The city of Santa Cruz, situated on picturesque Monterey Bay 30 miles south of the San Jose Airport, is renowned for its mild climate and outdoor recreational activities. Santa Cruz has been called "the quintessential California beach town," with its seaside amusement park and historic surfing tradition.
The University of California, Santa Cruz is a public collegiate university with strong emphasis on undergraduate education and world-class research. From its beginnings in 1965, UCSC has grown to approximately 17,000 students, including one of the largest undergraduate physics programs in the country. The campus is perched at the edge of a coastal redwood forest that extends into the Santa Cruz Mountains.