Campus & Community


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Campus point headland with people on top, a surfer below and islands in the distance.
Photo Credit
UC Santa Barbara

An ‘Iconic Headland’
A red and gold graphic stating "Best of Winner" over an aerial photo of the ocean and beach below the UC Santa Barbara campus

For the 10th year, UCSB is named Santa Barbara’s ‘Best Place to Work’
A man holds his hand on his chin and stares at a painting while two others paint in the distance
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Aha! moments in creative contexts such as the arts may be less a verdict than a motivational impetus, according to researchers

‘Aha!’ moments are great for solving problems but less so for creative judgements
A man lit by red light looking down toward a small device in his hand
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Doctoral researcher Roark Chao in UCSB's Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center laboratory

Red microLEDs developed at UCSB achieve record efficiency of 20.8%, operate at up to 200°C
Walter Capps with President Bill Clinton
Photo Credit
courtesy
Walter Capps with President Bill Clinton, Santa Barbara, 1996

Walter Capps documentary highlights brave conversations and public service
A woman sitting in a red chair with her legs crossed next to another woman standing at her left shoulder
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Nina Miolane, seated, and Haewon Jeong, standing, are co-directors, with colleague Yao Qin, of the Real AI initiative launched at UCSB in 2026.

Powerhouse UCSB team awarded big grant to investigate mathematical foundations of AI
Jigna Desai and Sameer Pandya
Photo Credit
Jeff Liang
Jigna Desai, left, and Sameer Pandya, right, will co-lead a new South Asian American studies center

UCSB secures gift to launch a South Asian American studies center
A floating weather station buoy.
Photo Credit
Liveslow via iStock
With ever more ocean data available to researchers and resource managers, the task of finding and organizing it has become a task in its own right.

A new tool makes mapping the ocean easier
sunlight shines through a swimming jellyfish
Photo Credit
iStock

Adaptive molecular convergence more common than previously thought
Storm clouds gather over the ocean.
Photo Credit
Photo by Daniel Lerman on Unsplash
Strong storms and higher seas from El Niño exacerbate winter hazards in Southern California.

Understanding the causes and impacts of 2026’s record-breaking El Niño
illustration of a brain blood clot
Photo Credit
istock

Brain surgery by autonomous robot? It’s possible — and could save lives
An arial view of Campus Point looking toward the university and the mountains behind it.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
UCSB’s privileged position on the coast places it in the vanguard of climate adaptation.

UCSB seeks community input as the university plans for sea-level rise
A partially blurred image of four men posed on a rooftop holding a large colorful light
Photo Credit
Jay Blakeserg
Beloved alumni jam band ALO features Zach Gill ’97, Dan Lebowitz ’98, Steve Adams ’99 and Ezra Lipp

UCSB’s GauchoFest invites community to campus for a day of celebration
color photograph of art students working on a mural
Photo Credit
Yumiko Glover
UCSB ART 100 students working on the Lane Room Mural, summer 2026

Student artists produce themed mural for Department of Political Science
Elephant bones lay scattered around a bare patch on the African savanna with mountains in the background.
Photo Credit
Courtney Reed
An elephant transforms the spot where it dies, with a legacy that lasts long after the body is gone and the bones are scattered.

Elephants continue to shape the savanna even after death
A UCSB student stands at a whiteboard and works on an equation while consulting her computer
Photo Credit
Matt Perko

UC Santa Barbara taking a ‘base camp’ approach to artificial intelligence
A woman in a cloak and with snakes for hair sings on a blackened stage
Photo Credit
Luca Meyers
In their new musical, 'A Legacy of Stone,' student-run Shrunken Heads Production Company explore how Medusa became a symbol of female rage.

Student theater company offers new view of Medusa with musical, ‘A Legacy of Stone’
A tractor sprays fertilizer or pesticides on a green field.
Photo Credit
MaYcaL via iStock
Synthetic fertilizer has increased the amount of nitrogen compounds in the biosphere, compounds that must be converted by microbes back into nitrogen gas.

A rare atomic fingerprint reveals how ecosystems clean nitrogen pollution
Black-and-white portrait of a woman with long hair leaning against a wall and looking over her shoulder towards a tree
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
Heidi Amin-Hong

Refugee studies meets environmental justice in new special journal issue
photo of Tsimane people, left, and photo of Hadza people, right
Photo Credit
Michael Gurven; iStock
Though separated by an ocean for millennia, the rural Tsimané of lowland Bolivia, left, and Hadza people of Tanzania, right, share a remarkable number of gut microbiome species, many of which have disappeared from the microbiomes of people in urbanized societies

Microbiome study reveals ancient gut connections between Africa and South America
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