Baskin Engineering Dean

In every direction, we face the urgency of climate change. In addition to the obvious empirical impacts, shifting policies and funding add to a growing sense of concern expressed by our students. But there is real momentum – that is why I am launching the first Baskin Engineering Climate Week, April 21-25, 2025.

In an article published in Wired, author James Fallows argues that despite facing numerous challenges and often being portrayed negatively in the rest of the country, California persists as a leader in innovation and progress, setting examples for the rest of the U.S. and the world.

We have all been watching in horror as wildfires level scores of acres in southern California, including neighborhoods many thought impervious to widespread fire devastation. Baskin Engineers are developing advanced technology to detect the conditions that promote the spread of wildfire, technologies to measure their impact, particularly on our most vulnerable regions and communities, and technologies to help communities prepare for these inevitable disasters. 

Across the country, many states have begun to restrict the ability of their colleges and universities to mount programming meant to support access, inclusion, and diversity efforts. We can expect this trend to continue. 

Scientists play a crucial role in understanding the climate crisis by researching its causes and predicting its impacts. For decades, our colleagues in the physical, natural and social sciences have sounded the alarm about the consequences of global warming, warnings that have largely been ignored among those for whom this crisis constitutes an “inconvenient truth.”

Open source is a hallmark of Baskin Engineering, examples being the Genome Browser and the Center for Research in Open Source Software, to name just two.

While the ebb and flow of industry priorities can be disruptive, engineering graduates will continue to be in high demand. The industry’s continuing growth, the unique skill set that engineering graduates possess, and their versatility and hands-on experience are all factors that make our students valuable assets to companies in the tech industry.

The Human Pangenome Reference Consortium, co-led by our biomolecular engineering faculty members Benedict Paten and Karen Miga and supported by fellow researchers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, released the first draft of a human pangenome.

Generative AI technologies will not replace engineers, but they will inevitably reshape the skills and habits of mind necessary for engineers and engineering students to succeed. The worst thing we could do as responsible and progressive educators is to try to resist their presence in the classroom.

As he begins his second full academic year as dean, we sat down with Dean Wolf to discuss his first year and his plans for the future of the engineering school.