2025 Dean’s Awards highlight outstanding Baskin Engineering undergraduate research in AI, cybersecurity, biomedicine, and more

Dean's Awards group photo

The Baskin Engineering Dean’s Awards celebrate achievements in engineering research, honoring 10 distinguished undergraduate projects that demonstrate excellence and innovation in a range of fields, including biomedical research, machine learning, agricultural technology, and cybersecurity.

Baskin Engineering students sweep SC Launchpad 2025 awards in technology and social impact categories

Tesphase team at SC Launchpad

At the 2025 Santa Cruz (SC) Launchpad event, University of California, Santa Cruz students competed in an exciting business pitch competition for $40,000 in cash prizes. Notably, Baskin Engineering students contributed to four of the five winning teams.

First annual UC Open Summit highlights open source innovation in the UC system

Dean Alex Wolf presents at the First Annual UC Open.

The University of California Open Summit (UC Open) 2025 was held on April 23–24 at the UCSC Silicon Valley Campus in Santa Clara. This was the first major event organized by the University of California Open Source Program Office (UC OSPO) Network. The summit – which welcomed about 125 participants – provided a unique opportunity … Read more

Inaugural Baskin Engineering Climate Week inspires climate action and innovation

Student presents an augmented reality game focused on flood resilience in the Santa Cruz region

The Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz hosted the inaugural Baskin Engineering Climate Week April 21-25, 2025, focused on making connections between climate issues and the impact of sustainability research and teaching. The event brought together students, faculty, staff, alumni, campus partners, and the local community to highlight groundbreaking research and educational initiatives aimed at addressing the climate crisis.

UC Santa Cruz ACM builds community, industry connections, and pathways to student success

ACM students gather for a meeting

The UC Santa Cruz student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is more than a Baskin Engineering student organization—it’s a hub for students to learn, collaborate, and prepare for future careers.

Ph.D. students advance research in responsible AI and assistive technology through Fellowship for Anti-Racism Research (FARR)

FARR recipients K. Kritika and Yaxuan Wang

Two UC Santa Cruz engineering graduate students are advancing anti-racist research with the support of the Baskin Engineering Fellowship for Anti-Racism Research (FARR). Each year, FARR supports two graduate students with $6,000 in funding to pursue research focused on making engineering and technology more inclusive.

Sarone Kelete: Undergraduate

Sarone Kelete

Baskin Engineering undergraduate Sarone Kelete is a third-year computer science major and deeply involved at UC Santa Cruz. She’s gained community and professional growth through the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at UCSC. Her passion for technology is reflected by her work with the Tech4Good Lab, where she contributes to impactful web projects focused on social good.

UC Santa Cruz siblings receive honorable mention in NFL Big Data Bowl for innovative data analysis project

Guy and Roee Haiby

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 undergraduate category for their project Decoding Audibles: Leveraging Pre-Snap Signals.

Keerthi Koneru: Alumna

Portrait of Keerthi Koneru

Keerthi Koneru is a UC Santa Cruz class of 2024 computer science Ph.D. graduate. Drawn to UCSC’s Computer Science and Engineering Department for its focus on combining conceptual learning with practical application, her research focused on securing electrical substations against cyber threats by analyzing real-world vulnerabilities and developing tools to study malware interactions.

Two Baskin Engineering graduate students advance to 2025 UCSC Grad Slam finale

Ph.D. students Juanita Gomez, Prajna Hebbar, and Associate Dean for Graduate Experience and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Roberto Manduchi

Baskin Engineering graduate students Juanita Gomez and Prajna Hebbar have advanced to the final round of the 2025 UC Santa Cruz Grad Slam. They will compete against finalists from other UCSC academic divisions in the campus-wide Grad Slam finale on March 1.