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 have 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

Media, Technology, and Society
Research discussions among faculty and graduate students examining the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in forming relationships, communities and public opinion, and the power dynamics that shape these processes in different institutional, national and transnational contexts.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Martha Fuentes-Bautista

Social Interaction and Culture Research Group
Group of faculty and students working in ethnographic and cultural approaches to social interaction, intercultural communication, environmental communication, personhood, ethnic and racial identity, power in discourse, management of disagreement, interaction in the media, and mediated interaction.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator.
Coordinator: Benjamin Bailey

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 Microeconomics Workshop
Paper presentation series.
209 Crotty Hall, Wednesdays at 4:00PM, dates listed on department website.
Coordinator: Arin Dube and Ina Ganguli

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 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.
This group is currently on hiatus.
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

Urban, History, and Industrial Organization Working Group
The group meets three times every semester to discuss the group's titular areas.
For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinators.
Coordinator: Vamsi Vakulabharanam and Carol Heim

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 Anita Milman to be added to the email list.
Coordinator: Anita Milman

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 Tuesday 2:30pm in Thompson 420. Please contact the coordinator(s) for further details.
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

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: Sherry Gao

Industrial Organization Reading Group
Presentations and discussions of research papers and members' works in progress.
303 Stockbridge Hall, Fridays from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. 
Coordinator: Christoph Bauner

Sociology

Cluster Brownbags
Working papers across subfields.
E32 Machmer Hall, typically biweekly. For updates and meeting details, please contact the coordinator. 
Coordinator: Ofer Sharone