William H. Parker, Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies
Research and graduate education, two major areas of responsibility of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, are vital and integral parts of academic life at UCI. Programs leading to doctoral or master's degrees are offered in about 50 academic and professional areas, with an extensive array of concentrations and emphases within these areas. Many of UCI's graduate programs and research activities have achieved national reputations for excellence, and several are internationally recognized as leaders in their respective fields. UCI graduate programs continue to grow and to evolve in directions that are consistent with the University's teaching, research, and public service missions. Graduate study at UCI provides the excitement and satisfaction that spring from the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge, as well as from meeting new challenges.
The Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies has general administrative responsibility for research and graduate education. In the area of research, the Vice Chancellor has responsibility for the administration of extramurally funded research and training grants, general research administration, and research policy development and implementation. Graduate education responsibilities include admissions, graduate student services, degree awards, fellowship and assistantship administration, and programs that facilitate student and faculty diversity within graduate education at UCI.
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies also is administratively responsible for Organized Research Units, Irvine Research Units, Focused Research Programs, contract and grant administration, University/industry relations, and other campus research activities.
Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.rgs.uci.edu/.
A primary mission for UCI is faculty research and scholarship, which plays a valuable role in the education of both graduate and undergraduate students. UCI has established national and worldwide visibility in traditional disciplines such as physics and chemistry, which have earned two Nobel Prizes, along with "new" interdisciplinary pursuits. In the Humanities, UCI has become a center in critical theory. Biological and biomedical investigators conduct both basic science and clinical research in areas such as neuroscience, molecular biology, genetics, and cancer. Engineering specialties include electrical, computer, mechanical, aerospace, civil, and biochemical research.
The Vice Chancellor for Research has responsibility for research policy, research development, animal research administration, UCI-industry relations, and research administration, which includes submission of grant proposals and negotiation and administration of awards. The Vice Chancellor also encourages new research initiatives and administers UCI's organized research programs, interdisciplinary groups of faculty pursuing unique problems that cross departmental and school boundaries.
The Office of Technology Alliances (OTA) fosters research partnerships and transfers of technology between UCI and industry that lead to rapid commercialization of research results for the public benefit. Specific services for faculty include assistance with invention disclosures, patentability assessment, technology marketing and licensing, industry-sponsored research collaborations, biological material transfer agreements, and copyrights and trademarks. Specific services for business and industry include access and linkages to faculty researchers (http://www.faculty.uci.edu/), licensing technology, assistance with research contracts, intellectual property, research materials transfer, and technology information. OTA makes many of its services available over the Internet at http://www.ota.uci.edu/.
The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)2] was established in December 2000 by the State of California. Led by UCSD and UCI, the Institute's purpose is to perform excellent research which will generate novel materials, devices, and software for Internet telecommunications and information technology that will keep California's industry at the cutting edge of technology. The Institute's research applications in networked systems, environmental, transportation, bioinformatics, policy, education, digital arts, and other fields will accelerate growth in existing companies and spur new high-technology start-ups to help maintain California's economy and society's standard of living at a high level.
UCI and UCSD faculty, with researchers from more than 40 leading California high-technology corporations, work together in the Institute to achieve these goals. A major objective of the Institute is to educate and prepare students, in the classroom and the laboratory, for successful careers in industry, government, and academia.
The University of California Humanities Research Institute (HRI), located at UCI, was founded in 1987 to serve as the humanities center for the nine campuses of the University of California. HRI's distinctive mission is to foster intellectual community across campus boundaries, to mobilize the strength of the University of California humanities faculty as a whole, and to promote innovative collaborative and interdisciplinary research in the humanities and related disciplines. An advisory committee represents each campus and advises the HRI director on programs.
At the heart of HRI's activities are the Residential Research Groups, which bring together both UC and non-UC scholars, postdoctoral fellows, and advanced UC graduate students to work in collaboration on interdisciplinary topics. HRI also offers the possibility of multiyear programs of coordinated residential research groups and conferences. Office space for up to 23 resident fellows and modest housing on the UCI campus is provided.
HRI sponsors scholarly conferences both at the Institute and on the nine UC campuses, as well as seminars and workshops for a variety of planning purposes. In addition, HRI works with the University of California Press to publish work from its conferences and residential groups. Scholarly work done under the auspices of HRI has also appeared under a variety of other imprints.
Faculty who wish to propose research projects, conferences, workshops, disciplinary forums, or other programs should contact the University of California Humanities Research Institute, 307 Administration Building, Irvine, CA 92697-3350; telephone (949) 824-8177; e-mail: UCHRI@uci.edu.
The University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA) is a funding program for the visual and performing arts of the UC system. Primarily dedicated to multicampus collaborations, UCIRA supports artistic production and critical discourse in all creative genres. UCIRA provides grants to faculty and students for such projects as exhibitions, performances, symposia, and outreach efforts. As artistic endeavors of the highest professional caliber, UCIRA projects frequently reach audiences outside the University and involve artists and scholars from around the world. As the only statewide organization representing the arts on all campuses of the UC system, UCIRA also provides information and advocacy for university-based arts education and research.
UCIRA moved to the UCI campus in summer 1998 and is located in the offices of the Humanities Research Institute. The proximity to the Institute is significant in enabling collaborative programs between the arts and the humanities. UCIRA funding is divided into three general categories: Special Projects, Demonstration Projects, and Community Arts. The Special Projects program provides support of up to $25,000 for major collaborative projects from a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Special Projects are expected to significantly impact students and faculty from at least two campuses. They may consist of one or more specific events or activities including, but not limited to: festivals, symposia, joint productions, and exhibitions. The Demonstration Projects program offers support of up to $5,000 for performing tours, exhibitions, residencies, master classes, and planning future UCIRA events. Additionally, the Demonstration Projects program encourages artists and scholars from diverse disciplines to develop ideas and approaches which extend the conventional limits of arts research at the University of California. The Community Arts program supports innovative projects that engage UC artists with community constituencies outside the UC system. Community Arts are defined to encompass any activity in which the arts are applied, disseminated, or interpreted for a specified constituency. This funding category has been developed in response to the dramatic increase in experimental outreach research by UC artists, and the need to foster increased connectivity between UC arts programs and their surrounding communities. UCIRA seeks to address these issues by supporting projects that can have a significant effect within a specific community or that can serve as models for outreach efforts.
All UCIRA grants must involve two or more UC campuses. For more information see the UCIRA Web site at http://ucira.arts.ucla.edu.
Financed through private and federal funds, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) began in 1972. Its goals are to create the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, a comprehensive digital library of Greek literature; to conduct literary research using collected texts; and to apply technological innovation in these endeavors. TLG research activities combine the traditional concerns and methodologies of philological and literary study with the most advanced features of computer technology. Included among current research foci are the identification of ancient Greek literary and documentary materials from various literary-historical periods; the conversion of these materials into machine-readable form; the enhancement of automated text-correction routines; and the formulation of criteria for the lexical analysis and categorization of the texts in the data bank. The project also has established procedures to facilitate international access to its resources either online or through compact disk. The TLG digital library currently contains in excess of 76 million words of Greek text and essentially all ancient Greek literary texts from Homer to A.D. 600, as well as a large number of texts deriving from the period between A.D. 600 and 1453. Data entry continues with the aim of including later periods of Greek literature.
Close ties with the Department of Classics are evidenced by faculty participation in TLG research and TLG support of graduate students. TLG's library holdings enhance those of the University Library, and TLG-related conferences and scholarly visits afford faculty and students contact with eminent classicists. The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae has made UCI a major source of Classics research activity.
Organized Research Units (ORUs) normally consist of an inter-departmental group of faculty, students, and other researchers engaged in a continuing program of multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary research, supported by both University and extramural funding. The work of some ORUs is directed toward the solution of complex contemporary problems, while others conduct basic research essential to the understanding of natural or social phenomena or of humanistic ideas and expressions. The following ORUs have been established on the Irvine campus by The Regents of the University.
The Cancer Research Institute provides leadership and support for researchers working toward understanding and controlling cancer. The Institute serves as a means of focusing, coordinating, and directing efforts of scholars in basic and clinical sciences from several departments of the School of Biological Sciences and the College of Medicine. It provides a central source of information concerning cancer-related research, as well as a forum in which basic researchers and clinicians can assess advances that may be of immediate value in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and in the detection of chemicals or conditions that cause cancer. Ongoing and projected research activities involve the regulation of cell function, viral carcinogenesis, immunology, and basic molecular processes relevant to cancer. The Cancer Research Institute serves as the basic science arm of UCI's Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. Other units of the center include the Chao Family Clinical Cancer Research Center and the Cancer Surveillance Program of Orange County.
The Center for Embedded Computer Systems, established as an informal center in 1998, was recognized as an ORU in January 2001. The Center provides the organizational and administrative structure for researchers at UCI, UCR, UCSB, and UCSD to conduct leading-edge interdisciplinary research in embedded systems, develop innovative design methodologies, and promote technology and knowledge transfer for the benefit of the individual and society. The research program focuses on three application domains: (1) Communications, including infotainment, information appliances, multimedia, personal imaging, and wireless; (2) Automotive, including collision avoidance, control/sensors, entertainment, and emergency services; and (3) Medical, including diagnosis, imaging, implanted devices, and monitoring. Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.cecs.uci.edu/.
The Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM), founded at UCI in 1983, is a multidisciplinary research institute that fosters and supports collaborative research on the brain processes underlying learning and memory. CNLM's research teams consist of faculty, professional and postgraduate researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scholars. They investigate the formation, maintenance, and retrieval of memory at several levels of analysis--from studies of molecular and cellular processes in the brain to studies of memory in animal and human subjects.
Current research projects include investigations of the role of specific genes in memory formation, how neurons organize and communicate to enable learning and memory, the way experience alters the structure and organization of the brain, how we retrieve short- and long-term memories, and emotional influences on memory formation. State-of-the-art techniques, including computer modeling of neural processes and imaging of brain system activation, are used. The Center's basic research has important implications for understanding and treating human disorders and diseases of learning and memory.
CNLM organizes seminars and colloquia throughout the year, as well as periodic workshops and international conferences for the neuroscience community. In addition, the Center organizes and sponsors programs for local schools and the general community, including public lectures focusing on the research of the Center faculty and on health issues related to brain and memory.
CNLM members include faculty from the UCI Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cognitive Sciences, and Anatomy and Neurobiology, as well as faculty from several other UC campuses, the University of Southern California, and the Scripps Research Institute. CNLM is located in the Bonney and Qureshey Research Laboratories of the Herklotz Research Facility.
The Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO) is a multidisciplinary Organized Research Unit that conducts theoretical and empirical research in the field of information technology (IT). CRITO focuses on the management, use and impact of IT in the emerging global, competitive marketplace and on the policy issues raised by its use. Under its umbrella, CRITO researchers pursue three programs of study: organizational implications of information technology, management of information technology, and technology policy and societal issues.
Faculty from the Graduate School of Management (GSM), the Department of Information and Computer Science (ICS), the School of Social Sciences, and the Department of Education conduct research through the unit. There are approximately 12 faculty associates and 20 students involved in research administered by CRITO.
CRITO was recently designated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as one of six Industry-University Information Technology Research Centers in the United States. Though there are more than 50 NSF Research Centers across the country, including the six focusing on information and technology, CRITO is the only one of the national centers to focus on the social and economic impact of information technology.
The first such NSF center at UCI, CRITO brings together nationally prominent UCI faculty with researchers from participating corporations to study the impact of new information technologies--computers, telecommunications, multimedia, and the Internet--on business, consumers, and the workplace.
CRITO's research projects also reflect a multidisciplinary nature. Ongoing research includes: nationwide study of computers and educational reform in schools; nationwide study of computers, multimedia, and the Internet in the home; cross-national study of the payoffs from investments in computers; national study of the effects of computers on firm performance in Fortune 1000 companies; the impacts of computing on work groups; interorganizational systems and knowledge management; IT structuring for e-commerce and measurement standards of consumer satisfaction; the effects of IT on training, employee performance, and quality of work life; and studies of the global spread of production and use of computers and the Internet. Faculty research also involves computer support systems for group collaboration; informatization of society; and estimation of market potential for IT.
In support of these research programs, CRITO sponsors regular seminars among faculty, students, and members of the business community; cosponsors and hosts talks by nationally and internationally distinguished researchers in the field; assists in the preparation of proposals to government, foundations, and industry for extramural funding to support research programs and training of the next generation of researchers; and maintains a working paper series of reports and publications documenting its research. CRITO works with the campus academic units to match students with graduate assistantships and work-study positions that are available in conjunction with CRITO research projects.
Corporate sponsors of the NSF center, referred to as the CRITO Consortium, have included the following companies among others: ATL Products/Quantum Corporation, the Boeing Company, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Canon Information Systems, IBM Corporation, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Seagate Technology, Sun Microsystems, and Systems Management Services.
The primary purpose of the Center for Virus Research (CVR) is to significantly stimulate the interaction of UCI virologists with many other UCI basic and clinical researchers. Research on viruses has often provided a biological and technological foundation from which much has been discovered concerning the basic molecular processes of organisms. Indeed, this technology has had enormous impact on other areas, such as the very foundations of molecular biology. Disciplines such as molecular genetics, cell biology, structural biology, pathogenesis, evolutionary biology, neurology, and radiological sciences can now be readily linked by virus research, and provide a highly interdisciplinary character to the Center for Virus Research at UCI.
The Center began as the Irvine Research Unit in Animal Viruses in 1986 and developed into an Organized Research Unit, approved in 2000. CVR now provides interdisciplinary links to both structural biology and evolutionary biology. Although CVR is not a degree-granting program, it hosts research fellows from Pacific Rim nations, such as Mexico, and is an element of the Virology track in the combined graduate program in Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry. CVR also provides oversight of the Virology program of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and administers the viral vector facility that serves the Cancer Center members. CVR oversees laboratory training in virus-based biotechnology, such as in the M.S. concentration in Biotechnology and in the use of recombinant virus for gene therapy. In addition, CVR invites speakers from biotechnology companies and assists in establishing contacts with CVR participants.
The Critical Theory Institute provides a locus for the conduct and support of collaborative, interdisciplinary research that focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of such fields as history, literature, philosophy, art, anthropology, politics, and cultural studies. The Institute's principal function is to create a forum for debate among competing movements in contemporary critical theory. The work of the Institute encompasses not only the application of theory to data but also a self-reflexive investigation of theoretical presuppositions in order to produce alternative theoretical models, methodologies, and research strategies.
The Institute investigates problems according to three-year research programs, which are concluded with the publication of results. A recently completed research project of the Institute concerns the interest in the concept of "culture" in various kinds of critical theory and cultural study in recent years. The results of this research project have been published as "Culture" and the Problem of the Disciplines, edited by John Carlos Rowe (Columbia University Press, 1998).
The Institute pursues three- to four-year research projects on announced topics, such as the recently completed "The Forces of Globalization" (1995-1999), and the newly proposed "The Futures of Property and Personhood." Research projects involve collaborations between Institute members and scholars from around the world. The resulting collections of essays are published by Columbia University Press. The Institute also sponsors the annual René Wellek Library Lectures, inaugurated in 1981. Every spring quarter, a distinguished scholar delivers three public lectures on a topic relevant to the field of critical theory. The Wellek Lectures are published by Columbia University Press as an ongoing series. Mini-conferences, reading and discussion groups, work-in-progress meetings, and one-time lectures by international scholars are among other activities sponsored by the Institute.
In recent years, the Institute has established connections to distinguished institutions and scholars around the world and is beginning to plan collaborative international projects on a regular basis. The first collaborative event, an international conference entitled "The States of Theory: China and the West," took place in Beijing in the summer of 2000 and is co-organized by the Critical Theory Institute and Beijing Language and Culture University.
The Developmental Biology Center (DBC) is an Organized Research Unit supporting multi-investigator research projects in developmental biology in several departments of the School of Biological Sciences and the College of Medicine. DBC investigators are focusing their research on understanding how cells cooperate during development to control the growth and development of the body. This involves study of the processes of cell division, migration, and differentiation at the molecular, genetic, and cellular levels using a variety of experimental organisms, as well as human material. In support of these research programs, DBC manages shared facilities for confocal microscopy, computer-based image processing and analysis, cell sorting and analysis, and single-cell microinjection. These facilities are part of the Optical Biology Shared Resource of UCI's Comprehensive Cancer Center. DBC administers training grants to support both graduate students and postdoctoral investigators, and Program Project grants supporting research in multiple laboratories. DBC sponsors regular seminars; organizes local, national, and international conferences; and hosts visiting scientists for collaborative research. The results of the work will contribute to understanding normal development and growth control as well as abnormalities that lead to birth defects, cancer, and nervous-system malfunction in the human body. New research programs are helping to identify chemicals in the environment that pose hazards for human development, to develop methods to stimulate the regrowth of tissues and organs, and to produce tissues for reconstructive surgery. Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/~pjbryant/ dbc/index.htm.
The goal of the Institute is to mobilize and unify University resources to discover meaningful ways to prevent decline in brain function with aging prior to its inception and to reverse loss of function once it has occurred. The elusive, yet attainable goal of "successful aging," maintaining functionality in one's later years, is one of the great challenges facing the nation. While many individuals continue to maintain and even improve their intellectual and cognitive skills, others suffer a serious and seemingly irreversible loss of cognitive function and develop dementias, most commonly Alzheimer's disease. The Institute is a fully integrated basic science/clinical research program that operates: a Dementia Assessment and Treatment Clinic; a Brain Imaging Acquisition/ Analysis Unit; a Tissue Repository for cellular and molecular analysis of the aged and Alzheimer's brain; and a comprehensive database of clinical and research data. Research is multidisciplinary, employing the latest techniques in computer science, artificial intelligence, molecular biology, and neuroscience. The Institute also sponsors a specialized educational track in brain aging and dementia for advanced students who wish to develop a career opportunity in an exciting and expanding field. The Institute is the site of a National Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and a State of California Department of Health Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
Faculty from the Departments of Neurobiology and Behavior, Neurology, Radiology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Cognitive Sciences, Information and Computer Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the School of Social Ecology comprise the Institute's core group of investigators.
The Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics (IGB) was established in January 2001. IGB plans to create an organizational structure for interdisciplinary research in genomics and bioinformatics, which are revolutionizing biology, medicine, and society. Genomics, in its various forms, is catalyzing the fundamental process of reverse engineering gene and protein networks and understanding biology at the system level. The genomic data deluge creates a critical need for theoretical, algorithmic, and software advances in storing, retrieving, networking, processing, modeling, analyzing, navigating, and visualizing biological information. In turn, biological systems have inspired computer science advances, including genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, computer viruses and synthetic immune systems, DNA computing, artificial life, and hybrid VLSI-DNA gene chips. This cross-fertilization has enriched both fields and will continue to do so in the coming decades. The Institute is organized around four areas of research: structural genomics, functional genomics, human genomics, and evolutionary genomics with bioinformatics as a common theme. Additional information is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.igb.uci.edu/.
The goal of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences is to foster research in the application of mathematical models and methods to describe and to better understand human behavior, both individual and social. The Institute sponsors specialized seminars and colloquia, a visiting scholars program, summer workshops, and focused research groups of faculty, students, and visitors, and it maintains a Technical Report Series. Facilities include a computer network for research purposes. Participants include faculty from the Departments of Anthropology, Cognitive Sciences, Economics, Logic and Philosophy of Science, Political Science, and Sociology in the School of Social Sciences; the Department of Mathematics in the School of Physical Sciences; the Department of Philosophy in the School of Humanities; the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in The Henry Samueli School of Engineering; and the Graduate School of Management.
The Institute for Software Research (ISR) is dedicated to fostering innovative basic and applied research in software and information technologies. To achieve this goal, ISR works with established companies, start-ups, government agencies, and standards bodies to develop and transition technologies to widespread and practical application. The Institute also focuses on educating the next generation of software researchers and practitioners in advanced software technologies. It supports the public service mission of the University of California in developing the economic basis of the State of California.
Technical emphases of the Institute include software architecture, hyperware, Internet protocols and standards, Internet infrastructure and applications, Internet-scale event notification, software processes, workflow, computer-supported cooperative work, human-computer interaction, user interface software, software understanding, analysis and testing, extensible systems, distributed object technologies, configuration management, configurable distributed systems, compiler technology and machine-independent code, and software engineering education.
Faculty members are drawn from throughout the University of California. Graduate research assistants, professional research staff, and visiting researchers complete the Institute's research body.
ISR supports research projects, sponsors professional meetings, and develops technology. To further its research agenda, the Institute sponsors a distinguished speaker series, technical roundtables, workshops, symposia, and special events.
Effective partnerships with industry are essential for ISR to achieve its goals of technology development and transition. Corporate and institutional sponsorships support ISR's research, activities, and professional meetings.
Information about the Institute for Software Research is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.isr.uci.edu/.
The Institute for Surface and Interface Science (ISIS) brings together faculty and researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, and electrical engineering for collaborative projects aimed at advancing knowledge through interdisciplinary research. ISIS affiliates engage in the study of phenomena which occur at the boundaries between phases of matter. The properties of surfaces and interfaces control a wide variety of technologically important effects and processes. Among these are corrosion and lubrication incidents, the behavior of semiconductor devices, the fabrication of integrated circuits, and the performance of catalysts used in automobile exhaust systems and throughout the chemical industry. Research conducted within the Institute is funded by a variety of extramural sources including private industry as well as several federal agencies. Collectively, research funds also help support a number of ISIS-sponsored activities, including a Distinguished Lecturer Program which brings senior scholars from around the world to UCI, visiting fellows programs, postdoctoral fellowships, seminar presentations, student research forums, and workshops.
The Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), a University of California Multicampus Research Unit with branches at Irvine, Davis, and Berkeley, was established to foster research, education, and training in the field of transportation. A fundamental goal of the Institute is the stimulation of interdisciplinary research on contemporary transportation issues. ITS research at UCI involves faculty and students from The Henry Samueli School of Engineering, the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Sciences; the Graduate School of Management; and the Department of Information and Computer Science. The Institute also hosts visiting scholars from the U.S. and abroad to facilitate collaborative research and information exchange, and sponsors conferences and colloquia to disseminate research results.
Research at ITS covers a broad spectrum of transportation issues. Current funded research projects at ITS Irvine focus upon: intelligent transportation systems, particularly advanced transportation management systems and wireless communications; activity-based travel demand analysis; planning and analysis of transportation systems; transportation systems operation and control; artificial intelligence applications; transportation engineering; transportation safety; fiscal and administrative issues in public transit; and environmental and energy issues.
The Institute is part of the University of California Transportation Center, a Federally designated center for transportation research. The Center for Activity Systems Analysis (CASA) within the Institute supports research directed toward the development of activity-based approaches to travel behavior analysis. The Center for Advanced Transportation Management Systems Research within the Institute, which is part of the Universitywide PATH (Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways) program, supports research directed toward the development of intelligent transportation systems. The Institute also plays a major role in the intelligent transportation research component of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, one of three new Institutes for Science and Innovation recently created by the Governor of California. The ITS Advanced Transportation Management Systems (ATMS) Laboratories provide facilities for the teaching, research, and development of intelligent transportation systems. These laboratories form the backbone of the State of California's research initiative in ATMS.
The transportation research program at UCI is supported by the ITS Transportation Library at UC Berkeley. In addition, ITS at UCI subscribes to all transportation research journals and offers a variety of computer-based information retrieval services.
The Institute maintains a regular publication series which documents research conducted within its programs. ITS also is the editorial headquarters of four international journals--Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice; Transportation Research Part B: Methodological; Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies; and Accident Analysis and Prevention. These journals are received by over 2,000 subscribers worldwide.
The Institute works closely with campus academic units to enhance graduate education in the areas of transportation planning, engineering, management, and policy. Courses of study leading to graduate degrees in the Schools of Engineering, Social Ecology, and Social Sciences, and in the Interdisciplinary Program in Transportation Science, are available for students interested in transportation studies. ITS extends its support to a large number of graduate students from these various disciplines, enabling students to enrich their studies by participating in ongoing research.
Irvine Research Units (IRU) are established on the Irvine campus for the purpose of providing an organizational structure for the conduct of research that is difficult or infeasible to be carried out within the normal school or departmental structure. IRUs normally are established for a period of five years, and may provide the basis for establishment of extramurally supported research centers or Organized Research Units.
The IRU in Health Policy and Research (HPR) is a multidisciplinary unit that provides an environment for collaboration among health policy researchers at UCI. Through its shared research space, seminars, and workshops, HPR creates an atmosphere of synergistic creativity for faculty, staff, and students from diverse academic backgrounds. Interaction among the members often results in innovative multidisciplinary research proposals. HPR's staff assists in the development and submission of the proposals and administration of the contracts and grants that result from them.
HPR has 22 members from four units: the College of Medicine, the Graduate School of Management, and the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Sciences. Their areas of expertise include anthropology, biostatistics, community health, epidemiology, family medicine, general internal medicine, geriatrics, psychology, marketing, medical economics, medical education, medical ethics, sociology, pediatrics, and public health. HPR also provides an educational environment for undergraduate and graduate students to learn how to conduct health policy research.
The goals of the IRU are: (1) to facilitate collaboration among UCI faculty participating in health policy research; (2) to disseminate research findings; (3) to provide education and training opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students regarding health policy research; and (4) to support the research efforts through extramural support. Research programs emphasize investigations on health disparities, injury prevention, and health care economics. These programs are multidisciplinary, involving faculty associates from more than one department and/or school.
The IRU in Hearing and Speech Sciences was established in July 2000 and consists of a multidisciplinary group of scientists interested in processes underlying hearing and speech. The range of expertise represented in the IRU includes the molecular determinants of neuronal function in the auditory system, the processing of acoustic stimuli by the auditory system, the plasticity of the auditory system, the perception of simple and complex acoustic stimuli, the perception of speech and the neural mechanisms that underlie speech perception, and the perception of speech by hearing-impaired listeners. The clinical populations consist of people who either suffer from an auditory neuropathy or are aided by a cochlear prosthesis.
The IRU consists of 10 faculty members, their graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars. The faculty are from the School of Biological Sciences, the Department of Cognitive Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, and basic science and clinical departments of the College of Medicine. The goals of the IRU in Hearing and Speech Sciences are: (1) to foster interdisciplinary research in these areas; (2) to train graduate students and postdoctoral scholars; and (3) to share information in these areas by inviting notable scientists to lecture at UCI and by hosting an annual workshop consisting of IRU members and scientists from other institutions.
The research conducted under the auspices of the IRU is multidisciplinary. It includes examining physiological mechanisms of hearing impairment, assessing manifestations in the human brain of findings obtained in basic science research, relating speech perception to the plasticity of the auditory system, and examining the physiological mechanisms of the perception of simple and complex acoustic signals.
The IRU in Macromolecular Structure ties together UCI investigators who utilize modern methods of macromolecular structure determination as a critical part of their research program. The IRU serves as the focal point for further development of Structural Biology at UCI. An essential function of the IRU is to coordinate multi-investigator research proposals, graduate student recruitment, seminar programs, and course development.
Focused Research Programs (FRP) are established for the purpose of developing and, for a limited period of time, sustaining interdisciplinary research that could not be carried out through individual effort or within a single academic unit. Because of the developmental nature of these programs, they ordinarily are approved for no more than three years and are supported partly by University funds. If a research program develops successfully, it may continue with extramural and/or University support. The following group is recognized as a Focused Research Program.
Twenty faculty and graduate students from the Schools of Humanities, Social Ecology, and Social Sciences who share a strong interest in the interdisciplinary study of labor have created a research niche at UCI to focus on the multifaceted experiences of the working class. The FRP in Southern California Labor Studies seeks new paradigms for understanding the global changes currently reconstructing and reshaping the work, community, and culture of working people, particularly in Southern California. The participants, each with distinction in their respective fields, seek to develop innovative approaches to understanding the forces that modify labor processes and working peoples' lives. Several activities, including a speakers series, seminars, seed grants, and conferences, are sponsored by the FRP.
