Hellman Fellowships for 6 College of Letters and Sciences Scholars

Project Description: During the 20th century, the U.S. population experienced gradual improvement in health along a number of dimensions. Nonetheless, wide racial disparities have persisted since the early 20th century. This project examines the early evolution of racial gaps in infant mortality in the United States. Specifically, it looks at the role of migration to cities, differences in a city’s provision of health services, and the baby boom between 1940 and 1960 in explaining the black-white gap in infant mortality.

Project Description: Millions in the U.S. work unpredictable hours, especially following the Great Recession of 2007–2009. Labor regulations like “reporting-pay” laws in a handful of states require employers to pay workers for at least some portion of their scheduled shifts despite last-minute cuts to their hours, and may reduce unpredictability in weekly hours. However, their efficacy remains understudied. This project will analyze nationally-representative data on hourly workers to assess whether reporting-pay laws effectively reduce hours variability, and if they blunted any increase in hours variability during the Great Recession.

Project Description: The pervasiveness of religious ritual presents an evolutionary puzzle to social scientists.  Why do people the world over engage in time-consuming activities that are ineffective at achieving their purported goals? This project will take advantage of a rare opportunity to study the origins and spread of a new ritual to understand why people adopt novel religious behaviors and ideas. Five years ago, a villager noticed an apparition of Jesus’ face on a rocky outcrop near a field site in the Peruvian altiplano.  A year later, villagers near the site started formally celebrating the apparition on Aug. 6, the same day as the much more established colonial pilgrimage site at Copacabana, about a five-hour drive away. This project will examine who adopts religious practices and beliefs, who remains skeptical, and the dynamics that lead to the spread, or rejection, of new ideas.

Project Description: Compounds capable of inducing neural plasticity, such as ketamine and MDMA, are emerging as highly efficacious and fast-acting treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression and anxiety disorders (including post-traumatic stress disorder). However, the clinical usefulness of these compounds is severely limited by their proclivity to induce hallucinations. Davis Olson’s group has made the exciting discovery that the beneficial plasticity-promoting properties of psychedelics are independent of their hallucinogenic effects. Here, the group proposes to establish the first cellular assay for determining a compound’s hallucinogenic potential to aid drug discovery efforts towards developing safer, non-hallucinogenic, psychedelic-inspired, fast-acting neurotherapeutics.​​​​​

Project Description: The Hellman Fellowship will support the translation, analysis and publication of stories told in Hupa, an indigenous language of northwestern California. These unpublished texts, transcribed by P.E. Goddard in the early 20th century, are critical resources for developing a better understanding of the language. Their publication will benefit both scholars interested in indigenous languages of California as well as contemporary Hupa people engaged in revitalizing their critically endangered language.

Project Description: Since 2012, studies have revealed that social media bots sway public opinion and threaten the integrity of elections; however, the American public was mostly unaware of this during the 2016 general election. This project tracks obscured bot and artificially intelligent (AI) activities on social media and translates data discoveries into large-scale sensory-engaging installations in cultural and public places to engage communities for critical social dialogue. Building upon a previous phase, this project will continue the examination and design new publicly-engaged artworks to launch prior to the 2020 presidential election.