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Project Descriptions
Spring 2026

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Showing 11 projects out of 11 found. On page 1 out of 1.
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Annotating datasets for the computational analysis of film

David Bamman - Professor, Information, School of

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

Methods in computer vision have reached a level of maturity that we can now develop computational instruments to measure a wide range of phenomena in film -- which actors are present in frame, the poses they have with respect to each other, the boundaries between shots -- which opens the door to...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Arts & Humanities   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Measuring suspense in fiction

David Bamman - Professor, Information, School of

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

In this project, we'll be exploring the techniques that fiction uses to evoke a sense of suspense in readers and to represent suspense experienced by its characters, and measure the degree to which computational models are able to capture that degree of uncertainty in what is going to unfold in...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Arts & Humanities   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Computational project in cultural analytics/computational social science

David Bamman - Professor, Information, School of

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

This URAP position is a placeholder for mentorship of a project of your design. If you are an advanced student in CS, data science, or another discipline with a strong computational background and have a topic of interest in the space of cultural analytics or computational social science, feel free...

 Engineering, Design & Technologies   Arts & Humanities   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Use your CS/AI/ML coding and hacking skills to help direct cash transfers to poor households in need!

Joshua Blumenstock - Professor, Information, School of

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

At the Global Opportunity Lab (gol.berkeley.edu), we view the world’s most pressing policy challenges as opportunities to develop transformative policy solutions. Harnessing state-of-the-art data science, computation, and analytic tools, we generate insights and innovations that promote prosperity and expand opportunity across the globe. Our lab is currently...

 Social Sciences   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Using large-scale data for new measurements in Afghanistan

Joshua Blumenstock - Professor, Information, School of

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

Over the past decade, the rapid proliferation of mobile phones, satellites, and other digital sensors has created tremendous opportunities to measure human behavior. These data also provide the foundation for the growing interdisciplinary field of computational social science. Non-traditional “big” data hold unique potential in developing and conflict-affected...

 Social Sciences   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Using Data Science to Improve COVID-19 Response in Developing Countries: Data Visualization

Joshua Blumenstock - Professor, Information, School of

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

The Data-Intensive Development Lab at UC Berkeley (didl.berkeley.edu) is providing data science support to the governments of several Low and Middle Income Countries, as well as humanitarian organizations like GiveDirectly, who are doing their best to effectively respond to the evolving humanitarian crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic...

 Social Sciences   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Using Deep Learning to Detect Illegal Sand Mining in India

Joshua Blumenstock - Professor, Information, School of

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

Sustainable sand mining is one of the most pressing ecological challenges currently facing the planet. After water, sand is the world’s most valuable natural resource – over 50 billion tons of construction-grade sand and gravel were mined globally from rivers and beaches in 2021, accounting for 85% of all mineral...

 Social Sciences   Digital Humanities and Data Science

Research Assistant for Local Laws

Diag Davenport - Professor, Information, School of

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

According to the internet (and ChatGPT), it is unlawful to whistle for a lost canary before 7 AM in Berkeley. Are you skeptical of this claim? In which case, you would probably want to look up canary laws in Berkeley. Unfortunately, you cannot easily do this. If you could, you...

 Education, Cognition & Psychology   Social Sciences

Empirical Analysis & Data Visualization -- Behavioral Evidence & Algorithmic Bias

Diag Davenport - Professor, Information, School of

Status: Current Term Now Closed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

This project examines how institutions shape behavior not only through incentives, but through responsibility, timing, and attention—and how individuals and algorithms adapt to those institutional environments. Across a set of empirical and experimental papers, we study situations where people are placed into short-run institutional “states” (e.g., waiting for...

 Education, Cognition & Psychology   Social Sciences

Undergraduate Research Assistant in Behavioral Economics and Cultural Psychology

Diag Davenport - Professor, Information, School of

Status: Full- no new appr needed     Weekly Hours: 12 or more hours     Location: On Campus

This project investigates how cultural factors influence individual motivation, focusing on a field experiment conducted in Kenya. By examining how local cultural values, beliefs, and social norms impact motivation, the study aims to provide deeper insights into the relationship between culture and economic behaviors. The research assistant will support the...

 Education, Cognition & Psychology   Social Sciences

Database creator -- legal knowledge facilitator

Diag Davenport - Professor, Information, School of

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

According to the internet (and ChatGPT), it is unlawful to whistle for a lost canary before 7 AM in Berkeley. Are you skeptical of this claim? In which case, you would probably want to look up canary laws in Berkeley. Unfortunately, you cannot easily do this. If you could, you...

 Education, Cognition & Psychology   Social Sciences

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