SCIPP Researchers Elected to Lead Large International Collaborations in Astrophysics

SCIPP researchers Amy Furniss and Tesla Jeltema have been elected to leadership positions in the VERITAS and DESC collaborations, respectively. Furniss, a new Associate Teaching Professor in the Physics Department, will serve as spokesperson for the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS), a high-energy gamma-ray observatory with approximately 100 collaborators. VERITAS is made […]


Shiva Abbaszadeh receives $3.7M grant from DOE for Energy Earthshot Initiative

Earlier this year, SCIPP faculty member Shiva Abbaszadeh (Electrical and Computer Engineering) won a three-year $3.7M Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Earthshot award with a proposal to resolve the paradox of rhizosphere effect on soil carbon cycle. Abbaszadeh’s proposal “addresses the core mission of the Energy Earthshot by understanding how plant roots affect soil organic […]



Altmannshofer and Haber named Outstanding Referees by APS

Congratulations to SCIPP faculty Wolfgang Altmannshofer and Howard Haber for being honored as Outstanding Referees by the Americal Physical Society. The Outstanding Referees Program recognizes scientists based on their manuscript review reports for the APS journals over the course of a career. Fewer than 0.2% of APS members are recognized each year. Michael Dine was named Outstanding […]


Graduate Division Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award for Giordon Stark and others

UC Santa Cruz strives to promote postdoctoral scholars that embody the mission and high standards of this university. This award recognizes postdoctoral scholars who show excellence in one or more of the following: exceptional research and/or creative activities, leadership, mentorship, and service. Postdoctoral scholars are individuals who have recently completed a doctoral degree and, under […]


NERSC AY 2022 DOE Mission Science Allocation Award

Two astrophysics research groups that SCIPP senior member Joel Primack leads received major awards of supercomputer time from the DOE-funded National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  The computing these groups are doing at NERSC simulates galaxy formation in the context of the modern standard LambdaCDM theory of cosmology, dark […]


SCIPPer Steve Ritz is now the Rubin Observatory Project Scientist

See below text or click here for article on webpage. Dear Colleagues, Since my appointment as Director of Rubin Construction I’ve been working with the team to set up further appointments in the Director’s office (pending formal NSF approval). For the position of Deputy Director for Rubin Construction for AURA/NSF I am honored to announce […]




Congratulations to the 2021 Deans’ and Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Award winners in SCIPP!

DEANS’ UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS:  Dean’s Awards are granted to fifty of the most excellent undergraduate research theses or projects (ten from each academic division) completed at UCSC during the academic year. Each Dean’s award project will receive $100 for outstanding achievement in their division. CHANCELLOR’S UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS:  Fifteen Chancellor’s Awards are granted to the most outstanding […]




Please join us in welcoming Professor Tesla Jeltema as the new SCIPP Associate Director!

Tesla’s research experience in astrophysics and her leadership in international collaborations will be important as a number of astronomical survey projects ramp up. She will also focus on strengthening our SCIPP outreach and mentoring activities. Please welcome Tesla to this new role.