Research Briefs

The journal Neuron recently spoke with neuroscientists Hanna and Antonio Damasio. The renowned scholars gave their perspective on the intricate world of neuroscience, shedding light on their groundbreaking work.

The SPSA announced the Joseph Bernd award at its January meeting, stating: ‘Social Lobbying’ by Christian Grose, Pamela Lopez, Sara Sadhwani and Antoine Yoshinaka, investigates the impact of direct social lobbying on the likelihood that lawmakers will support a given interest group’s preferred policy.

On April 2, the Joint Educational Project (JEP) STEM Education Programs hosted a teacher professional development opportunity focused on neurobiology. This workshop was in partnership with neurobiologist Sarah Bottjer, professor of biological sciences and psychology, whose research focuses on brain-behavior relationships in songbirds. The workshop was supported by a National Science Foundation grant titled “The Role of Cortico-Basal Ganglia Circuits in Skill Learning During Development.”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded $1 million in support of a collaborative program between Rio Hondo Community College in Whittier, Calif., and USC. The program aims to help community college students at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) transition to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degree programs at baccalaureate-granting institutions.

In the 17 academic years between 2002–03 and 2018–19, California schools closed for nearly 34,000 days across 6,664 individual schools due to wildfires, natural hazard impacts, infrastructure and student safety concerns. Wildfires were the biggest cause of school closures in California, causing nearly two-thirds of all unplanned closures in the state.

Between 2017 and 2020, wildfires in California burned across nearly 8 million acres (approximately 8% of the state) and destroyed over 45,500 structures. These recent wildfires have left dozens of communities throughout California beginning the long process of rebuilding and recovery.

We are delighted to announce that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has approved our grant application to its Humanities Initiatives at Colleges and Universities for “Images Out of Time: Visual and Material Culture in a Digital Age.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has granted us $500,000 to support intersectional studies at the Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture. The grant will extend across 42 months to support several initiatives to bolster intersectional work.

With the reconciliation package stalled in Washington, D.C., progressive champions have lamented their failure to capture the public imagination and secure support for a social safety net that fits our 21st-century economy. This is not a new issue. Progressives have often faced difficulties articulating their agenda, frequently getting caught in a game of telephone in which their plans for full inclusion get garbled into pleas for “special interests” and a laundry list of specific policies.