Features | Spring/Summer 2022

Features | Spring/Summer 2022

In this issue, UC Santa Barbara Magazine embarks on a quest to cultivate optimism and action to bridge our social divisions and to heal our distress over harrowing predictions for our planet and a protracted pandemic. Our cover package, “Always Toward the Sun,” delves into this goal — and how to achieve it — over four topical, in-depth stories that, taken altogether, make a strong case for hope. Additional features highlight four alumni in professional sports, recent research from our faculty, local efforts on behalf of bees, the resurgence of book banning, and the push for more ethical technology.

Always Toward the Sun

How do we hope? Amid a seemingly endless cycle of strife and stress, optimism can feel unattainable. But it feels more imperative than ever that we reach for it. There's a beloved old line that inspired our title, and our exploration: "Keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you." With these stories, we seek a way forward to calm, connection, compassion and change.

stylized bee image

Bee Happy

Santa Barbara is buzzing with work to support, and save, native bee populations, whose status and fate are little understood.

book with blacked out words

For Real?

Book banning is unfortunately but undeniably resurgent, fueled by politically driven efforts from both the right and the left.

painter's palette and microscope icon

Art of Science

Can you see beauty in science? The winning images from the 2022 Art of Science competition are a feast for the eye and the mind.

circuit board illustration

The Ethics of Technology

With misinformation pervasive and transparency hard to find, there’s a push for technology fields across both industry and academia to root out bias and build in equity.

library books

Making a World of Difference

By illuminating both the past and the present, our discoveries and scholarship are paving the way toward a better future.

sports comic-book-style illustration

Gauchos Gone Pro

Four alumni athletes making their living in professional sports are enjoying a banner year in 2022, and reflecting on how they made it happen.


Spring / Summer 2022

Features


students enjoy the sunset at campus point

Always Toward the Sun

book with blacked out words

For Real?

circuit board illustration

The Ethics of Technology