Cassie Cruz

May 8, 2025

From strawberry fields to the stars: UCSB alum Jose Hernández’s story

By Cassie Cruz

On Tuesday, April 29th, UCSB alum Jose Fernandez spoke about his long journey from the Central Valley to becoming a NASA astronaut in Campbell Hall.

April 29, 2025

Los teléfonos pueden estar “reconfigurando” nuestras vidas

By Cassie Cruz, Erick Ruvalcaba

“¡Es porque siempre estás en ese teléfono!” Estoy segura de que muchos estudiantes universitarios recuerdan haber escuchado eso en la secundaria, después de olvidar hacer sus tareas o sacar una mala calificación...

April 10, 2025

Spotlight: female UCSB alumni making strides in S.T.E.M

By Cassie Cruz

The following women are exceptional UC Santa Barbara alumni that have paved the pathway to empower future women and girls to pursue their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S.T.E.M.) aspirations.

March 16, 2025

OPINION: Phones may be “rewiring” our lives

By Cassie Cruz

Alongside an uptick in social media and phone usage in the early 2010s, the prevalence of loneliness has increased sharply among U.S. adolescents.

January 23, 2025

TikTok, time is up: to be banned or not to be banned?

By Cassie Cruz

News of the looming nationwide TikTok ban concerned many of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users. The nationwide ban was set to take place on Jan. 19 unless Tiktok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, sold TikTok’...

December 26, 2023

The Hunger Games 5: Does the songbird or the snake land on top?

By Cassie Cruz

Suzanne Collins’ fourth book in the Hunger Games franchise, titled “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” finally made it to theaters Friday, Nov. 17.

November 30, 2023

Simply Stated: Do we really have free will?

By Cassie Cruz, Cassandra Cavallo

When you decided to read the Science & Tech section of the Daily Nexus today, was it really a choice? Or is this action, and every action you have ever taken, predetermined? Hard determinists would say you never had ...

November 22, 2023

Celebrating National Drummer Day with Joel Vliestra

By Cassie Cruz

National Drummer Day takes place every year on Nov. 15, making it the perfect time to talk about why there is more to the art of drumming than meets the untrained ear.