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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
- Danielle Carr, Recipient of the UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows Award
Congratulations to Danielle for the 2026 – 2027 UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows Award! This fellowship will support the completion of her upcoming book “The Brains of the Living: The Rise, Fall, and Second Coming of Neural Engineering”. - Hyojung Kim, Manroop Kaur Turna and Elise Whitlinger Recipients of the Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Research and Creativity: Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Awards
Congratulations to Hyojung, Manroop and Elise for the award! - Vincent Duc Cao, Shreya Kalyanaraman, Saanvi Rai and Alexandra Maria Tabacu Recipients of the Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Research: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
Congratulations to Vincent, Shreya, Saanvi and Alexandra for the award!
The Institute’s Impact
Featured 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
Hyojung Kim and Elise Whitlinger (HBS ’26)
Spotlight to Hyojung Kim and Elise Whitlinger (HBS ’26) for receiving the Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Research and Creativity Award for Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Award.
Student Research Projects
The Institute for Society and Genetics offers undergraduate students research opportunities through the SocGen 108 in the Human Biology and Society major (BS/BA) and SocGen191S courses in the Society and Genetics minor.
See below a selection of our students projects:
How Sympathy Struck — A Study of American Public Opinion on Eugenics Surrounding WWII
The Promise of a Cure: An Analysis of the Social Construction of Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease
Media, Mistrust, and the Genome: How Media Shapes Public Perceptions of Genetic Data Collection
Genes on Trial: MAOA-L, The Legal Interpretation of Behavioral Genetics
