Other Research Activities

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Center for the Mathematics Education of Latino/as (CEMELA) research aims to improve mathematics education for the Latino/a student population by understanding the interplay between mathematics learning and teaching and the unique language, social and political issues affecting these communities. Research projects at UCSC will focus on mathematical thinking, learning, and teaching with Latino populations in classrooms, after-school programs, homes, and community settings.

The goal of the Center for Tropical Research in Ecology, Agriculture, and Development (CenTREAD) is to foster interdisciplinary research and training to understand tropical environmental issues and develop ecologically-based, economically viable, culturally respectful, nonexploitative solutions that serve as a foundation for future generations.

The Center for Informal Learning & Schools (CILS) is focused on the strengthening of K-12 science education through broadening the understanding of learning in both formal and informal environments. Funded by the National Science Foundation, CILS is a collaboration between the University of California Santa Cruz, the Exploratorium, and Kings College London.

Learning and Experimental Economics Projects of Santa Cruz (LEEPS) began operation in 1986 with the Double Auction Asset Market, the world's second fully computerized market system. The Lab is run by economists at UCSC and elsewhere who conduct research on decision making processes. Using funds from the National Science Foundation and other granting agencies, we create laboratory games for humans to play, and keep track of the choices that people make. Some of the games are multiplayer interactive, and other games are single player. Analyzing the choices helps us better understand the decision processes that real people use.

The goal of the STEPS Institute for Innovation in Environmental Research is to facilitate long-term collaborations in environmental research, linking insights and approaches from science, technology, engineering, policy, and society. The Institute has facilitated the development of interdisciplinary environmental research groups within UCSC, assisted in the development of public forums on environmental research, articulated to multiple audiences on the West Coast the breadth of environmental research at UCSC, and laid the groundwork to help further integrate environmental research at UCSC and link it to related research and policy-making regionally, nationally, and internationally.