UC Santa Cruz faculty have made significant contributions to the body of research that has earned the University of California the ranking as the foremost public research institution in the world. UCSC has earned national recognition again and again for the quality of its research and teaching. |
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 A survey of master's degrees awarded by U.S. engineering schools shows that the University of California, Santa Cruz, ranks third in the percentage of degrees awarded to women. Of the master's degrees awarded by UCSC's Baskin School of Engineering in 2004-05, 44.2 percent went to women.
UCSC ranked 11th in the nation among public universities for the quality of its research productivity in The Rise of American Research Universities: Elites and Challengers in the Postwar Era, by Hugh Graham and Nancy Diamond.
UCSC ranked 1st in the nation among public universities in the Social Sciences in the quality of research productivity, according to the Graham and Diamond publication mentioned above.
UCSC ranked 6th in the Arts and Humanities index of the same Graham and Diamond publication.
UCSC ranked 1st in the nation for its academic research impact in the field of space sciences, according to an analysis conducted by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 2003.
UCSC ranked as the 2nd most influential research institution in the world in the physical sciences, according to a 2001 ISI report.
More Rankings and Distinctions
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The mission of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (the Center) is to research, develop, and advance sustainable food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sound, economically viable, socially responsible, nonexploitative, and that serve as a foundation for future generations.
Today's agriculture and food systems are extraordinarly productive, but in the long run may not be sustainable. They have created tremendous pressure on natural resources and surrounding natural habitats, as well as compromising the economic health of rural communties, the food security of economically disadvantaged citizens, and the well-being of many of those who grow and harvest our food.
Through our research, education, and outreach programs, the Center works to create agriculture and food systems that sustain both human communities and the environments in which they live. The growing public and academic interest in sustainable agriculture, organic food, resource-conserving farming techniques, and issues of social justice underscores the need for the type of work conducted by Center staff, faculty, and students. |
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Lick Observatory is a leading astronomical research observatory with a long and disitnguished history. Since its founding in 1888 Lick has been part of the University of California, an institution which, since Lick's early days, has grown from a single campus with a handful of students to ten campuses, three national laboratories, and more than 180,000 students.
The Observatory has grown along with the university, keeping pace with - and contributing to - the enormous advances in astronomy over the last century. Today, Lick continues as a world-class research institution, a leader in the development of new instruments and observing techniques, and an active center for teaching.
Lick Observatory is located on 4200' Mt. Hamilton in the Diablo Range, east of San Jose, California. Largest among its nine research-grade telescopes is the Shane 3-meter Reflector, active since 1960. The 3-meter is in operation every clear night of the year, used by many different astronomers from within the UC system for a variety of projects ranging from observations of our solar system to distant galaxies. UC astronomers, using the telescopes on Mt. Hamilton have contributed to virtually every area of optical and infrared astronomy. |
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From a remote outpost on the summit of Hawaii's dormant Mauna Kea volcano, astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory probe the deepest regions of the Universe with unprecedented power and precision.
Their instruments are the twin Keck Telescopes, the world's largest optical and infrared telescopes. Each stands eight stories tall and weighs 300 tons, yet operates with nanometer precision. At the heart of each Keck Telescope is a revolutionary primary mirror. Ten meters in diameter, the mirror is composed of 36 hexagonal segments that work in concert as a single piece of reflective glass.
Made possible through grants totaling more than $140 million from the W. M. Keck Foundation, the Observatory is operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy (CARA), whose Board of Directors includes representatives from the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. In 1996, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) joined as a partner in the Observatory. The Keck I telescope began science observations in May 1993; Keck II began in October 1996.
Keck's capabilities make full use of Mauna Kea's research potential. Surrounded by thousands of miles of relatively thermally stable ocean, the 13,796-foot Mauna Kea summit has no nearby mountain ranges to roil the upper atmosphere or throw light-reflecting dust into the air. Few city lights pollute its extremely dark skies. For most of the year, the atmosphere above Mauna Kea is clear, calm and dry. |
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The UCSC University Library, founded in 1965, is both the smallest general library in the University of California system and the largest research library between Stanford and Santa Barbara. Our relative youth and manageable size have allowed us to grow responsively with the campus and its programs and to innovate and adapt with agility to new information technologies.
We share with other academic libraries a commitment to intellectual freedom and the widest possible access to information. This commitment is reflected in our open stacks, our active Inter Library Loan service, our online catalog, and our robust Web site linked efficiently to other sites and databases.We have mutually beneficial partnerships with libraries at other University of California campuses, local California State Universities, community colleges, and public libraries. Our active participation in the California Digital Library promises to enhance this collaboration to a new level.
We have already developed a distinctive identity both in our interdisciplinary collections, and through our profound commitment to service, outreach and library use instruction, especially to undergraduates. The high quality of these services depends on an outstanding staff, which, because of its relatively small size, is versatile, broad and deep in its subject and technical expertise. Our size allows us to be directly and personally responsive to donors, whose gifts and endowments have a more obvious positive impact on our collections than they would on larger libraries.
The library's collections and services will soon outgrow the buildings which currently house them. The next phase of architectural expansion will be consistent with the values which informed the existing structures: the creation of new space to foster scholarship in an environment of unrivaled natural beauty. |
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Long Marine Laboratory (LML) is an oceanside research facility located on a coastal site overlooking Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The lab provides facilities for scientists who require running seawater, large marine mammal pools, and seawater labs to conduct their research. The close proximity of the lab permits ease of integration of activities with the campus' instructional and research activities.
Approximately 100 UC Santa Cruz faculty, researchers, graduate students, and support staff have permanent space here. In addition, a number of undergraduate and graduate-level courses are taught onsite, and several visiting scientists are accommodated each year.
Long Marine Laboratory is known throughout the marine research community for innovative marine mammal research in areas such as diving physiology, physiological ecology, bioacoustics, and cognition. Active research at the lab is also conducted in the areas of nearshore invertebrate marine biology, ecology, and issues surrounding ocean health. Available facilities includes:
- Outdoor seawater pools and pens for holding pinnipeds, sea otters, and small cetaceans
- Seawater laboratories for fish, plankton, and marine invertebrates
- Radioisotope labs
- Culture lab for fish and marine invertebrate larvae and juveniles
- Controlled photoperiod labs
- Plankton culture labs
- Research scuba-diving facility and small boat staging area
- Meteorological station
- Remote sensing surface current station (CODAR) in cooperation with NOAA
- 1,000-gallon-per-minute seawater delivery system, wet and dry labs, and staff support
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The University of California is testing new Google software that will allow greater access to digitized content available online.
The new software will allow UC's California Digital Library to embed online access to the mass digitized content from within Melvyl, the university's systemwide catalog, significantly enhancing a user's ability to evaluate the content and access it. Users can see reviews, snippets, tables of contents or the entire scanned book. This saves time and eliminates the need to go to Google Book Search to do research.
The new prototype is an exciting opportunity for CDL because it allows UC to integrate Google Book Search directly into Melvyl. With the new prototype version of Melvyl, users will be able to freely view, browse and read UC's public domain books, including many of the treasures in the libraries' historic and special collections, as well as any books digitized by Google's wide array of partners.
For books protected by copyright, users will see basic background (such as the book's title and the author's name), information about where they can borrow or buy the book, and will be able to search within the book to evaluate it. For books without copyright restrictions, users can view and download the entire book. In some cases, there is extended information available about the book such as reviews, references from Web pages and maps of places mentioned in the book.
The Melvyl prototype test will run several months, and if successful, will become a regular part of Melvyl. Anyone using the Melvyl prototype will have access to the digitized content featuring hundreds of thousands of books that UC has provided to Google, as well as those from other content provider partners. |
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