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Organized Research Units (ORUs) are academic units the University of
California has established to provide a supportive infrastructure for
interdisciplinary research complementary to the academic goals of departments
of instruction and research. The functions of ORUs are to facilitate
research and research collaborations; disseminate research results through
research conferences, meetings, and other activities; strengthen graduate
and undergraduate education by providing students with training opportunities
and access to facilities; seek extramural research funds; and carry
out university and public service programs related to ORUs' research
expertise. The senior staff of these units are faculty members in related
academic departments. Institutes and centers currently in operation
at UCSD are described below.
In addition, the university is formally and informally affiliated
with various private research organizations such as the Institute of
the Americas, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Howard Hughes
Medical Institute, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and The Burnham
Institute.
California Space Institute (Cal Space) was established in 1979
as a multicampus organized research unit of the University of California
(UC). It supports and conducts pure and applied space-related science
and technological research and development throughout the UC system.
Specific areas of investigation include the following:
Remote Sensing–acquisition, processing, and application
of observations by satellites or other remotely automated instruments
to study the Earth and its changing environment. The primarily satellite-based
investigations study the greenhouse effect, global warming, hydrological
cycle, land surface processes, air-sea interactions, radiation, and
cloud dynamics.
Climate–interdisciplinary scientific research that applies
space observations and numerical modeling techniques to fundamental
issues of climate prediction and global change caused by both natural
and human forces. CalSpace collaborates with the Climate Research Division
and other divisions at Scripps to study complex geophysical and biochemical
interactions and feedbacks that link the components of the climate system,
including the atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces.
Space science and engineering–investigations of both the
solar system and universe, and the development of automation and robotic
systems for space exploration. Current investigations include the study
of comets, asteroids, the solar wind, and cosmic background radiation.
Space observations are often conducted with instruments and techniques
designed by CalSpace researchers.
Education–promotion of undergraduate and graduate education
in the interdisciplinary fields of climate and global change, and space
science and engineering. The CalSpace-led state-wide consortium (California
Space Grant Consortium) was designated in 1989 as a Space Grant College
by NASA's Office of Education. The program expands leadership in
the development and application of space resources through research
and hands-on space projects, fellowship funding, and educational outreach
activities. The California Space Grant Program works with NASA Centers
and the aerospace and high technology industries to strengthen its educational
objectives.
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) was established
in 1960 and named the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green IGPP in 1994. It is
a multicampus research unit of the University of California, headquartered
at UCSD, with branches at UCLA, UCR, UCSC, as well as Los Alamos and
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. The present facility includes
the Roger and Ellen Revelle Laboratory and the Judith and Walter Munk
Laboratory. Present research concentrates on the study of crustal dynamics
by measurements of gravity, tilt, displacement, and strain in both continental
and oceanic environments; of regional seismicity and linear and nonlinear
earthquake and explosion source mechanisms; of the variability of the
earth's geomagnetic field and its generation by the geodynamo;
of the spherical and aspherical structure of the earth by measurements
of free oscillations, surface waves, and travel times; of seafloor tectonics
using marine geophysical methods; of linear and nonlinear theoretical
and computational fluid dynamics; of the variable mesoscale structure
of the oceans and global ocean warming by acoustic tomography; of the
structure of the oceanic crust and lithosphere by seismic and electromagnetic
measurements on the ocean bottom and at the ocean's surface through
seismic multichannel methods; of sea-floor and planetary topography
and gravity using satellite methods; of nonlinear dynamics applied to
geomorphology; and of tides, waves, turbulence, and circulation in the
oceans; of surface change caused by tectonic activity, or climate change
using satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), as
well as airborne and spaceborne laser altimetry. The institute operates
a global network of some forty broadband seismometers, the IDA (International
Deployment of Accelerometers) Array, with ten of these stations in the
former Soviet Union which are telemetered by satellite to the institute;
a crustal strain and seismic observatory at the Cecil and Ida Green
Pi–on Flat Observatory near Palm Springs; a scientific wireless
network in California with SDSC, the High Performance Wireless Research
and Education Network (HPWREN); a southern California network of Global
Positioning System (GPS) satellite geodetic sites operated by the Scripps
Orbit and Permanent Array Center (SOPAC) and the California Spatial
Reference Center (CSRC); an acoustic network in the Pacific for measuring
ocean temperature variability; a 5m, X-band satellite receiving antenna
for satellite remote sensing; a national Ocean Bottom Seismograph Instrument
Pool (OBSIP); and telemetered seismic arrays in Kirghizia, and two locations
in California. The institute does not grant degrees, but makes its facilities
available to graduate students from various departments who have chosen
to write their dissertations on geophysical problems. Undergraduate
students are involved in independent research projects and as laboratory
assistants. Members of the institute staff now hold joint appointments
with the Departments of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and
Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences. Support for visiting scholars
and grant matching funds is provided through an endowment to the Cecil
and Ida Green Foundation for the Earth Sciences.
The University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
(IGCC) was founded in 1983 as a multicampus research unit for the
entire University of California (UC) system. IGCC is based at UCSD and
serves all ten universities of the University of California and the
UC-managed Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Los Alamos National
Laboratories. IGCC's mission is to educate the next generation
of international problem-solvers and peacemakers through teaching activities,
research, and public service. Scholars, researchers, government officials,
and journalists from the United States and abroad participate in IGCC
projects.
During IGCC's first five years, research focused largely on averting
nuclear war through arms control and confidence building measures between
the superpowers. Since then, the research program has diversified to
encompass several broad areas of inquiry: regional relations, international
environmental policy, ethnic and internal conflicts, the proliferation
of strategic weapons, and international trade and telecommunications.
IGCC serves as a liaison between the academic and policy communities.
IGCC supports research and teaching on the causes of international conflict
and opportunities to promote international cooperation through an annual
fellowship and grant cycle. IGCC's development office provides
additional resources on foundation funding opportunities for UC faculty
projects.
In 1997, an IGCC Washington D.C. office was established to further
connect scholars with the policy process. The D.C. office administers
a graduate internship program in international affairs and the IGCC
Dissertation/Foreign Policy Fellow Program. Interns and fellows work
with governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in international
policy. IGCC Washington also puts on policy seminars to showcase UC
faculty research results and provide interaction between professors
and policy-makers.
Annually, IGCC's NEWSWired provides a concise overview
of IGCC's multicampus agenda, research, funding, awards, projects,
meetings, workshops, colloquia, news, and publications. IGCC's
online POLICYPacks serve our core mission of informing
policy debate. IGCCReView condenses and thematically addresses
book-length results of research conducted by senior faculty associated
with IGCC.
IGCC receives primary support from the Regents of the University of
California and the State of California. Additional funding has been
provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of State,
the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Japan-U.S.
Friendship Commission, and Japan's National Institute for Research
Advancement (NIRA). IGCC also receives important foundation support
from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the
Rockefeller Foundation, and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.
For in-depth information about IGCC and its research programs, including
full-text publications, visit IGCCOnline at http://www-igcc.ucsd.edu.
The White Mountain Research Station (WMRS) was established
as a UC multicampus research unit in 1950 to support high altitude research.
The station includes 4 laboratory facilities located over a 3,000m (10,000
vertical ft.) altitude transect, ranging from the floor of the Owens
Valley to the highest peak in the White/Inyo Mountains. Located on the
western edge of the Great Basin, WMRS also provides access to three
major biogeographic regions (Sierra Nevada and White/Inyo montane, Mojave
desert and Great Basin desert), and geologically rich and diverse field
sites. WMRS has evolved into a major multidisciplinary research and
teaching institution in eastern California, and hosts programs in archaeology
and anthropology, atmospheric and space sciences, biological and medical
sciences, ecology, conservation and natural resource management, geological,
hydrological, and earth sciences.
WMRS facilities include: (1) the business office, laboratories, classrooms,
dormitories, and dining hall for up to seventy people in Bishop, (2)
a newly renovated lodge, cabins, and laboratory at Crooked Creek (3,094m
altitude), which accommodates up to fifty people, (3) the Nello Pace
Laboratory and Mount Barcroft facilities (3,801m altitude) which accommodate
thirty-five people in dormitories, and (4) the 450 square foot Summit
Laboratory located on White Mountain peak (4,342m altitude), and is
the highest research lab in North America.
The Bishop facilities include a modern biology laboratory, The Deepest
Valley Interagency Plant Propagation Center, and a geographic information
system (GIS) laboratory that houses the USGS-funded "Eastern Sierra
Geospatial Data Clearinghouse." This is used by visiting resear-chers
and local agency scientists, as well as off-site investigators and policy
makers via World Wide Web access.
WMRS hosts more than 2,000 users from over 100 institutions per year
for research, teaching, and conferences. Research is most intensive
in the summer and involves students supported by WMRS Fellowships, UC
faculty supported by WMRS Research Grants, and faculty from other universities
around the world. Educational uses include several geology field courses
and the UC intercampus supercourse in Environmental Biology with the
students in residence for the spring quarter. WMRS hosts the UC Summer
Symposium in conservation biology and annual professional society meetings,
and offers published proceedings from symposia on the environmental
science in the region.
Established in September 1996, the AIDS Research Institute (ARI)
originated from the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), an NIH-funded AIDS
research program. The ARI is an organizational umbrella to integrate
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)/AIDS (acquired immune deficiency
syndrome) researchers and clinicians on campus by sponsoring seminars
and workshops, offering developmental grants to new investigators in
the area of HIV- and AIDS-related research, and devising new approaches
to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of AIDS. One of the the
missions of the ARI is to become an important community resource for
HIV- and AIDS-related clinical programs, innovative therapies, and cutting
edge research taking place at UCSD. The AIDS program at UCSD's
medical school ranked eighth in the nation and HIV- and AIDS-related
grants at the university totaled more than $24 million in 1999.
Related HIV research and care centers at UCSD include the Center for
AIDS Research (CFAR), the UCSD Treatment Center, The Owen Clinic, The
HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC), The Center for Medicinal
Cannabis Research, and the Center for Viral Dynamics at the San Diego
VA Healthcare System.
Investigators at UCSD are also recipients of the Adult AIDS Clinical
Trials Group (ACTG), the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group (PACTG),
the California Collaborative Clinical Trials Group (CCTG), the California
NeuroAIDS Tissue Network (CNTN), and individual grants totaling more
than $10 million. The ARI is committed to improving core facilities, as well as offering
education, training, and research opportunities. It also serves as a
liaison with the public for increased awareness of AIDS transmission,
available treatments and clinical trials, as well as counseling programs
for affected individuals and their families.
The UCSD Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) is a newly approved
initiative designed to provide a unique research and training atmosphere
for graduate students, Ph.D. students, M.D. fellows, and M.D.-Ph.D.
fellows with a scientific focus on molecular medicine in the post-genome
era. The Institute of Molecular Medicine was established in June 2000
as an Organized Research Unit at UCSD, and has been designed as a "Center
Without Walls" to encourage interactive, interdisciplinary, educational,
and research opportunities in the growing field of molecular medicine.
The faculty members of this institute are committed to create and maintain
a collaborative environment that will ensure the rapid development of
novel, biologically targeted therapies to enhance the lives of the patients
of tomorrow. The first phase of programs has been established in the
areas of cardiovascular and neurological diseases; however, it is anticipated
that studies in other complex human diseases will be included as scientific
and clinical opportunities are solidified in the new institute. A current
National Institutes of Health Training Program and The Leducq Award
are joint programs with collaborators at The Salk Institute, which afford
students an opportunity to work for periods of time at both institutions,
depending upon the technology which is being applied to their particular
research project. Research and educational programs include stem cell
biology, regeneration, chemical biology, neuroscience, computer modeling,
and genomics.
The Institute of Molecular Medicine's goals and objectives are:
1) to expand on the growing vertebrate genomic databases and a variety
of genetic based approaches to form a multidisciplinary research program
to unravel complex human diseases, including heart and neurological
disorders 2) to provide a high technology platform that will be based
upon collaborative research efforts between prominent scientists in
the fields of bioengineering, neuroscience, chemistry, physiology, biology,
and genetics 3) to provide an international, cross-institutional, interdisciplinary
training program in the Molecular Basis of Complex Human Physiology
and Diseases, for M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and Ph.D. postdoctoral fellows 4)
to develop strategic research collaborations, educational exchange programs,
and training alliances with other international institutions and 5)
to promote the development of industrial collaborations for specific
targeted areas of both scientific and clinical interest.
Seventy-five faculty members from UCSD, Salk, Scripps, Burnham, and
internationally-based collaborators, are participating in the Institute
of Molecular Medicine. These participants represent a cross-section
of the investigators and educators who constitute the scientific and
clinical community of leading investigators working and teaching in
areas related to molecular, cellular, genetic, and bioengineering approaches
to identify pathways that control complex human physiological systems
and related diseases. Each year the IMM hosts an international symposium,
"Days of Molecular Medicine" which brings world leaders to
La Jolla to present state-of-the-art lectures and provides programs
which allow students in the IMM to meet and discuss their projects with
the speakers and senior scientists in attendance. This year, the journal
Nature Medicine has forged a partnership with the IMM to co-sponsor
the 2001 symposium and awards and further information can be reviewed
online at imm.ucsd.edu. In addition to strengthening the ties in academia,
the symposium also provides an opportunity for corporate sponsors to
discuss potential collaborations and meet with the next generation of
physician-scientists in this ever-changing field. The Institute of Molecular
Medicine is based on the vision that a new era in human health and drug
discovery lies at the borders between curiosity-driven science and tomorrow's
medical therapies.
The Institute for Neural Computation focuses on research into
how nervous systems function through experimental investigation and
modeling of neural structures. The institute supports graduate training
programs in cognitive neuroscience and computational neurobiology. The
recently dedicated Swartz Center for Com-putational Neuroscience within
the institute uses imaging techniques to study brain dynamics. The Machine
Perception laboratory in the institute studies human perception and
develops similar capabilities for robots. Additional areas of research
include motor control systems, learning and memory, and language modeling.
There is an active visitors program and an industrial affiliates program
with ongoing joint research projects.
The Institute for Nonlinear Science (INLS) promotes interdisciplinary
research and graduate education in the development and application of
contemporary methods in the study of nonlinear dynamical systems. Using
a common mathematical language, faculty and students from disciplines
as diverse as physics, mathematics, oceanography, biology and neuroscience,
mechanical and electrical engineering, and economics pursue the implications
of generic characteristics of nonlinear problems for their subjects.
Each year the institute sponsors several long- and short-term senior
visitors from the University of California and elsewhere and provides,
through funds from external funding agencies, support for approximately
ten graduate students to work on Ph.D. dissertations concerned with
nonlinear problems. Also associated with INLS are approximately twenty
full-time research scientists and postdoctoral researchers.
The core of INLS activities is composed of (1) joint research among
faculty and students across disciplinary lines and (2) lecture series
and working seminars designed to convey recent research progress and
to stimulate new investigations. Through contracts with external agencies
the INLS supports experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies of
nonlinear dynamics and chaos in neurophysiology, investigations in nonlinear
fluid dynamics and pattern formation, studies (jointly with the University
of California, Los Angeles and Stanford University) of applications
of chaos in communications, as well as in the nonlinear dynamics of
granular materials.
INLS has developed joint research programs with universities, research
institutes, and commercial companies in areas of common interest. It
actively works with colleagues at UCLA, Stanford, Cal Tech, Argonne
National Laboratory, ST Microelectronics, Time Domain Inc., and Randle
Corporation. These affiliations provide new research horizons and realistic
opportunities for technology transfer.
Institute for Pure and Applied Physical Sciences (IPAPS) is
an interdisciplinary research unit which brings together faculty and
researchers in physics, chemistry, engineering, and Scripps Institution
of Oceanography. The institute is concerned with fluids and materials.
Specific subjects of research include superconductivity, ferromagnetism,
semiconductor heterostructures, solid surfaces, plasma physics, hydromagnetics,
turbulence, fluid mechanics, laser physics, and numerical analysis.
Within the IPAPS is the Center for Interface and Materials Science
(CIMS), which emphasizes interdisciplinary collaborative research on
the properties of surfaces, thin-layered composites, and novel materials,
as well as their technological applications. With centralized space
and equipment, CIMS brings together faculty and research staff from
the Departments of Physics, Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences,
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and
the Scripps Institu-tion of Oceanography.
The Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging (SIRA)
is an ORU committed to advancing lifelong health and independence through
research, education, and patient care. Established in 1983, the unit
consists of sixty-eight researchers representing eleven different departments
ranging from bioengineering to family and preventive medicine and from
neurosciences to psychiatry. This wide diversity fosters an interdisciplinary
approach to solving the problems posed by diseases that increase with
age. A majority of the total budget is allocated to research expenditures.
SIRA also sponsors "Start-up Grants" to junior-level scientists
in order to allow them to lay a foundation of data necessary to compete
for national funding and help with career development. In addition,
the institute is active in recruiting young students to the field of
aging through the "Student Investi-gator Grant Program." Undergraduate
and medical students, who have expressed an interest in age-related
research, are teamed with established senior scientists to pursue a
project. Healthwise, the free monthly newsletter, informs community
members of the latest research discoveries and upcoming events sponsored
by SIRA and UCSD. Coupled with the newsletter, a free monthly public
lecture series presented by SIRA faculty is also used to inform the
public.
The Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering (WIBE). The
Institute for Biomedical Engineering was established as an Orga-nized
Research Unit in November 1991. In August 1999, the ORU was named the
Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering in recognition of the strong
support given by the Whitaker Foundation to biomedical engineering at
UCSD.
The overall objective of the ORU is to provide an academic research
unit for interdisciplinary interactions among faculty and students aimed
at promoting and coordinating bioengineering research and education.
The goals of the ORU are complementary to the academic goals of departments
of instruction and research, with a major emphasis in bridging the various
disciplines on campus related to biomedical engineering. The specific
aims are: (1) to promote technology and biomedical engineering research
at UCSD, (2) to enhance extramural research funding involving multidisciplinary
collaborations, (3) to increase the visibility of the bioengineering
programs at UCSD, (4) to coordinate bioengineering research at UCSD
and neighboring institutions, and (5) to set up a high-technology laboratory
for technology transfer to industry and medicine.
Members of the institute include close to 100 faculty and research
scientists from the Jacobs School of Engineering, the School of Medicine,
other departments on the main campus, and The Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, as well as The Scripps Research Institute, The Salk Institute,
and The Burnham Institute.
The main research theme of the institute is integrative biomedical
engineering. Under this general theme, principles and methods of engineering
and life sciences are applied to elucidate structure-function relationships
in normal and pathological states. The focus areas range from genes
and molecules to tissues and organs. The research programs in the WIBE
integrate the various levels of biological hierarchy and different body
systems, as well as quantitative engineering analysis and modern biomedical
sciences.
The WIBE has established several core facilities, which have provided
research infrastructure for its members and educational facilities for
graduate and undergraduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows.
The facilities include the Molecular/Genetic Technology Core (which
includes Molecular Biology and DNA microarray), a Cell/Tissue Technology
Core (which includes Confocal Microscopy, Cell/Tissue Culture Core,
Flow Cytometry, Scanning Cytometry, and Biosensor Technology), and a
Computation and Modeling Technology Core.
The research and training activities fostered by the WIBE are related
to important medical problems such as heart failure, hypertension, atherosclerosis,
pulmonary diseases, shock, inflammation, burns, orthopedic disorders,
sports injuries, myopathies, peripheral nerve and brain injuries, age-related
blindness, noise injury, cancer, liver disease, and diabetes. The ultimate
goal of the interdisciplinary research carried out in the Institute
is to improve the methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of
diseases. To this end, the WIBE endeavors to enhance the collaboration
between basic science and clinical medicine and the cooperation between
academia and industry. The WIBE Industrial Advisory Board was formed
in 1993. With the help of the Board, an Industrial Affiliates Program
was formed to facilitate the participation of biomedical engineering-related
companies in WIBE activities. The Program currently has twenty member
companies in San Diego and elsewhere. The enhanced academia-industry
liaison has helped to facilitate collaborative research, student internship
training, and scientific interchange through symposia, seminars, and
meetings.
The WIBE received a $5-million Whitaker Foundation Development Award
in September 1993. The award made possible the recruitment of new faculty,
increase of graduate student fellowships, enhancement of research cooperation
among scientists on campus and in neighboring institutions, facilitation
of industrial liaison, and the holding of symposia and workshops. The
fostering of interdisciplinary collaborations by WIBE has also led to
increased research funding from federal and industrial sources.
The WIBE played an important role in the successful application of
the Whitaker Foundation Leadership Award by the Department of Bioengineering.
The Leadership Award provides $18.2 million for the construction of
a new bioengineering building (the Powell-Focht Bioeng-ineering Hall),
establishment of new core facilities for research and education, and
recruitment of new faculty with joint appointments in the School of
Medicine and Department of Bioengineering.
The WIBE is leading an effort to establish a University of California
system-wide Multicam-pus Organized Research Unit (MRU) on bioengineering.
The UCSD Cancer Center (CC), active in the fight against cancer
since 1979, is a National Cancer Institute-designated Clinical Cancer
Center. The specific goals of the Cancer Center are to enhance the present
level of basic research, increase collaborative research, increase the
application of basic science to solve clinical problems through translational
research, diseminate new knowledge to oncology professionals and scientists
in the San Diego community, enable the biomedical industry to transfer
new technology to the clinical setting, develop a strong effort in cancer
prevention and control, and educate and train undergraduate and postgraduate
physicians, and basic scientists. Under the auspices of a Cancer Center
Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute, there are seven active
program areas within the Cancer Center. These include Cancer Biology,
Cancer Genetics, Cancer Prevention and Control, Cancer Pharmacology,
Cancer Symptom Control, Translational Oncology, and Viral Malignancy.
Shared resources at the Cancer Center include Behavioral Assessment
and Counseling, Biostatistics, Clinical Trials, Data Compilation and
Analysis, Digital Imaging, DNA Sequencing, Flow Cytometry, Histology
and Immunohistochem-istry, Microarray, Molecular Pathology, Nurition,
Radiation Medicine, and Transgenic Mouse.
Research and educational grants support the training of postdoctoral
fellows and medical students. The Clinical Trials Office coordinates
clinical research trials involving cancer patients at UCSD and is the
focal point for a large Oncology Outreach Network which provides state-of-the-art
protocol treatment opportunities for patients in a broad geographic
area. Patient care activities of the Cancer Center are located in the
Combined Oncology Clinic at the Theodore Gildred Facility and in UCSD
Medical Center, both located in Hillcrest, and at the Oncology Clinic
of the Perlman Ambulatory Care Center and in UCSD Thornton Hospital,
both located in La Jolla. Basic research activities of the Cancer Center
are carried out at a variety of other locations on or adjacent to the
La Jolla campus. Total membership of the Cancer Center exceeds 213 laboratory
investigators and clinical physicians from nineteen academic departments.
The research funding for Cancer Center members exceeds $88 million.
The Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS) is an
interdisciplinary research unit established in 1979. The center brings
together academic and research staff from the Departments of Physics,
Chemistry, and Electri-cal and Computer Engineering. Research is conducted
in the scientific areas of theoretical astrophysics; infrared, optical,
and ultraviolet astronomy; solar observational and theoretical studies;
X-ray and gamma-ray astrophysics; experimental and theoretical magnetospheric
and space plasma physics; radio astronomy and cosmochemistry, including
the chemistry of interstellar matter.
CASS provides a jointly shared facility which has office, laboratory,
and computer space to enhance the interchange of expertise. Researchers
in CASS have access to many University of Calif-ornia observing facilities,
including Lick Obser-vatory and the Keck Telescopes, and have contributed
experiments to many major NASA space missions including the Hubble Space
Telescope and the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer. Associated with CASS
are included seventeen faculty, about twenty-five Ph.D.-level research
staff, twelve graduate students, and thirty technical and administrative
support personnel.
The center's facilities, faculty, and research staff are available
to graduate students in the Departments of Physics, Electrical and Computer
Engineering, and Chemistry who have chosen to write their dissertation
on subjects of research encompassed by CASS. Graduate and undergraduate
courses in astrophysics, astronomy, and space sciences are developed
and taught by the academic staff of CASS. The total yearly budget is
about $4 million, mostly from federal funding sources.
The Marlar Foundation provides several enhancements to the academic
program, including support of the astrophysics and space science library,
and funding for a yearly public lecture given by an eminent astrophysicist.
The overall objective of the Center for Energy Research (CER)
is to provide an academic research unit for interdisciplinary interactions
among UCSD faculty, research staff, and students aimed at promoting
and coordinating energy research and education. Approximately sixty-one
faculty, staff, and students are affiliated with the CER. The goals
of the CER are complementary to academic departments of instruction
and research with an emphasis on bridging the various disciplines related
to energy research on the campus. Emphasis is currently on combustion
and fusion energy research. The CER will also provide a vehicle for
developing other dimensions of energy research, including energy policy
research. The specific goals of the CER are: (1) to provide an inter-departmental
coordinating function for energy research groups and projects at UCSD
(2) to enhance the prospects of extramural research funding involving
interdepartmental and multi-disciplinary collaborations in energy research
(3) to promote the visibility of energy topics in undergraduate and
graduate programs at UCSD (4) to provide a mechanism for interacting
with other institutions involved in energy research with particular
attention to potential industrial partners and (5) to promote the visibility
of energy research at UCSD to potential sponsors and funding agencies.
A number of graduate research assistantships are available. Applications
for graduate study in any of the disciplines covered by the CER should
be directed to the academic department in which graduate study is to
be undertaken.
The Center for Environmental Research and Training (CERT) coordinates
the broad range of environmental research activities across the university.
Departmental participation includes the Departments of Anthropology,
Biology, Chemis-try and Biochemistry, Economics, School of Engineering,
School of Medicine, Scripps Institu-tion of Oceanography, the Center
for U.S.-Mexican Studies, and the Graduate School of International Relations
and Pacific Studies. This extensive group offers an opportunity to address
environmental issues across traditional disciplinary boundaries. This
opportunity is particularly crucial for understanding the complex interactive
nature of global and regional environmental issues. The CERT also provides
an interface for interaction with environmental agencies outside the
university, including the environmental technology sector and governmental
agencies.
The Center for Human Development (CHD) is an interdisciplinary,
research-centered unit designed to meet the growing needs for interdisciplinary
exchange on issues related to human development. The goal of CHD is
to provide a forum for interdisciplinary exchange that creates dialogue
between members of diverse disciplines. The Center is organized around
five structurally distinct components, but with integrated functions.
Each function is designed to serve a specific set of needs and to make
unique contributions to the larger enterprise. These components are
the following: (1) research support and infrastructure, (2) enrichment
of human development's instructional counterparts–the undergraduate
Human Development Program and a proposed interdisciplinary graduate
program, (3) dissemination activities focused on but not limited to
local community needs, (4) public policy analysis, and (5) assessment
activities. In addition, the Center serves as a focal point for research,
evaluation, and assessment activities associated with the campuswide
Center for Research in Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching
Excellence (CREATE).
The Center for Human Information Processing (CHIP) is a center
for the study of the neural basis of perceptual and cognitive processes
in the brain. It has two missions. The first is theoretical; we hope
to understand the neural basis of perception, language, memory, and
other mental processes by studying neurological patients as well as
normal subjects. Second, we have the practical goal of developing new
treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders. It is composed
of four subdivisions, each operating with the common goal of furthering
our understanding of human cognitive processes and the neurological
bases of these processes. The subdivisions are: Brain and Perception
Division, the Cognitive Processes Division, Division of Neuropharmacology
and Alternative Medicine, and the Language Processing Division.
CHIP provides facilities for visiting scholars and supports workshops,
conferences, and brown-bag discussion groups centering on the theoretical
and empirical issues in each of these areas.
The Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC) operates
under the auspices of CHIP. From its inception at UCSD in 1978, the
focus of the LCHC's theoretical and empirical work has been the
role of culture in shaping human development and human cognition. Members
of the LCHC elaborate on culture as the species-specific medium of human
exitence, constituted of systems of artifacts and acting as both a constraint
on and a tool kit for human action. Research sites focus on adult development,
the organization of learning, and connecting theory and practice in
community-based activity systems.
Within psychology, the approach adopted by LCHC is variously referred
to as cultural-historical psychology, cultural psychology, or a cultural
context approach to mind. It treats the mind as a phenomenon distributed
among people and their artifacts, including language and social institutions.
This approach is closely linked to social science movements referred
to as activity theory, constructivism, and distributed cognition, which
ground their analyses in people's everyday culturally organized
activities.
Current research projects are grouped around five major areas: (1)
the creation of experimental educational activities in community settings
to promote the development of numerous forms of literacy; (2) investigation
of cultural and linguistic factors in cognitive and social development;
(3) computer networking and joint activity; (4) intervention studies
of work and expertise as collaborative activity; and (5) analyses of
discourse and representation. The LCHC published fifteen volumes of
The Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition.
It now publishes a journal, Mind, Culture, and Activity: An International
Journal. The LCHC also coordinates several international electronic
discussion conferences which currently includes more than 400 researchers
from sixteen countries. The LCHC conducts a weekly seminar and workshops
focused on special topics, including cutting-edge research reports from
members of an interdisciplinary, international group of LCHC alumni
who visit periodically.
The Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS) coordinates
and promotes Latin American and Iberian research and service activities
for faculty and students in all departments at the university. It sponsors
multi-disciplinary colloquia, conferences, projects and publications,
as well as library expansion. Its most recent major initiative has been
a multi-year project on Latin America and the Pacific Rim. The center
also hosts visiting scholars, and it awards grants and fellowships each
year to promising graduate students.
The Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR) is devoted
to multidisciplinary research and education in areas of science and
engineering that form the foundation for information storage technologies
for computer disk and tape drives. Founded in 1983 in partnership with
a consortium of industrial sponsors, the center's continuing mission
is to advance the state-of-the-art in magnetic disk and tape storage
technologies, while producing highly trained graduate students and postdoctoral
professionals. Together, the center's faculty and graduates have
made major contributions to the remarkable progress that storage systems
have achieved in storage capacity, data transfer rate, and cost efficiency
over the past two decades.
CMRR supports four endowed professorial chairs, currently in the areas
of magnetic materials, recording physics, tribology and mechanics of
the head/medium interface, and signal processing and coding. The chaired
professors also hold faculty appointments in the Departments of Physics,
Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Graduate student researchers, post-graduate researchers, professional
scientists, and visiting scholars representing international academic
institutions and industrial laboratories contribute to a research and
educational environment that is dynamic and varied.
As part of the center's mission to educate future leaders in the
vital information storage industry, the faculty teach specialized classes
at the undergraduate and graduate levels that train students in the
theoretical methods and experimental techniques underlying advanced
magnetic recording technology. In addition, the center contributes to
the continuing education of professionals in the storage industry through
regular seminars, research reviews, and focused workshops.
Virtually all major information storage companies are sponsors of CMRR,
and they provide substantial research support through their membership
fees, focused research grants, and graduate student fellowships. "Real-world"
research opportunities are also available to students through academic-year
and summer internships with selected sponsors. Additional support has
come from private foundations, state, and federal funding agencies,
as well as from active participation in joint university-industry programs,
such as those coordinated by the National Storage Industry Consortium
(NSIC).
Through cooperative research projects and the associated faculty program,
the center also fosters interactions with researchers in other campus
organizations, including the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the San Diego Supercomputer
Center, and the Informa-tion Storage Industry Center in the Graduate
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. The interests
of these affiliates cover a broad spectrum, including novel materials
for data recording, disk-drive failure prediction, computational analysis
of the recording process, and the globalization of the magnetic recording
industry.
CMRR also supports a world-class Library/Inf-ormation Center for information
storage technology that provides a range of services to sponsors, resident
researchers, and students. Services include licensed database searching,
patent searching, document retrieval, and expedited access to proprietary
technical resources.
The Center for Molecular Agriculture (CMA) promotes research
and education in plant genetics and plant molecular biology with an
eye to the application of that research to the improvement of crops.
Crop improvement cannot any longer rely exclusively on traditional plant
breeding methods but requires the application of new technologies that
include but are not limited to genetics and genomics, informatics, molecular
gene isolation, and plant transformation. The CMA brings together researchers
from UCSD and the Salk Institute and is a resource for the entire San
Diego community. It provides a focal point for interaction with the
local and statewide agricultural biotechnology industry. The Center
wishes to play an active role in the debate about the safe cultivation
and use of genetically modified crops.
Center for Molecular Genetics (CMG) promotes molecular genetic
research and the training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows
in the biological, chemical, and biomedical sciences. The center's
research focus integrates basic science, including work on model developmental
systems, with clinical applications aimed at understanding the molecular
bases of human diseases. The latest techniques of gene isolation, gene
manipulation (including control of gene expression), and the genetic
transformation of cells and organisms are further developed and applied
to major problems in biology and medicine. The center serves as a resource
for the entire campus for molecular genetic techniques, materials, and
facilities, and it encourages interactions with other ORUs in the biomedical
area.
The center also strives to promote interactions between laboratories
at UCSD and the biotechnology community and to facilitate the prompt
and orderly transfer of new information resulting from innovative research
into the private sector. The center reaches out to its supporters in
the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors through its industrial
affiliates program, Biotechnology Origen. This unique program brings
together scientists, business executives, and lawyers from both the
for-profit and not-for-profit sectors of the industry to participate
in a variety of meetings, conferences, and symposia throughout the year.
The Center for Research in Biological Structure (CRBS) is an
interdisciplinary research unit focused on learning more abut the nature
and interrelationship of increasingly complex levels of biological structure,
from the atomic and molecular level to the cellular and tissue level.
Researchers involved with this center are studying the arrangements
of atoms that determines the structures of enzymes, proteins, and the
body's vast chemical communications network to the tissues and
organs that provide an organism's inner strength and outside support.
The center's goals include creating new tools to understand cell
functions such as those involved in muscle contraction, cardiovascular
networking, and the activities of the central nervous system such as
thinking, memory, and emotion. Longer-term goals include providing a
structural and computational basis for understanding signal transduction
at all levels. A key aspect of this work will be to provide a state-of-the-art
interdisciplinary environment in which biology and medicine merge with
chemistry, physics, and computation.
Researchers participating in the center are applying the most sophisticated
computer ass-isted technologies. These technologies include a high-power
electron microscope capable of revealing the three-dimensional structures
of living cells and their internal components, state-of-the-art resources
for X-ray crystallography and magnetic resonance analysis that define
high-resolution structures of simple and complex proteins, and confocal
light microscopes that allow researchers to visualize molecules tagged
with fluorescent markers as they pass chemical messages to each other.
The researchers are also using the powerful computing resources of the
San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to simulate the activity of such
systems, analyze the results, and organize and make accessible the growing
storehouse of biological information for the benefit of all. These resources
include the highest-performance supercomputers, visualization and database
technologies, large archival storage systems, and high-speed networks.
Established in 1996, the center involves researchers from a cross
section of disciplines across the campus, the UCSD Medical School, the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and SDSC, including from bioengineering,
biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, neuroscience, pharmacology,
psychiatry, and physics. This group also seeks to forge new interactions
with the biotechnology and biocomputing-related companies to effect
technology transfer. The interaction among these researchers is expected
to produce new perspectives, point out fruitful research topics, lead
to the development of new technologies and drugs, and train a new generation
of researchers interested in biological structures and how they interact
with each other.
The Center for Research in Computing & the Arts (CRCA) is
an organized research unit of UCSD whose mission is to foster advanced
research and production at the crossroads between digital technology
and new art forms.Current areas of interest include interactive networked
multimedia, virtual reality, computer-spatialized audio, and live performance
techniques for computer music and graphics.As the University of California's
oldest arts research center, CRCA pursues innovative approaches to the
arts, and crosses the boundaries of the humanities and the sciences.
Our faculty research pool represents the computing interests from such
diverse departments as music, visual arts, theatre, psychology, computer
science, and engineering. Faculty members are creating new models of
artistic practice through their liaisons with cultural institutions,
high-tech industries, and interdisciplinarycollaborations. We host artist
researchers from around the world and service the research interests
of faculty and graduate students. Ourresearch members produce research
results and art experiences that challenge conventional thinking both
within the artistic and scientificrealms.
CRCA's facility offers a broad array of computing platforms and
tools. Research areas allow for in-depth, individualized work in digital
audio, digital video, multimedia development, spatialized sound, software
development, and high bandwidth curriculum development. The Center presents
the outcome of research efforts via exhibitions and performances at
international venues, as well as on the Internet, in publications, and
events offered in our performance space.
More information about the Center, our researchers, the facility,
and the process for engagement, may be found at: http://www-crca.ucsd.edu.
Center for Research in Language (CRL). The foci of the center
are on language processing, language learning, language disorders, and
simulations of all these aspects of language in artificial systems.
Research in the center is interdisciplinary and draws upon the fields
of linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neurosciences, computer
science, and communication.
The center's facilities are designed to accommodate laboratory
research projects by the faculty and graduate students; facilities include
a number of high-performance work stations, a transputer laboratory,
extensive equipment for audio recording and analysis, and equipment
for psycholinguistic experimentation.
Current research projects include studies of language and cognitive
development in children; language impairment in children and adults;
word and sentence processing in bilin-guals; foreign vocabulary in American
Sign Language; development of neurally inspired parallel processing
models of speech perception; studies in first language acquisition;
cross-liguistic comparisons of the process of language acquisition and
aphasia; research on the integration of grammatical analyses and theories;
a project to collect large-scale text corpora in electronic form; a
study of expectancy generation in sentence processing, and the compilation
of an Albanian-English dictionary. The center administers an NIH pre-
and postdoctoral training grant, "Language, Communication and Brain."
CRL has also entered into several institutional agreements with research
institutions in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, providing for the exchange
of personnel and support for projects of mutual interest. An ongoing
speaker series presents a broad range of experimental approaches to
the study of language. The center publishes a monthly electronic newsletter.
The Project in Cognitive and Neural Develop-ment is an activity of
CRL. Its purpose is to provide a forum for interdisciplinary research
on brain and cognition in human children, including rese-arch on the
neural bases of language and communication. The project brings together
faculty and research staff from the UCSD Departments of Cognitive Science,
Communication, Linguistics, Neurosciences, Psychology, Psychiatry and
Socio-logy, the San Diego State University Depar-tments of Psychology
and Communication Disorders, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
The Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (CUSMS), established in
1979, is the nation's largest program devoted to the study of Mexico
and U.S.-Mexican relations. It supports research in the social sciences
and history, graduate student training, publications, and public education
activities that address the full range of problems affecting economic
and political relations bet-ween Mexico and the United States. The center
also studies the history, economy, politics, and social structure of
Mexico, and aspects of the U.S. economy and U.S. public policy that
affect Mexico.
Through its program of researchers-in-residence, the center each year
sponsors the research of twenty-five to thirty predoctoral and postdoctoral
scholars, who spend three to nine months in residence. Typically, people
from Mexico receive over half of these awards, which are made through
an open, international competition. Other visiting fellows come from
Europe, Canada, Latin America, and East Asia. The center's permanent
academic staff also conducts long-term studies of political change in
Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border environment, Mexican migration to the
U.S., and social and economic consequences of North American economic
integration. The center publishes much of the research conducted under
its auspices.
Each summer, the center conducts a six-week seminar in studies of
the United States for twenty to twenty-five Latin American social scientists
and nonacademic professionals.
The center's interdisciplinary Research Seminar on Mexico and
U.S.-Mexican Relations, which meets weekly throughout the academic year,
and its research library attract leading researchers from throughout
the United States, Mexico, and other countries. In addition, several
research workshops on specialized subjects are held each year.
The center has a very active public education program, which includes
frequent briefings for journalists, public officials, and community
groups.
The Glycobiology Research and Training Center (GRTC) seeks
to facilitate and enhance glycobiology research and training at UCSD.
Current faculty membership includes many UCSD faculty from several departments
across the School of Medicine, SIO, and the general campus as well as
adjunct faculty at nearby institutions. Affiliate members include interested
scientists in the La Jolla area as well as faculty from other UC campuses.
Glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology
of sugar chains (called oligosaccharides or glycans) that are widely
distributed in nature. All cells and many proteins in nature carry a
dense and complex array of covalently attached glycans. These are often
on the outer surface of cellular and secreted macromolecules, in an
optimal position to modulate or mediate events in cell-cell and cell-matrix
interactions that are crucial to the development and function of a complex
multicellular organisms. They can also mediate interactions between
organisms (e.g., between host and parasite). In addition, simple, rapidly
turning-over protein-bound glycans are abundant in the nucleus and cytoplasm,
where they appear to serve as regulatory switches. The development of
a variety of new technologies for exploring the structures of these
glycans has recently opened up this new frontier of molecular biology.
The GRTC seeks to foster interactive research in glycobiology by coordinating
the availability of state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise in
the structural analysis of glycans through a Glycotechnology Core Resource,
increasing intellectual and collaborative interactions by organizing
symposia, joint programs and seminars, coordinating joint applications
for extramural support, improving access to relevant informatics, and
facilitating the transfer of basic glycobiology research to practical
applications. The Center also strongly emphasizes graduate, postgraduate,
and medical student education in glycobiology, including contributions
by the faculty to core curricula, as well as to elective courses and
journal clubs.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is an organized research
unit of UCSD focusing on computational science and engineering. Its
mission is to advance knowledge through the development and application
of high-performance computing technologies. With a staff of 280 scientists,
software developers, and research, operations, and user support staff,
SDSC is a recognized world leader in bioinformatics, computational chemistry,
environmental informatics, data-intensive computing, Internet infrastructure
research, and computer security. Researchers around the country also
use SDSC resources, including the nation's most powerful academic-use
supercomputer, to study problems in various scientific applications
areas and investigate new paradigms of computing.
SDSC research activities are typically undertaken jointly with faculty
from relevant departments across campus, including computer science
and engineering, bioengineering, biochemistry and chemistry, pharmacology,
and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Information Technology Activities at SDSC focus on data-intensive
computing, networking, and computer security.
SDSC's Data-intensive Computing Environ-ments group is a world
leader in promoting the ability to publish scientific data by integrating
mass storage systems, distributed data-handling systems, data collections,
digital libraries, and data grids. SDSC technology is being used to
create scientific data collections, federate digital libraries, and
build persistent digital archives. The systems will provide integrated
access to data sets and allow remote application of digital library
and presentation services on the data collections. In 2000, fifteen
data collections aggregating more than twenty terabytes of data were
assembled at SDSC. The collections include astronomical images from
the 2-Micron All Sky Survey, art images from the Art Museum Image Consortium,
Chinese text from the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance, and human
brain images. The technology is also being used to prototype persistent
digital archives for the National Archives and Records Administration.
http://www.sdsc.edu/DICE/.
Networking: With the goal of promoting a more robust, scalable Internet
infrastructure by fostering engineering and technical collaborations
among Internet providers, vendors, and users, the Cooperative Association
for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) works with the community to develop
and transfer tools and technologies that provide engineering and other
insights relating to the operation and evolution of the Internet infrastructure.
CAIDA is collaborating with providers and researchers to refine traffic
metrics, foster collaborative research environments, and encourage the
development and testing of advanced networking technologies. http://www.caida.org.
SDSC's Applied Network Research group is currently conducting
two projects of short- to medium-term concern to the Internet. The first,
as part of the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research (NLANR),
is a network measurement and analysis activity that focuses on performance
aspects of the high-performance networking community and owns and operates
a vast network analysis infrastructure, including more than 100 dedicated
measurement machines throughout the U.S. and abroad. The project continuously
makes its data publicly available (http://moat.nlanr.net/).
The second activity is UCSD's High Performance Wireless Research
and Education Network (HPWREN), which is creating, demonstrating, and
evaluating a non-commercial, prototype, high-performance, wide-area,
wireless network. The NSF-funded network includes backbone nodes at
UCSD and hard-to-reach areas of San Diego County. The HPWREN (http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/)
will be used for network analysis research and to provide high-speed
Internet access to field researchers—from geophysics, astronomy,
and ecology—and to rural Indian reservations and schools.
Security: The Pacific Institute for Computer Security (PICS) conducts
and publishes research on real-world computer and network security issues,
emphasizing solutions to real security problems. This project has produced
several CERT advisories and numerous security tools, available via the
Web and FTP, to help system administrators analyze and investigate intrusions.
http://security.sdsc.edu.
Computational Science Activities at SDSC focus on computational biology
and bioinformatics, computational chemistry, and environmental informatics
and computational ecology. SDSC is particularly strong in biology (see
http://biology.sdsc.edu/)
with the following representative activities:
In environmental informatics and computational ecology, SDSC supports
projects such as Biodiversity Insight, which develops software tools
to support research, data analysis, and visualization related to biodiversity
issues (http://biodi.sdsc.edu/)
and the Long-Term Ecological Research Network, by facilitating the use
of high-performance computing resources in support of long-term ecological
research (http://www.sdsc.edu/sdsc-lter).
The SDSC Fellows Program promotes computational science and engineering
activities across campus and seeks to strengthen intellectual ties between
SDSC staff and campus faculty. Faculty members are encouraged to apply
to join this program. For more information, please contact Peter Arzberger,
parzberg@sdsc.edu,
(858) 822-0935.
Research Experiences for Undergraduates, funded by NSF, provides an
opportunity for undergraduates to work on computational science research
projects under the guidance of SDSC mentors and their campus advisers.
Stu-dents can participate in a full-time summer program or a part-time
program during the academic year, and they must apply for and be accepted
into the program. Stipends are provided. For more information, please
contact Ann Redelfs, redelfs@sdsc.edu,
(858) 534-5032.
The goal of the African and African-American Studies Research Project
is to facilitate faculty, postgraduate, and graduate research in
the areas of Africa and African diaspora studies in the social sciences
and the humanities, and to foster the comparative, cross-national, and
interdisciplinary dimensions of research, with a core group of scholars
drawn from several fields in the social sciences and humanities. These
research efforts are linked directly to larger local and international
community concerns.
The project sponsors visiting scholars, focused research groups, a
seminar, and symposia. Faculty from seven university departments are
involved. The project oversees the African Studies Minor. The project
is also part of the UC Systemwide Consortium of African Studies Programs
and the national Association of African Studies Programs. It provides
the basis for the establishment of an organized research unit on African
and African-American Studies at a later time.
The Project for Explaining the Origin of Humans is a broad-based
multidisciplinary coalition of individuals in the La Jolla area (from
UCSD as well as surrounding institutions) who are interested in defining
and explaining the evolutionary origins of humans and in generating
testable hypotheses and new agendas for research regarding this matter.
Areas of current interest include primate genetics and evolution, paleoanthropology
and hominid origins, mammalian and primate neurosciences, primate biology
and medicine, the roles of nature and nurture in language and cognition,
human and primate society and culture, comparative primate reproductive
biology, geographic, envir-onmental and climatic factors in hominid
evolution, as well as general theories for explaining humans. The group
includes faculty from the Departments of Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry
and Biochemistry, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Medicine, Neurosciences,
Oceanography, Pathology, and Psychology.
The Project in Display Phosphor Research provides a forum for
research on the synthesis, characterization, and processing of phosphors
for high definition display applications. Theproject brings together
faculty and researchers from the UCSD Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
Mechanical and Aerospace Eng-ineering (MAE), and Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE). The project was organized in 1992 in order to expand
collaboration with other colleagues at UCSD and to extend research efforts
to address both near-term and future research issues concerning phosphor
materials and advanced displays.
The Project In Econometric Analysis (PEA) is concerned with
the analysis of economic data and with techniques for modeling relationships
between economic variables and testing economic theories. As economic
variables have properties not generally found in other fields, standard
procedures from mainstream statistics are often not appropriate. The
field of econometrics has been developed to deal with these issues.
Its importance is indicated by its effect on the methodologies in other
social sciences, such as political science and empirical history, and
the fact that several Nobel Prize winners in economics have been econometricians.
The Project in Econometric Analysis (PEA) supports the work of an
active group of researchers and provides opportunities for productive
interaction among faculty and students. Areas of active research include
financial econometrics, non-linear time series modeling, properties
of neural network models, the theory of economic forecasting and various
actual applications including evaluations of models and forecasts in
finance and economics. The PEA allows links with workers from other
universities in this and other countries. In 1999–2000 and 2000–2001
the project had visitors from Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia;
some were senior and some were pre- and post-doctoral students. Faculty
members and graduate students associated with the project presented
their research at workshops and conferences worldwide. In addition,
PEA facilitates the submission of grant proposals to outside agencies.
The Project in Geometry and Physics (PGP), established in 1987,
provides opportunities for increased collaboration between mathematicians
and physicists. The project hosts several scientific meetings each year
and also sponsors a number of research seminars with distinguished scientists
from inside and outside the UCSD community.
The Project on International and Security Affairs (PISA) is
the campus affiliate of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
(IGCC), a UC systemwide institute based at UCSD. PISA's mission
is to encourage research, teaching and public discussion on international
relations. PISA accomplishes this mission through the sponsorship of
conferences, seminars, and lectures on world affairs for faculty, students,
and the general public. PISA collaborates extensively with other campus
research and teaching units. Recent activities have included a seminar
on international relations theory, a workshop and seminar series on
globalization, and support for international relations programming at
Eleanor Roosevelt College.
The Public Policy Research Project was established to facilitate
interdisciplinary research and educational opportunities in public policy
and business-government interaction. Through conferences, focused research
groups, and lecture series, the project acts as a catalyst for interaction
among economists, political scientists, moral philosophers, historians,
cognitive scientists, anthropologists, and sociologists. The project
supports programs that: (1) help faculty obtain funding that are engaged
in policy-related research, (2) conduct research apprenticeships for
doctoral students working on research projects dealing with issues and
processes of public policy, and (3) provide technical support and arrange
faculty-proposed conferences within the scope of the project's
mission statement.
The Natural Reserve System (NRS) was founded to establish and
maintain significant examples of California's diverse ecosystems
and terrain. These reserves are used for teaching and research in all
disciplines, from geology and environmental sciences to anthropology
and art. Faculty and students of the University of Calif-ornia and other
institutions are encouraged to use any of the thirty-four reserves in
the system for serious academic pursuits. The San Diego campus administers
the following four reserves:
Dawson Los Monos Canyon Reserve: This 200-acre reserve is located
in the cities of Carlsbad and Vista in north coastal San Diego County.
Its young, stream-cut valley contains a year-round creek with precipitous
north- and south-facing slopes. The major habitat types are Southern
Riparian Woodland, Diegan Coastal Sage Scrub, Perennial Coastal Stream,
Coast Live Oak Woodland, Mixed Grassland of native bunchgrass and introduced
annuals, and South Coastal Mixed Chaparral. This area is also of unique
and significant historical and archaeological value.
Elliott Chaparral Reserve: Located ten miles to the east of
campus, this 107-acre reserve, adjacent to the large expanse of Marine
Corps Air Station Miramar that is undeveloped, features Chamise Chaparral
typical of the Southern Calif-ornia coastal plain and a large stand
of mature planted eucalyptus. It is readily available during a normal
three-hour lab period or for term paper-length field studies as well
as for more lengthy projects.
Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve: This sixteen-acre
reserve, together with the city of San Diego's contiguous Northern
Wildlife Preserve, constitute the last remaining forty acres of tidal
salt marsh on Mission Bay and one of the few such wetlands remaining
in Southern California. It is recognized for the habitat it provides
for several rare and endangered birds including the light-footed clapper
rail, Belding's savannah sparrow, and the California least tern,
as well as many resident and migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, and
several fish species. An on-site trailer houses limited residential
and laboratory facilities, and extensive facilities exist within ten
miles on the UCSD main campus and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
There are opportunities for studying restoration ecology of upland and
tidal habitats.
Scripps Coastal Reserve: This reserve consists of disjunct
shoreline and cliff-top (or "knoll") portions. The shoreline
part consists of the sixty-seven acre San Diego Marine Life Refuge extending
seaward 1,000 feet from the high tide line, and surrounding the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography (SIO) Pier. Habitats include sandy beach
and submerged plain, to 60 feet below mean lower low water, seasonally
exposed cobble beach, rocky reef, pier pilings, and upper submarine
canyon ledges. Habitats of the clifftop knoll and canyons include coastal
sage scrub, maritime succulent scrub, southern coastal mixed chaparral,
and disturbed grassland. The latter is particularly suitable for ecological
restoration experiments. This reserve is enhanced by the availability
of the laboratories and facilities of adjacent SIO and the main San
Diego campus.
See "Campus Services and Facilities/Academic
Computing Services"
See "Campus Services and Facilities/San
Diego Supercomputer Center"
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Copyright
2001, The Regents of the University of California. Last modified July
13, 2001.
Reflects information in the printed 2001-2002 General Catalog. Contact individual departments for the very latest information. |
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