With a new NSF award, computer science associate professor Prabhanjan Ananth will study the foundations of quantum computing as a cryptographic tool.
UCSB — The Current — ‘Could quantum computers protect privacy and security?’ and more news, events
Category: Technology
Bilingual report — City of Santa Paula — Flock Safety acknowledges inadvertent Accesses by out of state law enforcement agencies
SANTA PAULA — Flock Safety, the provider of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) to law enforcement, has announced, through audit logs within their ALPR platform, it has confirmed access by out of state law enforcement for a period of time. As a result, Ventura County Law enforcement agencies, including the Santa Paula Police Department, had their ALPR networks inadvertently accessible by out of state law enforcement agencies. Flock Safety has accepted accountability and implemented plans to address the issue.
UCSB — The Current — ‘Hair-width LEDs could replace lasers — and a UCSB doctoral student is helping make it happen’ and more news, events
New research co-authored by Roark Chao demonstrates a new micro–light-emitting diode design that improves both efficiency and beam directionality.
UCSB — The Current — UCSB historian (Mario T. García) publishes testimonio of consequential Chicano artist Rupert García
The book by Mario T. García, a distinguished professor of Chicano/a studies and of history, is the first comprehensive text on Rupert García’s life and art.
UCSB — ‘UCSB among the world’s most influential research universities for science impact’ and more news, events
The campus ranks first among U.S. public universities, third among all U.S. institutions and seventh worldwide for scientific impact.
Moorpark College launches new bachelor’s degree in applied cyberdefense and network operations
The new applied bachelor’s degree program was designed in close collaboration with regional employers and public-sector partners to address growing demand for skilled cybersecurity and network operations professionals. Graduates will be prepared for high-wage, high-demand roles securing critical infrastructure, defense, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and emerging technologies across Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.
UCSB — The Current — ‘Faculty Research Lecturer Alan Liu ponders ‘good’ knowledge in the age of AI’ and more news, events
The English professor discusses how AI judgement, good or bad, can reflect knowledge and social values when implemented in our personal, work and public life.
CSUCI announces new fully online bachelor of science in computer science
CAMARILLO — California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) is launching a fully online Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Degree Completion Program, expanding access to a high-demand, high-growth field. The new program is designed for working adults and transfer students seeking a flexible path to a four-year degree. Applications are open with the first cohort beginning in Fall 2026.
The online program complements CSUCI’s on-campus Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and offers the same academic rigor, faculty expertise, and industry relevance. As a degree-completion program, it is intended for students who have already completed lower-division coursework—typically 60 or more transferable units or an associate degree.
UCSB — The Current — Scientists create a system for tracking underwater blackouts and more news, events
Marine science professor Bob Miller helped create the first framework to identify and compare marine blackouts, which can severely impact kelp forests, seagrass beds and other light-dependent marine life.
UCSB — The Current — ‘$750,000 Schmidt Sciences grant uses AI to transform Black press archives’ and more news, events
While searching for exoplanets, scientists observe the first-ever impacts between large objects in a nearby star system.
Read more about the discovery
UCSB — The Current — ‘NIH backs UCSB virtual reality project to help older adults build real social connections’ and more news, events
The $3.8 million grant supports professors Tamara Afifi and Nancy Collins in their research goals: extending lifespan and improving quality of life.
UCSB — The Current — ‘UCSB physicists accept Nobel Prizes in Sweden’ and more news, events
In a ceremony full of splendor, music and admiration, professors Michel Devoret and John Martinis, alongside their mentor, UC Berkeley physicist John Clarke, on Dec. 10 officially received their Nobel Prizes from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Bilingual report — County of Ventura receives national 2025 IT Excellence Award
VENTURA — The County of Ventura has been recognized with a 2025 Information Technology Excellence Award by Info-Tech Research Group, a national organization that highlights advancements in information technology governance, operations and service delivery across the public and private sectors.
UCSB — The Current — “In ‘Digital Exhaustion,’ Paul Leonardi shares how to make technology work for you” and more news, events
Leonardi’s new book focuses on how people use innovative tools to organize more effectively, increase efficiency and improve knowledge sharing within organizations.
Economic Development Collaborative (EDC) free event and webinar schedule
IN-PERSON EVENT: AI UNLOCKED: SHAPING THE FUTURE
November 7 @ 12:30 pm
Join the Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Economic Development Collaborative to learn about how Santa Barbara County businesses are expanding the AI frontier, creating both challenges and opportunities for the workforce.
Bilingual commentary — AI: My Expert Helper
In the ancient past, up to around the end of 2022, I used to grapple with complex technical issues (for me, anyway) as I pursued some of my projects. When I first started building websites, for example, I often found myself stumped by some of the technical barriers that kept emerging in front of me.
When confronted with an intractable problem that appeared insurmountable, I found myself hunting for web pages that would illuminate me and provide the answers I was looking for. Sometimes I succeeded in ferreting out a solution to a dilemma that would sometimes take days to resolve because I often didn’t even know quite what to search for.
The Current — ‘UCSB-designed soft robot intubation device could save lives’ and more news, events
The innovative tool, designed specifically for non-expert users, improves airway access and raises survival odds in critical medical emergencies.
Bilingual commentary — The AI Arms Race in the Job Market
In the 1970s, in a more prosperous country, company “headhunters” were pursuing us even before we graduated from college. Sometimes we ended up with several job offers. Our “dilemma” was having to choose from among them.
I sympathize with today’s college graduates. Today, untold numbers of graduates are experiencing a superabundance of frustration as they submit, sometimes literally, hundreds of their résumés online to a wide range of companies.
Unite to Light to deploy innovative solar powerpoles in eight Santa Barbara Community resilience projects
SANTA BARBARA — From powering tsunami warning systems to supporting 24/7 food pantries, Unite To Light is pleased to announce eight new PowerPole installations which are set to transform how Santa Barbara County communities access reliable, renewable energy. Through a unique partnership with the James S. Bower Foundation and local battery tech startup Dragon Q Energy, the PowerPole is a compact, solar-integrated, off-grid solution providing electricity, battery storage, and internet connectivity, even in the harshest conditions.
UCSB — The Current — ‘University of California Annual Commitment to Address Discrimination and Harassment’ and more information
UCSB — The Current — ‘Some young suns are aligned with their planet-forming disks, others are born tilted’ and more news, events
“All young stars have these disks, but we’ve known little about their orientations with respect to the spin axis of the host stars,” said associate physics professor Brendan Bowler, senior author of a study published in Nature.
Farm Bureau of Ventura County — Have you registered to attend 2025 Agri-Tech Fair on Sept. 23
Have You Registered To Attend? Our 2025 Ventura County Agri-Tech Fair is just over a month away. It will take place on September 23, 2025, at The Holiday Inn North Oxnard (formerly the Marriott). The VC Agri-Tech Fair is the…
UCSB — The Current — ‘Both flexibility and persistence make some birds successful in human-made environments’ and more news, events
Corina Logan and her team tease apart the role of behavioral flexibility in great-tailed grackles’ ability to flourish in human-made environments.
Pacific Coast Business Times — 805 Tech Sponsored by SAALEX
Umbra is preparing to hire more people in Goleta as the company opened its new 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in June.
CLU — Center for Economics of Social Issues Latest Update
The Center for Economics of Social Issues at Cal Lutheran has fully updated its database with the most recent available data. This essential resource provides support to researchers, policymakers, nonprofits and government agencies in gaining a better understanding of the economic and social environment of Ventura County. The database includes information at a state and national levels, as well as Ventura County across its cities and zip codes.
UCSB — The Current — ‘College of Engineering named for former dean, Robert Mehrabian’ and more news, events
Mehrabian, who served as the fourth engineering dean at UCSB from 1983-1990, was responsible for major growth and advancement of the relatively young college during his tenure.
UCSB — The Current — ‘Mapping space: Largest map of the universe announced’ and more news, events
The COSMOS project, with data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope, consists of all the imaging and a catalog of nearly 800,000 galaxies spanning nearly all of cosmic time.
UCSB — The Current — ALL-VIDEO EDITION: Press Play on Our Research Rewind
Restoring Dunes to Protect Shores
Marine Science Institute researchers have found that restored dunes at Santa Monica Beach can help protect that section of California’s coast from the severe storms and sea-level rise that come with a warming ocean.
Watch to learn about dune restoration
UCSB — The Current — UCSB to host second annual AI Spring Symposium and more news, events
The virtual sessions, which are open to anyone, will tackle topics like chatbots, AI in clinical medical practice and college students’ use of ChatGPT.
Bilingual report — Allan Hancock College sparks conversation on future of AI at summit
SANTA MARIA — Allan Hancock College welcomed more than 200 students, educators, industry leaders and community members to its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit on April 18 at the college’s Santa Maria campus.
The event, a first of its kind for the college, brought together experts from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, LinkedIn, Cal Poly, Moorpark College, Berkeley College and Hancock for a day of engaging discussions, keynote presentations, breakout sessions and panel conversations. Topics included AI trends, practical applications, ethical considerations and how artificial intelligence is reshaping education, employment, and everyday life.
UCSB — The Current — Giovanni Batz wins book prize for ‘The Fourth Invasion’ for more news, events
Distilling more than a decade of ethnographic research, the book examines ongoing resource exploitation in Guatemala by multinational corporations that fund and operate hydroelectric projects.
Read more about the “invasion”
UCSB — The Current — ‘Award-winning documentary explores the unfinished tale of DDT’ and more news, events
The film details Professor David Valentine’s discovery and investigation, with Los Angeles Times reporter Rosanna Xia, of toxic waste dumping off the Southern California coast.
Read more about “Out of Plain Sight”
Guest contribution — Telecommunications company Bludog Telecom expands reach with purchase of Northwest Telecoms Systems
Bludog Telecom provides Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP phone systems to businesses. These systems are a modern and reliable way for companies to communicate with customers while saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars compared to traditional business phone services. Additional communications tools such as text messaging, voicemail and video conferencing can be integrated into the system and presented using a single, streamlined interface. Known as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), these integrated communications systems allow businesses to manage a variety of customer interactions all in one place.
Tracy Bennett to address Growing Screen Addiction & Cyber Dangers
“In 30 years of clinical practice, I’ve seen childhood change dramatically due to screen time. With kids spending more time in online neighborhoods than offline neighborhoods, digital injuries increasingly contribute to child distress,” said Dr. Bennet. “The key to prevention is awareness, information, and a strong parent-child connection. That’s the mission behind GetKidsInternetSafe. I’m so grateful to community leaders like Ventura Charter School for supporting their families during difficult times.”
The California State University Announces Landmark Public-Private Initiative That Will Make It The Nation’s First and Largest AI-Powered University System
LONG BEACH — The California State University (CSU), the largest and most diverse public four-year university in the country, announced (on Feb. 5) a first-of-its-kind public-private initiative with some of the world’s leading tech companies, including Adobe, Alphabet (Google), AWS, IBM, Instructure, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom that will leverage the power of artificial intelligence to create an AI-powered higher education system that could surpass any existing model in both scale and impact.
The CSU’s unprecedented adoption of AI technologies will make trainings, learning, and teaching tools—including ChatGPT—available across all 23 CSU universities, ensuring that the system’s more than 460,000 students and 63,000 faculty and staff have equitable access to cutting-edge tools that will prepare them to meet the rapidly changing education and workforce needs of California. The CSU expects to make these tools available within the next few weeks.
County of Ventura District 2 Supervisor Jeff Gorell — Ventura County Board of Supervisors Vote Unanimously to Partner with Local Senator Henry Stern to Advance Utility Accountability, Disaster Relief and Public Safety Legislation in Sacramento
VENTURA — The Ventura County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a series of legislative sponsorships aimed at improving utility accountability, enhancing public safety, and expanding disaster recovery assistance for residents. Patrick Maynard, Director of the Office of Emergency Services, emphasized…
UCSB — The Current — ‘Leah Stokes receives the prestigious Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication’ and more news, events
The associate professor, an expert in energy, climate and environmental politics, was recognized for her exceptional contributions and public engagement.
UCSB — The Current — ‘Sara Miller McCune Arts Library opens for study, research and learning resources’ and more news, events
Culminating a multiyear effort to unite library collections and services in a central, state-of-the-art space, the newly opened facility also represents the vision of its namesake, a longstanding donor to campus
Free, online “Fearless Femme Summit” from Feb 3 to 6 offers career-boosting advice for women in STEM
SANTA BARBARA — More women than ever are working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, but they’re still vastly outnumbered by men. For many women professionals that can lead to a feeling of isolation, as well as problems with discrimination, unconscious bias and a lack of role models and support.
Leadership coach Mary Jean Vignone, Ph.D., aims to change that. From Feb. 3 to 6 she will be hosting the second annual “Fearless Femme Summit: Propel Your Career in STEM” The free event, which will be held entirely online from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day, is designed to help women in STEM reach new heights in their careers and become authentic leaders.
Registration is open to STEM professionals, students and the public at no cost by signing up at www.fearlessfemmesummit.com. Participants can also sign up for a paid group coaching program and individualized emotional intelligence assessments that include free access to Fearless Femme Summit speaker videos.
Allan Hancock College cybersecurity grant to enhance digital resilience
“We are honored to receive this grant and are committed to enhancing our cybersecurity infrastructure to safeguard the college’s digital resources and the data of our students and community,” said Allan Hancock College Superintendent/President Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.D. “This funding will play a vital role in strengthening our defenses against evolving cyber threats.”