List of University of California, Santa Barbara faculty

This article lists notable faculty (past and present) of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by editing the page to add missing items, with references to reliable sources.

Nobel laureates

Main article: List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara

Current faculty

• Michel Devoret, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2025 ^[1]
• David Gross, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2004 ^[2]
• Alan Heeger, Nobel Prize recipient, Chemistry, 2000 ^[2]
• Finn Kydland, Nobel Prize recipient, Economics, 2004 ^[2]
• John M. Martinis, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2025 ^[3]
• Shuji Nakamura, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2014 ^[2]

Former faculty

• Edward C. Prescott, Nobel Prize recipient, Economics, 2004 ^[4]
• Walter Kohn, Nobel Prize recipient, Chemistry, 1998 ^[2]
• Herbert Kroemer, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2000 ^[2]
• John Robert Schrieffer, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 1972 ^[5]
• Frank Wilczek, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2004 ^[6]

Pulitzer Prize

• Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize for History recipient, 2013
• N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction recipient, 1969
• Jeffrey C. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction recipient, 2019

Anthropology

• James F. Brooks, historian, Native Americans
• Napoleon Chagnon, pioneer of biologically based interpretation of human reproductive and aggressive behavior ^[7]
• Brian Fagan ^[8]
• Garrett Hardin, Professor of Human Ecology from 1963 until his (nominal) retirement in 1978; most known for his papers "The Tragedy of the Commons" and "Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor"
• Stuart Tyson Smith, best known for his reconstruction of the ancient Egyptian language for the films Stargate and The Mummy ^[9]
• John Tooby, pioneer of evolutionary psychology ^[10]

Art

• Ann Bermingham, art historian
• Henri Dorra, art historian
• Kip Fulbeck ^[11]
• Gary Hugh Brown, Professor Emeritus of Art at UCSB (1966-2006)

Botany

• Katherine Esau

Chemical engineering

• Jacob Israelachvili ^[12]

Chemistry and biochemistry

• Thomas C. Bruice, coined the term "bio-organic chemistry", member of National Academy of Science ^[13]
• Craig Hawker ^[14]
• Bruce H. Lipshutz, professor, made significant contributions to copper catalyzed organic reactions ^[15]
• Ralph G. Pearson, Emeritus, coined the concepts of "hard" and "soft" for acids and bases ^{[16] [17]}
• Galen D. Stucky, early researcher in the field of materials chemistry ^[18]

Chicano studies

• Luis Leal
• Horacio Roque Ramírez ^[19]

Computer science

• Tao Yang ^[20]
• William Yang Wang, Mellichamp Professor of Mind and Machine Intelligence ^[21]

Counseling, clinical, and school psychology

• Shane R. Jimerson, 2003 co-recipient of the Lightner Witmer Award from the American Psychological Association; noted for his work in school psychology and traumatic stress ^[22]
• Tania Israel ^[23] expert in LGBTQ intervention research and dialogue across political disagreement

East Asian languages and cultural studies

• John Nathan ^[24]

Ecology, evolution, and marine biology

• Benjamin Halpern – marine biologist, ecologist, and 2016 A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences winner
• William W. Murdoch, population ecologist known for his research in population regulation and predator-prey relationships ^[25]

Electrical and computer engineering

• Lawrence Rabiner ^[26]
• Petar V. Kokotovic ^[27]

English

• Hugh Kenner, literary critic
• Shirley Geok-lin Lim, poet and literary scholar
• Marvin Mudrick, literary scholar

Feminist studies

• Leila Rupp
• Jacqueline Bobo
• Tania Israel ^[23] expert in LGBTQ intervention research and dialogue across political disagreement

Film and media studies

• Dick Hebdige ^[28]

Geography

• Reginald Golledge, pioneer in behavioral geography
• Michael Frank Goodchild, most known for work on GIS, or computer mapping ^[29]
• David Lopez-Carr
• Waldo R. Tobler, known for his first law of geography ^[30]

Geology

• Tanya Atwater, instrumental in the development of the theory of plate tectonics ^[31]
• Stanley Awramik
• Richard Virgil Fisher, volcanologist
• George R Tilton, pioneer in the measurement and application of isotopes to geology

Germanic, Slavic, and Semitic studies

• Laurence Rickels

Global and international studies

• Alison Brysk, Mellichamp Chair in Global Governance
• Mark Juergensmeyer
• Paul Orfalea, founder of the copy-chain Kinko's

History

• James F. Brooks, Professor of History and Anthropology, Native American history
• Alexander DeConde, Professor Emeritus of History, US diplomatic history
• Dimitrije Đorđević, late Professor of History, Modern Balkan History
• Mary O. Furner, Professor of History, 20th century US
• Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Professor of History, Russian and Soviet history
• C. Warren Hollister, late Professor of History, Medieval Europe
• Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, late Professor of Chinese history
• Wilbur Jacobs, late Professor of History, Native American and Frontier History
• Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History, US Labor
• Albert Lindemann, Professor Emeritus of History, Modern European history
• Harold Marcuse, Associate Professor, Modern European history ^[32]
• Joachim Remak, late Professor of History, Modern European History
• W. Patrick McCray, Professor of History, History of Science
• David Rock, Professor Emeritus of History, Latin American history
• Jeffrey Burton Russell, Professor Emeritus of History, Medieval European history
• Paul Spickard, Professor of History, 20th-century US, world, and ethnic history
• Jeffrey C. Stewart an American Professor of Black Studies

Linguistics

• Mary Bucholtz
• Wallace Chafe
• Bernard Comrie
• Stefan Th. Gries
• Marianne Mithun
• Sandra A. Thompson

Materials

• Arthur Gossard ^[33]
• Shuji Nakamura ^[34]

Mathematics

• Michael G. Crandall, winner of the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research
• Glen Culler, early innovator in the development of the interactive computing and ARPAnet
• Yitang Zhang

Mechanical engineering

• Henry T. Yang, Chancellor ^[35]

Media arts and technology

• Curtis Roads ^[36]

Molecular and cellular biology

• Jamey Marth, molecular and cellular biologist, Director of the Center for Nanomedicine, professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

Music

• Annie Mottram Craig Batten (1883-1964), singer, vocal instructor, and composer. Taught in the State Teachers' College, Santa Barbara (today, UCSB) during summer session, 1921; head of the Music Department, 1922. ^[37]
• John Dearman, Grammy Award-winning classical guitarist, member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ), Director of Guitar Studies
• Alejandro Planchart, Emeritus, professor of musicology, expert on Guillaume Dufay

Philosophy

• C. Anthony Anderson ^[38]
• Nathan Salmon ^[39]

Physics

• David Awschalom, best known for his work in spintronics in semiconductors ^[40]
• James Hartle, together with Stephen Hawking, proposed the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction of the universe, a specific solution to the Wheeler-deWitt equation meant to explain the initial conditions of the Big Bang cosmology ^[41]
• James S. Langer
• Joseph Polchinski ^[42]

Political science

• M. Kent Jennings, one of the founding fathers of political socialization research and theory.
• Benjamin Cohen, leading scholar in the field of international political economy
• Leah Stokes, political scientist specializing in environmental policy

Psychological and brain sciences

• Daphne Bugental, psychologist known for her research on parent-child relationships, infant and child maltreatment, and family violence
• Leda Cosmides, helped pioneer the field of evolutionary psychology ^[43]
• Michael Gazzaniga, pioneer of cognitive neuroscience ^[44]

Religious studies

• Walter Capps
• J. Gordon Melton
• Birger A. Pearson
• Ann Taves

Sociology

• Donald Cressey
• John Foran
• Ralph Larkin
• William I. Robinson
• France Winddance Twine
• Howard Winant

See also

• List of University of California, Santa Barbara alumni

References

1. "Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 Michel H. Devoret". nobelprize.org. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
2. "UCSB Nobel laureates" . Retrieved July 7, 2015.
3. "Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 John M. Martinis". nobelprize.org. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
4. "Finn E. Kydland – 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics". Ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
5. "Robert Schrieffer - Biographical" . Retrieved July 7, 2015.
6. "Frank Wilczek - curriculum vitae" (PDF). Retrieved July 7, 2015.
7. "UCSB Anthropology Department: Faculty--Chagnon". Archived from the original on January 18, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
8. "UCSB Anthropology Faculty--Fagan". Archived from the original on February 10, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
9. "University of California Santa Barbara - Dr. Stuart Smith". Anth.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
10. "UCSB Anthropology Faculty-Tooby". Anth.ucsb.edu. June 8, 2004. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
11. "- Kip Fulbeck". Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
12. "UCSB - Chemical Engineering - People - Jacob Israelachvili". Archived from the original on October 29, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
13. "Dr. Thomas C. Bruice". Chem.ucsb.edu. October 12, 1981. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
14. "Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara". Chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
15. "Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara". Chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
16. "Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara". Chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
17. "Pearson | Hard | Soft | Acid | Base | Chemogenesis". Meta-synthesis.com. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
18. "Stucky Group Biography". Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
19. "Professor Horacio Roque Ramírez". www.chicst.ucsb.edu.
20. "Tao Yang Homepage". Cs.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
21. "William Wang | UCSB Computer Science". www.cs.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on January 2, 2025. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
22. "Lightner Witmer Award". American Psychological Association. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
23. "bio | The Gevirtz School (GGSE) - UC Santa Barbara". education.ucsb.edu. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
24. "John Nathan - East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies". Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
25. "People | Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology | UC Santa Barbara | UC Santa Barbara". Lifesci.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
26. "Larry Rabiner". Ece.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
27. "UCSB / ECE Directories". Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
28. "UCSB: Filmstudies Department Faculty; Dick Hebdige". Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
29. "Michael Frank Goodchild". Geog.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
30. "Waldo Tobler". Geog.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
31. "Tanya Atwater Homepage". Geol.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
32. "Homepage of Harold Marcuse, Professor of History at UC Santa Barbara". History.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
33. "Arthur Gossard". Archived from the original on February 8, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
34. "Shuji Nakamura". Archived from the original on May 17, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
35. "Henry T. Yang, Professor and Chancellor". Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
36. "Mat - media arts and technology - ucsb". Archived from the original on September 2, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
37. Binheim, Max; Elvin, Charles A. (1928). Women of the West: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Living Eminent Women in the Eleven Western States of the United States of America. Publishers Press. pp. 217–18 – via Wikisource.
38. "UCSB Philosophy | Faculty: C. Anthony Anderson". Archived from the original on September 2, 2006. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
39. "University of California, Santa Barbara | Department of Philosophy". Philosophy.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
40. "Department of Physics - UC Santa Barbara". Physics.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
41. "Department of Physics - UC Santa Barbara". Physics.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
42. "Department of Physics - UC Santa Barbara". Physics.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
43. "People | Psychological & Brain Sciences | UC Santa Barbara". Psych.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
44. "People | Psychological & Brain Sciences | UC Santa Barbara". Psych.ucsb.edu. Retrieved November 20, 2013.