The 2023 CITRIS Tech for Social Good program at UC Santa Cruz is now open for proposals from student teams, with an application deadline of November 15, 2023. The program, started in 2019 and cosponsored by the Institute for Social Transformation, provides support for cross-disciplinary student projects and events focused on exploring technology-based solutions to significant social challenges.
Student teams can receive up to $5,000 for research projects and up to $1,000 for events, and it is open to students across all campus disciplines and divisions. Proposals can range from advanced hardware or software development, but can also include innovative uses of existing information technology, including social media, web content or online tools, so all students are encouraged to apply.
Interested students can visit the website for more information and to apply.
Information and matchmaking sessions for students will be held on the following dates:
- Monday, October 9th, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. via Zoom (register online)
- Wednesday, October 18th, from 5:15 - 6 p.m. via Zoom (register online)
Applications are open to teams of graduate and undergraduate students, but each team must have an equal or larger number of undergraduates (a team cannot consist of only graduate students). Through the technology track, students can apply for funding of $500 to $5,000 for tech-focused projects that improve and support technological innovations that support healthy, sustainable, and connected communities..
The events track provides between $200 and $1,000 for individual students, student organizations, or student groups at UC Santa Cruz to develop events or programming that improve and support technological innovations that support healthy, sustainable, and connected communities in line with the program mission.
Examples of previously funded projects:
- Living Solar Panels is a project exploring the efficiency of a living-cactus electricity farm to provide both a climate and biodiversity-friendly energy source.
- Wonderfil builds electric dispensers for personal care products. Reusable water bottle refill stations show that people will ditch single-use bottles if there’s a convenient alternative. Wonderfil will do the same for personal care products.
- The Cookie Problem creates a video game to teach high-school students about online privacy risks, in particular cookies. Cookies can influence what is recommended to users, which allows a subconscious shift in people’s opinions and facts.
Visit the UCSC CITRIS website to learn more about past teams that have received funding through the program.
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Banatao Institute create information technology solutions for society's most pressing challenges. Established in 2001, the center leverages the interdisciplinary research strengths of multiple UC campuses—Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz—along with public and private partners, to advance the University of California’s mission and the innovative spirit of California. The institute was created to shorten the pipeline between world-class laboratory research and the development of cutting-edge applications, platforms, companies, and even new industries.
