Baskin Engineering at UCSC

Baskin Engineering is now on Bluesky! 💙 We’ll still be here 👋 but if you’re on Bluesky, come find us and give us a follow! bsky.app/profile/baskin… #Bluesky #BaskinEngineering

"Both of us have recently moved from denial to contemplation that AI will soon be in a position to replace us," says David Haussler, distinguished prof of biomolecular eng and J. Xavier Prochaska, prof of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. Via @mercnews: bayareane.ws/4sW5j4q

A team of scientists from #BaskinEngineering trained brain organoids to solve a well-known engineering benchmark — demonstrating the increasing complexity of lab-grown brains. Via @PopMech: bit.ly/4uo8bse

Goodbye single-use plastics!🌱Wonderfil, a startup by #BaskinEngineering alumna Shiloh Sacks (B.S. ’21, electrical engineering) and co-founder Amelia Eichel, makes it easy to refill soap products with self-serve dispensers. Via @LookoutSCruz: bit.ly/47qgkCE

“We’re trying to understand the fundamentals of how neurons can be adaptively tuned to solve problems,” said #BaskinEngineering grad student @ashashrobbins-part of a team at UCSC who taught brain organoids to solve a goal-directed task. Via @DiscoverMag: bit.ly/4uCeatV

🎉 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering grad student Eren Dogan (Ph.D. ’27, computer science and engineering), who was one of four @UofCalifornia students to receive the inaugural Costas John Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Award from the @citrisnews! bit.ly/4u4oNoO

🧠#BaskinEngineering researchers effectively coached organoids, tiny pieces of brain tissue grown in the lab, to solve the “cart-pole” problem—an engineering benchmark to measure how effective systems are at processing information. Via Futurism: bit.ly/4b4srGx

🧬A #pangenome can reveal the spectrum of genome variation within a species. The toolbox for working with pangenomes is filling up, thanks to #BaskinEngineering researchers Karen Miga, Benedict Paten, Russ Corbett-Detig, and more. Via @Nature Methods: go.nature.com/4spcbHb

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have trained brain organoids—tiny pieces of brain tissue grown in the lab—to solve the "inverted pendulum" or "cart-pole" problem, a fundamental benchmark used in robotics, control theory, and #AI. Via @NatlToday: bit.ly/4lahyYj

Want to take a break from video games, but still read about them? A new book on #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons by #BaskinEngineering Prof Noah Wardrip-Fruin dives into what made the game so popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. As seen in @guardian: bit.ly/3OKtc01

A new UC Santa Cruz study shows how visual-language #AI models that help control self-driving cars can be exploited or hijacked with carefully coded real-world commands—led by #BaskinEngineering researchers. Via @thedrive: bit.ly/40csTO2

“If we can figure out ways in which living neural networks compute so efficiently, we would have a big breakthrough in terms of trying to find and develop a better architecture for artificial computing,” said #BaskinEngineering Prof Tal Sharf. @undarkmag: bit.ly/408zE3r

UC Santa Cruz researchers trained brain organoids—lab-grown clusters of human brain cells—to solve a goal-directed task, boosting success rates from 4.5% to 46%. Led by #BaskinEngineering faculty. Via @gadgetreview: bit.ly/4slsSn1

Happy National #EngineersWeek! ✨ We're celebrating how engineering shapes the futures we imagine for ourselves—a mission our #BaskinEngineering faculty, students, and alumni contribute to every day. Explore this week's events and get involved: bit.ly/4anbYgm

Congrats to #BaskinEngineering Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Vanessa Jonsson on receiving a UCSC Innovation Catalyst grant—expanding development of a single single nasal swab test that can detect multiple #viral infections. Read on: bit.ly/4cHyRxE

Proud to see #BaskinEngineering alum @Jules_kadher launch @yourUSA_ai, an #AI-powered, web-based form-filling assistant designed to make immigration and government paperwork simpler, clearer, and less stressful. Via @BusinessInsider: bit.ly/4aJH8yL

🌎 #BaskinEngineering Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics Ashesh Chattopadhyay will build #AI models to project extreme Earth-system events with the support of the highly competitive Sloan Research Fellowship. Learn more: bit.ly/40f0UND

.@BaskinEng Dean Alexander Wolf is in Washington, D.C. with @uofcalifornia Engineering Deans advocating for federal investments that power innovation, research and student opportunity. Learn how engineers at @ucsc are driving discoveries in brain science. @CommunityUCSC #ASEE

Greenhouses can help feed a growing global population, but come with environmental costs. #BaskinEngineering Prof Katia Obraczka is developing tech to monitor greenhouse conditions with precision—reducing water/energy use and improving crop production. bit.ly/3OGkQ9y

🏆 Baskin Engineers made a HUGE splash at CruzHacks 2026, winning in sustainability, justice, and education projects! The event offers students the opportunity to design, build, and present original technology “hacks” for prizes equivalent to $500. bit.ly/4aCET1c

🏆 Congrats to #BaskinEngineering alumna Saumya Bhatnagar (M.S., Computer Science), named a Top 50 Woman Chief Product Officer of 2026! She’s also a @Forbes 30 Under 30 alum and one of @IBM's Top 100 Women in Tech. 👏 bit.ly/4qpRKs9