235.3M awards

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

 

Research Stories

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Ania Jayich and Stephen Wilson

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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smoldering forest fire

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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biochemist working in lab

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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Mona Damluji

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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artificial intelligence

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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dna

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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hispanic researcher in lab

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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nasal swab test for COVID-19

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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bamboo forest

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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Research Honors and Awards

Elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

 

David Valentine
Earth Science

Maria Charles
Sociology

Elizabeth Belding
Computer Science
 

Alan Murray
Bren School

Thuc-Quyen Nguyen
Chemistry & Biochem

G. Robert Odette
Materials

Cheryle Briggs
Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology

Yuan Xie
Electrical & Computer Engineering

Hugo Loaiciga
Geography

American Physical Society Fellows

 

Megan Valentine
Mechanical Engineering
APS Fellow

Harry Nelson
Physics
APS Fellow

 

Zvonimir Dogic
Physics
APS Fellow

Omar Saleh
Physics
APS Fellow

Michael Chabinyc
Materials
APS Fellow, NAI Fellow

Early Career Awards

 

Vojtech Vlcek
Chemistry & Biochemistry
NSF CAREER

Julie Simpson
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
NSF CAREER

Elliot Hawkes
Mechanical Engineering
NSF CAREER

Alban Sauret
Mechanical Engineering
NSF CAREER

Kunal Mukherjee
Materials
NSF CAREER

Xin Zhou
Mathematics
NSF CAREER

Spencer Smith
Electrical & Computer Engineering
PECASE

Holly Moeller
Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology
Simons Early Career Investigator

Andrea Young
Physics
PECASE, ONR

Sung Soo Kim
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Searle Scholar

Galan Moody
Electrical & Computer Engineering
AFOSR

Philip Christopher
Chemical Engineering
PECASE

Other Honors and Awards

Yuan Xie
Electrical & Computer Engineering
ACM Fellow,
Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award

Giovanni Vigna
Computer Science
ACM Fellow

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
Materials
APS Fellow, NAI Fellow

Brenda Major
Psych & Brain Sciences
ISSI Distinguished Lifetime Career Award

Richard Ross
Art
Claes Nobel World Betterment Award

Yuedong Wang
Statistics & Applied Probability
IMS Fellow

 

B.S. Manjunath
Electrical & Computer Engineering
ACM Fellow,
Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award

Dan Blumenthal
Electrical & Computer Engineering
C.E.K. Mees Medal

Sreenivasa Rao Jammalamadaka
PSTAT
C.R. Rao Lifetime Achievement Award

Michelle O’Malley
Chemical Engineering
AIMBE Fellow

Shuji Nakamura
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Royal Academy of Engineering
2020 Award for the Industrial Application of Science
Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy

Cenke Xu
Physics
Simons Investigator Award

Lars Bildsten
Physics
AAS Fellow

Sanjit Mitra
Electrical & Computer Engineering
NAI Fellow

Vojtech Vlcek
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Emerging Leader, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

Ben Halpern
NCEAS
ESA Fellow