Faculty awarded $22 million in 2022-23
Faculty members in the School of Social Ecology were awarded $22 million in research grants, a record high, during the 2022-23 academic year.
“For the period 2018-2023, our faculty have increased their sponsored research support by 424%,” Dean Jon Gould told faculty and staff in a congratulatory email. “In the last year alone, that figure is 103%, coming in at $22,133,462.”
The figure accounts for the second highest rate of increase among all of UC Irvine’s schools with research support of at least $20 million.
Gould credits the increased funding to the school’s important research and programs helmed by faculty and staff who direct myriad projects — all aimed at making the world a better place. A total of 54 grants were awarded. Among the top grant-getters in the 2022-23 academic year:
- Elizabeth Cauffman, professor of psychological science, who received a $10.1 million grant from the Orange County Healthcare Agency, to expand her Orange County Young Adult Court research.
- Stephen Schueller, associate professor of psychological science, who received a $1.3 million in grants — nearly $1 million from the National Institute of Mental Health for a project that combines peer support with the use of a digital platform to better serve the mental health needs of Latino patients with limited English proficiency.
- Jason Schiffman, professor of psychological science, who was awarded $951,971 in grants from Yale University, University of Maryland, the National Institute of Mental Health and Charitable Ventures of Orange County to research and develop screening and intervention tools to help people at risk of developing psychosis.
- Miguel Quintana-Navarette, assistant professor of criminology, law and society, who received a $877,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice to examine the changing dynamics of homicide in Los Angeles from 1990 to present day.
- Roxane Cohen Silver, distinguished professor of psychological science, who received a $752,057 grant from the National Science Foundation for a longitudinal study on collective stress.
- Chuansheng Chen, distinguished professor of psychological science, who received $597,500 from the Cyrus Tang Foundation to develop new approaches to mental health screening and interventions.
- Jessica Klemfuss, associate professor of psychological science, who received a $523,352 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study children’s comprehension and memory of event sequences and implications for maltreatment disclosure.
- Naomi Sugie, associate professor of criminology, law and society, who received a $380,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a project aimed at understanding political knowledge and mobilization via text messaging among system-impacted groups; and a $372,187 from the Alliance for Safety and Justice to advance voting and civic engagement among systems-impacted populations.
- Maura Allaire, associate professor of urban planning and public policy, who was awarded a $351,229 grant from the National Science Foundation to study inequities in drinking water.
- Jodi Quas, professor of psychological science, who received a $305,382 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for training doctoral students in psychological science, plus $144,801 in other related grants.
- Valerie Jenness, distinguished professor of criminology, law and society, who received two grants totaling $225,965 from the National Opinion Research Center to conduct a survey with the aim of improving relations between police and the LGBTQ community.
- Michael Méndez, assistant professor of urban planning and public policy, who won $200,000 from the Carnegie Corporation to continue his research on climate change and environmental injustice, plus $81,132 in other grants.
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, Schueller, who was awarded a total of $2.3 million in grants, was the top grant awardee. In 2020-21, it was Cauffman and Nancy Rodriguez, professor of criminology, law and society, each receiving more than $1 million in grants. In 2019-20, it was Rodriguez, who was awarded a total of $3.1 million in grants. And, in 2018-19, it was Susan Turner, professor emerita of criminology, law and society, who was awarded $1.9 million.
— Mimi Ko Cruz