Social sciences graduate programs, already ranked highly and at the top of their fields by the National Research Council, Philosophical Gourmet Report, U.S. News and World Report and other ranking agencies, reached new heights this year, thanks to graduate student research awards and grants. From 2011 through October 2012, social sciences graduate students secured over $2 million in research funding, including extramural funds, UC system-wide and UC Irvine awards totaling more than $1.8 million. Measured in terms of dollars or sheer number of grants and awards, social sciences graduate students exceeded all previous years’ funding and awards received since the school’s graduate programs were founded.  

“If it’s already hard to believe that the school as a whole could out-rank in its short 50 year history programs at other universities that have had a one hundred year head start, it’s even more remarkable that our grad students are earning such prestigious national, university and school awards,” says Bill Maurer, anthropology and law professor and associate dean for graduate studies in social sciences. “Our students are pretty awesome.”

From highly competitive national agencies like the National Science Foundation to prestigious awarding bodies such as the Wenner Gren Foundation, social sciences graduate students are gaining national visibility. Check out some of the awards our students have earned in the past year, and graduate students, if we’ve missed your award, please email us so we can have a complete list.

National Awards

Andrew Chang, economics, National Science Foundation grant for his study, “The Price Elasticity of R&D: Evidence From State Tax Policies”
Leska Chmielewski, anthropology, U.S. Student Fulbright award for her study, “Making History in China: Social Ties and Public Goods in Museum Design”
Joshua Clark, anthropology, National Science Foundation fellowship for his study, “Defining and Evaluating States’ Obligations to Eliminate Racial Discrimination”
Mary Kathleen Dingeman-Cerda, sociology, National Science Foundation fellowship for her study, “Stability and Disruption in Transnational Families”
Brian Gillespie, sociology, National Science Foundation award for his study, “Early Intergenerational Cohesiveness and Later Proximity to Parents: Cross National Context of Intergenerational Solidarity”
Diego Grijalva, economics, German Academic Exchange Fellowship
Matt Lane, anthropology, National Science Foundation Fellowship for his study, “The Social Life of Recyclable Metals in the United States and India” and an American Institute for Indian Studies fellowship for “Scrap: Recycling and Value in a Transnational Commodity Circuit”
Alexandra Lippman, anthropology, Intel Corporate U.S. Fellowship
Sean Mallin, anthropology, National Science Foundation Fellowship for his study, "Finding Blight: Code Enforcement in Post-Katrina New Orleans”
Elham Mireshghi, anthropology, Wenner Gren-Foundation for “Regulating the Kidney Market: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Iranian Model for Paid Unrelated Kidney Donation”
Paul Morgan, sociology, UNC Ashville Center for Craft, Creativity and Design award for his study, “Making Value, Crafting Price: Labor, Aesthetics, and Use in the Production of Pricing of Crafts”
Dana Moss, sociology, American Institute for Yemeni Studies Pre-Dissertation Fellowship
Taylor Nelms, anthropology, Wenner-Gren Foundation grant for “Making Change and Valuing Difference: Dollarization and the Plurinational State in Ecuador”
Natalie Newton, anthropology, Kenneth W. Payne Student Prize from the Association for Queer Anthropology section of the American Anthropological Association
Justin Perez, anthropology, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for his study, "'Coming Forward' and 'Coming Out' in the Aftermath of Peru's Civil War"
Michelle Peria, sociology, National Science Foundation award for her doctoral dissertation research, “Class or Race? The Rise of Affirmative Action in Brazil, 2001-2010” and a Ruth Landes Memorial Fund Fellowship
Stephen Rea, anthropology, National Science Foundation fellowship to improve his doctoral dissertation research, “Garbage People and Model Workers: Bodies, Computers, and Productivity in South Korea"
J.M. Ian Salas, economics, Population Reference Bureau Policy Communications Fellowship, Hewlett Fellowship, and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows Program runner up
Joshua Saldana, sociology, American Education Research Association/National Science Foundation Fellowship for his study, “The For-Profit Sector in Postsecondary Education: Selection and Outcomes”
Daina Sanchez, anthropology, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for her study, "Connections to Homeland: Second-Generation Indigenous Transnationalism"
Kristen Shorette, sociology, National Science Foundation award for her study, “Values in Markets? Explaining the Uneven Rise of Fair Trade”
Elizabeth Sowers, sociology, John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation Fellowship for “Positional Power and Port Centrality: An Investigation into Logistics Work in U.S. Port Complexes”
Heather Thomas, anthropology, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for her study, "Redefining Poverty: Women’s Participation in the Jamaican 'Partner' System"
Grant Walker, cognitive sciences, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for his study, "Bayesian Analysis of Neuroimaging Data"
Wilfred Wan, political science, Predoctoral Fellow renewal with the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, with a joint appointment in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom
Josef Wieland, anthropology, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for his study, "From Campos to Clinics: Post NAFTA Diabetes in Oaxaca, Mexico"
Mark Wilson, logic & philosophy of science, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows Program runner up
Leah Zani, anthropology, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program award for her study, "Animating Bodies: Becoming Lao Bodies in the Land of a Million Bombs"

UC Awards

Diego Grijalva, economics, IGCC Fellowship
Robert Kett, anthropology, and Anna Kryczka (visual studies, School of the Arts), UCSB Institute for Research in the Arts for their work, “Learning by Doing: Embodied/Material Encounters at the Farm”
Rodolfo Lopez, sociology, UC Mexus CONACIT Fellowship
Dan Millan, sociology, UC Mexus CONACIT Fellowship
Jennifer Muz, economics, BRAC-CEGA Partnership
Christian Herrera Ortiz, cognitive sciences, UC Mexus CONACIT Fellowship
J.M. Ian Salas, economics, UC Pacific Rim fellowship for “Evaluating the Impact of a Disruption in Public Sector Contraceptive Supply on Fertility and Health Outcomes in the Philippines”
Wilfred Wan, political science, International Nuclear Security Dissertation Fellowship from IGCC, funded by the National Science and Security Consortium
Leah Zani, anthropology, UC Human Rights Fellowship for “Animating Bodies: Transforming Bodies in the Land of a Millions Bombs Mines Advisory Group – Lao PDR”

UCI Awards

Mary Kathleen Dingeman-Cerda, sociology, Fletcher Jones Fellowship
Diego Grijalva, economics, Miguel Velez Scholarship
Sharmaine Jackson, sociology, President’s Dissertation Fellowship
Arturo Jimenez Bacardi, political science, Gordon Hein Fellowship
Yader Lanuza, sociology, Faculty Mentor Program
Wayne Lalicon, political science, Brython Davis Fellowship
Adonia Lugo, anthropology, President’s Dissertation Fellowship
Sean Mallin, anthropology, UCI Center in Law, Society and Culture, CLSC Peterson Fellowship
Natalie Newton, anthropology, James Harvey Fellowship
Kristen Shorette, sociology, President’s Dissertation Fellowship and Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship
Jim Siodla, economics, George and Kathleen Hill Economics Fellowship
Elizabeth Sowers, sociology, Dean’s Endowed Fellowship for Excellence
Ann Tatlock, sociology, La Verne Noyes Fellowship
Elliott Wagner, logic and philosophy of science, Jean-Claude Falmagne Dissertation Award