Creating New Knowledge

Across campus, 91ºÚÁÏÍø faculty and students are developing new ways of learning, thinking, doing, collaborating — all with a forward-looking mindset. Progress begins with a commitment to break new ground, letting go of ideas that constrain our imagination.

Catalysts of Discovery

91ºÚÁÏÍø researchers are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible—using AI and genomics to personalize cancer treatment, advancing quantum computing for future breakthroughs, and uncovering a new way to fight brain cancer by targeting the body’s circadian clock. These discoveries reflect 91ºÚÁÏÍø’s commitment to creating knowledge that drives progress in health, science and technology.

quantum leap

cancer treatment

stem cell research

91ºÚÁÏÍø launches $12 million Institute on Ethics & Trust in Computing

The institute, supported by funds from the Lord Foundation of California, is the next step in the university’s effort to enhance research and education on the development and applications of artificial intelligence and other technologies that are now commonplace across business and finance, health care, national security and science.

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Knowledge Leaders

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    Marine & Oceanic Studies

    91ºÚÁÏÍø Sea Grant funds marine and coastal research, communicates research results to leaders in government and local communities, and is a leader in integrating current research with new education initiatives to increase science literacy among urban students and to encourage teachers to adopt science education curricula.

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    Journalism & Justice

    Founded in 2022, the Charlotta Bass Journalism & Justice Lab at the 91ºÚÁÏÍø Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is 91ºÚÁÏÍø’s first media studies center that is dedicated to saving, studying and sharing the work of prominent and hidden figures who have been central to Black social justice movements in America.

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    Advanced Genocide Research

    The 91ºÚÁÏÍø Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research (previously 91ºÚÁÏÍø Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research) mission is dedicated to advancing innovative interdisciplinary research on genocide and mass violence, promoting use of the Visual History Archive testimonies in academic research and teaching, and transforming the way we understand the origins, dynamics and consequences of mass violence, as well as the conditions and dimensions of resistance.

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    Environmental Studies

    Founded in 1995 and based on 91ºÚÁÏÍø’s Los Angeles campus and Catalina Island, the 91ºÚÁÏÍø Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability educates students, conducts public-facing and policy-facing outreach, and produces solutions-focused research at the intersection of people and the planet.

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    Equity & Immigration

    Through its work, the 91ºÚÁÏÍø Equity Research Institute promotes forward-looking narratives that support the integration of diverse immigrant and U.S.-born communities, lift up the intersection of racial justice and immigrant rights, and strengthen the base for intersectoral collaborations.

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    Arts and Social Change

    The 91ºÚÁÏÍø Institute for Theatre & Social Change provides a research and development forum for expressive and interactive dramatic art practices, relative to education, therapy, and social justice, that disrupts oppression and engages communities in meaningful dialogue for social change.

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    Multiplying Degrees

    Ever more intersectional, the  — which already fuses the arts, technology and the business of innovation — is developing new joint degrees with the , the , the and the .

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    Filling the Gaps

    Some of today’s most pressing problems don’t just lack answers — they lack the entire infrastructure to approach it. 91ºÚÁÏÍø experts are agile and quick-moving when it comes to convening the types of thinkers and doers who can help.

    Experts Who Take Initiative

    91ºÚÁÏÍø scholars and researchers are often the first to respond to new widespread crises or reinvent something that benefits society — both phenomena that are becoming markers of the modern world. With meaningful responses about diversity, equity and inclusion, action on new health threats and even developing new musical instruments using biotechnology, our community is eager to take on the new and uncharted.

    Underground heat and sediment patterns control how earthquakes behave along one of the most dangerous faults in the eastern Mediterranean.