Research at a Glance

Funding Totals

The Office of Research tracks key research metrics for the University. The total funding awarded to sponsored projects in Fiscal Year 2020 is $235.3 million. UC Santa Barbara Sponsored Projects Statistics FY 2019-20

From July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, UC Santa Barbara received $166.1M in direct and indirect federal funding, which represents 40% of the total sponsored project awards.

Breakout: Other

Breakout: Direct Federal

Top Funding Sources

First U.S. Quantum Foundry

(PHYSics/MATerialS)

Ania Jayich, Physics
Stephen Wilson, Materials
September 2019

$25M grant makes UC Santa Barbara home to the nation’s first NSF-funded Quantum Foundry, a center for development of materials for quantum information-based technologies.

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Wildfires in a Warming World

(Geography)

Charles Jones, Geog
Anna Trugman, Geog
Andrew Plantinga, Bren
Leila Carvalho, Geog
January 2020

Geography Professor Charles Jones will lead a  $3.3 million UC-wide collaborative project on wildfires, funded through the University of California Lab Fees Program.

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Synthetic Cells and Society

(Anthropology)

Barbara Herr Harthorn, Anthropology
October 2019

Anthropology professor Barbara Herr Harthorn will lead a team in investigating the societal implications of two National Science Foundation (NSF) projects focused on creating synthetic cells. 

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The Oil Industry and Cinema Culture

(FILM & Media studies)

Mona Damluji, Film & Media Studies
February 2020

Mona Damluji received an NEH Fellowship to support her writing of “Pipeline Cinema,” a history of the social and spatial entanglements between the oil industry and cinema culture during the mid-20th century.

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Mind and Machine Intelligence

(PsYchological & Brain sciences, computer science)

Miguel Eckstein, Psychological & Brain Sciences
William Wang, Computer Science
February 2020

Miguel Eckstein and William Wang awarded UC Santa Barbara’s new Mellichamp Academic Initiative in Mind & Machine Intelligence, a multi-year research effort.

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Synthetic Chromatin

(materials/mechanical engineering)

Omar Saleh, Materials
Enoch Yeung, ME
June 2020

Omar Saleh and Enoch Yeung receive a W.M. Keck Foundation Award to develop a synthetic, autonomous, gene-regulated 'cell'

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Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Conservation and Environmental Sciences

(Ecology, Evolution, and Marine biology)

Gretchen Hoffman, EEMB
Carol Blanchette, MSI
Hillary Young, EEMB
Douglas McCauley, EEMB
Malaphone Phommasa, ONDAS
April 2020

Professors receive NSF HSI grant to support the development of research and professional development experiences relevant to conservation and environmental sciences that span all four years of undergraduate education. 

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Tracking Covert Infections

(Molecular, celluar, developmental biology)

Carolina Arias, MCDB
Diego Acosta-Alvear, MCDB
Ken Kosik, MCDB
Max Wilson, MCDB
June 2020

In an effort to study the potential spread of COVID-19 among its students, faculty and staff, UC Santa Barbara is piloting a research surveillance testing program, with a focus on members of the campus community who are asymptomatic for the novel coronavirus.

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Transnational Currents and Connections in Japanese Performing Traditions

(Humanities and fine arts)

Sabine Frühstuück, East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies
Jessica Nakamura, Theater and Dance
2019-2020

This project aims to critically interrogate the production and circulation of Japanese culture, examine how it travels transnationally, and describe how it is, in both its creation and consumption, capable of drawing from and traversing linguistic, geographic, temporal and cultural boundaries. The project focuses on performing traditions.

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