The people who power the UC Santa Cruz Science Division do amazing and impactful work, and whenever someone is recognized for their effort, they deserve to be fully acknowledged and celebrated. Here, we present all of those honored among our faculty, staff, and alumni.

If we’re missing anyone, please contact Mike Pena at mivpena@ucsc.edu.

Explorer society honors Roxanne Beltran for advancing scientific field research, education equity

Roxanne Beltran, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, is among 50 people from around the world being honored this year for “doing remarkable work to promote science and exploration.”

American Astronomical Society honors four UC Santa Cruz affiliates at national meeting

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) honored four scientists affiliated with UC Santa Cruz for outstanding contributions to the field. At this week’s AAS national meeting, the society named UC Observatories Director Bruce Macintosh and two alumni, Laura Lopez and Mark Phillips, among the 24 new fellows chosen for 2025.

Former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan honored for historical narratives of his field

The American Physical Society awarded former UC Santa Cruz physicist Michael Riordan on October 15 with its Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, citing his “important contributions to the history of post-World War II physics, including the discovery of quarks, the invention and development of the transistor, and the search for the Higgs boson.”