A UCLA professor who taps big data for information on healthcare, poverty and social justice won a $300,000 grant Wednesday from the University of California.
Professor Sean Young was one of five winners of the first President’s Research Catalyst Awards, chosen from a pool of almost 200 proposals.
“The President’s Research Catalyst Awards will spur UC research and offer our faculty and students new opportunities for cross-campus, multi-disciplinary collaboration,” UC system President Janet Napolitano said. “We want to support research endeavors that have real-world impact in areas with critical needs.”
Young will lead a group of experts in computer, social and health sciences from four UC campuses in studying how to use information from social media to address public health issues, poverty and inequality.
Other grantees will research how California’s ecosystems will be affected by climate change, how to address a healthcare crisis in prison, use of quantum emulation to study the smallest matter in the universe, and using music to understand the human brain.
UC officials said the application period for the next round of grants will begin during the winter.
— City News Service