Second Cohort of UC San Diego’s 2025 Convene and Influence Awardees Announced

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• Debra Bass- [email protected]

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Fall 2025 Strategic Convene and Influence Awardees

GAIA - A Campus Collaboration for AI-Driven Climate and Ocean Research

PI: Duncan Watson-Parris, Assistant Professor, SIO & HDSI

Co-PI: Rose Yu, Associate Professor, Computer Science & Engineering

The GAIA Initiative will unite UC San Diego researchers and students to advance artificial intelligence applications in Earth, climate and ocean science. Through interdisciplinary workshops, the project will identify opportunities for AI-driven innovation, shared infrastructure needs, and educational enhancements in these areas. A culminating white paper will outline a vision for a campus-wide research center, forming the scope and foundation for a planned NSF Science and Technology Center application.

Emergent Science-Policy Issues Around Climate Geoengineering Proposals

PI: Katherine Ricke, Associate Professor, Global Policy & Strategy / SIO

Co-PI: Nicolas Lutsko, Associate Professor, SIO

This project will explore how UC San Diego can address key scientific and policy uncertainties surrounding climate geoengineering. A cross-disciplinary workshop will convene experts to assess the physical, geopolitical, and ethical dimensions of geoengineering and the role of AI in this emerging field. The effort will produce a white paper and three policy briefs proposing UC San Diego-led research and governance solutions to guide responsible climate intervention strategies.

Seafood as Catalyst - Bridging Climate, Ocean Conservation, Nutrition, and the Human Dimensions of Food from the Sea

PI: Jennifer Smith, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Co-PI: Bradley Moore, Professor, Pharmaceutical Chemistry & Marine Biomedicine

Seafood as Catalyst aims to develop sustainable, nutritious, and equitable approaches to feeding a growing global population through ocean-based food systems. The initiative will convene cross-campus experts to integrate marine biodiversity, conservation, and human health research. Leveraging UC San Diego's Kwok Family Innovation Kitchen, the project will produce a framework for advancing marine food systems that protect oceans, honor traditional practices, and enhance global food security.

SMASH - Accelerating Cosmic Breakthroughs Through AI at UC San Diego

PI: Floor Broekgaarden, Assistant Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics

Co-PI: Aobo Li, Assistant Professor, HDSI

SMASH seeks to accelerate discovery in the physical sciences by advancing trustworthy and interpretable AI tools for data-intensive research. The initiative will cultivate an interdisciplinary community focused on applying AI and machine learning to cosmic and physical phenomena through seminars, hackathons, and unconference events. This collaboration will expand UC San Diego's leadership in AI-driven scientific discovery and train a new generation of data-fluent researchers.

Breath, Brain, and Body - Integrating Science for Whole-Person Health

PI: Tatum Simonson, Associate Professor, Medicine

Co-PI: Benjamin Smarr, Associate Professor, Bioengineering / HDSI

This initiative will integrate neuroscience, bioengineering, medicine, and mindfulness to examine how breathing influences brain function, emotion, and overall health. The project aims to clarify the mechanisms linking respiration to pain, stress, sleep, and cardiometabolic outcomes by connecting expertise across diverse disciplines and developing new wearable and analytical tools. The effort will foster community engagement and position UC San Diego as a national leader in whole-person health research.

Informing Policy and Research for Binational Higher Education

PI: Kelly Nielsen, Assistant Director, Center for Research and Evaluation

Co-PI: Olivia Graeve, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

This project will convene policymakers, educators, and researchers to strengthen binational higher education in the California-Baja region. Focusing on the implementation of Assembly Bill 91, which facilitates cross-border college enrollment, the initiative will examine barriers and best practices for Mexican national students in the U.S. The resulting policy and research reports will guide future institutional planning and position UC San Diego as a thought leader in cross-border education.

Successes and Developments

The previous cohort of awardees have been advancing their projects and often working together across teams and across disciplines to achieve their goals.

Awardee Lilly Irani, an associate professor of communication, is working with and on the newly launched UC San Diego Labor Center initiative. She and her co-lead on the award, Labor Center Executive Director Satomi Rash-Zeigler, held a Good Tech for Good Jobs conference, bringing labor leaders and workers together for education and planning a worker-centered AI agenda for the region. They have also conducted focus groups on how workers across the county see AI and technological changes affecting their work and the quality of services for customers and residents.

Irani and Rash-Zeigler's group also used the funding to aid in a research effort that resulted in the County of San Diego passing one of the strongest policies to establish an AI Policy Framework in the country.

Another awarded team including Ben Bergen, a professor of Cognitive Science, and Stuart Geiger, assistant professor of Communication and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI), organized and hosted an in-person campus workshop on Artificial Intelligence, Inequality and Work. They called on other Convene and Influence Awardees to present, including Irani and Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, a professor of Sociology.

In other joint awardee collaborations, Pardo-Guerra also worked with Abigail Andrews, a professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, to host a joint session strengthening grantwriting on global and borderland themes.

Awardee Melody Schiaffino, associate professor in residence in the Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, hosted a Binational Symposium on Translational Cancer Researchthis month to share knowledge and experiences in translational cancer research, with special emphasis on the border region of Baja California and California. The symposium was organized in partnership with the city of Mexicali, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) School of Medicine, San Diego State University-Imperial Valley School of Public Health and UC San Diego. Learn more about the initiative at the Crossborder Translational Cancer Research Alliance website, cantrac.org.

Awardee Cinnamon Bloss, director of the Center for Empathy and Technology in the School of Public Health, will host a forum on Conversational AI & Mental Health: Opportunities and Challenges on December 8 at the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. The event will explore barriers and considerations regarding the promises and risks of using generative AI tools for companionship, therapy, and mental health support. You can learn more and register to attend the free event at this link.

Awardee Amy Lerner, an associate teaching professor in Urban Studies & Planning, activated the Climate Action Lab with a climate careers in social sciences panel featuring UC San Diego alumni earlier this month. You can learn more about the Climate Action Lab here.

Discover More

The team led by Rebecca Fielding-Miller, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, has gathered input from UC San Diego researchers and community partners to compile best practices on community-engaged research practices. The team established a listserv for staff, faculty, and community partners to network. Email Megan Nguyen at [email protected] to join the listserv and get information about the next symposium in early 2026.

Read more about their cohort in our previous Spring 2025 Convene and Influence Awardees announcement and discover more opportunities for Research Growth and Strategic Initiatives within the Office of Research and Innovation here.

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