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The Office of Research

National Research Centers

Organized Research Units Multicampus Research Units Affiliated Units Natural Reserve System

Undergraduate Research

The Office of Research

The Office of Research has primary responsibility for UCSB Organized Research Units, contracts and grants, and research development. The Office of Research coordinates the development and submission of sponsored project proposals, negotiates and accepts contract and grant awards, and provides patent development assistance. The Office of Research also oversees the Conflict of Interest Committee, the Committee on the Rights of Human Subjects, the Animal Care and Use Committee, the Committee on Ethics in Research, and the Advisory Committee on the Repatriation of Human Remains and Cultural Items. For more information on the Office of Research, please visit our web site: [research.ucsb.edu].

National Research Centers

UC Santa Barbara is home to a number of national research centers. All centers offer specialized research opportunities and a multidisciplinary environment for study at the under- graduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.

Center for Quantized Electronic Structures (QUEST)

QUEST, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center has as its focus a frontier field in microelectronics: the investigation and the development of semi-conducting materials containing features known as quantum structures. Such micro-structures which exhibit quantum effects in one, two, or three dimensions show promise as a basis for revolutionary new electronic devices.

Recently renewed by NSF for funding to 2000, the center is composed of faculty from the departments of chemical engineering, chemistry, electrical and computer engineering, materials, and physics, and crosses the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines. To enhance linkages with relevant industry, government, and other university research, QUEST maintains such programs as a distinguished lecturer program, a scholar-in-residence program, and summer workshops on quantum structures.

QUEST research involves the production of quantum structures by crystal growth or advanced processing techniques, and the study of their fundamental properties, such as transport and optical effects. World-class laboratory facilities support the research being done at QUEST, including a 3,500-square-foot clean room with a Class 100 lithographic capability, a unique crystal growth facility featuring molecular beam epitaxy coupled to ultra-high vacuum processing, a focused ion beam system, optoelectronics and photo-luminescence laboratories, and many other laboratories for teaching and research.

The center conducts education programs to involve K-12 students in cutting edge science and to provide research opportunities for high school students, teachers, and undergraduates.

Institute for Theoretical Physics

The National Science Foundation's Institute for Theoretical Physics, initiated in 1979 on the UCSB campus, brings together physicists from all over the world to collaborate on cross-disciplinary problems. Areas of study include elementary particles and nuclei, condensed-matter physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Approximately 50 researchers are in residence at the institute at any given time. One of the major centers of theoretical physics in the world, the institute is housed in its own unique building near the east entrance to the campus. Telephone: (805) 893-4111.

Materials Research Laboratory (MRL)

The Materials Research Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was established in September, 1992 and currently involves 35 faculty from 8 departments and 52 research students and postdocs. A new 14,000 square foot MRL building houses our central facilities, seminar rooms, research office space and the MRL administration. The scientific activities of the UCSB-MRL are focused around 4 research groups, as outlined below, together with seed projects, central facilities, an educational outreach program, and a technology outreach program.

Complex Fluids (IRG 1), Group Leader: Philip Pincus. IRG1 has its major focus on the creation and control of biomolecular materials whose microstructure can be patterned during processing on various length scales which vary from nanometers to submacroscopic:

Solution Synthesis of Inorganics at Molecular and Atomic Interfaces (IRG 2), Group Leader: Fred Lange. The focus of IRG2 is on the chemical and physical basis of the low temperature synthesis of materials from solutions using either molecular or atomic interfaces. The research aims to understand the basic mechanisms of these processes and to explore the synthesis of new materials with applications in electro-optics, catalysis/gas separation, and biotechnology:

The formation of inorganic molecular sieves, e.g., zeolites and mesoporous solids, around molecular templates including organic bases and surfactants.

Biological processes where genetically synthesized molecular sheets act as templates for the biomineralization of shells and siliceous diatoms.

Epitaxial growth of thin films on single crystal templates under hydrothermal conditions.

Heterogeneous Polymeric Structures (IRG 3), Group Leader: Fred Wudl. In addition to supporting the highly successful and on-going effort on conducting polymers, we have diversified into other heterogeneous polymeric systems of a bicontinuous nature:

Strongly Non-equilibrium Phenomena in Complex Materials (IRG 4), Group Leader: James Langer. This entirely new IRG has a strong theoretical component, but is firmly focused on issues of practical importance in the materials area that share a common theme of nonlinearity:

National Nanofabrication Users' Network (Nanotech at UCSB)

Nanotech is the UCSB branch of the National Science Foundation's National Nanofabrication Users' Network (NNUN). The goal of the NNUN is to provide a geographically and technologically extensive capability to facilitate research breakthroughs across a broad spectrum of fields, including physics, electronics, optoelectronics, biology, and mechanics. Nanotech, with the resources of a 3500 square-foot clean room, including a Class 100 optical lithography capability, electron beam lithography, and a full range of fabrication processes, can leverage the fabrication expertise developed through work at UCSB and make it available to a broader community, receiving in turn, a large diversity of fabrication challenges and applications.

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)

The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) was established by the National Science Foundation with additional support from the State of California and UCSB. The Center sponsors workshops, working groups, sabbatical fellows and postdoctoral associates focusing on the integration of existing ecological information. NCEAS also is involved in the development of metadata and database activities that serve the ecological community.

The Center provides facilities, services, and high end computing capabilities to visiting scientists. Recent research topics have included ecological economics, restoration ecology, variability in community dynamics, complex population dynamics, new directions for ecosystem science in the private sector, global changes and terrestrial ecosystems, deep sea biodiversity, and an analysis of the relationship between productivity and diversity.

The Center maintains contacts with a variety of campus entities through collaborative efforts and the involvement of Host Participants from several departments. Graduate and undergraduate students are also supported.

In addition to ecological research, the Center supports several outreach activities, and is developing programs to involve K-12 education activities.

Optoelectronics Technology Center (OTC)

The Optoelectronics Technology Center (OTC) began in 1990 when it was named as one of the three Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-funded (DARPA) national optoelectronics university consortia. OTC is an interdisciplinary university research consortium based at UCSB and comprised of 32 faculty and their associated students from UCSB, Cornell University, UC San Diego, and UCLA. After a national competition, funding for the Center was renewed in 1994. The focus of its charter is to encourage collaboration between academia and U.S. industry in order to accelerate the realization of practical, manufacturable technologies within the theme of optical interconnects.

Teams of investigators concentrate primarily on two applications driven projects: low-cost computer interconnects (including guided-wave and free-space technologies) and high-performance links (comprising time-division, subcarrier, and wavelength-division multiplexing systems). In addition, innovative work in advanced growth and processing provides the enabling technologies for the next generation of devices and circuits.

Southern California Earthquake Center

Termed a center without walls, the Southern California Earthquake Center is a partnership of researchers at several universities who are studying earthquake risks and hazards in Southern California. Established by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey, the center is charged with coordinating the efforts of the various university research groups to broaden and integrate earthquake-related data gathered in the last 30 years into a form that will prove accessible and useful to a wide body of public and private organizations interested in earthquake safety. In addition to UC Santa Barbara, the other institutions involved are: the University of Southern California, the California Institute of Technology, UCLA, UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory in New York and the USGS office in Pasadena.

Organized Research Units

Organized research units (ORUs) provide unusual opportunities for students and faculty to do basic and applied research in a variety of disciplines. The following ORUs operate outside of the established academic teaching departments at UCSB.

Note: Neither courses of instruction nor degree programs are offered through the organized research units. Additional information about the units is available from the Office of Research, Cheadle Hall 3227. Telephone: (805) 893-4188.

Center for Chicano Studies

The Center for Chicano Studies supports and conducts interdisciplinary basic and applied research on the history, culture, and socioeconomic status of Chicanos/Latinos in the United States. Researchers from the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, and education engage a wide range of contemporary and historical social issues including identifying key barriers to employment, recovering systems of cultural production, examining community empowerment, analyzing immigration and settlement, oral traditions and legal disclosure. Each year the Center sponsors faculty work groups, collaborative research projects, lectures, symposium and publications that reflect this set of concerns.

Developing research initiatives that strengthen the recruitment and retention of faculty, graduate students and undergraduates involved in Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies are priorities. The Center, along with the Department of Chicano Studies, supports the unique and prestigious Luis Leal Endowed Chair in Chicano Studies. In addition, each year the Center recruits and supports a Visiting Research Scholar involved in cutting-edge research in Chicana/o Studies. Moreover, the Undergraduate Student Internship Program enhances the research skills of undergraduates interested in Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies by providing stipends to work on faculty projects.

As the only organized research unit devoted to the study of Chicana/o and Latina/o populations, the Center is a resource to local community agencies, community leaders, state and national entities as well as to the local campus community. Thus, public service forms an integral part of the Centerís educational mission.

Community and Organization Research Institute (CORI)

The Community & Organization Research Institute (CORI) conducts interdisciplinary basic and policy research, and offers research development support, on a wide spectrum of problems. CORI provides and active program of research development in the social sciences and related areas. Investigators are from the social and behavioral sciences, the humanities and those sciences involved with environmental issues. Areas investigated range from the globalization of industry archaeology in the Americas, how health care data are acquired and used in research, the economics of criminal justice and the linguistics of almost extinct modern languages, to the sociology of religion. A number of centers have been established to focus on specific areas of interest. These include the Center for Global Studies, Center for Communication and Social Policy, Health Data Research Facility, Center for Advanced Study of Individual Differences, Center for Evolutionary Psychology, Center for the Study of Religion, Center for the Study of Discourse, and the MesoAmerican Research Center. One of CORI's principle objectives is to promote research which is focused on global issues.

Institute for Computational Earth Systems Science (ICESS)

The Institute for Computational Earth Systems Science provides an environment in which Earth and computer science are coupled. The focus of ICESS is on research and graduate education in the Earth sciences including oceanography, meteorology, hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, land vegetation and limnology. Current research projects span the globe, from snow covered mountains of the U.S. and Asia, the Amazon river and Brazilian rain forests, to the ice bound seas of the Antarctic Ocean. Computer related research tools include: satellite remote sensing, digital image-processing, geographic information systems, visualization and modern network configurations.

Satellite data has provided a new perspective with which to observe the Earth and continuing advances in computer hardware and software now allow the use of very large data bases to quantitatively address global environmental research problems. ICESS is a recognized center of excellence for the quantitative use of remote sensing imagery and the corresponding data base management, networking, image processing and visualization of very large data systems.

As an Organized Research Unit its mission is to provide: a distributed, efficiently networked computer environment for the promotion and stimulation of interdisciplinary research and graduate education in Earth science; an environment and computer related services that enhance the excellence and competitive advantage of UCSB global change research; and support which facilitates research and graduate education through efficient business operations and administration.

Institute for Crustal Studies

The purpose of the Institute for Crustal Studies is to increase the understanding of the earth's crust and lithosphere, including the portions below the sea floor. New technical approaches to issues involving the earth's crust are being explored through collaborative research projects between the university, government, and industry. The research agenda of Crustal Studies includes tectonics, crustal structure and materials, earthquakes, and hazardous waste disposal. The research activities of the institute include faculty and students from the departments of biological sciences, engineering, geography, geological sciences, mathematics, and physics, and the environmental studies program.

Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids

The Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids is an interdisciplinary effort on the frontier between physics, chemistry, and polymer science. It draws upon expertise from these fields to conduct fundamental research on a new class of materials: conjugated organic polymers with delocalized electronic conductivity, anisotropic linear and nonlinear optical properties, and novel electrochemical properties. To succeed in better understanding these novel materials, the institute has capabilities in experimental physics, synthetic chemistry, and polymer processing and characterization. The institute has become an international focal point for research in this field, with visitors from all over the world. Recent accomplishments of the Institute include important contributions to the chemistry of the fullerenes, the development of efficient light emitting diodes made from conducting polymers, and the demonstration of a unique structure-property relation that leads to high performance nonlinear optical properties of semiconducting polymers. A current focus is directed toward semiconducting polymers as materials for "plastic" lasers.

Marine Science Institute (MSI)

The Marine Science Institute (MSI) is the focus of marine research and program development at UCSB. MSI administers and supports research projects involving faculty and graduate students from 14 disciplines. Much of the research activity focuses on the resources of the California coast, although an increasing amount of effort is being directed toward an understanding of the world's oceans. Marine activities in the biological and geological sciences presently predominate, but there is increasing involvement of researchers from other disciplines, including chemical oceanography.

Neuroscience Research Institute (NRI)

The Neuroscience Research Institute (NRI) is concerned with understanding the cellular and molecular principles underlying function of the nervous system. Its primary purpose is to further basic research of an interdisciplinary nature in cellular and molecular neuroscience. Areas of emphasis include research on vision, neurotrophic molecules and their receptors, the physiology and molecular organization of ion channels, neural development, the response of the central nervous system to injury, neurodegeneration and associated disorders, regenerative capacity of the nervous system, synaptic transmission, and neuropharmacology. The academic disciplines involved include cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, physiology, genetics, developmental biology, biopsychology, biophysics, and bioengineering. A center has been established within the NRI to focus on a specific area of interest: the Center for the Study of Age-related Macular Degeneration.

Quantum Institute

The Quantum Institute is an interdisciplinary research unit that facilitates research in the fundamental properties of complex systems-systems as diverse as superfluid helium, liquid crystals, magnetic nanostructures and semiconductor superlattice and quantum wells. The Institute embraces the Center for Terahertz Science and Technology (CTST) and the Center for Nonlinear Sciences (CNLS). CTST offers opportunities for research in the biological, chemical, physical, and material sciences, using the unique properties of the UCSB free-electron lasers. CNLS promotes interactions between researchers who share common interest in nonlinear problems and encourages undergraduate and graduate education in the nonlinear sciences..

Multicampus Research Units

Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (INPAC)

The Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology promotes greater understanding of the origin and structure of the universe and the basic interactions which govern it, through experimental, observational, and theoretical research. Members of the institute are from UC Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Cruz, and all three UC-run Department of Energy Laboratories. The aim of the institute is to promote collaboration on basic research in the area of intersection among nuclear and particle astrophysics and cosmology.

UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute (LMRI)

The UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute (LMRI) is a Multicampus Research Unit of the University of California headquartered at UC Santa Barbara. The Institute involves faculty and projects at all nine UC campuses. The LMRI was established to conduct research on the education of language minority students in the K-12 education sector with the long-range goal of improving these students' access to college. An emphasis is placed on collaborative research with schools and school systems. The major activities of the LMRI include sponsoring research projects; collaborating with schools and educational agencies; conducting annual meetings, research conferences, institutes and lectures; disseminating information on language minorities in various ways including a monthly newsletter, book publications, and an on-line information server with gopher and web services; and sponsoring professional development activities, which include coordinating a pre-doctoral fellowship program at four campuses and hosting visiting scholars from all campuses in the UC system. The Institute is housed in Building 402, Room 223. Telephone: (805) 893-2250. Facsimile: (805) 893-8673. E-mail: lmri@lmrinet.ucsb.edu

Affiliated Units

Center for Black Studies

The Center for Black Studies conducts research on the social, historical, political, economic, and cultural meanings that have affected peoples of African heritage throughout the world. The center sponsors a faculty development program (dissertation fellows); organizes and presents seminars, lectures, and symposia; and serves as a liaison between the campus and the Santa Barbara community.

Engineering Research Centers

For information, see College of Engineering.

UCSB Global Change Program

The UCSB Global Change Program was initiated in 1990 to formalize UCSB's long-standing commitment to education and research on global change issues. The program consists of a campuswide consortium of over 40 faculty representing nine departments and several research institutes. Many participants are leaders in the development of the federal Global Change Research Program and are active with NASA'S Earth Observing System. The goals of the program are to promote interdepartmental research, graduate programs, and curriculum development on global change issues and to promote greater awareness of global change both on and off campus. Inquiries should be directed to the School of Environmental Science and Management. Telephone: (805) 893-7363.

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center

The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center was established in 1987 as part of the University of California's initiative to encourage humanities education and research in the university curriculum. The center promotes innovative forms of collaborative research and teaching, including projects that overlap traditional disciplines. Participants at the center include UCSB faculty and students, as well as distinguished visiting scholars from around the world. The Center invites members of the Santa Barbara community to participate in its conferences and lectures. It also hosts a monthly symposium in which members of the UCSB public engage in discussion with distinguished members of the UCSB faculty. The Center is housed on the sixth floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences Building. Telephone: (805) 893-3907. Facsimile: (805) 893-4336.

Natural Reserve System

The University of California administers 33 natural reserves throughout the state. The reserves are undisturbed natural areas representative of the ecological diversity of California. The mission of the Natural Reserve System is to contribute to the understanding and wise management of the Earth and its natural systems by supporting university-level teaching, research, and public service as protected natural areas throughout California.

The UCSB campus has responsibility for six of the areas: the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, the Coal Oil Point Reserve, the Santa Cruz Island Reserve, the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL), Valentine Camp, and the Sedgwick Reserve. Available to students and faculty for teaching and research, the reserves provide outdoor laboratories and classrooms for field sciences. The six areas are administered by the Marine Science Institute; inquiries about their use and scheduling may be directed to the Natural Reserve System office. Telephone: (805) 893-4127. E-mail: donnam@msi.ucsb.edu.

Undergraduate Research

Faculty in all colleges at UC Santa Barbara encourage students to work with them on research projects in their area of interest. A variety of scholarships and fellowships assist students in carrying out their research. For detailed information, see the appropriate college office.

Materials Research Laboratory Educational Outreach Program

Under the direction of Dr. Fiona Goodchild, and partly in cooperation with QUEST, we have developed an extensive and dynamic educational program that encompasses three main activities: (1) a year-round undergraduate intern program that supports approximately 20 students, mostly but not entirely from UCSB and other California institutions; the students participate in projects with MRL faculty and researchers, (2) a summer intern program for approximately 12 students from Santa Barbara City College, again involving participation in MRL research programs, and (3) a Science Partnership for School Innovation, in which approximately 35 high school science teachers from Santa Barbara County participate in a program on curriculum development; this year-round activity also involves an annual workshop.
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