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Project Descriptions
Spring 2025

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Showing 50 projects out of 344 found. On page 5 out of 7.
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Archaeological Laboratory Analysis of Native Californian Materials from the Central California Coast

Kent Lightfoot - Professor, Anthropology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Researchers in the California Archaeology Laboratory are continuing a long-term study investigating land stewardship practices of Native Californian peoples. The study involves collecting samples of archaeological biological materials (shell, animal, and plant remains) from a number of sites up to 6000 years old on the Central California Coast and...

 Social Sciences

Jewish feminist legacies and Palestine solidarity in the US

Brooke Lober - Lecturer, Gender and Women's Studies

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project seeks to offer both a critique of feminist historiography and an alternate genealogy for Jewish feminisms in the late 20th century U.S., revealing both the presence and the historical marginalization of Jewish feminist anti-Zionists. To do this, the work offers a “history of the present” by exploring...

 Social Sciences

The Impact of the Dual Pandemic of COVID-19 and Systemic/Structural Inequities on Latinx Adolescents and Families

Kristina Lovato - Professor, Social Welfare

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

U.S. immigration policies have become increasingly restrictive, exacerbating fears among Latinx immigrant youth and families at risk of deportation and forced family separation. Legal activity related to immigration policy and practice increased during the pandemic and provided the Trump administration with a pretext for tightening already stringent immigration policies. The...

 Social Sciences

Latinx Youth Social Mobility

Kristina Lovato - Professor, Social Welfare

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     

Aa majority of the data on Latino family and youth outcomes in the past few decades has, with minor exceptions, provided an undifferentiated analysis of Latino populations that often fail to account for historical incorporation and additional crucial identities such as race, ethnicity, phenotype, socioeconomic status, and generation in the...

 Social Sciences

The History of Contraception and Abortion in the United States

Kristin Luker - Professor, Law, Sociology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

This project is part of an forthcoming book on how contraception and abortion, common parts of American family life throughout much of American history, came to be regulated in the late 19th century, became liberalized a century later, and are now the focus of intense political controversy. That regulation has...

 Social Sciences

Reconstructing Human Activities in the Paleolithic

Lisa Maher - Professor, Anthropology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

About 10,000 years ago in Southwest Asia farming communities began to settle in large villages and produce their own food; forever changing the social and physical landscape of this region. However, the emergence of social complexity and the dramatic social and economic changes that led to the origins of agriculture...

 Social Sciences

Geoarchaeological Testing of Soils from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Lisa Maher - Professor, Anthropology

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

This Spring, work with state-of-the-art lab equipment and learn how to examine soils to find signs of past human environmental impacts. Over the course of the semester, students will be trained in the basic tenants of archaeology, geology, and geoarchaeology through the lab-based analyses of soils...

 Social Sciences

Research in Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance

Ulrike Malmendier - Professor, Economics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

We are looking for highly motivated apprentices interested in behavioral economics or behavioral finance research for the 2025 spring semester. You will find below the list of open projects. Expectations: - Undergraduates will be required to complete assignments weekly. They will also be required to fill out weekly reports detailing the...

 Social Sciences

(Ancient) Law and its Role for Financial and Economic Development (Or: Business Corporations in the Roman Republic)

Ulrike Malmendier - Professor, Economics

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

One of the most exciting areas of research in economics is “Law and Economics/Finance." This research starts from a central question in economics: What are the causes of financial development and economic growth? Why do some countries flourish while others do not? The “Law and Finance” literature suggests that...

 Social Sciences

Critical Perspectives on Democracy + Media in the American Hemisphere (D+M Lab)

Angela Marino - Professor, Latinx Research Center

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The Democracy + Media Lab seeks students with strong writing and/or digital media skills to assist in developing articles, visual media, documentary production, and podcasts. Successful candidates will join a team of other students to plan, record, edit, and publish research materials on social justice and democracy in the American...

 Arts & Humanities   Social Sciences

An Equitable and Sustainable Generational Transition in the Agriculture-Food System through Entry by New and Aspiring Farmers: Policies and Perspectives from Europe/Spain and the United States/California (seeking student to focus on Spanish component of research)

Robin Marsh - Senior Researcher, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project will address the overall question: how can regional, national and local policies, practices and transdisciplinary collaboration facilitate inclusive participation in a rural revitalization process based on just and sustainable agriculture? With the median age of farmers in the mid-to-late 50s and serious issues of rural depopulation...

 Social Sciences

Impact Study for 1,000 Women's Gardens for Health and Nutrition Program in Kasese District, Uganda - Data Analysis, Visualization, Write-up of Results

Robin Marsh - Senior Researcher, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

We are generating quantitative and qualitative data from several research instruments to understand the multiple impacts of women-led organic vegetable gardening in Western Uganda. These instruments include 24 hour recall and food security surveys, general demographics, gardening and welfare questionnaires, and narrative stories. This fall semester we will complete...

 Social Sciences

An efficacy and effectiveness trial of a school-based prevention program for newcomer immigrant youth - YEDI-Affiliated Project

William Martinez - Professor , UC San Francisco

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The present study is a randomized control trial to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of a school-based group prevention program (Fuerte) in San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Public Schools. Fuerte targets newcomer Latinx immigrant youth (five years or less post arrival in the U.S.) who are at risk...

 Education, Cognition & Psychology   Social Sciences

Policing in Post-Conflict Contexts

Aila Matanock - Professor, Political Science

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This research project examines policing in places that have had civil conflict and related crime, as well as peace agreements and interventions, specifically. We are focusing on a review of community-oriented policing in these contexts as well as how the end of conflict changes policing...

 Social Sciences

Inviting Intervention

Aila Matanock - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This research project examines how and why foreign intervention occurs by domestic invitation, as well as to what effect these invited interventions have on the rule of law. Intervention by invitation is increasingly used by intergovernmental organizations pooling resources to deal with transnational concerns. The treaties that enact these agreements...

 Social Sciences

Program on Security Institutions and Violent Instability (Constitutional Legal Frameworks)

Aila Matanock - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This is one of three pieces of a collaborative project between Professors Arriola, Matanock, and Mattes.) Countries around the world are increasingly confronting violent irregular threats such as insurgencies and terrorism. Yet, many countries have proven unable to effectively deploy their security institutions (including regular militaries, paramilitaries, and police) when...

 Social Sciences

Program on Security Institutions and Violent Instability (Military)

Michaela Mattes - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Overview: (This is one of three pieces of a collaborative project between Professors Arriola, Matanock, and Mattes.) Countries around the world are increasingly confronting violent irregular threats such as insurgencies and terrorism. Yet, many countries have proven unable to effectively deploy their security institutions (including regular militaries, paramilitaries, and police...

 Social Sciences

Religious Costly Signals in International Crises

Michaela Mattes - Professor, Political Science

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

On September 20, 2001, right after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush addressed the nation and declared war against terror. In his speech, the President repeatedly used religious connotations. For instance, “Prayer has comforted us in sorrow, and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead.” President showed...

 Social Sciences

Apologies in International Politics

Michaela Mattes - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Throughout history countries have done terrible things to one another: genocide, war crimes, forced displacements etc. Apologizing for past wrongs was very rare before the 1990s and has become only slightly more common. Interestingly, there is a lot of variation in whether a country apologizes, when it does so, the...

 Social Sciences

Program on Security Institutions and Violent Instability (Synthesizing data on militaries, paramilitaries, police, and constitutions)

Michaela Mattes - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project synthesizes work done by URAP teams led by Professors Arriola, Matanock, and Mattes in previous semesters.) Countries around the world are increasingly confronting violent irregular threats such as insurgencies and terrorism. Yet, many countries have proven unable to effectively deploy their security institutions (including regular militaries, paramilitaries, and...

 Social Sciences

Vulnerability to Forced Labor and Human Trafficking

Cecilia Mo - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This uses focuses on designing and implementing a nationally-representative survey to examine the prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes surrounding child trafficking and forced labor in Jamaica. Previous studies have reported that in Jamaica, 1 in 12 children work at least one hour a week and of those working children, 71.3...

 Social Sciences

Women's Action Committees and Local Services in Nigeria (Metaketa V)

Cecilia Mo - Professor, Political Science

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: Off Campus

The dynamics undermining Nigeria’s democratic progress over the past two decades have disproportionately marginalized the role of women in governance. While women are legally entitled to equal rights under Nigeria’s constitution, they have been largely excluded from political participation through a combination of social, logistical, and psychological barriers. If barriers...

 Social Sciences

A Woman's War: Reassessing Narratives of Women in Conflict Worldwide

Cecilia Mo - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Throughout history, women have often been omitted from narratives and histories of war. A Woman’s War, an oral history project that includes narratives of over 120 women across six countries---Bangladesh, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Vietnam, and the United States---seeks to examine the intersection of individual and collective experiences...

 Social Sciences

Mental Health in Post-Conflict and Forced Migration Contexts

Cecilia Mo - Professor, Political Science

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project focuses on the impact of mental health in post-conflict and forced migration contexts. There are two primary research areas within the larger project: (1) producing a systematic review article on how living through and beyond trauma impact communities affected by conflict and forced migration, and (2) conducting...

 Social Sciences

The Many Faces of Overconfidence

Don Moore - Professor, Business, Haas School, Psychology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Have you ever scored lower on a test than you expected, lost a competition to a competitor you thought you would trounce, been certain about a fact only to have Google prove you incorrect? People are frequently overconfident. Understanding overconfidence can help us become more accurate about our self-perceptions...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Overconfidence and Artificial Intelligence

Don Moore - Professor, Business, Haas School, Psychology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Human judgments are routinely biased. Can artificially intelligent agents correct for this human bias and achieve greater accuracy in their judgment...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Open Science and Replication

Don Moore - Professor, Business, Haas School, Psychology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The scientific world is changing quickly as scientists improve their research practices and correct errors in the published record. This project seeks to test the replicability of published work that is now suspect. This is a chance to play a role in a project in the vanguard of open science...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Graduate Student Research

Don Moore - Professor, Business, Haas School, Psychology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Have you ever read a research article and wondered if the authors truly tested the research question they purported to test? The focus of this project concerns the evaluation of research methodology. You would work primarily with a senior graduate student in the lab on her research. It is an...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Early-Stage Research in the Economics of Information and Big Data Analytics

Abhishek Nagaraj - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

This URAP project exposes students to one or more of the ongoing projects that the professor (Abhishek) is working on along in his Data Innovation Lab with PhD students and other research assistants in the Berkeley-Haas School of Business. The idea of this URAP group is to provide students...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Social Sciences

Disability, Technology, Art, Ethnography, Activism, and Access

Karen Nakamura - Professor, Anthropology

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

The Berkeley Disability Lab (https://disabilitylab.berkeley.edu/) has been working on several projects involving disability, technology, art, activism, and access in the Bay Area. We welcome students from all fields of the university (arts, engineering, social sciences, communications, CS, design, music, architecture, etc.), and people with personal experience of disability or...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Social Sciences

Title Unavailable

Karen Nakamura - Professor, Anthropology

Status: Check back for status     

...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Social Sciences

Early stage research in Industrial Organization and Marketing

Olivia Natan - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

This URAP project exposes students to one or more of the ongoing projects in quantitative marketing and industrial organization, including topics on product variety, pricing, and consumer demand. Examples of ongoing projects include work on optimal platform product variety, product bundling in video game markets, and consumer search and information...

 Digital Humanities and Data Science   Social Sciences

Berkeley Judicial Institute Research Apprentice

Denise Neary - Director of Judicial Education, Berkeley Judicial Institute

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The Berkeley Judicial Institute (BJI) aims to establish an effective bridge between the legal academy and the judiciary for the primary purpose of promoting an ethical, resilient and independent judiciary. By creating this much needed synergy between the legal academy and the judiciary, BJI also seeks to address the concern...

 Social Sciences

Bilingual (Mandarin and English) Data Analyst for Psychology/Business Lab

Leif Nelson - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Our lab group studies human judgment and decision making, and are currently investigating cultural differences and similarities between people in the United States and in China. In this position you will work with Professor Leif Nelson on a variety of projects within the Behavioral Lab (BLab) and for the MORS...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Judgment and Decision Making

Leif Nelson - Professor, Business, Haas School

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

This interdisciplinary project seeks to explore and investigate the intricate realms of judgment and decision-making, blending insights from social psychology, behavioral economics, and cognitive science. Our central focus is understanding how the framing of a situation or problem can significantly alter human behavior and choices. What You Will Explore...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Rethinking School Lunch

Moira O'Neill - Professor, Institute for Urban and Regional Development

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

School meal programs play a critical role in addressing childhood hunger, and initiatives to improve healthy eating often target school meal programs for improvement. This research explores how school districts address food access, health, educational, environmental, and social issues simultaneously through comprehensive school meal program reform. This approach to school...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Housing and Land Use Legal Research

Moira O'Neill - Professor, Institute for Urban and Regional Development

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: Off Campus

California's housing crisis is well known, and scholars attribute this crisis largely to the inadequate supply of housing across multiple income levels. This study explores the relationship between local and state land use regulation and housing supply. We will examine approval processes in selected jurisdictions to understand...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Producing an Art History Book: Jusepe Ribera in 17th-century Naples

Todd Olson - Professor, Art History

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

The Spanish artist Jusepe Ribera interrogated the media of painting, drawing and etching in the vice-royalty of Naples. This publication project looks at the artist's In Ribera's work and its place in the Spanish Empire. His recourse to classical mythology as well as the depiction...

 Arts & Humanities   Social Sciences

Refugee Image: A Madonna from Frascati(Italy) in Colonial Mexico (Zacatecas)

Todd Olson - Professor, Art History

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs     Location: On Campus

Beato Antonio Baldinucci (Florence 1665 – Lazio 1717), son of the art historian to the Medici court, was a Jesuit missionary in Lazio, known for his penitential missions, involving carrying a cross, flagellation and bonfires of the vanities. During these internal missions, Baldinucci carried with him a copy of a painting...

 Arts & Humanities   Social Sciences

Between Theory and Practice: Bernard Palissy’s Faïence

Todd Olson - Professor, Art History

Status: Check back for status     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The French Huguenot ceramicist Bernard Palissy’s is famous for his casting of living specimens (amphibians and reptiles) for his plates. He was also a prolific writer, revealing his research in salt flats and his observation of fossils in the mountains. Palissy’s Discours admirable (1580) is a dialogue between Theory and...

 Arts & Humanities   Social Sciences

Simone Vouet: A French artist in early seventeenth-century Rome

Todd Olson - Professor, Art History

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

Simone Vouet was an emigré artist in Rome in the 1620s before he returned to France and became a major painter in Paris, most notably serving Anne d'Autriche, the mother of Louis III. This research project concerns the artist's production in Rome, most notably his execution...

 Arts & Humanities   Social Sciences

The Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law

David Oppenheimer - Professor, Law

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality Anti-Discrimination Law brings together academics, advocates and activists from six continents to address issues of systemic inequality and discrimination. Much of our research, administration and leadership is done by Berkeley students, including URAP students. Our current projects include working groups on Sexual Harassment...

 Social Sciences

Youth Voice and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) |

Emily Ozer - Professor, Public Health

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Youth should be meaningfully included and engaged in conversations about policies that directly affect them. Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a social justice-focused approach for promoting social change and positive youth development in which youth conduct systematic research and actions to improve their schools and communities (Ozer...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology   Biological & Health Sciences

YPAR (Youth Participatory Action Research) Systematic Literature Review

Emily Ozer - Professor, Public Health

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

This project is conducting systematic review of the literature to describe the state of the youth participatory action research (YPAR) literature and synthesizing findings of the youth outcomes reported in these studies. YPAR is an approach that engages young people as researchers to study and address social problems within their...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology   Biological & Health Sciences

Supporting San Francisco Unified School District and UC Berkeley Research-Practice Partnership (SFUSD-UC Berkeley RPP)

Emily Ozer - Professor, Public Health

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs     Location: On Campus

The SFUSD-UC Berkeley RPP aims to: 1) Integrate youth voice and Youth-Led Participatory Action Research into school/district decision-making processes. YPAR is an innovative approach for promoting social change and positive youth development in which youth conduct systematic research and actions to improve their schools and communities...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology   Biological & Health Sciences

Title Unavailable

Emily Ozer - Professor, Public Health

Status: Check back for status     

...

 Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology   Biological & Health Sciences

Regulating Bank Fees

Manisha Padi - Professor, Law

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

The Biden administration has prioritized a crackdown on "junk fees"; which proliferate across industries in modern times. The banking industry has been specifically targeted by federal regulators, resulting in a sea change in bank business models. This project studies bank fees and their effect on consumers using a hybrid qualitative...

 Social Sciences

Public Purpose of Venture Capital

Manisha Padi - Professor, Law

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: to be negotiated     Location: On Campus

This project studies public programs that subsidize investment in early stage ventures. The goal is to compile data on these "public purpose" venture capital projects, and compare them to traditional forms of venture capital. An ideal research assistant will have both quantitative data analysis skills in Stata, R, and/or...

 Social Sciences

Supporting undergraduate success with AI adaptive tutoring and course recommendation

Zachary Pardos - Professor, Education

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

This project seeks to fill technical new researcher positions in the AskOski and OATutor research and development teams. The AskOski project (https://askoski.berkeley.edu/about) is a research and development effort lead by Professor Pardos to transfer the latest in big data and machine learning research to the domain of course...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

Expanding a free content library for an open-source adaptive tutoring system using large language models

Zachary Pardos - Professor, Education

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: Off Campus

Adaptive tutoring systems are designed to provide students in K-12 and intro college courses a personalized homework experience. This means giving the right problem to a student at the right time based given a continuous assessment of their mastery of a skill. At Berkeley, the ALEKS system is used...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Social Sciences   Education, Cognition & Psychology

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