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Call for 2021-2022 SJRC Graduate Student Researcher

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Interested in the Intersections of Science and Justice?

Want to Develop Responsible Collaborative Research and Public Events?

Science & Justice seeks a graduate student researcher who:

  • has successfully completed the Science & Justice Training Program;
  • is able to attend SJWG meetings typically on Wednesday’s from 4-6PM and create rapporteur reports;
  • actively participates in building science and justice research and has an interest in mentoring others on research projects;
  • is interested in facilitating Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) trainings or workshops; and
  • can translate trending news items that integrate components of real world applications with science and justice concerns into blog pieces that are posted on the S&J website and shared on social media.

The Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) is offered a 50% appointment.

To Apply: submit materials to scijust@ucsc.edu 

BY: Monday, July 26, 2021 12noon

Applicants should email their CV and a 1-2 page application that presents:

  • what experiences they have that would make them good for this position;
  • their interests in the Center’s research and how their work/research/career goals would benefit from the position;
  • their ideas about cross-divisional and interdisciplinary collaborations, especially among humanists, engineers, natural scientists, artists and social scientists as well as ones that are community/academia partnerships;
  • and what ideas they would bring to S&J.

Key Items for 2021-2022

Research Projects – Assist in Science & Justice research projects (for example: Just Biomedicine, Incarcerated Care, Theorizing Race After Race); assist with developing and maintaining collaborations among humanists, engineers, natural scientists, artists and social scientists as well as community/academia partnerships at all scholarly levels. Help to engage undergraduates in faculty led collaborative projects.

CURRICULUM – Assist with developing undergraduate curriculum including a minor and linkages between the social sciences, African Diaspora Studies, history, politics, and genomic science to better understand questions of diversity.

Fall/Winter/Spring Programming – Work with a planning committee on Science & Justice programming.

General Scope – In consultation with the Center Manager and Director(s), the GSR will assist to implement Center programming and research. Correspond with Project Leaders on the development of research projects and help oversee undergraduate student researchers. Responsibilities may include: organizing, planning, and co-facilitating groups; training and coordinating teams of undergraduate researchers who may also be co-facilitating groups and assist with documentation, interviews, transcription and data analysis; fostering collaboration and teamwork among researchers; reviewing research relevant to Center themes and areas of inquiry; creating infographics, outreach materials, and reports and articles based on findings or events; develop and contribute to Center communication channels (ie: blog posts, news articles) for sharing research findings on campus and to the broader public; and participating in core SJRC activities and happenings.

Call for Participation

Summer 2021 Undergraduate Student Researcher Opportunity

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The Science & Justice Research Center is pleased to announce we are now accepting applications for a:

Summer Undergraduate Fellowship

The award was established to support summer research conducted by undergraduate students currently working on established collaborative Center research projects. Undergraduate students in any UC Santa Cruz department may apply. Preference will be given to applicants currently involved in projects. The award is intended as a stipend to support general living expenses, fieldwork or travel (as allowed by COVID-19 and shelter-in-place restrictions), presentation of work, and/or research. Fellowships may support: assisting with conducting interviews and transcription, data analysis and editing of interviews; creating infographics and outreach materials, articles or reports based on findings or events; sharing findings with the broader public (ie: blogposts, news articles). More specifically, tracking, collecting, and organizing articles about the social, political, and economic dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic written by prominent theorists of race, inequality, and STS; or assist with research on and collecting materials related to pharmaceutical licensing agreements bringing drugs to the market, as well as ethical and equity issues related to orphan-disease drug discovery and dissemination. Award amounts may vary up to $500 based on proposed budgets and outcomes; a maximum $2000 in total will be distributed.

CURRENT COLLABORATIVE SUMMER PROJECTS

Incarcerated Care

Theorizing Race After Race

The student should:

  • Be currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz (enrollment during summer not required).
  • Work on an established Center project with support from the faculty lead.
  • Propose clear goals and intended outcomes with: an outline of items to be completed over summer 2021, the methods of your research project; and briefly outline or describe the expenses to be supported by the award.

The student will:

  • Be awarded at the beginning of summer.
  • Adhere to IRB standards for working with human research subjects if applicable.
  • Submit an end-of-summer report of project status and/or research findings.
  • Be offered a fellowship with the SJRC and listed on the Project’s webpage.

To Apply:

By Monday, May 24, students should email (scijust@ucsc.edu) expressing interest, letting us know and sending the following:

  1. Your name, major, academic faculty advisor(s).
  2. Your resume/CV.
  3. Why you are interested in the project and how your work/research/career goals would benefit from the fellowship.
  4. Your role and experiences with the current project as related to items listed in an outlined proposal.
  5. Any ideas briefly describing potential research to be completed over Summer 2021.
Call for Participation

Summer 2021 Graduate Student Researcher Opportunity

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The Science & Justice Research Center is pleased to announce we are now accepting applications for:

Summer Graduate Fellowships

The award was established to support summer research conducted by graduate students currently working on established collaborative Center research projects. Graduate students in any UC Santa Cruz department may apply. Preference will be given to applicants who are currently going through or have completed the Training Program. The award is intended as a stipend to support general living expenses, fieldwork or travel (as allowed by COVID-19 and shelter-in-place restrictions), presentation of work, and/or research. Fellowships may support: organizing, planning, and co-facilitating groups; training and coordinating a team of undergraduate researchers and assist with documentation, interviews, transcription and data analysis; fostering collaboration and teamwork among researchers; creating infographics and posters, outreach materials, or articles and reports based on findings or events; sharing findings with the broader public (ie: blogposts, news articles). Award amounts may vary up to $2,500 based on proposed budgets and outcomes; a maximum $10,000 in total will be distributed.

CURRENT COLLABORATIVE SUMMER PROJECTS

Incarcerated Care

Just Biomedicine

Theorizing Race After Race (TRAR)

______

The student should:

  • Be an enrolled graduate student at UC Santa Cruz (enrollment during summer not required).
  • Work on an established Center project with support from the faculty lead.
  • Propose clear goals and intended outcomes with: an outline of items to be completed over summer 2021, the methods of your research project; and briefly outline or describe the expenses to be supported by the award.

The student will:

  • Be awarded at the beginning of summer.
  • Adhere to IRB standards for working with human research subjects when applicable.
  • Submit an end-of-summer report of project status and/or research findings.
  • Be offered a fellowship with the SJRC and listed on the Project’s webpage.

To Apply:

By Monday, May 24, students should email (scijust@ucsc.edu) expressing interest. Please let us know the following:

  1. Your name, major, academic faculty advisor(s).
  2. Your resume/CV.
  3. Why you are interested in the project and how your work/research/career goals would benefit from the fellowship.
  4. Your role and experiences with the current project as related to items listed in an outlined proposal.
  5. Any ideas briefly describing potential research to be completed over Summer 2021.
Call for Participation

Call for Participation | Winter + Spring 2021

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The Science & Justice Research Center (SJRC) invites up to 10 undergraduate students to join a cohort of researchers for both Winter and Spring 2021 terms. The Individual Study can range from 2-5 units and are part of a group. Independently, students can also work on senior thesis projects in areas related to Center themes (ie: forensic genomics, queer ecology, CRISPR, data privacy and biosurveillance, health care disparities and incarceration, the future of public goods, artificial intelligence and ethics, reproducibility and diversity in research). 

SJRC student researchers help inform collaborative research, contribute to co-authored developing blogs, podcasts, and websites, opinion pieces, papers and proposals as well as help design Center programming. Students may track, collect, and organize articles from prominent theorists of race, inequality, and science and technology studies to continue our study of the social, political, and economic dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, Winter and Spring opportunities include: working with a current cohort of students, staff and faculty affiliates to continue work in progress, conduct interviews and prepare transcriptions, edit interviews, create outreach materials sharing findings of research activities with the broader public (ie: writing blogposts, articles or reports, creating infographics, podcast episodes, animations, illustrations, interactive documentary websites, etc.). Students may also act as Critical Listeners (report on) select virtual related events (ie: Feb 2 IAS w/ SJRC colleague Ruha Benjamin).

Those interested in broadcast journalism, social documentation, digital and online student and public engagement are especially encouraged to apply.

Available Winter and Spring 2021

The COVID-19 Pandemicene Project: Re-Worlding Toward Justice – expand zine, blog and podcast to interview policy makers, practitioners, mutual-aid and community organizers. Current student leads are looking to add those interested in conducting interviews and those interested in getting the interview to the public via blogs, podcast episodes and additional mediums (ie: animations, soundscapes, illustrations, etc.) and promotion methods (ie: social media, charts, graphics, photographs, maps, other new or historical oral and written materials). Learn more: The Pandemicene Project.

Incarcerated Care – In addition to joining a cohort of SJRC researchers in the Pandemicene Project, up to 2 students will work directly with Film and Digital Media Professor Sharon Daniel’s team to expand an interactive documentary website on COVID-19 in prisons and jails. Learn more: Public Art and Carcerality, Unjustly Exposed.

Orphan Drugs – In addition to joining a cohort of SJRC researchers in the Pandemicene Project, up to 2 students will work with an independent researcher and faculty (James Doucet-Battle, Jenny Reardon, Jeremy Sanford, Matt Sparke, Michael Stone) on items related to pharmaceutical licensing agreements, bringing drugs to the market, ethical and equity issues related to orphan-disease drug discovery and dissemination. Learn more: student blog.

Laboratory Life and Social Death: The Problem of Diversity in Science and Society – In addition to joining a cohort of SJRC researchers in the Pandemicene Project, up to 2 students will work directly with Sociology Assistant Professor James Doucet-Battle on linkages between the social sciences, African Diaspora Studies, history, politics, and genomic science curriculum and training to conceptualize and develop an engaging and interactive online summer program in partnership with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Students may assist with research on and collecting materials related to the rigor, reproducibility and diversity of biomolecular data; identify other all-campus resources serving ABC students (ie: partner with AARC, HSI initiative, ODEI) and known challenges specific to summer sessions (refer to current BSU demands). Learn more: Bioethical Matriarchy (Doucet-Battle 2016), UC/HBCU initiative.

To Apply:

By Monday, December 7, students should email (scijust@ucsc.edu) with their resume/CV and expressing interest. We’re excited to learn about you, teach you what we’ve learned from each other, and incorporate your ideas! Please let us know the following:

  1. your name, major(s), any faculty advisors.
  2. any experiences with related items, why you are interested in being involved and how your curriculum, research, or career goals would benefit from the internship.
  3. propose any ideas or intended outcomes you would be interested in completing over Winter and Spring 2021, include your preferred methods and mediums.
Call for Participation

Prospective Student Opportunity | history of science, medicine, environment in the Global South

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The Department of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz is recruiting the first in a series of PhD students to begin in the fall of 2021 to pursue research on the history of science, the history of medicine, and/or environmental history in the Global South. Applicants may specialize in the study of the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, or indigenous communities across the globe.

The online application is available beginning October 1st (unless otherwise noted), and closes at 8:59 pm PST on December 10th.

UCSC is known for its reputation as a center for the study of science (e.g. feminist science studies, multispecies studies, the study of race and genomics). The successful applicant will become part of an interdisciplinary community of scholars whose work is focused on questions of science, medicine, and the environment.

In pursuing a research agenda situated in the Global South, they will have the opportunity to join researchers across the university and to participate in various transdisciplinary forums that include the Science & Justice Research Center, the Center for Cultural Studies, the program in Global Community Health, the Center for Southeast Asian Coastal Interactions, and events sponsored by the Departments of Politics, Sociology, History of Consciousness, Feminist Studies, Anthropology, and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies.

In addition to university support, the successful applicant will receive funding for language training and research from a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation on the theme of “The History of Science at the Interface of Biomedical and Environmental Concerns,” whose Principal Investigator is Jennifer L. Derr (History).

Further information about the history department’s graduate program can be found on their web page (https://history.ucsc.edu/graduate/phd-program/index.html). Please contact Jennifer L. Derr (jderr@ucsc.edu) or the Graduate Program Coordinator for the Department of History, Cindy Morris (morrisc@ucsc.edu), with questions regarding applying or the graduate program.

Call for Participation

Spring 2020 Graduate Student Researcher Opportunity

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The Science & Justice Research Center (SJRC) will employ a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) with a 50% appointment for the Spring 2020 term; (22 hrs/week) appointment at Step 7. This appointment is funded by a grant through CITRIS and the Banatao Institute.

General Scope

In consultation with the Center Manager, and Director(s), the GSR will generate comparative data on the efficacy of graduate-level training in interdisciplinary feminist research for STEM scholars. In concert with colleagues in both the UC Santa Cruz-based Science & Justice Training Program (SJTP) and at the UC Davis Feminist Research Institute, the GSR will collect and analyze data for a comparative cross-campus review of the two graduate programs whose curriculum makes questions of gender and social justice fundamental to STEM training. They will focus on the following major research questions:

  1. student recognition of societal context for research (including potential bias and societal needs)
  2. a culture of inclusion for those underrepresented in STEM fields
  3. interdisciplinary collaborations, and 
  4. the ability to accurately and appropriately use categories in research (e.g. gender, race). A comparative analysis of the two programs will help demonstrate the efficacy of course-based graduate training in interdisciplinary research and support future expansion of these programs across the UC and beyond.

Responsibilities may include: applying for IRB; foster collaboration and teamwork among the two programs; organizing and co-facilitating the review including reviewing Center and Institute Training Programs pedagogy (refer to: https://scijust.ucsc.edu/pedagogy/), conducting interviews with instructors / staff / past SJTP fellows and students currently enrolled in 268A during Winter 2020 and in Individual Studies during Spring 2020; assist with organizing two site visits (TBD one at UCSC, one at UCD); lead ethnographic and observational data collection, transcription and analysis of comparative data between the seminars after their completion; create infographics, outreach materials, reports based on findings; develop and contribute to Center communication channels (ie: blog posts, news articles) for sharing research findings on campus and to the broader public.

The GSR position will be filled by a graduate student who:

  • has not advanced to candidacy
  • has successfully completed the Science & Justice Training Program
  • is able to attend 268A on select Wednesday’s 9am-12noon; Rachel Carson College 301
  • is interested in applying questions of gender and social justice to STEM curriculum
  • can translate relevant trending news items into blog pieces to be posted as news items on the S&J website and shared on social media
  • can assist with writing SJRC curriculum and training practices to be listed on the webpages:  https://scijust.ucsc.edu/pedagogy/ and https://scijust.ucsc.edu/curriculum-training-practices/  

By March 18: Applicants should submit their CV and a 1-2 page application (to scijust@ucsc.edu) that presents:

  1. their ideas about cross-divisional and interdisciplinary STEM curriculum and training
  2. how their work/research/career goals would benefit from the position;
  3. what experiences they have that would make them good for this position.
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Winter 2020 Course | Bioindustrialization in Agriculture

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Wed 11:30AM – 2:30PM
Bioindustrialization in Agriculture
Location TBD: Professor of Social Sciences Julie Guthman
SCHEDULE NOTE:
While the graduate seminar is currently scheduled on Wednesdays from 11:30-2:30 the time might shift to accommodate conflicts with other graduate courses (like the SJTP introductory course offered from 9-12). Interested students are encouraged to write Professor Guthman with any questions they might have as well as potential time conflicts.
Bioindustrialization in Agriculture
With growing pressures on land uses and other scarce resources, along with abiding fears of having too many mouths to feed, some environmentalists are arguing that solutions are to be found in the (further) intensification of food production.  And so we’re seeing increased investment in and modest public support for technologies in fish farming, biofortification, cellular meat production, and even the use of plants and animals to produce non-food products. Many rest on the presumption that life is plentiful while mineral resources are not. But the industrialization of agriculture has been going on for a long time, part and parcel of capitalist exigencies even if often justified by needing to “feed the world.”  Such industrialization has not only involved the organization of land and labor to enhance agricultural productivity, but also efforts in plant and animal breeding to make plants and animals grow faster, bigger, or otherwise in keeping with other farm organization and technologies. Using a capacious definition, this course will take a deep dive into the bioindustrialization of agriculture in its myriad forms, past and present, interrogating both its promises and perils as well as the ethics of reconfiguring life itself. We will pay special attention to the relation between the remaking of plant and animal bodies and human labor.

The specific objectives of this seminar are threefold. You will:

  1. develop knowledge of and critical perspectives on processes of bioindustrialization, past and present;
  2. gain facility with different theories and methodological approaches employed by various authors so to expand your social science toolkit;
  3. get practice and feedback in writing on literature for clarity, succinctness, and insight, to support the development of field statements, research prospectuses, dissertation chapters, or other works in progress.
People standing in an art installation

Winter 2020 Course | Science & Justice: Experiments in Collaboration

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Wed 9:00AM – 12:00PM

Science & Justice: Experiments in Collaboration

Offered as BME/FMST/SOCY 268A or ANTH 267A 

Rachel Carson College 301; Professor of Sociology and Director of the SJRC Jenny Reardon

The Science & Justice Training Program (SJTP) trains science and engineering graduate students alongside social science, humanities and arts graduate students. The Science & Justice: Experiments in Collaboration seminar is the introductory course in the Training Program and draws together early career graduate students and senior faculty from across all five divisions to foster experimental collaborative research practices. The SJTP offers  a unique opportunity for students to learn to work together to explore how questions of science and knowledge meet questions of ethics and justice. Students gain experience designing innovative research and organizing and hosting colloquia. They also gain access to project or event funding, mentorship and training.

Learn more at https://scijust.ucsc.edu/pedagogy/sjtp/.

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2019 SJRC Graduate Student Research Fellowships

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The Science & Justice Research Center is pleased to announce we are now accepting applications for:

Summer Fellowships

The award was established to support summer research conducted by graduate students currently working on Center projects or are in the Science & Justice Training Program (SJTP). Graduate students in any UC Santa Cruz department may apply. Preference will be given to applicants who have completed or are going through the Training Program. The award is intended as a stipend to support general living expenses, fieldwork, travel, presentation of work, and/or research. Award amounts will vary based on proposed outcomes; a maximum of $2,200; depending on proposals, up to two awards will be distributed.

Fellowship projects may include: independent and collaborative research.

CURRENT CENTER PROJECTS

The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative

Jail Care: Amplifying Santa Cruz Community Voices on Health & Incarceration

Just Biomedicine

Queer Ecologies Research Cluster

The student should:

  • be an enrolled graduate student at UC Santa Cruz (enrollment during summer not required).

  • be currently working on an established Center or SJTP hosted project.

The student will:

  • be compensated up to $2200; distributed half at the beginning of summer, half at the end of summer.

  • adhere to IRB standards for working with human research subjects.

To Apply:

By Monday, June 17, students should email (scijust@ucsc.edu) expressing interest. Please let us know the following:

  1. your name, major, academic faculty advisors.

  2. name of the current project and any project faculty advisor(s); your role and experiences with the current project as related to items listed in the above outlined workplan (including human subjects research).

  3. why you are interested in the project and how your work/research/career goals would benefit from the fellowship.

  4. propose clear goals and intended outcomes with an outline of work to be completed over summer 2019; the methods of your research project; and briefly outline or describe the expenses to be supported by the award.

Information on SJRC Projects can be found at: https://scijust.ucsc.edu/research/projects/.

Information on the Science & Justice Training Program can be found at: https://scijust.ucsc.edu/pedagogy/sjtp/.

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Call | Undergraduate Researcher for Science & Justice Jail / Care multimedia project

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Interested in the Intersections of the Carceral State, Health Care and Interactive Multimedia?

SJRC will host one undergraduate student to collaborate on a center research project. The project will include guided independent and collaborative research, directed readings, and storytelling of the human condition.

PROJECT

Jail / Care: Amplifying Santa Cruz Community Voices on Health & Incarceration

From 2012 to 2016, there were five preventable deaths in the Santa Cruz County jail, more than twice the national per capita average. Last summer, a preliminary interview study was conducted to investigate the healthcare provided in the jail. This summer, we are expanding on this work with additional interviews (of formerly incarcerated people, healthcare providers, and other involved parties), which will be incorporated into an interactive online documentary on the issue. The Research Assistant will assist in various tasks toward the completion of this project: see below for a tentative list of duties.

Spring 2019

Attend at least one meeting to discuss the project and set workplan.

Summer 2019

Assist with transcribing and analyzing interviews, review literature on healthcare in prisons and jails and related topics, research organizations and institutions, research and analyze policy documents, and possibly other tasks as needed.

Fall 2019

Assist in developing a prototype of the online documentary, continue with data analysis, literature and policy review.

The student should:

  • be an enrolled student at UC Santa Cruz (enrollment during summer not required).

  • be living in Santa Cruz summer 2019; ideally through the end of fall 2019 – at least.

  • know NVIVO software (license provided; if not available).

The student will:

  • be compensated $500; distributed half at the beginning of summer, half at the end of summer.

  • be eligible to enroll in an Independent Study Fall 2019 for continued research.

  • adhere to IRB standards for working with human research subjects.

To Apply:

By Monday, May 20, students should email (scijust@ucsc.edu) expressing interest. Please let us know the following:

  1. Your name, major, college affiliation.

  2. Why you are interested in the project.

  3. Your experiences with NVIVO software and items listed in the above outlined workplan (including human subjects research).