Social science faculty win nearly $7.4 million in research grants

Social Science faculty at UC Santa Cruz were awarded nearly $7.4 million in research grants so far during the current academic year, Dean Sheldon Kamieniecki announced.

"The financial crisis has forced us to search for external sources of funding more aggressively than ever before, and this includes grant sources," Kamieniecki said.

He noted a recent trend in the Social Sciences Division of an increase in grants that are interdisciplinary and cross divisional. "I hope that this trend continues," he said, "along with a movement towards securing larger grant awards."  

Research grants provide faculty with funds for travel and equipment purchases along with the time to pursue their research, and can include financial assistance for graduate students as well.

The following social science researchers received grants of $25,000 or more since July 1, 2013 (listed alphabetically):

Betty Achinstein (Education), "Academic Literacy Support for Novice Teachers: A Capacity Building Approach," Stanford University, $52,000.

Lora Bartlett (Education), Rodney Ogawa (Education), and David Belanger (Physics), "Retaining the Math and Science Teachers We Need: High Quality STEM Teachers in High Need Schools," National Science Foundation (NSF), $299,979.

Mayanthi Fernando (Anthropology), "Regulating Sex/Religion: Secular Citizenship and the Politics of Diasporic Difference," UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), $50,000.

Daniel Friedman (Economics), "Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Financial Circuit Breakers: Theory and Experiments," NSF, $25,925.

Greg Gilbert (Environmental Studies), Ingrid Parker (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), and Doris Ash (Education), "New, GK-12: SCWIBLES-Santa Cruz-Watsonville Inquiry Based-Learning in Environmental Sciences," NSF, $472,162.

Greg Gilbert (Environmental Studies), "Phylogenetic Analysis for the Data Archival and Reporting Project," USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, $33,000.

Shannon Gleeson (Latin American and Latino Studies), "Resources and Immigrants' Intentions to Become U.S. Citizens," U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, $30,000.

Julie Guthman (Social Sciences Division), "Strawberry Growers, Farm Workers, and Responses to a Changing Pesticide Industry," NSF, $101,992.

Lisa Hunter (Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators) and Jerome Shaw (Education), "Professional Development Program: Building a Multi-Level Diverse Workforce in Astronomy," NSF, $713,181.

Ruth Langridge (Politics) and Ben Crow (Sociology), "Increasing Drought Resilience Under Climate Change: Assessing Costs and Benefits, Developing Tools, and Analyzing Motivations to Develop Local Groundwater Drought Reserves," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), $142,499.

Flora Lu (Environmental Studies), "Collaborative Research: Crude Entanglements: Native Amazonian and Afro-Ecuadorian Experiences with a Post-Neoliberal Oil Complex," NSF, $102,040.

Andrew Matthews (Anthropology), "UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow Program," UC Office of the President (UCOP), $61,210.

Rodney Ogawa (Education), Ron Glass (Education), Douglas Bonett (Psychology and CSASS), and Scott Brandt (Engineering), "BCC: Developing a Comprehensive Regional Approach to Data Set Integration to Support Data-Intensive Research in Education in Silicon Valley," NSF, $356,542.

Rodney Ogawa (Education) and Susan O'Hara (Education), "Stanford Transfer of Grant," Stanford University, $41,999.

Stacy Philpott (Environmental Studies), Deborah Letourneau (Environmental Studies), Carol Shennan (Environmental Studies), and Daniel Press (Environmental Studies and CASFS), "An Institutional Partnership Model for Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum Development and Recruitment of Underrepresented Students in California," U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/CSREES/NIFA), $730,893.

Daniel Press (Environmental Studies and CASFS), "AFRI Fellowship Grant Program," USDA/NIFA, $79,000; "Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Curricular Integration and Enhancement at UCSC," Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, $75,000; "Education and Training in Sustainable, Organic Agriculture," True North Foundation, $40,000; and "Healthy Food in Schools," Monterey Peninsula Foundation, $52,000.

Renya Ramirez (Anthropology), "UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow Program," UCOP, $63,520.

Jennifer Reardon (Sociology), "UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow Program," UCOP, $59,950.

Carol Shennan (Environmental Studies), "Collection, Release and Establishment of Peristenus Digoneutis, a European Lygus Bug Parasitoid on the California Central Coast," USDA Agricultural Research Service, $118,231.

Carol Shennan (Environmental Studies) and Joji Muramoto (Environmental Studies), "Non-fumigant Strategies for Soilborne Disease Control in California," California Strawberry Commission, $37,927.

Patricia Stoddart (Education) and Doris Ash (Education), "Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition," NSF, $2,885,185.

Stephen Whittaker (Psychology), "HCC: Small: Designing and Understanding Technology Mediated Emotional Reflection to Improve Well-Being," NSF, $499,828.

Stephen Whittaker (Psychology), "Editing Human Computer Interaction Journal," Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, $45,000.

Chris Wilmers (Environmental Studies), Gabriel Elkaim (Engineering), and Terrie Williams (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), "Energy Scavenging Collar for Animal Physiology and Ecology," NSF, $200,758.