UC Tech Awards Program - 2025

Congratulations to the 2025 Tech Award winners!

Read more about the awards:

1. Larry L. Sautter Award for Innovation in Information Technology 

Gold Award: UC Health Milk Bank Automation, UC Health Milk Bank and UC San Diego Health

UC Health Milk Bank leverages automation technology to expand to new markets and solve the need for a globally unique identification of milk donations to support traceability and biovigilance of pasteurized donor human milk. This technology will result in improved patient safety and expand equitable access of donor milk to vulnerable populations.

Silver Award: UC Systemwide Statement of Legal Residence, UC Office of the President and UC Riverside

UC residence status determines what tuition a student would pay at the University if they are admitted and choose to enroll. The UC system, serving a diverse population across the state and beyond, faced a significant challenge in accurately and efficiently determining student residency for tuition purposes. The UC Systemwide Statement of Legal Residence platform and process allow UC applicants to secure a residence status at time of admission. The primary goal was to create a centralized, standardized, and user-friendly system that would streamline residency determination, ensure consistent application of policy, and enhance the student experience.

2. Design Award

Gold Award: UC Irvine Spark, UC Irvine

UCI Spark is a first-of-its-kind student success application that leverages user-centered design, new methods of data integration and governance, and ongoing campuswide collaboration to provide tailored support for a diverse student body, helping students reach their personal definition of success.

Silver Award: Industry Documents Library Web Application Rebuild, UCSF

The Industry Documents Library team redesigned and rebuilt a web application for a digital archive of millions of documents used for life-saving public health research.

3. Mojgan A. Amini Operational Excellence Award

Gold Award: UC San Diego Health Mobile Team, UC San Diego Health

UCSD Health turned our struggling mobile application into one of the highest-rated and most-downloaded healthcare apps in the United States.

Silver Award: Real-Time Wildfire Impact Mapping for UCLA, UCLA

UCLA’s Enterprise Data Analytics Reporting & Analytics team created three dashboards to track and provide support to impacted employees and students from the January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles.

4. IT Security Award

Gold Award: UC Berkeley Minimum Security Standards for Electronic Information (MSSEI) Workgroup, UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley’s MSSEI Workgroup was a cross-campus group of IT professionals that worked collaboratively for nearly two years to incorporate the security controls from UC BFB IS-3 and its standards into Berkeley’s Minimum Security Standards for Electronic Information (MSSEI) for campus implementation. This was a complex project that required balancing systemwide policy with operational realities, campus values, risk tolerance, and alignment with industry best practices. Success required dedication, perseverance, each individual’s unique expertise, consultation and engagement with campus and systemwide subject matter experts, and a shared commitment to developing actionable, achievable requirements. The resulting standards have helped to mature information security policy and IT risk management for the entire campus and have also benefited other UC Locations.

Silver Award: Aegis Risk Management System, UC Davis

The Aegis Risk Management Application is a centralized application designed and developed on the CNPRC Hydra platform to streamline risk assessment, tracking, and mitigation across the CNPRC, the Office of Research, and ultimately other UC Davis departments by integrating security frameworks, automating compliance processes, and providing real-time risk visibility.

5. Yvonne Tevis UC Collaboration Award

Gold Award: UC Campus Privacy Officers, Systemwide

The UC Campus Privacy Officers group has worked tirelessly across the system and with a diverse group of collaborators to reshape privacy across the entire system. Because of their efforts, the culture of privacy has shifted, and the community is much better protected and prepared than 3 years ago.

Silver Award: UC Emergency Management GIS (Geographic Information System) Systemwide Facility Data Layer Automation Team, Systemwide

The UC EM GIS Systemwide Facility Data Layer Automation project provides UC Emergency Management (EM) and Business Continuity (BC) staff with access to a trusted UC systemwide facility dataset they can use to map UC facilities and their proximity to emerging hazards/threats. The project team designed and implemented an automated workflow that collects and unifies facility data from every UC location into a single data product. It produces the most accurate and complete dataset of UC facilities, updates monthly, and is accessible in a systemwide GIS platform with built-in tools for overlaying potential threats/hazards.

6. Sustained Impact Award

Gold Award: Eric T. Martin, UC Riverside

Eric Martin's 23-year career at UCR demonstrates consistent excellence in project management, impactful contributions to the university's technology landscape, and a commitment to innovation and improvement. His leadership and expertise have modernized critical operations, streamlined processes, and enhanced UCR's technological capabilities.

Silver Award: Laurel Skurko, UC Office of the President

For nearly three years, Laurel has strengthened the UC Tech community by leading innovative engagement and content strategies. Known for her customer-centric approach, marketing expertise, and cross-functional collaboration, she has helped tech employees grow their careers while advancing UC’s digital transformation.

7. AI Impact Award

Gold Award: UCSF Versa AI Tiger Team, UCSF/UCSF Health

Versa is a secure, AI-powered platform developed at UCSF through cross-team collaboration, transforming workflow automation, research, and productivity across healthcare, education, and administration. Led by the AI Tiger Team, Versa supports thousands of users while ensuring responsible AI adoption, positioning UCSF as a leader in AI-driven innovation.

Silver Award: Population Risk Model Redesign Project, UCLA Health

UCLA Health’s Population Risk Model was redesigned to optimize the end-to-end process to meet a business need to run the model monthly, instead of quarterly, so the model prediction is based on current data, and the impact of the intervention can be more quickly assessed. Additional enhancements were also made to the process to align with a Machine Learning Operations Framework and adherence to the organization’s Responsible AI Program.