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  • California physicist and Nobel laureate John Martinis won’t quit on quantum computers

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    A California physicist and Nobel laureate who laid the foundation for quantum computing isn’t done working.

    For the last 40 years, John Martinis has worked — mostly within California — to create the fastest computers ever built.

    “It’s kind of my professional dream to do this by the time I’m really too old to retire. I should retire now, but I’m not doing that,” the now 67-year-old said.

    Born and raised in San Pedro, Martinis said his California high school teachers influenced him to pursue his career. A physics teacher got him interested in the topic, he said, and a math teacher taught him rigor, work ethic and organization.

    “I think before then I’d just write down the solution” rather than showing his process, he joked in an interview with The Times.

    As an undergraduate senior at UC Berkeley in the 1980s, he met John Clarke, a British physicist and professor who would become his graduate advisor and Michel Devoret, a French physicist who worked with him as a postdoctoral researcher.

    John Clarke, right, a professor emeritus of physics, looks on during a celebration at UC Berkeley on Oct. 7, 2025, after he and fellow physicists Michel Devoret and John Martinis were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics for their work on quantum tunneling.

    (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

    “This was a fantastic experience, to be mentored by two wonderful people,” he said during a news conference Tuesday at UC Santa Barbara, where he works as a professor. “I learned so much from them that, through my whole career, I was kind of trying to re-create that spirit that we had in there.”

    Martinis was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in physics, alongside Clarke and Devoret, for his doctoral project, a series of experiments in the mid-1980s that proved quantum tunneling was possible with large objects, which became the basis for the development of quantum computers as well as much of the current research in that field.

    Both Clarke and Devoret are based in the U.S. and associated with the University of California system — Clarke as a professor emeritus at Berkeley and Devoret as a professor at UC Santa Barbara.

    “I loved Berkeley. It was great to be taught by these really amazing professors,” Martinis said, noting the university’s cutting-edge facilities that supported the experiments. “As a student, I could focus on just being a good scientist.”

    Martinis went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship in France, then returned stateside to Boulder, Colo., where he worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a U.S. government lab. In 2008 he moved back to California to work at UC Santa Barbara as a professor, and in 2014, Google hired him and Devoret to create an experimental quantum processor faster than any human supercomputer — which his team completed five years later.

    “It really was all this basic research we did for decades that enabled this to happen and enabled us to have a vision … to build this thing,” Martinis said.

    He chose UC Santa Barbara as a workplace not just because of the great location and weather, but also for its advanced facilities and community. Researchers from other disciplines — such as engineers and materials scientists who build semiconductors — are able to freely communicate and collaborate with his team.

    “Working with talented and friendly people at the university is really special,” he said. “You can actually get things done.”

    Martinis said he has enjoyed hearing back from former students who have reached out to celebrate his award. Speaking to students years after they take his classes and grasp the effect on their lives has been refreshing. His work over the years has spawned an industry that created thousands of well-paying jobs for people across the country, he said.

    He praised the UC system for its culture and collaboration with the private sector and government, but said that research and development for quantum computers in the U.S. must urgently speed up if we expect to see it in our lifetimes.

    After leaving Google in 2020, Martinis co-founded his private company, QoLab, in 2022 with a belief that advanced semiconductor chips are the path to achieving usable quantum computers. The company has begun collaborating with other startup companies and academic groups involved in semiconductor production, he said.

    “I think this collaborative model is going to be more fruitful because we really get a lot of interesting ideas,” Martinis said. “We have a lot to catch up on. But it’s a very good atmosphere to invent things.”

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • This California university, home of many Nobel laureates, topped 2025 party school list

    This California university, home of many Nobel laureates, topped 2025 party school list

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    A California university that’s home to a number of Nobel laureates has also gained the distinction of being the top party school in the United States, according to a recent ranking.

    UC Santa Barbara took the top spot in a list of party schools in the U.S. for 2025, released by Niche, an education research and ranking site.

    To calculate the rankings, Niche — which uses a database of nearly 500,000 student college reviews — factored in student surveys on the party scene, access to bars, athletics grade, Greek life grade and access to restaurants.

    Reviews from current and former students describe the university as “combining academic rigor with a laid-back coastal lifestyle” and praised the “vibrant student community.” More than half a dozen Nobel Prize winners in economics, physics and chemistry — including David Card, Alan J. Heeger, Herbert Kroemer and Shuji Nakamura — have taught at UC Santa Barbara over the years.

    “I used to be an over the top party guy but living in Santa Barbara/Isla Vista helped me form new healthy outdoor habits while learning out how to be more responsible,” one student wrote. “There are so many activities you can partake in around town and on campus that is not partying … It is literally heaven on earth for an 18-21 year old as long as you don’t overdo it.”

    But one person, who described themselves as the parent of an alum, rated the university only two stars, complaining that students “party all day.”

    “College kids party, but UCSB is out of control,” the person wrote.

    One of the best-known party events is “Deltopia,” an unsanctioned spring break party that unfolds in April. The party, made popular among UC Santa Barbara students who live in Isla Vista near the campus, was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed in 2022, resulting in multiple arrests and citations during the weekend-long event.

    In 2014, more than 20,000 people were estimated to have attended Deltopia, which devolved into a riot resulting in dozens of injuries and more than 100 arrests. The UC Santa Barbara student association at the time issued a statement saying that “The ‘wild party’ stereotype and image exists because we, the students, allow it to exist.”

    This year and last year, Santa Barbara County officials closed the beaches in Isla Vista in anticipation of Deltopia. Last year more than 150 people were issued citations, while 23 people were arrested.

    The most recent Deltopia marked the most citations issued in the history of the event at 256, according to The Daily Nexus, a campus newspaper.

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    Brittny Mejia

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  • Pro-Palestinian protests grow at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara

    Pro-Palestinian protests grow at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara

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    Pro-Palestinian protests grew Thursday at California colleges and universities, including a new encampment at UCLA and demonstrations at UC Santa Barbara, a day after police in riot gear arrested 93 protesters at USC.

    Fallout over the Israel-Hamas war grew Thursday as USC announced that it would cancel its main stage commencement ceremony after more than a week of national controversy over its decision to pull a pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speaking slot from the May event that was expected to draw 65,000 attendees.

    The university cited new safety measures, saying that the “time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially.”

    Dozens of smaller graduation ceremonies and celebrations at USC will continue under a new ticket policy and security checks.

    At Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, the campus remained closed and classes shifted online, with pro-Palestinian students occupying multiple buildings since Monday night.

    And at UC Berkeley, 50 tents remained up by Sproul Hall, the historic home of the campus’ free speech movement. On their fourth day of a “Free Palestine Camp,” students called for the university to divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers tied to Israel.

    Tensions were high at USC, where the campus was rocked at the end of the semester by President Carol Folt’s decision to cancel the valedictorian’s speech and then a commencement address by film director Jon M. Chu, before calling off the main commencement altogether.

    An encampment that launched before sunrise Wednesday morning at Alumni Park grew to about 200 protesters — students, faculty and outsiders — before the late-night arrests by the LAPD. By Thursday morning, the encampment had been cleared, with campus security picking up the remaining tents and signs.

    On Thursday, the university fenced off the park — the site of the called-off commencement — to set up a brunch for 2024 graduates scheduled for Friday morning. There were no protesters and few signs of Wednesday’s unrest, besides chalk messages on nearby sidewalks in support of Palestinians.

    The campus remains closed to the public through weekend, and professors have moved classes online.

    “This is a series of poor decisions by USC, from banning the valedictorian to calling in police to arrest peaceful students,” said Luke, a USC sophomore who was arrested Wednesday night and released early Thursday morning. “I don’t know what this university thinks it’s doing, because none of it makes sense.”

    Luke did not share his last name because he said he was worried about his safety and repercussions to his enrollment at USC, where campus safety officers on Wednesday told students that they could face discipline for violating rules over camping and use of amplified sound.

    Amelia Jones, a professor at the Roski School of Art and Design who joined faculty in protesting on Wednesday, said there was a growing “lack of trust” at USC between the administration, faculty and students.

    “They just massively escalated by calling in LAPD,” she said.

    A Jewish community group condemned the USC protests, while a Muslim civil rights group condemned the arrests.

    “While students have a right to protest, they do not have the right to intimidate or threaten Jewish students,” said a statement from USC’s Hillel. “Today’s events on campus included a protest action that again employed antisemitic chants including ‘there is only one solution, intifada revolution’ and ‘long live the intifada.’ These actions reflect a disturbing and quickly escalating situation nationally and on our own campus at USC.”

    In another statement, the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke out against the arrests of peaceful protesters.

    “It is deeply concerning that USC’s response to students demonstrating peacefully in solidarity with Palestine is forcible suppression of free speech and assembly,” said CAIR-LA legal director Amr Shabaik. “This mirrors a nationwide trend of colleges and universities attempting to censor pro-Palestine advocacy on campuses.”

    At UCLA, about 100 students, faculty, staff and alumni occupied the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on Thursday with more than 20 tents surrounded by wooden pallets and protest signs.

    The effort was organized by UC Divest Coalition, which was made up of several student groups.

    Outside Royce Hall, students and others stood in line to check in before entering the encampment.

    Participants said they had seen minimal police presence — mostly officers passing by in squad cars.

    Marie Salem, 28, a graduate student studying public health, said the encampment is a community of people demanding a change from UC administrators.

    “It’s about our community realizing that we no longer can go to a university that is complicit in genocide, and we no longer can go to a university that is invested in this genocide of the Gazans,” Salem said.

    George Dutton, a professor of Asian language and cultures, said he and others wanted to observe the protest to ensure that students can safely practice their 1st Amendment rights.

    Dutton said it was “deeply disturbing” to see a large police presence on campuses across America this past week as students protest the war in Gaza.

    At UC Santa Barbara, hundreds occupied the student resources building Thursday for a daylong series of workshops, art projects and other actions to express solidarity with Palestinians, call for a cease-fire and demand an end to Israel-related investments.

    A few tents were set up inside the building, but no encampment is planned, said Bisnupriya Ghosh, a professor of English and global studies and member of Academics for Justice in Palestine. She added that no police were present, and the event was proceeding peacefully.

    “It’s centered around education about Israel-Palestine, as well as antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of racism and hate,” Ghosh said.

    Times staff writers Melissa Gomez, Jenny Jarvie and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.

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    Angie Orellana Hernandez, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Jenna Peterson, Jaweed Kaleem

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  • Opinion: Here’s one way to protect California’s beaches from rising seas: Stop messing with them

    Opinion: Here’s one way to protect California’s beaches from rising seas: Stop messing with them

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    Protecting our coasts from sea level rise is increasingly urgent, especially for densely populated coastal communities such as Southern California’s. Coastal flooding and beach erosion from rising seas and storms are far more than a threat; they’re already happening in many places in California and beyond. But new research suggests one relatively simple means of shoring up our beaches: leaving them alone.

    As I and my colleagues at UC Santa Barbara and our partner institutions showed in a recent paper, natural dune formation can help restore and adapt urban coasts to climate change. In fact, we found that natural processes can cause the sands to rise much faster than the seas.

    Our research began in 2016 with a partnership among the Los Angeles-based nonprofit the Bay Foundation, the city of Santa Monica and scientists from UC Santa Barbara to test the capacity of dune restoration to reduce coastal flooding. We envisioned allowing an urban shoreline to return to a more natural state after decades of frequent beach grooming.

    Beach grooming, which employs heavy equipment to rake sand, is a widespread practice used to collect trash, remove seaweed and flatten beaches to maintain views and accommodate recreation along urban shores. By altering natural processes such as plant growth and wind- and wave-driven accumulation of sand, grooming prevents dunes from forming on beaches with enough space to develop them.

    Without dunes, beaches are less resistant to erosion and more vulnerable to flooding driven by more intense storms and higher seas. Grooming also reduces habitat for wildlife, including threatened species such as the western snowy plover.

    After the crucial first step of extensive outreach for community input and securing approval for the demonstration project, we worked with the city, community groups, students and the public to fence off an approximately 3-acre section of Santa Monica Beach next to the Annenberg Community Beach House. The study site was protected from grooming and seeded with native dune plants.

    The sand fencing was left open along the ocean side so that people and wildlife could interact with the site and sand could drift in and out with the tides and wind. Interpretive signs and a central public access path enhanced viewing and provided information about the experiment in urban beach restoration. And other than some occasional hand weeding in the initial years, the site progressed naturally on its own without irrigation or any use of heavy equipment.

    The native coastal foredune plant species we seeded the site with, such as red sand verbena (Abronia maritima) and beach bur (Ambrosia chamissonis), are specialists at trapping and holding sand in place. As these plants grow, they act as living ecosystem engineers that trap small mounds of sand, grow on top of them, trap more sand and so forth. Over time, with sufficient sand and beach width, they promote the formation of dunes.

    Once the demonstration project was in place, we studied its effects over six years. What we found exceeded our expectations.

    Wind-driven sand began to accumulate naturally along the sand fences almost immediately. Native plants germinated quickly and spread gradually over time. And as the plants grew and spread, we saw additional sand accumulation and the formation of a small foredune ridge along the ocean edge of the project.

    By the sixth year of the study, the new dunes had risen to a height of more than 3 feet in many places. Overall, the site had accumulated more than 2,200 cubic yards of sand — enough to fill more than 200 large dump trucks. The dunes grew at more than 10 times the rate of sea level rise during the years of our study.

    Our project, the first of its kind in the region, highlights a nature-based adaptation that can enhance the resilience of beaches and coastal communities while conserving sandy ecosystems. Conducted without heavy machinery or other expensive equipment, it was also cost-effective compared with traditional methods of coastal defense, such as sea walls and coastal armoring. And it can be widely replicated by restricting grooming in areas with enough beach space and sand supply to promote dune formation.

    Many more small dune restoration projects are already being implemented throughout California. It’s time to begin scaling up these efforts across our coastlines. We can achieve a healthy balance between continuing to enjoy our beaches for recreation and shifting practices to promote more coastal resilience with thoughtful planning and engagement with all the affected interests. People, plants, plovers and protection can coexist on our beautiful California beaches.

    Karina Johnston is a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and the Marine Science Institute.

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    Karina Johnston

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