funded research will focus on addiction-recovery and teenage mental health scenarios, but can be applied to any chatbot use.

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Pioneering genomics techniques developed by @ucscgenomics.bsky.social researchers Ed Green and Beth Shapiro helped uncover new evidence in the long-standing question of whether Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings. Via @theatlantic.com: bit.ly/47fRvZy

Researchers Say They’ve Found the Truth About Thomas Jefferson

A secret 15-year effort has produced genetic evidence that one of the nation’s Founders fathered children with a woman he enslaved.

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A partnership with Fujitsu Research is enabling #BaskinEngineering Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics Ashesh Chattopadhyay (@ashesh6810.bsky.social)to build energy-efficient AI models for climate predictions and solutions that analyze vulnerable regions. Learn more: bit.ly/4gUVMHC

Partnership with Fujitsu enables long-term impact forecasting of climate risks

Ashesh Chattopadhyay and Fujitsu Research are developing actionable AI-based climate models that reduce resource-guzzling computation time from months to minutes

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A new age of AI-powered, human-directed hacking is already upon us, experts say. “Before, you needed to have highly skilled technical expertise," said #BaskinEngineering Professor Alvaro Cardenas. “And now, you just have to have a general idea of what’s possible.” Via Vox: bit.ly/4h7XOEE

We’re worrying about the wrong AI apocalypse

America’s infrastructure was already hackable. Then came AI.

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"We are probably looking at the strongest El Niño in our recorded lifetime," said #BaskinEngineering Professor of Statistics Robert Lund. This could bring sea level changes, beach erosion, damaged harbors, and inland flooding caused by heavy rainstorms. Via @ksbw.bsky.social: bit.ly/3V26CDh

Central Coast braces for heavy rain as strong El Niño approaches

Central Coast officials are preparing for a potentially wet winter as a strong El Niño is expected to bring heavy rain, flooding, and other impacts to the region.

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It’s not every day @uofcalifornia.bsky.social President James B. Milliken stops by #BaskinEngineering! 👋 He explored what our students are building in Slugworks, UCSC's creatorspace. We were thrilled to share the dedication, passion, and boundless creativity of Baskin Engineers with UC leadership.

What if every person could have their genome sequenced at birth to use as a reference for medical care throughout their life? 🧬 @ucscgenomics.bsky.social researchers are working towards that vision by developing complete genome sequencing technology. 🔗 bit.ly/4hf9y72

NIH grant supports bringing complete genome sequencing from the lab to the clinic

A $2.9 million R01 research award from the National Institutes of Health will support the efforts of engineers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute to further develop and drive down the cost of com...

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At #BaskinEngineering, students from across disciplines can explore virtual reality through Creative Design in VR, a hands-on course using ShapesXR to bring ideas to life through creativity, collaboration, and human-centered design. 👏 Via ShapesXR: bit.ly/4i8eVqF

How the University of California, Santa Cruz Uses ShapesXR to Enable Creative, Inclusive VR Education

At the University of California, Santa Cruz, ShapesXR supports Creative Design in Virtual Reality, an undergraduate course open to multidisciplinary students. By enabling VR-native prototyping without...

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Slugs making history! 🛰️ A satellite built entirely by @ucsantacruz.bsky.social students was deployed from the International Space Station! 🔗 bit.ly/4bTqP3R 📹 Video: CubeSat launching in space. Text: “UC Santa Cruz’s first student-built satellite was deployed from the International Space Station!”

UC Santa Cruz researchers mapped the first complete marmoset genome! 🧬 The new reference is one in a collection of studies on end-to-end, or “T2T,” genomes. Via @genomeweb.bsky.social: bit.ly/4g8fPkb

Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium Shares Complete Diploid Genome, Diverse Species Assemblies

Researchers used T2T reference assembly approaches to put together a diploid human genome, along with genome assemblies for several other vertebrate animals and plant species.

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Featured in @people.com! 🎉 #BaskinEngineering CSE student Ikem O. was recognized as an intern at one of PEOPLE’s 100 Companies That Care in 2026. For Ikem, the experience was about more than skill-building—it was about building relationships and belonging. 🔗 bit.ly/4wyvbVf

📣 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering students Kevin Bachelor and Anthony Furman on winning Best Student Presentation in the First Year Programs Division at the 2026 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference & Exposition! Learn more about their project: bit.ly/4bRuZJp

Building robots, designing games, extracting strawberry DNA, & a trip to #Google – just another week of Girls in Engineering at @ucsantacruz.bsky.social! ✨ The camp gives middle school students the opportunity to explore #STEM and imagine themselves as future #engineers. 🔗 bit.ly/4bHmRev

Girls in Engineering brings STEM to life for middle school students

This summer, 45 middle school students from across Santa Cruz and Monterey counties participated in the five-day camp, taking part in hands-on projects, lab tours, and a field trip to Google.

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Big news in genomics! #BaskinEngineering Ph.D. student @prajnahebbar.bsky.social led the complete sequencing of the DNA of a common marmoset. 🧬 “Now, we have this really complete, high-quality resource that people can take advantage of," she said. Via The Scientist: bit.ly/4q1O9C3

Complete Reference Genomes Set New Genomics Milestones | The Scientist

Advances in genome assembly methods helped researchers complete reference genomes for humans, marmosets, songbirds, and more, accelerating genomic research.

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Another incredible example of #BaskinEngineering researchers advancing the frontiers of genomics. 🧬 Congratulations to graduate student Prajna Hebbar and Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Benedict Paten for leading this accomplishment!

UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute@ucscgenomics.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We’ve sequenced a marmoset! Grad student @prajnahebbar.bsky.social & @benedictpaten.bsky.social led the effort, and expect it to enable scientists to learn more about genes that contribute to memory loss and Alzheimer's. 🔗https://news.ucsc.edu/2026/08/first-complete-marmoset-genome/

🎮 Video games have become a global cultural force, powered by the people who create, play, and love them. Hear from #BaskinEngineering Department Chair and Professor of Computational Media Noah Wardrip-Fruin on the invention of video games. Via Yahoo Tech: bit.ly/4vMpaUL

Who invented video games?

Video games are everywhere. So who was the first person to come up with the idea of playing a game on a computer screen?

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#BaskinEngineering Professor of Computational Media Magy Seif El-Nasr is a leading researcher in #games, #AI, and #HCI —she is also Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Games. We spoke with her on how AI is reshaping the future of games, education, and research. 🔗 Read the Q&A: bit.ly/45hGnuk

Leading games research in the AI era

UC Presidential Chair Magy Seif El-Nasr shares insights on how AI has shaped academic publishing, and her observations on an emerging "AI divide."

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🚀 The UCSC Rocket Team reached new heights at the 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC), earning 1st place in the 10,000-foot Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) division and 4th overall out of 141 teams! Congrats, Slugs! The sky's the limit. ✨ Learn more: bit.ly/45efMhK

🎉 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Alvaro Cardenas on receiving the Test of Time award at the 2026 @acm.org Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security!

Congrats to a team of #BaskinEngineering students who took home a 2025-26 CITRIS Aviation Prize! ✈️ The team of students designed a vertiport (vertical aiport) placement simulation tool for California Airlink, the state's first advanced air mobility network. 🔗 Learn more: bit.ly/4oWVLpb

Thrilled to share that Ashesh Chattopadhyay (@ashesh6810.bsky.social), assistant professor of applied mathematics at #BaskinEngineering, was awarded the 2026 SIAM Activity Group on Mathematics of Planet Earth Early Career Prize! Learn more: bit.ly/4wlKxNk

Early detection can improve outcomes for esophageal cancer patients. #BaskinEngineering @profdanielkim.bsky.social is developing an RNA liquid biopsy that can detect cancer from a simple blood draw—and has partnered with Oxford @nanoporetech.com to advance the technology. Learn more: bit.ly/4vKcazW

Partnership with Oxford Nanopore Technologies will support development of RNA liquid biopsy for cancer early detection

The technology screens for cancer, and even abnormal “precancerous” cells, using a simple blood draw.

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“...the end product of jailbreaking an #LLM that’s capable of teaching you how to build a deadly virus is that you now have an LLM that’s capable of teaching anybody how to build a very dangerous virus.” says @ucscgenomics.bsky.social Director David Haussler. Via Vox: bit.ly/4ghNyJJ

The next AI safety fight may actually be about DNA

AI could make bioweapons easier to build. A rare coalition wants to stop that now.

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🔎 Where did life on Earth begin? #BaskinEngineering Professor Emeritus of Biomolecular Engineering David Deamer and Research Associate Bruce Damer guest edited a new special issue of Astrobiology, “An Origin of Life on Land,” exploring growing evidence of life's origins. Learn more: bit.ly/42Ph5m8

Land-based origins of life explored in UCSC-led special issue of 'Astrobiology'

The scientists hypothesize that an entire landscape might be implicated in life's beginning

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🧬 A partnership between @ucscgenomics.bsky.social & Google Research has developed new methods to improve pangenome references, cutting errors when identifying genetic variants by 50%! A step forward in making genomics more representative of human diversity. Via Google Research: bit.ly/42EkJ2j

Catalyzing scientific impact through global partnerships and open resources

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New work from the lab is up on bioRxiv, where we introduce “SpikeLab: Agentic tools for spike data analysis” was led by postdoc Tjitse van der Molen and supported the crew at @ucscgenomics.bsky.social and @baskinengineering.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...