Faculty Research Groups
Joining a faculty research group is an effective way to get feedback on your research and helps you develop a network of like-minded scholars across disciplines. UMass and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has many dynamic, active working groups that are open to new members:
Communication
Media Effects
The Media Effects working group is comprised of faculty and graduate students who primarily use quantitative methods to study the role of media in individuals’ lives. They meet periodically to share resources, plan projects, and provide feedback on in-progress research.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Erica Scharrer
Technology, Society, and Media
Details pending.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Martha Fuentes-Bautista
Economics
Analytical Political Economy Working Group
Research discussion of articles and members' work in progress, as well as presentations of work in progress.
209 Crotty Hall, Wednesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinators: Peter Skott and Arslan Ramzi
Applied Micro Workshop
Paper presentation series.
209 Crotty Hall, Wednesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinator: Arin Dube
Critical Agrarian Studies and Political Economy Working Group
Research discussion of articles and members' work in progress, as well as presentations of work in progress.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Mwangi Wa Gĩthĩnji
Economic History and Economics Development Workshop
Paper presentation series.
209 Crotty Hall, Wednesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinators: Mwangi Wa Gĩthĩnji, Vamsi Vakulabharanam, and Léonce Ndikumana
Economic Theory Workshop
Paper presentation series.
209 Crotty Hall, Wednesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinator: Donald Katzner
Environmental Working Group
Research discussion of articles and members' work in progress, as well as presentations of work in progress.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator(s).
Coordinators: James Boyce and Michael Ash
Gender and Economics Working Group
Research discussion of articles and members' work in progress, as well as presentations of work in progress.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Nancy Folbre
Political Economy Workshop
Paper presentation series.
209 Crotty Hall, Tuesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinator: Katherine Moos
Institute for Diversity Sciences (cross-departmental)
Climate and Diversity Research Group
Cutting across the arts and humanities, social and natural sciences, and engineering fields, faculty in this group pursue a wide range of projects that examine the diversity of human impacts and responses in the context of global climate change.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Ezra Markowitz
Health Disparities
Faculty interested in multidisciplinary collaborations in health disparities present their work, receive feedback, comment on others, and self-form into multidisciplinary research teams. Teams may apply for seed grants given out by the Institute to fund small projects that can be leveraged into future bigger external grants.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the Leyla Keough.
Coordinator: Buji Dasgupta (cc. Leyla Keough)
Learning Science
Faculty in this group pursue research investigating the causes of group differences in learning, as well as individual and group differences in social cognition and linguistics.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the Leyla Keough.
Coordinator: Buji Dasgupta (cc. Leyla Keough)
Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) (cross-departmental)
Social Science and Environment Network
Cross-college discussion of research projects and opportunities for collaboration, building scholarly community, and seed funding for external proposals.
Contact Angela de Oliveira to be added to the email list. Check updates on the website.
Coordinator: Anita Milman and Angela de Oliveira
Legal Studies
Five College Legal Studies Seminar
Research presentations (usually working papers).
Typically monthly.
Coordinator: Paul Collins
Legal Studies/Political Science
Migration Working Group
Open to faculty and graduate students working on migration related research. Presentations of works in progress and occasional guest speakers.
Every other Monday at 2:30pm. Please contact the coordinator(s) for further details and locations.
Coordinators: Rebecca Hamlin and Scott Blinder
Political Science
Political Economy Working Group (PEWG)
Research discussions of work in progress by faculty, grad students and outside visitors working in political economy.
Monthly, usually in Thompson 420. Please contact the coordinator(s) for further details.
Coordinators: Kevin Young and Regine Spector
Public Policy
SPP Annual Faculty Colloquium
Monthly talks by UMass Amherst faculty on policy-related research and works in progress. Designed to stimulate scholarly collaborations among policy-oriented faculty across campus.
See website for the schedule.
Coordinator: Joya Misra
UMass Air
Cross-campus collaboration around the use and policy implications of unmanned aerial systems (UASs).
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Charlie Schweik
Regional Planning (LARP)
Climate and Infrastructure: Sustainable Adaptive Gradients Reading Group
Read and discuss current articles and public policy related to resilience and climate adaptation.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Elisabeth Hamin
Resource Economics
Experimental Economics Reading Group (EERG)
The group meets weekly to read and discuss papers in experimental economics. Papers are chosen by group members, and so topics vary by semester and interest. The meeting is open to other disciplines interested in experimental methods and to members of the 5-Colleges.
303 Stockbridge Hall, Fridays from 2:00pm to 3:00pm.
Coordinators: Angela de Oliveira and John Spraggon
Industrial Organization Reading Group
Presentations and discussions of research papers and members' works in progress.
303 Stockbridge Hall, Fridays from 12:00pm to 1:15pm.
Coordinator: Emily Wang
Sociology
Cluster Brownbags
Working papers across subfields.
E32 Machmer Hall, typically biweekly. For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Moon-Kie Jung
