News
The people of the UC San Diego Division of Social Sciences make news. And they lend their expertise to media outlets big and small, locally and around the world.
The self-described “tinkerers” and “hacker-ninjas” behind a free web app they call “KA Lite” have an immodest goal: They aim to bring the revolution in online education to the 65 percent of the world that isn’t online. Led by Jamie Alexandre of Cognitive Science, the team of social-sciences students is breaking down barriers to the Internet commons.
The New York Times, KPBS and Marketplace, among others, reported that the Obama administration plans to launch a decade-long Brain Activity Map project and that the effort would include Ralph Greenspan of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind.
Education Studies alumna Cindy Marten has been named superintendent of San Diego Unified, the state’s second-largest school district, the U-T San Diego and others report. A profile of Marten details city-wide advocacy and an impressive collection of fortune-cookie fortunes. Alumna Tina Rasori, meanwhile, a teacher at Fay Elementary in City Heights, was featured in a front-page U-T story on the new Common Core standards.
Former UC President and UC San Diego Chancellor Richard Atkinson of Psychology and Cognitive Science has donated $3.5 million to the National Academy of Sciences to create a $200,000 prize “to recognize and support scientists in improving our understanding of how the mind works.” Read more.
The U.S. is facing a debt situation that could become “unmanageable” in the next decade, warns a paper coauthored by James Hamilton of Economics and reported on by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times “Economix” blog, among others.
The Atlantic reported on research by Gail Heyman of Psychology showing that while a majority of American parents lie to their children, nearly all Chinese parents do and see less harm in it, too.
A critic sat in on the California government and politics class co-taught by Nathan Fletcher and Thad Kousser of Political Science, filing this light-hearted report in the U-T: “Nathan Fletcher Gets Schooled.”
Karen Dobkins of Psychology appears in a TEDx America’s Finest City video: “The Space Between Kansas and Oz.” Dobkins was also quoted by the Scientist in a story on brain adaptations among deaf people.
UC San Diego is beginning to offer massive open online courses, or MOOCs, partnering initially with Coursera and Google. The U-T story reporting on the announcements quoted Social Sciences Dean Jeff Elman.
A PolitiFact story attempting to sort out the debate between Carly Fiorina and Paul Krugman on the government’s role in promoting economic growth cited research by Valerie Ramey of Economics showing that government spending does not boost activity in the private sector.
Washington Post’s “Wonkblog” and the LSE Review of Books ran positive pieces on “Think Tanks in America” by Tom Medvetz of Sociology.
Karthik Muralidharan of Economics wrote a piece on primary education policy for the Economic Survey of India 2013, issued by the Ministry of Finance; his argument that, above all else,holding teachers accountable improves student learning was cited by the Times of India.
Doctoral candidate Michael Madowitz and alumnus Kevin Novan of Economics published an op-ed in the Washington Post: “Why Sales Taxes and Gasoline Don’t Mix.”
Chronicle of Higher Education story on the problems in priming research cites at length Hal Pashler of Psychology, the “most prolific of the Replicators.” Pashler’s work is also cited in a Sunday New York Times op-ed.
“Alternative Accounts”: Curated by an interdisciplinary group of students and Ross Frank of Ethnic Studies, an exhibition of Plains Indian ledger art at the San Diego Museum of Art gives a glimpse of Native visions of American history.
New Republic published a glowing review of “Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” by Amy Binder and doctoral student Kate Wood of Sociology. Binder also appeared on WPR’s “Joy Cardin” show and MSNBC’s “The Cycle” to talk about the book.
John Skrentny of Sociology and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies is now one of the U-T San Diego’s “Insights on Immigration” panel of experts. Skrentny was also quoted in a U-T story about Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs’ meeting with President Obama to discuss immigration reform.
Work by Gordon Dahl of Economics showing that an increase in family income has significant effects on a poor child’s test scores is cited in an Examiner.com story on the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science spoke about his book “Louder than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning” on KPCC’s “Air Talk.” He is also featured on Zocalo Public Square and in a Brain Science Podcast.
Wired piece on “how Facebook is transforming science and public health” cited research led by James Fowler of Political Science.
Wall Street Journal story on Venezuela’s continuation of Hugo Chavez’s “heating-oil diplomacy” quoted David Mares of Political Science.
Schools need strong social networks to implement changes grounded in research, according to work presented on Capitol Hill by Alan Daly of Education Studies and blogged about by Learning First.
Eli Berman of Economics is quoted in an International Business Times story suggesting that some of the international aid going to the Palestinian Authority is used to pay Palestinian prisoners’ salaries.
A Voice of San Diego story taking Mayor Filner to task for his ideas on San Diego-Tijuana collaboration quoted Oscar Romo of Urban Studies.
PRI’s “The World” spoke with Wayne Cornelius of Political Science and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies for a story about families torn apart by immigration rules.
Gary Jacobson of Political Science was quoted in a Huffington Post story looking at fundraising for the Senate 2014 race.
“Kabuki theater,” said Steve Erie of Urban Studies and Political Science to the U-T of Assembly Bill 291, which would automatically sunset state boards and departments.
Fans of the TV show “Downtown Abbey” were enraged by a media spoiler revealing a major character’s death, and The Week cited research led by Nicholas Christenfeld of Psychology to temper the anger.
Through Jan. 27
A first for UC San Diego and the Division of Social Sciences: Former California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher is inaugural “professor of practice.” Also reporting the news were U-T San Diego, with quotes from Thad Kousser of Political Science, as well as La Jolla Patch and NBC7.
Roger Gordon and Gordon Dahl of Economics made headlines with their white paper showing that, contrary to popular belief, there is a surprising degree of agreement among academic economists. The New York Times’ Paul Krugman reported on the research, first presented at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in San Diego, as well as the Economist, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BusinessWeek and Reuters.
Mica Pollock of Education Studies and CREATE published an op-ed in U-T San Diego: “Let’s Truly Protect Our Children in 2013.”
Clark Gibson and David Lake of Political Science have been named winners of the 2013 Chancellor’s Associates Faculty Excellence Awards – for, respectively, graduate teaching and research.
The BBC News and TIME reported on research led by Gail Heyman of Psychology on lying to children in the U.S. and China.
Facebook is more memorable than books or faces, finds a study by Nicholas Christenfeld, Christine Harris and alumna Laura Mickes of Psychology. Coverage ranged from the Wall Street Journal to Cosmopolitan and included the Los Angeles Times,Salon, U-T San Diego, Gizmag, Mashable, PC Magazine, ScienceNOW and TIME, among others. Christenfeld appeared onKPBS-FM and TV. The LiveScience coverage enjoyed wide national and international pick-up, while Scientific American also included commentary by John Wixted.
The Times Higher Education ran a book review of “Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” by Amy Binder and doctoral student Kate Wood of Sociology.
David FitzGerald of Sociology and CCIS was quoted in a Washington Post story on Canada’s guest worker program serving as a model for the U.S.
Thad Kousser of Political Science appeared on KPBS-FM and TV to discuss California’s newest laws.
Post-doc Joshua Lewis of Cognitive Science created controversy by proposing changes in Scrabble points, reported UPI.
“Seeds of Persuasion”: Lead story package in ThisWeek@UCSanDiego on getting people to better citizens includes research by James Fowler of Political Science and Chris Bryan of Psychology.
Feb. 6: Craig McKenzie of Psychology and the Rady School of Management will talk about “Business and Psychology: Decision Making, Rationality and Creativity” at this quarter’s Social Sciences Supper Club.
Through Dec. 20
The Economist, in a story on the ebbing of the Mexican migration “wave,” cited David FitzGerald of Sociology and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies.
Sam Popkin of Political Science answered the Atlantic’s “Were you on Obama’s ‘Dream Team’?” Popkin also spoke with U-T San Diego about the sun-setting of Mitt Romney’s political career in La Jolla.
The Boston Globe ran a positive review of the book “Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” by Amy Binder and doctoral student Kate Wood of Sociology. Binder and Wood also took “The Page 99 Test.”
Katerina Semendeferi of Anthropology was featured in the U-T as one of the San Diegans recently named fellows of AAAS, the nation's largest scientific organization.
First prize: Anthropology graduate student Jordan Haug has won the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest for his collection “Mormon Fundamentalism and Polygamy,” which numbers nearly 100 volumes.
North County Times story on historically “red” Riverside County voting “blue” last election quoted Steve Erie of Political Science.
Tom Levy of Anthropology has published a free e-book: “Cyber-Archaeology in the Holy Land: The Future of the Past.”
Nov.19 through Dec. 9
Zoltan Hajnal and doctoral student Jeremy D. Horowitz of Political Science published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times showing that minorities – and whites – fare better economically under Democratic presidents. The piece was distributed on the McClatchy Tribune wire and picked up in publications as diverse as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the United Arab Emirates’ the Gulf Today. It was also blogged on Washington Monthly and led to an appearance on the Alan Colmes Radio Show.
The Chronicle of Higher Education featured Amy Binder and doctoral studentKate Wood of Sociology, coauthors of the forthcoming book “Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives,” in an exchange with Mark Bauerlein of Emory. The new book was also previewed by Inside Higher Ed.
Katerina Semendeferi of Anthropology is one of 10 UC San Diego faculty named new AAAS fellows, reported UC San Diego News.
U.S. News & World Report featured a Q&A with Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science about his book “Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning,” while Psychology Today blog “PreFrontal Nudity” ran a review. Bergen also appeared in an hour-long interview on Texas public radio program “Think.”
A drawing by Rafael Nunez of Cognitive Science is now orbiting Earth aboard a satellite, reported U-T San Diego. It is part of “The Last Pictures” project, a collection of images meant to be discovered by future civilizations.
Business Insider reported on a new study finding every $1 of government infrastructure spending boosts the economy by $2 compared to the more typical .5 to 1.5 fiscal multiplier found by Valerie Ramey of Economics.
Steve Erie of Urban Studies and Planning was quoted in a Los Angeles Times story on the legacy of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. Erie and Gary Jacobson of Political Science also spoke at length with the Reader on demographics and the election results in San Diego.
AP story on the powerful supermajorities elected to many state legislatures, picked up by Salon.com and others, cited Thad Kousser of Political Science.
MSN Money cited “Econbrowser” blog by James Hamilton of Economics in a story on how Superstorm Sandy is already beginning to boost local and national economies.
Nov. 12 through 18
Front-page U-T San Diego story featured a long Q&A with Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science on language, meaning, distracted driving – and Groucho’s famous “fruit flies like a banana.”
Washington Post’s “Wonkbook” selected as one of its “top long reads” the New York Times story reporting that Sam Popkin of Political Science was one of the academics whose research informed President Obama’s successful re-election campaign.
Pollster Michael Dimock, doctoral alum of Political Science, is taking over as director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, reported Research Magazine.
Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly focused on UC San Diego in her piece “Freshman Seminars Are Weird.” To support her argument that these seminars are “on trivial subjects and biased in content,” she cited, among other courses, “How Minds and Groups Make Religion and Superstition” from the Department of Cognitive Science.
“U.S. university departments that have more foreign graduate students produce more academic publications and have their work cited more frequently, ” wrote Gordon Hanson of Economics/IRPS in The Cato Journal, according to a piece in Forbes on how the GOP can attract immigrant voters.
Nov. 5 through 11
If you had $20 million to spend on solving a social problem, what would it be? Carol Padden of Communication is one of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant winners asked by the New York Times to propose an imaginary challenge prize.
“Did Facebook give Democrats the upper hand?” wondered the Atlantic, covering efforts by James Fowler of Political Science to study the effects of online social networks on voter turnout, in 2012 and 2010. Also reporting: CBS News andTechCrunch (twice), among others.
Academic discussions and networking on Twitter? U.S. News and World Report followed up on a Daily Muse blog post by Communication graduate student Tamara Powell.
APA Monitor November cover story on embarrassment prominently features work byChristine Harris of Psychology; the digital edition of the magazine includes video interview on the subtle signs and the consequences of the social emotion.
San Diego Mayor-elect Bob Filner has less time than most other city leaders to assemble an administration, reported Voice of San Diego in a story quoting Steve Erie of Urban Studies.
Psychology Today blogged about research by Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science showing how language distracts us from driving
In passing Prop. 30, Californians voted to tax themselves to help prevent further cuts to education and could serve as a guide to the nation, reported Bloomberg BusinessWeek in a story quoting Thad Kousser of Political Science.
Gary Jacobson of Political Science was quoted in a Dallas Morning News piece about what the nation’s changing demographics mean for both the GOP and Dems in elections to come. Jacobson was also quoted in a Los Angeles Times story on the 11 newcomers to California’s congressional delegation.
Young women are quicker to exercise next to seemingly unfit peers, according to a study coauthored byJames Kulik of Psychology, blogged the Today Show.
Oct. 29 through Nov. 4
The Washington Post holds up the Preuss School UCSD as a national model and cites a new book on the school by Hugh “Bud” Mehan of Sociology, founding director of CREATE, “In the Front Door: Creating a College-Going Culture of Learning.”
Election “pre-mortem” with Sam Popkin of Political Science appeared in the Atlantic; Popkin also commented on the election in the New Yorker, while the American Prospect ran a piece by Popkin on “our most prominent number cruncher,” poll watcher Nate Silver.
Where is he now? ThisWeek@UCSanDiego catches up with Nobel Laureate Robert Engle of Economics.
“Louder Than Words,” by Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science, got positive reviews in Nature andNew Scientist.
Live Science reported on research by Christine Harris of Psychology debunking the popular idea that women in the fertile phase of their cycle prefer more masculine men.
TechCrunch named James Fowler of Political Science one of its “20 Most Innovative People in Democracy 2012”; Fowler’s Facebook “get out the vote” research, which first made major headlines in September, continued to get coverage in the lead-up to Election Day with CNET,Technology Review, Austin American-Statesman and others.
Financial Times reported on research by Chris Bryan of Psychology showing that framing matters: People were less likely to cheat when encouraged to think of themselves as cheaters if they did.
John Skrentny of Sociology and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies was cited in a New York Times story on Asian Americans and affirmative action, focusing on the University of Texas, Austin.
Oct. 22 through 28
Wall Street Journal and CNN, among others, reported on research by graduate student Evan Carr of Psychology, with Piotr Winkielman, presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting: Smiles have a thing or two to say, it seems, about human pecking order.
KPBS-FM story on Italy inviting ethnic Italians in San Diego to “come back home” consulted John Skrentny of Sociology and the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies about the bigger trend in Europe and Asia.
NBC News, the Business Standard of India, the UK’s Daily Mail, U.S. News and World Report, the Detroit Free Press and others reported on research by Diana Deutsch and Kevin Dooley of Psychology, presented at the Acoustical Society of America's annual meeting, suggesting that genetics may help explain perfect pitch.
Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science wrote in the Huffington Post about “50 Shades of Grey Matter: Your Mind on Smut.”
Patch.com reported on the nonpartisan California Choices website, co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and designed to help the state’s voters with statewide ballot measures.
James Hamilton of Economics was cited in Newsday on the global oil market’s effect on the American economy.
A CBS News story on how little some U.S. Senate races are mentioning Romney or Obama quoted Gary Jacobson of Political Science.
Previous News Highlights
Salon has published an excerpt from "Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning," by Ben Bergen of Cognitive Science.
“The Atlantic Meets the Pacific: Predicting Election 2012” features three Social Sciences’ affiliates – Sam Popkin and James Fowler of Political Science, and longtime pollster and friend of the division Dan Yankelovich – along with James Fallows of the Atlantic, veteran political reporter Ron Brownstein of the National Journal and Republican strategist Steve Schmidt.
TechCrunch followed up on study by James Fowler of Political Science, suggesting the real power of political messages on Facebook lies not in paid advertising but in shares among friends.
Thad Kousser of Political Science is one of the experts behind CaliforniaChoices.org, an interactive nonpartisan website helping California voters make sense of statewide initiatives. Students, meanwhile, are behind several campus successes: a San Diego mayoral candidate debate held Oct. 13 and amassive voter registration drive.
Insights on the 2012 presidential election: Sam Popkin of Political Science shares election insights and experience in three-part UCTV Prime video series. He’s also speaking regularly with, among others, U-T San Diego and the Atlantic.
The Russell Sage Foundation published a piece by John Skrentny and graduate student Jane Lilly Lopez of Sociology, examining the Latino vote and President Obama's record on immigration reform.
U-T San Diego ran a feature on the “entrepreneurial force behind UCSD”: former UC President Dick Atkinson of Psychology and Cognitive Science.
Gedeon Deak of Cognitive Science is one of the researchers on a large NIH-funded study to learn how much language babies understand before they can speak, reported U-T San Diego.
Geoffrey Braswell of Anthropology tells the Associated Press that the Maya did not predict an apocalyptic end of the world in 2012.
Steve Erie of Urban Studies spoke with the San Diego Reader about a proposed bayside football stadium in San Diego and with the Associated Press about a massive new desalination plant in Carlsbad.
A 61-million-person experiment on Facebook, led by James Fowler of Political Science, shows (for the first time, Fowler and coauthors believe) that important real-world behaviors like voting can be influenced by online social networks. The authors estimate that Facebook's election-day “get out the vote” message yielded 340,000 more voters at the polls in 2010. Close friends made all the difference. Coverage included: NPR, New York Times, BBC, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, AP, Politico, Financial Times, the Atlantic, PBS NewsHour, and many others.
Inside Higher Ed covered research coauthored by Kate Antonovics of Economics on the effect of affirmative action bans in college admissions.
Using smartphones to reduce election fraud? New Scientist reports on work by alumni Michael Callen of Economics and James Long of Political Science, with faculty Eli Berman and Clark Gibson.
Hello E.T.! Bloomberg reported “The Last Pictures” project of artist Trevor Paglen, which includes work by Rafael Nunez of Cognitive Science and will orbit Earth for 5 billion years on satellite EchoStar XVI.
Research on Indian education by Karthik Muralidharan of Economics was covered by the Business Standard and, in a widely picked-up story, by the Agence France-Presse.
Why are robots creepy? CNN reports on explorations of the human brain by Ayse Saygin of Cognitive Science.Huffington Post also covered Saygin’s work.
UC San Diego again tops Washington Monthly's national rankings for public service.
NPR, the Los Angeles Times and the Christian Science Monitor were three of many outlets reprising findings by Nicholas Christenfeld and graduate student Jonathan Leavitt of Psychology showing that spoiler don’t spoils stories – or the 2012 London Olympics.
In a story on the Aurora, Colo. theater mass shooting, ABC News quoted Gordon Dahl of Economics on his research about violence and movies.
Shirley Strum of Anthropology was cited widely in stories about baboon management in South Africa, including Fox News,Cape Times and others.
The Washington Post and the New York Times reviewed “The Candidate: What It Takes to Win – and Hold – the White House,” by Sam Popkin of Political Science.
Wayne Cornelius of Political Science, founder of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, has won Mexico's highest award for foreigners.
How a cheetah can hide its spots: New Scientist features the illusion research of Psychology’s Stuart Anstis.
An endowed scholarship, honoring the work of educational reformer Hugh “Bud” Mehan of Sociology and CREATE, will help local underserved students attend UC San Diego.
Events
April 24
Social Sciences Supper Club
UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla