Research Resources

Graduate students at UCSD draw upon a wealth of resources both on this campus and in the University of California system. Students enjoy access to numerous research groups, libraries, and computing services. These resources greatly enrich the research opportunities available to graduate students.

Research Groups

UCSD is currently home to more than thirty research units organized as institutes, centers, and projects. Members of these units conduct advanced research projects, often spanning the areas of knowledge encompassed by several academic departments. These projects frequently seek graduate involvement and offer various forms of graduate student support. Among the institutes of greatest interest to political scientists are:

American Political Institutions Project (APIP)

The American Political Institutions Project is a center for research on American politics and public policy. Created in the spring of 1989 by faculty from a variety of social science disciplines, APIP is launching an ambitious program of public affairs and educational programs. With the primary mission to stimulate cross-disciplinary research, APIP sponsors seminars and conferences and assists scholars in identifying external sources of support as well as preparing research proposals. For example, APIP has organized three national affairs symposia focusing upon different aspects of the presidency. These symposia produced several critically acclaimed books as well as national public television specials. One of these television specials received an Emmy nomination for the best news interview program. **Samuel Kernell serves as APIP's coordinator.

Center for Comparative Immigration Studies

Established in March 1999, the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS) is an interdisciplinary, multinational research and training program devoted to comparative work on international migration and refugee movements.  At UCSD, the Center serves as a forum, coordinating mechanism, and source of financial and intellectual support for UCSD faculty (32 of whom are affiliated with CCIS), graduate students, and advanced undergraduates in all of the social sciences, history, and comparative literature who are pursuing research and training in immigration studies.  At the state and national levels, CCIS meets the need for a research center that examines immigration to the United States in a broad, cross-national and cross-regional context.  Its core program is a residential visiting fellowship program for predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars specializing in immigration studies -- the largest such program in the United States (12-14 scholars in residence each year).  UCSD graduate students and faculty working in the social and behavioral sciences, law, history, and comparative literature may apply for CCIS fellowships to support advanced research and writing on any aspect of international migration and refugee flows.  All CCIS Fellows participate in twice-monthly research seminars that are open to the entire UCSD community.  Predoctoral Fellows also attend monthly workshops on dissertation writing and other professional skills conducted by CCIS academic staff.  The Center also conducts its own multi-year research projects, drawing on UCSD faculty and other immigration specialists from institutions around the world.  UCSD graduate students are employed as research assistants on these projects.  CCIS encourages students to take immigration-related courses by collecting and posting on its website the syllabi for immigration courses at UCSD.  The Center publishes cutting-edge comparative immigration research through a monograph and anthology series and a series of working papers that can be accessed at its website, www.ccis-ucsd.org.  Other dissemination activities include a series of televised seminars broadcast to the San Diego/Tijuana community as well as a nationwide audience, and a global electronic network of more than 225 immigration scholars and 23 research institutes in 26 countries. **Wayne Corneulius is the founding and current Director of CCIS.

Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS)

The Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies coordinates and promotes Latin American and Iberian research, teaching, and service activities for faculty and graduate students. It sponsors multi-disciplinary colloquia, conferences, projects and publications, as well as library expansion and outreach efforts. It also hosts visiting faculty. CILAS awards fellowships for graduate students who wish to do fieldwork or obtain advanced language training in Latin America. The U.S. Department of Education has designated CILAS, in consortium with the Latin American Center at San Diego State University, as a National Resource Center for Latin American Language and Area Studies. Several political science faculty members and graduate students are associated with CILAS. 

Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies

Established in 1979, the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies is the nation's largest program of advanced research and graduate training devoted exclusively to Mexico and U.S.-Mexican relations. Its Visiting Research Fellows, permanent academic staff, and UCSD faculty affiliates conduct research on the history, political system, economy, and social structure of Mexico; economic and political interactions between Mexico, the United States, and other Pacific Basin countries; and "inter-mestic" issues (domestic political, economic, and social phenomena in both the United States and Mexico that have major ramifications for bilateral relations, such as democratization, immigration, social inequality, labor organization, popular movements, and criminal justice problems). The Center offers unequalled opportunities for Political Science graduate students with an interest in Mexico, who are welcomed as full-fledged members of the Center's research community: they can participate in the Center's weekly, interdisciplinary research seminars featuring presentations of new work by its own researchers and distinguished guest speakers, attend major research workshops on specialized topics held several times each year, get detailed feedback on their work during a year-long workshop for doctoral dissertation writers, and interact with the 25 Visiting Research Fellows and guest scholars from the world's leading research universities (including all UC campuses) who are in residence in the Center each year. Several research assistantships are awarded each year by the Center to Political Science graduate students, as well as a teaching assistantship for the Center's annual Summer Seminar in U.S. Studies for Latin American social scientists. The Center also offers up to 12 months of dissertation write-up support for advanced graduate students who have completed their field research, through an open, annual competition. Special opportunities are available for students specializing in environmental and immigration studies. Graduate students with well-defined, Mexico-related interests may request office space in the Center. **Wayne Cornelius is the current and founding Director of US-Mex.

Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS)

The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies has attracted internationally recognized scholars in international relations and comparative politics (East Asia and Latin America) to UCSD. IR/PS faculty holding adjunct appointments serve as members of the department's graduate faculty. They teach graduate seminars, serve as advisors to graduate students, and supervise doctoral dissertations. Graduate students in political science may freely take elective courses offered by IR/PS and may use their research resources, including their impressive library. **Peter Cowhey is the current Dean of IR/PS and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science.

Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC)

The Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation was founded in 1983 as a multi-campus research unit serving the entire University of California system. The purpose of the Institute is to study the causes of international conflict and cooperation and to promote opportunities for international cooperation. The Institute's research agenda includes conventional and nuclear arms control and proliferation, international environmental policy, links between domestic politics and foreign policy, and regional dynamics. In addition to research projects undertaken by the central office, IGCC supports research, instructional programs, and public education throughout the UC system. Most importantly, for UCSD's graduate students, IGCC provides fellowship support for dissertation research on international cooperation and conflict. 

Integrative Graduate Education and Research Trainineeship (IGERT)

The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program seeks to train PhD scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background and the technical, professional and personal skills needed to address the global questions of the future. Through the use of innovative curricula and internships, and by focusing on problem-centered training, these programs give their graduates the edge needed to become leaders in their chosen fields. To learn more about IGERT PhD programs located at universities across the country, and to find a program that's right for you, click here.

The mission of the IGERT National Recruitment Program is to help students find the IGERT program that is right for them, and help IGERT faculty and PIs find the students that are right for their programs. As part of this mission, we seek to increase the participation of underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, in doctorate programs in the engineering, science and mathematics fields, by helping Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and their constituencies tap into a bountiful resource opportunity. Funded by the National Science Foundation.

Project on International Affairs (PIA)

The Project on International Affairs, encourages research, teaching, and public discussion of international affairs on the UCSD campus. PIA sponsors workshops that bring together faculty and graduate students to discuss key research issues in the field and holds a colloquium series for all graduate students interested in doctoral research in the field of international affairs. **Lawrence Broz and Kristian Gleditsch are the coordinators.

Public Policy Research Project (PPRP)

The Public Policy Research Project is a new initiative to foster multi-disciplinary study of the role of law in society. Specialized research groups focus on comparative regulatory policy, comparative political institutions, cognitive and social sciences, jury decision-making, political and economic reform in post-Communist societies, justice, and the history of the federal judiciary. In addition, the project currently sponsors two public affairs programs on science and judicial decision-making and on constitutional reform in California. PPRP brings together faculty and graduate students from diverse departments and assists them in locating funding for research projects. **Mathew McCubbins is the founding direction of PPRP.

Education Abroad Programs (EAP)

The University of California maintains study centers in 29 countries, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Students enroll in courses at the finest universities abroad. Graduate students may apply to most study centers and may begin studies after having completed one year of graduate work. University of California professors serve as directors of the study centers, working closely with their counterparts in the host universities.

UCSD Libraries

Graduate students enjoy direct borrowing privileges at the eight libraries on the UCSD campus as well as at all libraries on the nine UC campuses. The combined collections on campus contain approximately 2.3 million volumes and an equal number of microforms; the campus libraries receive more than twenty-four thousand periodicals and other serial publications. The collections of the UC system hold more than twenty-five million volumes and as many microforms; the UC libraries receive more than three hundred thousand periodicals. The Roger and Melvyl on-line catalogues make the collections on all UC campuses readily accessible.

UC Libraries

The University Libraries houses UCSD's research collections in the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts (1.5 million volumes). Its Research Services Department contains an outstanding collection of information resources in print and electronic form. The Documents Collection is a depository for the official publications of the United Nations, United States, United Kingdom, and California.

IRPS Library

The International Relations and Pacific Studies Library contains a specialized collection (forty-six thousand volumes) of materials on contemporary political, economic, and business affairs in East Asia, Latin America, and the rest of the Pacific Basin region.

Computing Services

Graduate students have access to the PC lab in the Social Sciences Building. They may use this lab to complete coursework and research. All students are assigned accounts on the social science mini-computer, an HP 8000, which is used for electronic mail, access to the internet, and high performance statistical computing. Most statistical software packages are available either in the PC lab, on the mini-computer, or at its satellite HP workstations. The mini-computer is also the host of the Social Science Data Base, which contains a large collection of data sets. Through the SSDB, graduate students have full access to the ICPSR and other electronic archives. The library reference staff is also incredibly helpful in assisting graduate students with their research needs. Reference staff can be particularly helpful in accessing large amounts of data electronically. Academic Computing Services also provides a wide range of computer services to support instruction and research.

While the university has numerous computer facilities, most students find it highly beneficial to have their own computer. Individual computers are not provided by the department. Thus, having a personal computer can make completing assignments much more convenient. Indeed, students typically spend a good portion of each day working on a computer.