University of California, Santa Barbara
AC-9: Research and Scholarship

Please see attached inventory.

For the purposes of reporting to STARS, UCSB’s definition of research that relates to or has research applications/implications related to sustainability includes research which: 1) Seeks to better explain the dynamic functionality of and history of earth’s systems as they may affect humans; 2) Seeks to better explain the relationship between humans and the environment; 3) Seeks to better explain human impacts on the natural environment; 4) Seeks to better explain the effect of environmental issues on humans or society more broadly; 5) Explores and responds to the relationship between humans and the natural environment through art and culture; and/or 6) Develops innovative solutions through practice, technology, or artistic expression regarding an issue affecting the environment and our relationship to it. The majority of research at UC Santa Barbara is foundational in nature. Due to this, we often needed to look at the potential applications or implications of the research to discern the connection to sustainability. We only included research that included an environmental component. Research that only addressed social justice and economic aspects of sustainability were not included. We did not include research focused on understanding how ecosystems or organisms function if there was no explicit connection to an environmental issue. If the ecological research investigated issues of restoration, human impacts, remediation, etc. we did count it. We included creative activities of fine arts and humanities faculty, as well as articles and publications. We sought “substantial” projects, including both grant-funded projects and non-funded projects. For publications and ongoing experiments, we included “in progress” work. Research that addressed cultural relationships with the natural environment was included. For example, we included research that addressed how the environment has been represented in literature over time, especially if the faculty linked the research to how this change in perception might have affected the way society treats the environment. In some of the cases we looked at, the researcher had not been conducting research with the primary objective of solving a sustainable challenge, but a sustainability innovation occurred as a “side effect.” For instance, the researcher might be developing a new technology with the goal of creating a faster computer chip. If the innovation was also significantly more energy efficient than the current technology on the market, we counted it. Process for evaluating which research to include: We developed an initial list of researchers that we thought might be conducting sustainability related research (see process for identifying researchers below.) That list was divided amongst a group of student interns and sustainability staff. Each person then reviewed material online about their researchers and contacted them for more information and eventual verification of the research description. In cases in which the answer appeared obvious and where the researcher did not object to the description, these cases were not further evaluated. For those cases where the judgment was unclear, however, the intern/staff member assigned to that researcher would bring the case to the group of evaluators working on this area of STARS to be debated. Any time a faculty member thought that their research was not related to sustainability, we did not include it, regardless of the intern's/staff member's opinion of its relation. This arose, for instance, with researchers that we believed worked on climate change, but who did not want to be listed as a “climate change” researcher for fear that this would make them appear biased in their research. Who to include: We included all researchers that are eligible to be a principal investigator on our campus. This includes professional research staff, lecturers with security of employment, faculty, and several other categories. We did not include graduate students who are not eligible to be a principal investigator because we did not feel that we could collect accurate data in a timely manner. For a full description of who is included in the list of principal investigators, please see: http://www.research.ucsb.edu/spo/proposal-preparation/principal-investigator-eligibility/ For academic departments, we included all research units and centers, as well as traditional academic departments. Process for identifying researchers: Since we have reported to STARS before, we started our process for identifying researchers this year by looking at our list of researchers from our previous submission and contacting them to verify and update current research. We also did a campus-wide survey of faculty and researchers and asked them directly if they did research related to sustainability. In the survey, we collected descriptions of their research. Most of the descriptions from the survey were too brief for us to include in the final report; however, we collected leads to follow up on. The Office of Research's website was also helpful because it included news articles and announcements of grants, awards, and recognition of faculty accomplishments. Departmental and faculty websites were also reviewed. Lastly, we contacted research unit and center directors and department chairs in order to verify that the list we had for that department or research center/unit was accurate and complete. This step was particularly helpful for ensuring we were including the appropriate non-faculty researchers who are eligible to be principal investigators.

The following departments were not included in the count of departments because they do limited amounts of or no research: • English as a Second Language • Military Science (ROTC) • Interdisciplinary Courses • Interdisciplinary Studies We also did not include Global Peace and Security (PROGRAM) because there was so much overlap with the Global and International Studies Department. We did include these departments in the denominator: Anthropology Art History of Art and Architecture Asian American Studies Biomolecular Science and Engineering Black Studies Bren School of Environmental Science & Management Chemical Engineering Chemistry and Biochemistry Chicano Studies Classics Communication Computer Science Earth Science (formerly Geological Sciences) East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Economics Electrical and Computer Engineering English Environmental Studies Program Feminist Studies Film and Media Studies French and Italian Geography Germanic, Slavic, and Semitic Studies Gevirtz Graduate School of Education; Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology Gevirtz Graduate School of Education; Department of Education Global & International Studies History Islamic and Near Eastern Studies Program Jewish Studies Program Latin American and Iberian Studies Program Linguistics Materials Mathematics Mechanical and Environmental Engineering Media Arts and Technology Medieval Studies Program Middle East Studies Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Music Philosophy Physics Political Science Psychological & Brain Sciences Religious Studies Renaissance Studies Program Sociology Spanish and Portuguese Speech and Hearing Sciences Department Statistics and Applied Probability Theater and Dance For the denominator, these research units counted: AlloSphere Research Facility, The Alzheimer's Disease Research Center American Culture and Global Contexts Brain Imaging Center California NanoSystems Institute Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media Center for Advanced Nitride Electronics Center for Bio-Image Informatics Center for Black Studies Research Center for Cold War Studies Center for Complex and Nonlinear Science Center for Control, Dynamical Systems, and Computation Center for Education Research on Literacy & Inquiry in Networking Communities (LINC) Center for Educational Change in Mathematics and Science Center for Energy Efficient Materials Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP) Center for Evolutionary Psychology Center for Information Technology and Society Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Music Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Fluids Center for Marine Assessment and Planning (CMAP) Center for Middle East Studies Center for Multifunctional Materials & Structures (CeMMaS) Center for Nanomedicine Center for Nanotechnology in Society (NSF) Center on Police Practices and Community Center for Polymers and Organic Solids Center for Portuguese Studies Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology Center for Research in Financial Mathematics and Statistics Center for Research on Women & Social Justice Center for Risk Studies and Safety Center for School-based Youth Development Center for Scientific Computing Center for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering (CSCBE) Center for Taiwan Studies Center for the Study of Macular Degeneration Center for the Study of Neurodegenerative Disorders Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration Chicano Studies Institute (CSI) Coal Oil Point Reserve Coastal Research Center Consortium for Literature, Theory and Culture Digital Games Research Center Early Modern Center Earth Research Institute East Asia Center Ecoinformatics Center Gevirtz Research Center Health Data Research Facility Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies Institute for Energy Efficiency Institute for Multi-scale Materials Studies Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Institute for Terahertz Science and Technology Interdisciplinary Center for Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors Interdisciplinary Humanities Center International Center for Materials Research Italian Studies Japanese Arts & Globalization Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino Reserve Koegel Autism Research Center Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance Marine Biotechnology Center Marine Science Institute Materials Research Laboratory MesoAmerican Research Center Michael D. Palm Center Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials Nanotech, a part of National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Neuroscience Research Institute New Racial Studies Center for the Study of Ocean Acidification and Ocean Change Ocean and Coastal Policy Center Ocean Physics Laboratory Optoelectronics Technology Center Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies Pacific-Southwest Regional Center for Excellence (RCE) for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research (NIH) Research Center for Virtual Environments and Behavior Research Unit on Spatial Cognition and Choice Sage Center for the Study of the Mind Santa Cruz Island Reserve Sedgwick Reserve Social Science Survey Center/Benton Survey Research Laboratory Solid State Lighting and Energy Center Southern California Earthquake Center Subaltern-Popular Workshop Transcriptions Project Transliteracies: Research in the Technological, Social, and Cultural Practices of Online Reading UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology UC Educational Evaluation Center UC Institute for Research in the Arts (MRU) UCSB Natural Reserve System Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve (includes Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory and Valentine Camp) Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life For the numerator, these departments were counted: Anthropology Art History of Art and Architecture Black Studies Bren School of Environmental Science & Management Chemical Engineering Chemistry and Biochemistry Communication Computer Science Earth Science (formerly Geological Sciences) East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Economics Electrical and Computer Engineering English Environmental Studies Program Feminist Studies Film and Media Studies French and Italian Geography Gevirtz Graduate School of Education; Department of Education Global & International Studies History Latin American and Iberian Studies Program Materials Mechanical and Environmental Engineering Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Physics Political Science Psychological & Brain Sciences Religious Studies Sociology For the numerator, these research units were counted: California NanoSystems Institute Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television, and New Media Center for Control, Dynamical Systems, and Computation Center for Energy Efficient Materials Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Fluids Center for Marine Assessment and Planning (CMAP) Center for Multifunctional Materials & Structures (CeMMaS) Center for Nanomedicine Center for Nanotechnology in Society (NSF) Center for Polymers and Organic Solids Cheadle Center for Biodiversity & Ecological Restoration Coal Oil Point Reserve Coastal Research Center Earth Research Institute Ecoinformatics Center Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies Institute for Energy Efficiency Institute for Multi-scale Materials Studies Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Institute for Terahertz Science and Technology Interdisciplinary Center for Wide Band-Gap Semiconductors Interdisciplinary Humanities Center International Center for Materials Research Marine Biotechnology Center Marine Science Institute Materials Research Laboratory MesoAmerican Research Center Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials National Center for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis Center for the Study of Ocean Acidification and Ocean Change Ocean and Coastal Policy Center Optoelectronics Technology Center Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies Santa Cruz Island Reserve Sedgwick Reserve Solid State Lighting and Energy Center UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology UCSB Natural Reserve System Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve (includes Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory and Valentine Camp)