An ongoing list of 2025 accolades and research awards received by Baskin Engineering faculty, students, and staff.
Deamer was named a fellow the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. AAAS recognized Deamer for “significant contributions to the field of membrane biophysics, including the invention of nanopore sequencing and a hand-held device for genetic sequencing in remote and resource-poor environments.”
Professor Emeritus of Biomolecular Engineering David Deamer was selected by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) as the next recipient of the ABRF Award, which recognizes Outstanding Contributions to Biomolecular Technologies.
Deamer received a Drake Award from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute.
Face Jumping, a new virtual reality (VR) experience was co-created by UC Santa Cruz Assistant Teaching Professor of Computational Media Samantha Gorman. After debuting at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2025, Face Jumping won the conference’s XR Experience audience award among the 15 creators working at the intersection of technology and immersive art who participated in the XR Experience competition.
UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students and siblings Guy Haiby (B.S., Computer Game Design) and Roee Haiby (B.S., Computer Science) received an honorable mention in the competitive National Football League (NFL) Big Data Bowl for their project Decoding Audibles: Leveraging Pre-Snap Signals.
Magy Seif El-Nasr, professor and chair of the Department of Computational Media, has been named a 2024 ACM Distinguished member, which recognizes her significant achievements in computing beyond the norm. The ACM Distinguished Member designation is highly selective, with recipients chosen for their exceptional technical accomplishments and dedicated community service within the profession.
Colleen Josephson, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received a UCSC Engineering Award honoring her significant contributions to the university as leader and advocate for women in engineering. The award celebrates Women’s History Month in March.
Josephson was recognized in the Fierce Electronics 40 Under 40 category, which recognizes individuals under 40 who are driving advancements in technology, pushing boundaries and shaping the future of electronics with their creativity, expertise and impact.
Computer Science Ph.D. student Eric Vin was selected as an Outstanding Student of the Year for the Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Centers. Vin’s work is focused on the verification and analysis of cyber-physical systems, such as automobiles and aircraft. He has extended the Scenic probabilistic programming language to enable new applications and domains, and to move it from a tool capable of testing and analysis towards being a full verification framework. Vin is advised by Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Daniel Fremont.
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Luca de Alfaro was selected a 2024 fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), one of the most prestigious recognitions in the computing field.
Naomi Rehman, a fourth year computer science and computer engineering undergraduate student, received an honorable mention for the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher award. This award recognizes undergraduate students across North America who demonstrate outstanding research potential in computing. Rehman is advised by Associate Professors of Computer Science and Engineering Heiner Litz and Tyler Sorensen.
