JOHN C. AVISE
School of Biological Sciences
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Research Summary: John Avise uses molecular genetic markers to analyze the natural histories and evolution of animal populations in nature. His research topics include genetic parentage, mating patterns, phylogeography, speciation, introgression and phylogenetics. He has conducted research on all major vertebrate groups – mammals, birds, fishes, amphibians and reptiles – plus various invertebrates, including marine, freshwater and terrestrial species. The primary goal of his work is to unveil ecological, behavioral or evolutionary features of the organisms. Avise has published many papers and textbooks on ecological issues and conservation biology, as well as trade books on the relevance of evolutionary biology to religion and genetic engineering, and the role of humor in science.

DR. WILLIAM E. BUNNEY
School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior

Research Summary: Dr. William E. Bunney’s research focuses on discovering the genes that cause serious mental disorders, including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. In the past, scientists were able to study one gene at a time. Now, through the use of a new technology called microarrays, Bunney and his research team are able to investigate all 30,000 genes in the human body in one experiment. This technology is providing new, fundamental information concerning the diagnosis, treatment, cause and possibly the prevention of these major mental illnesses.

DAVID EASTON
School of Social Sciences
Department of Political Science

Research Summary: David Easton’s major research deals with the development of theories to help understand the way in which political systems are organized and operate. To this end, his primary focus is on politics as a system of relationships that converts so-called inputs – political demands and support – into outputs, that is, public policies, and how these policies, in turn, influence the next round of inputs into the political system. In this way, Easton hopes to construct a systems analytic theory that sheds light on how public policies are made and the effect they have on the rest of society.

BARBARA FINLAYSON-PITTS
School of Physical Sciences
Department of Chemistry

Research Summary: Barbara Finlayson-Pitts’ research focuses on experimental studies of reactions that occur in the atmosphere, particularly those between gases and particles and/or thin water films on surfaces such as buildings and vegetation. Currently, her group is interested in reactions of oxides of nitrogen to form nitrous and nitric acids, oxidation of organic molecules on surfaces, including sea salt particles, and the interaction of sea salt particles with trace gases to form photochemically active halogen gases. In addition, her group studies photochemistry at the water-air interface and its impact on the formation and fate of secondary organic aerosols.

ZACHARY FISK
School of Physical Sciences
Department of Physics & Astronomy

Research Summary: Zachary Fisk researches the magnetic and superconducting properties of materials at low temperatures. Magnetism and superconductivity often compete to exclude each other, and his work focuses on growing single crystals of intermetallic compounds in which this competition can be fine-tuned, controlled and varied. The goal of his research is to understand the factors that lead to certain types of exotic superconductivity and what determines whether a material becomes a magnet or a superconductor. Understanding physical mechanisms through their chemistry offers the promise to find better functional materials for technological applications.

ANTHONY A. JAMES
School of Medicine
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

Research Summary: Anthony James researches genetic approaches to the control of the mosquito-borne diseases, malaria and dengue fever. He and his colleagues developed procedures for putting genes into mosquitoes that prevent the transmission of the protozoan parasites and viruses that cause the diseases. He is working now on strategies that will spread these genes into wild populations of mosquitoes. This work involves both meeting the scientific challenges of developing such strategies as well as engaging the social issues of the use of genetically-modified insects to combat major problems in public health.

ELIZABETH LOFTUS
School of Social Ecology
Department of Psychology & Social Behavior
Department of Criminology, Law & Society

Research Summary: Elizabeth Loftus studies human memory. Her work has shown that memories are highly susceptible to distortion and manipulation, and that people can vividly recall events that never happened. Loftus has discovered that facts, ideas, suggestions and other forms of post-event information can modify memories, and that with strong suggestion, entirely false memories can be planted in the human mind. These findings reveal the malleability of memory. The legal field, so reliant on memories, has been a significant application of her memory research. Her interest in psychology and law has grown from this application of science to public policy.

R. DUNCAN LUCE
School of Social Sciences
Department of Cognitive Sciences

Research Summary: R. Duncan Luce, a pioneer in mathematical behavioral sciences, has pursued a scientific understanding of human behavior for more than 50 years. His work blends mathematical theory, designed to provide an understanding of aspects of individual behavior, and behavioral science experiments. He does this by developing formal math models – models that have contributed to shaping parts of contemporary economics and psychology. For instance, he has used math models to describe how people process information and make choices when facing risky decisions such as buying stocks or making serious medical decisions. Recently, Luce has been developing theories that incorporate the value, positive or negative, of uncertainty as part of his quest to develop firm scientific grounding for behavioral decision science.

PENELOPE MADDY
School of Social Sciences
Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science

Research Summary: Penelope Maddy has conducted influential work on the philosophy of mathematics. All classical mathematics can be founded on the basic theory of simple collections of objects called sets: that is, all classical mathematical objects can be modeled as sets and all theorems of classical mathematics can be proved from the fundamental assumptions of set theory. Maddy’s work begins from the question of how those fundamental assumptions themselves are to be defended. From this starting point, her research has expanded into a broad investigation of logic and mathematics, which has ultimately led to the question of proper methods for philosophy itself.

DAVID MALAMENT
School of Social Sciences
Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science

Research Summary: David Malament is interested in the mathematical and philosophical foundations of modern physics. He has worked on classical equilibrium statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, but most of his research has dealt with problems of spacetime structure and the foundations of relativity theory. His topics have included: the “causal structure” of space-time; the relation of relativity theory to Newtonian gravitation theory; Gödel’s model of space-time structure; and rotation in relativity theory. He’s currently bringing these investigations together in a book on the foundations of relativity theory.

DR. RICARDO MILEDI
School of Biological Sciences
Department of Neurobiology & Behavior

Research Summary: Ricardo Miledi’s research aims to understand the processes involved in the transmission of signals across synapses – the points of contact between nerve cells. All the complex functions of the brain depend on the synaptic transmission of signals – where neurotransmitter substances, released from nerve terminals, act on receptor proteins embedded in the membrane of the post-synaptic cells. Miledi and his research group have developed methods that allow them to study the molecular structure and function of the receptors of the human brain. These methods help to study diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and autism.

JOHN R. (JACK) MILES
School of Humanities
Department of English – Religious Studies

Research Summary: Dr. Jack Miles’ research includes work as the author or editor of four forthcoming books. He is general editor of The Norton Anthology of World Religions, heading a team of seven scholars from universities around the country. As sole author, he is under contract with Alfred A. Knopf for an untitled work on the Qur’an; with Princeton University Press for The Greatest Translation of All Time: The Septuagint in Cultural Context; and with Yale University Press for a biography of the medieval Jewish exegete and Talmudic commentator Rashi.

J. HILLIS MILLER
School of Humanities
Department of Comparative Literature

Research Summary: J. Hillis Miller is finishing a book on late work by Jacques Derrida. This will be a compilation of essays and lectures given in the United States, Europe and Asia by Miller since Derrida’s death. He also is finishing a book on the concept of community, both as a philosophical, theoretical and social problem, and as a feature of works of fiction from Cervantes through Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, Conrad, Kafka, Pynchon, Morrrison and several recent Holocaust novels. Miller is part of research groups based in Oslo and Bergen. He has given lectures or is scheduled to lecture or give conference papers during 2007 at UCI (Critical Theory Emphasis mini-seminar), Yale, Bergen (Norway), Berlin, Brisbane (Australia, U. of Queensland), Lewis and Clark, Calvin College, Seoul, Bucharest and Stockholm.

LARRY E. OVERMAN
School of Physical Sciences
Department of Chemistry

Research Summary: Chemistry more than other sciences aims to create as well as discover. From electronics to pharmaceuticals, new compounds created by chemistry are an essential component of modern life. The aim of research in Larry Overman’s laboratory is to invent new chemical transformations that allow valuable organic molecules to be prepared from inexpensive starting materials by chemical synthesis. His group’s particular focus is inventing new chemistry that will be of value in the discovery and production of the pharmaceutical agents as well as in molecular-level studies of life processes.

YVONNE RAINER
Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Department of Studio Art

Research Summary: Yvonne Rainer is working on a “re-vision” of Nijinsky’s 1913 dance, “Rite of Spring.” Using four women, ranging in age from 30 to 60 (Pat Catterson, Emily Coates, Patricia Hoffbauer, Sally Silvers), she and the dancers will appropriate bits of Millicent Hodson’s 1987 reconstruction for the Robert Joffrey Ballet, as performed by the Finnish National Ballet for a dramatization produced by the BBC in 2006 called “Riot at the Rite.” In addition to the Stravinsky orchestration, the soundtrack from the BBC production will be integrated to include the rude catcalls and remarks by the unruly audience to replicate the scandal of the original 1913 production. Rainer’s “RoS Indexical,” a PERFORMA Commission with Documenta, will premiere at Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany, Aug. 17 and 18, 2007, then will travel to Berlin and New York, where it will make its U.S. premiere Nov. 18-20, 2007, as a part of the PERFORMA07 Biennial.

DONALD G. SAARI
School of Social Sciences
Department of Economics

Research Summary: Donald G. Saari’s research interests center on dynamical systems and complexity. His research employs mathematical models to analyze a wide variety of social and economic phenomena, including politics, markets and intra-organizational behavior. His discoveries on how people vote have led to questions about the fairness of the American electoral process. His work in mathematical economics has revealed a new understanding of economic principles, such as incentive, supply and demand. In addition, he has made significant advances in the field of celestial mechanics, which uses mathematical theory to explore the evolution of the universe.

PAOLO SASSONE-CORSI
School of Medicine
Department of Pharmacology

Research Summary: Paolo Sassone-Corsi explores the genetic principles governing a number of human molecular functions. He has made seminal contributions to the understanding of how genes perform specific physiological tasks within cells. Sassone-Corsi has expanded this knowledge of gene transcription in several areas, such as the biochemical mechanisms of cancerous tumor development circadian rhythms, which are based on the molecular clock that determines day-night rhythms and sleeping patterns and the differentiation of male germ cells, which contain the genetic material passed on to a child during reproduction. Currently, he’s opening a new avenue of research on how circadian clock regulators affect histones, the protein scaffolding that holds DNA. He has received many prestigious awards and regularly publishes his research in leading peer-reviewed journals, such as Science, Cell and Nature.

MASANOBU SHINOZUKA
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Research Summary: Masanobu Shinozuka is a world-renowned expert in earthquake and structural engineering. Shinozuka’s research includes risk assessment of water, electrical power and transportation networks, and analysis of the socioeconomic impacts of natural disasters. He also has an interest in advanced technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information systems for disaster assessment and mitigation. His work plays a part in earthquake engineering for buildings and bridges, and highlights the multidisciplinary aspects of infrastructure system problems. His recent research focuses on the perceived rise in risk of global warming-related hazards such as floods, hurricanes and droughts due to a potential increase in their frequency and intensity.

BRIAN SKYRMS
School of Social Sciences
Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science

Research Summary: Brian Skyrms’ research focuses on the philosophy of science, causation, decision-making, game theory and the foundations of probability. He uses dynamic models to understand the evolution of norms of justice, commitment, mutual aid, property and meaning. Skyrms has been recognized for making significant contributions to the understanding of ethics. Specifically, he has addressed the fundamental question: If people are motivated by self-interest, why do they engage in cooperative behavior that is not to their advantage – that is, why do ethics exist? Recently, he has examined the evolution of conventions, signals, social structure and the social contract.

SOROOSH SOROOSHIAN
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Research Summary: Soroosh Sorooshian’s research focuses on water resources engineering, hydrometeorology and hydroclimate modeling. The mathematical modeling tools developed by Sorooshian and his research team are used by hydrologic services worldwide for flood forecasting. The societal benefits of improved flood prediction are immense, given that floods are considered among the most devastating of natural disasters. Sorooshian’s team is also responsible for the development of advanced computer models for the measurement of precipitation through satellite remote-sensing. His other research areas are related to the interface of hydrology with water resources management in semi-arid regions and the interpretation of hydrologic and climate information used by decision-makers and the public.

GEORGE SPERLING
School of Social Sciences
Department of Cognitive Sciences

Research Summary: George Sperling has made seminal contributions to research in human information processing, including fundamental research in iconic memory, stereo vision, visual masking, visual motion perception, attention processes and decision-making. He has had an enormous influence on contemporary cognitive science by consistently showing the way to develop careful, analytic experiments that enable formal computational theories to describe the brain algorithms that underlie perception and cognition. Sperling is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Society for Experimental Psychologists, and a recipient of the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (1988), the Howard Crosby Warren Medal (1996) of the Society for Experimental Psychologists, The Edgar D. Tillyer Award (2002) of the Optical Society of America, and the Helmholtz Award (2004) of the International Neural Network Society.

ERIC STANBRIDGE
School of Medicine
Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics

Research Summary: Eric Stanbridge’s research focuses on identifying tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes (which transform normal cells into cancerous tumor cells), and understanding their interactive functions in human cancer. He was one of the first researchers to establish the genetic basis of tumor suppression and to provide evidence for the loss of function of tumor suppressor genes in human cancers. Recently, Stanbridge has led a team that has identified a tumor and hypoxia biomarker, termed carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), which in a multicenter clinical trial has been shown to be an important diagnostic biomarker for glandular dysplastic lesions and malignant cancers of the cervix.

NGUGI WA THIONG'O
School of Humanities
Department of Comparative Literature

Research Summary: Ngugi wa Thiong’o explores the politics of culture in the post-colonial world, basing his work largely in African, Caribbean and African American literature. His main focus concerns questions of language and power: language and the allocation of power between and within nations; language and the construction of postcolonial national, racial, gender and class identities; and languages and globalization, particularly the problematic interaction between dominant languages and marginalized ones. Other areas of interest include theories and practices of performance and translations. His work as director, editor, playwright, novelist, memoirist and essayist parallels his research. He uses the play and novel to explore issues of wealth, power and values in society and how their organization in society impact the quality of a people’s social and spiritual life.