Research With Impact
Together, we advance solutions to entrenched societal problems.
$ 30+M
YTD Sponsored Projects
130+
Active Grants
25+
Research Labs
In the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, we study people and their connections with each other and the world. Our faculty and students are working to understand and advance solutions to the major challenges of our times, including political conflict, poverty, and climate change.
Our cutting-edge research is sponsored by major government agencies and foundations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the US Department of Agriculture, the Mellon Foundation, and many others.
Our vision: A Just World, Together
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
The diversity of the college – in research areas, people, and perspectives – offers an interdisciplinary lens for analyzing and illuminating the complexity of people. Social science research, which includes STEM and humanistic inquiry, has the power to create knowledge that can change the world.
Multiple Methodologies
Technical innovations allow our scholars to use new methods to conduct research: from big data to artificial intelligence to light detection and ranging maps. These technologies combined with rigorous qualitative and quantitative research techniques – such as experiments, ethnographies, surveys, and analysis of historical documents – produce research that examines humans from a holistic perspective.
Essential Research
From communicating the value of vaccines to understanding how people use technology, the expertise of social scientists and humanists is essential to creating knowledge, informing policy, and improving well-being.
Community Focus. World View.
We study various world regions and populations and are also rooted in the unique sense of place in our Borderlands region. We work with the community to build bridges between theory and practice.
Learning Through Research
Our faculty integrate students into research projects to advance discovery while preparing tomorrow’s workforce. Undergraduate students gain vital experience collecting and analyzing data in SBS’s numerous research labs, including the Arizona Policy Lab, the Public History Collaborative, and the Past Landscapes Lab. Our graduate students lead independent projects and go on to research careers in academia, government, and industry.