Research Impact

• In 2008, Science Watch reported that UC Santa Cruz achieved the highest score for the number of citations per high-impact paper in molecular biology and genetics.

• In the same edition of Science Watch, two of UCSC's biomolecular engineers — James Kent and David Haussler — were ranked 4th and 9th, respectively, among authors with the most high-impact papers in molecular biology and genetics.

• UC Santa Cruz ranked 1st in the nation for its research impact in physics and 5th nationally in the space sciences, according to Science Watch in 2007.

• In 2007, UC Santa Cruz ranked 3rd in the nation for scholarly productivity in environmental health engineering and music, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

• In 2007, UC Santa Cruz ranked as the 4th most productive institution in North America in conservation biology, according to Conservation Biology.

Faculty Honors and Awards

• In 2009, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Marcia McNutt, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, as director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and science adviser to the Secretary of the Interior.

• Sandra Faber, University Professor and Chair, Astronomy and Astrophysics, was awarded the 2009 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, which includes a gold medal and a cash prize of $250,000.

• In 2007, Harry Noller, Sinsheimer Professor of Molecular Biology, received the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, the most distinguished award in biomedical research in Germany.

• In 2006, David Haussler, professor of biomolecular engineering and director of UC Santa Cruz's Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, was elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, two of the most prestigious career laurels for scientists and engineers.

• The Cultural Association of Bengal honored associate professor of history Dilip Basu with a Distinguished Service Award in 2003 for his work preserving the classic Bengali films of Satyajit Ray.

• Associate professor of film and digital media Shelley Stamp was named one of two 2003 Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

College Guides, Surveys, and Magazines

• UC Santa Cruz was among 25 colleges featured in Newsweek Magazine's special fall 2009 college issue, which called the campus a place for "Overachievers Who Need to Stop and Look Around."

• UC Santa Cruz ranked 29th among public national doctoral universities in U.S. News & World Report’s ratings for 2010.

• UC Santa Cruz ranked 23rd in the nation for Hispanic students in 2005, according to HISPANIC Magazine.

• In 2004, UC Santa Cruz was one of the 30 American public universities to be ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide by the Times of London Higher Education Supplement.

• In a 2004 survey of 3,240 high-achieving high school students by the National Bureau of Economic Research, UC Santa Cruz ranked 16th among the country’s most desirable public colleges and universities.

• Outside magazine rated UC Santa Cruz as the number one college campus in its September, 2003 issue. The article stated that “UCSC’s academic strengths are as diverse as the town.”

Making a World of Difference

• UCSC placed 7th in Sierra magazine's 2009 "honor roll" of the top 10 greenest colleges in the nation. Sierra Magazine is the magazine of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest environmental nonprofit, with a readership of 1.2 million.

• In 2009, UC Santa Cruz ranked 2nd in the nation among mid-sized colleges and universities for its number of alumni who are serving as Peace Corps Volunteers.
  
  
• UCSC has won several awards for its innovative transportation programs, including a bike shuttle, vanpools, student bus passes, and the Zipcar carsharing program.

• Fifty-five percent of campus land is designated as protected natural landscape.

• Approximately 25% of produce served in dining halls is organic, with much of it coming from local providers, such as the Farm and Garden run by UCSC's Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS).

• UCSC has been recognized by the national environmental publication Plenty Magazine for having the "greenest" student dining among U.S. universities, thanks to innovative local, organic food sourcing and waste reduction programs.

• Campus energy efficiency projects completed since 2004 have lowered annual campus CO2 emissions by approximately 1,600 metric tons.