Organized Research Units (ORUs) are campuswide interdisciplinary research programs that further the university's missions of teaching, research and public service, but do not offer courses of instruction. Members of an ORU come from more than one department and normally from more than one school, college or division.
Information:
5202 Social Sciences and Humanities Building
530-752-1827
The center coordinates and administers several research and publication programs that further the study of agricultural and natural-resource history. Research activities include studies of comparative farm policy, migration and agricultural development, the history of farm land values, the agricultural-environmental border, rural international borderlands in the Americas, the causes and consequences of agricultural mechanization and other sources of productivity improvements in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the impact of scientific research.
Information:
Bodega Marine Laboratory
P.O. Box 247
Bodega Bay, CA 94923
707-875-2211; 707-875-2009 (fax); ucdbml@ucdavis.edu;
http://www-bml.ucdavis.edu
The Bodega Marine Laboratory is dedicated to research and teaching in marine biology and related fields. Research areas include population biology/ecology, cell and organismol biology, and aquaculture and fisheries. Well-equipped facilities feature running seawater in two classrooms and most laboratories, a marine science library, lecture hall, housing facilities, greenhouses, experimental freshwater system for anadromous fish studies, and a dive locker and air station. Faculty teach a number of undergraduate courses during the academic year and summer session. The laboratory is located in Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, 100 miles west of Davis.
The Bodega Marine Reserve, part of the UC Natural Reserve System, is 362 acres of remarkably diverse habitats, including an excellent rocky intertidal zone, sand beaches, saltmarsh, lagoon tidal flats, freshwater marsh, coastal prairie and dunes. The reserve also administers adjacent subtidal sand and rock habitats in a marine life refuge. Areas of research include a broad spectrum of field studies of plants and animals in coastal marine, intertidal and terrestrial ecosystems.
Information:
Primate Center
530-752-0447; http://www.crprc.ucdavis.edu/crprc/homepage.html
The California Regional Primate Research Center investigates selected human health problems for which the nonhuman primate is the animal model of choice. Research programs include behavioral and neurobiology, developmental and reproductive biology, respiratory diseases, virology and immunology, genetics and a variety of biomedical collaborative research projects. Self-sustaining breeding colonies of macaques are available for study of spontaneously occurring disorders.
Information:
119 Everson Hall
530-752-6986; http://www.engr.ucdavis.edu/~cgm/
At the Center for Geotechnical Modeling, students and faculty from several departments and other universities conduct research in physical and numerical modeling of geotechnical problems. The center operates two centrifuges, including the 9-m radius, 4,500-kg payload National Geotechnical Centrifuge. These centrifuges are used to study a variety of topics, including the effect of earthquakes on earth structures, toxic waste transport in groundwater, and deformations of foundations of bridges and large buildings.
Information:
Bernd Hamann and David Rocke
530-752-2387; 530-752-8894 (fax);
http://info.cipic.ucdavis.edu
The Center for Image Processing and Integrated Computing focuses on data analysis, visualization, computer graphics, optimization, and electronic imaging. The central emphasis is the investigation of techniques for the study of large-scale, multi-dimensional data sets. These techniques may be applied to the analysis and visualization of environmental, geophysical, astrophysical, biological, fluid flow, and satellite data. The center seeks to solve complex data analysis and visualization problems in a cross-disciplinary environment, working with researchers in academia, national research laboratories and industry.
Information:
Crocker Nuclear Laboratory
530-752-1460
This facility is an interdepartmental laboratory for the application of nuclear science to a variety of disciplines. The laboratory has research programs in nuclear physics and chemistry, air pollution analysis, use of pulsed ultra-violet light as an alternative to pesticides and insecticides, biology, material damage studies, the effect of background radiation on computers, and historical studies. Isotopes produced by the variable-energy 76-inch cyclotron are used in clinical and research applications, including pioneering work in brain imaging.
Information:
Alan L. Olmstead, Director
360 Shields Library
530-752-2042; 530-752-2835 (fax)
http://www.iga.ucdavis.edu
The Institute of Governmental Affairs (IGA) serves as a research base for social science faculty at UC Davis. IGA serves approximately 80 faculty from 18 campus departments as well as visiting scholars from throughout the United States and around the world.
Located in the core of the Davis campus, IGA houses seven formal research programs: Center for State and Local Taxation; Center on Social Sciences and the Law; Joint Center for International Security Studies (JCISS); Program on Immigration, Population and the Economy; Program on Pacific Rim Business and Development; Program on Technology, Institutions, and Economic Growth; and Program on Telecommunications Policy.
Specialized services include grant advising, preparation, and administration; research program development; library and data services; social science computing, programming, and statistical consulting; seminar, workshop, and conference organization; and much more. The institute also enhances the education of students by providing research opportunities. The institute sponsors an active public affairs program. IGA serves as the UC Davis liaison to two systemwide programs: Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and All-UC Group in Economic History.
Information:
2201 Academic Surge Building
530-752-0938; info@itd.ucdavis.edu; http://itd.ucdavis.edu/
The Institute of Theoretical Dynamics (ITD) promotes research and graduate education in the mathematical sciences and provides a focus for extramural and intramural research pursuits. The two most important research themes are dynamics and stochastic processes. Approximately 30 faculty from all of the colleges participate in conferences, workshops, seminars and summer schools. The institute provides networking of computer workstations, a gateway to supercomputers, and research offices and facilities for interaction with students, faculty and visitors. ITD supports research in mathematical biology, mathematical physics and applied mathematical analysis, especially fluid dynamics, and houses the NSF Computer Graphics Facility for computational biology, which is open to faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for graphic visualization in biology. ITD also coordinates a campuswide NSF research training group, "Nonlinear Dynamics in Biology."
Information:
Institute of Toxicology and Environmental Health
530-752-1340
ITEH coordinates interdisciplinary research on biomedical and toxicological problems related to exposure to chemical, physical and biological toxic agents or to ionizing radiation. This research aims to determine basic mechanisms of toxic effects and to predict hazards to human and animal health from continual exposure to realistic levels of toxic substances in the environment or at the workplace. Studies on toxic, radioactive, mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic compounds are
carried out in special animal holding facilities. Laboratories are equipped for studies in analytical chemistry, biochemical toxicology, cell and molecular biology, endocrinology, inhalation toxicology, morphology and reproductive and developmental biology. The institute houses a major universitywide program and federally funded center in occupational medicine and a School of Medicine program in reproductive biology.
Information:
Daniel Sperling
530-752-6548; 530-752-6572 (fax); dsperling@ucdavis.edu;
http://www.engr.ucdavis.edu/~its
The institute conducts multidisciplinary research on complex problems related to traffic congestion and local and global pollution, and disseminates research results to the broader academic and professional community. Research priorities are advanced vehicle and highway systems, travel behavior, electric vehicle technology and policy, and energy and environmental projects. About 25 faculty members and 70 students from more than 10 academic disciplines, including the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Economics, Environmental Science and Policy, Agricultural and Resource Economics, and the Graduate School of Management, participate in the research activities of the institute. The institute also houses the Fuel Cell Vehicle Center and the Graduate Group in Transportation Technology and Policy.
Information:
Robert G. Flocchini
530-752-1460
The institute facilitates research and exchange of information to improve the scientific basis for decisions on environmental issues. It encourages and facilitates multidisciplinary research focused on environmental topics, acts as administrative coordinator for specific programs of organized environmental research, and facilitates communication among policy makers, resource agencies, academic scientists and the public through outreach programs.
Information:
Kenneth H. Brown
3150 Meyer Hall
530-752-1992; 530-752-3406 (fax); khbrown@ucdavis.edu;
http://www-nutrition.ucdavis.edu/pin/index.htm
Faculty members of the Program in International Nutrition are studying the epidemiology and causal mechanisms of the major nutritional problems of human populations in developing countries, with the ultimate objective of planning, implementing, and evaluating programs to ameliorate these problems. Current areas
of research emphasis include maternal and child nutrition, nutrition and infection, nutritional assessment, and food and nutrition policy. The program manages a small microcomputer center for the analysis of clinical and population-based studies of relevance to international nutrition.
UC Davis 1999-2000 Online General Catalog. Posted July 30, 1999.
catalog-comment@ucdavis.edu
Molly Theodossy, Keitha Hunter and Barbara Anderson, Editors
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