Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

UC Berkeley anthropology and public health researchers secure $3.1 million NIH grant to combat dengue fever in Peru

February 23, 2024
By Lilah Klein

UC Berkeley Anthropology Professor James Holston and Public Health immunologist Dr. Josefina Coloma have been awarded a $3.1 million, 5-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health to combate dengue virus in Peru.

The grant will fund “Proyecto Tariki”, a research initiative developed...

Berkeley Social Sciences launches comprehensive internship program to prepare students for meaningful careers

February 13, 2024
by Alexander Rony

Berkeley Social Sciences launched a new program recently to better equip students for successful careers by giving them real-world experiences. The Social Sciences Career Readiness Internship Program (SSCRIP) prepares students for a variety of professions by offering skills workshops, personalized coaching, internship placement assistance, and stipends for unpaid and low-paid internships.

"Our responsibility towards...

For new professor, psychedelics and octopuses may hold keys to the human mind

February 13, 2024
Jason Pohl, Berkeley News

Octopus graphic

Gül Dölen became a scientist because she loved solving puzzles that drew on neuroscience, medicine, biology and philosophy. But a decade ago, her spirits were waning, and a string of funding rejections brought her lab to the brink of folding.

Then came the octopuses, all seven of them, and a curiosity-driven experiment.

Before then,...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/02/12/for-new-professor-psychedelics-and-octopuse…

UC Berkeley Geographer Michael Watts receives Ester Boserup Prize for development research

February 5, 2024
By Kenny Ma

UC Berkeley Geography Professor Emeritus Michael J. Watts was recently awarded the prestigious Ester Boserup Prize for his outstanding contributions to the field of development research. The Copenhagen Centre for Development Research, a leading institution known for its interdisciplinary approach, awarded the prize to Watts for his substantial contributions to the understanding of development studies.

The Ester Boserup Prize is given to a scholar whose work has enriched and expanded insights into the dynamics of development and economic history...

UC Berkeley students combat K-12 book bans by creating their own children’s books

January 29, 2024
Ivan Natividad

As the battle to control what students read continues in K-12 schools across the country, policies backed by U.S. legislators have contributed to a recent rise in the banning of books that include the history and experiences of people of color.

Those stories, historically, have been left out of American history books, said UC Berkeley lecturer and anthropologist Pablo Gonzalez, so it’s...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/01/29/uc-berkeley-students-combat-k-12-book-bans-…

American Economic Association awards prize to CEGA for success fostering diversity & inclusion

January 10, 2024

SAN ANTONIO, TX (10 Jan 2024) – The American Economic Association (AEA) bestowed its Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion to the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), a research hub at the University of California, Berkeley that generates evidence decision-makers use to reduce global poverty. Accepted by Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley and Faculty Co-Director of CEGA Edward Miguel at the annual AEA meeting this weekend, the Center received the award for its strong commitment to diversity and inclusion that has benefited both...

https://cega.berkeley.edu/press-release/american-economic-association-awards-pri…

New Brilliance of Berkeley course introduces undergrads to 28 luminaries — in one semester

January 19, 2024
Gretchen Kell

With so much brilliance at UC Berkeley — from headline-grabbing research to stellar faculty members across disciplines — it’s impossible for undergraduates, many scouting for their academic passions, to sample it all while on campus.

But this week, a new spring semester course, Brilliance of Berkeley, kicks off with space for 744 in-person participants and 5,000 more...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/01/18/new-brilliance-of-berkeley-course-introduce…

Move over dolphins. Chimps and bonobos can recognize long-lost friends and family — for decades

December 22, 2023
Jason Pohl

Laura Simone Lewis, a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow in Berkeley's psychology departmentResearchers led by a University of California, Berkeley, comparative psychologist have found that great apes and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, can recognize groupmates they haven't seen in over two decades —...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/12/18/move-over-dolphins-chimps-and-bonobos-can-r…

L&S Author Interview: David Henkin & The Week

December 4, 2023
Chauncey Walker
David Henkin, professor of history, speaks about his book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms That Made Us Who We Are.

In this interview, David Henkin recalls his experience collecting and conducting research for his book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms That Made Us Who We Are. Henkin's book explores the emergence of the "natural" ordering of weeks, revealing how our current devotion to the weekly rhythms emerged during the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States.

Berkeley Talks: The transformative potential of AI in academia

December 15, 2023

In Berkeley Talks episode 186, a panel of UC Berkeley scholars from the College of Letters and Science discusses the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in academia — and the questions and challenges it requires universities and other social institutions to confront.

"When it comes to human-specific problems, we often want fair, equitable, unbiased answers," said Keanan Joyner, an assistant professor of psychology. "But the data that we feed into the training set often is not that. And so, we are asking AI to produce something that it was never trained on, and that...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/12/15/berkeley-talks-ai-in-academia