The Institute is a community of researchers dedicated to analyzing complex problems at the interface of biology and society and training the next generation of cross-disciplinary thinkers.
Recently at ISG
- Michelle Rensel Highlighted in a Teaching and Learning Center Post on Instructional Innovation
Michelle Rensel, Institute for Society & Genetics has been featured in TLCs news on instructional innovation at UCLA. - Michelle Rensel, ISG Faculty, Awarded the Tier 3 Catalyst Grant by the UCLA Teaching & Learning Center
We are delighted to announce that Michelle’s Rensel project “Assessing the Impacts of a Cross-Disciplinary Role-Playing Intervention in a Large General Education Course” has been awarded a Tier 3 Catalyst Grant from UCLA’s Teaching & Learning Center! - Patrick Allard in The Scientist: US Could Lose 7 Billion Dollars and Invaluable Research Talent if International Student Enrollments Drop
An article in The Scientist features ISG’s faculty Patrick Allard, warning that declining international student enrollment could cost $7 billion and erode innovation, diversity, and collaborative strength in U.S. universities.
The Institute’s Index
Student Projects
Students in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA complete an original research project at the intersection of biology and society in just 10 weeks. Students in Winter and Spring 2020 completed this project remotely during the COVID19 pandemic, and finished them during some of the largest protests against police violence in US history. To view their projects, click here.
Spotlight
Anne Gabrielle Go (HBS, ’25)
Anne Gabrielle Go (Gabbie) has recently received the Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Research and Creativity: Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences for her project “Assessing a Role-playing Game for Public Health Decision Making” under Michelle Rensel (ISG Faculty) supervision.
Featuring: The Labyrinth Project
The Labyrinth Project is a collaborative inquiry into nature in Los Angeles. Wetlands, lawns, rats, cats, coyotes, mountain lions interact with human affect, state power, indigenous politics, aesthetic pleasure, local governmental power and much more. Also, Satan. Using a mix of participant-observation, structured interviewing, collaborative urban anthropology, historical and archival digging, ecological observation, and analysis of social media content, we explore the diverse and surprising ways in which Los Angeles is full of different natures— a veritable trophic cascade of the absurd and surprising. We write research papers and we have produced a podcast project in collaboration with the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies at UCLA.
Lab members include ISG faculty Christopher Kelty and Jessica Lynch along with graduate students from anthropology, environmental science, and public health and a team of undergraduates majoring in Human Biology and Society at UCLA.