Welcome to HSS
Events
All EventsSocial Sciences Brown Bag Seminar
Seminar on History and Philosophy of Science
- Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience; Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Caltech Brain Imaging Center; Director, Caltech Brain Imaging Center
Dean Mobbs
Caltech allows researchers to be risky. Risk is an important part of science. It's where discovery occurs."
- Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology
Ralph Adolphs
Caltech's small size really fosters interdisciplinary science. I exchange ideas with people from different fields when walking between my lab and my office, and I often run late to lunch at the Athenaeum because I catch up with so many students and faculty who I run into along the way."
- Professor of English and Visual Culture
Catherine Jurca
We live in a world of images and screens, and visual literacy is an important part of being an educated, thoughtful person in the world."
- Edie and Lew Wasserman Professor of Social Science History; Ronald and Maxine Linde Leadership Chair, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Caltech
Tracy Dennison
Our memories for epidemics are very short. We keep hearing that things will never be the same again, but that's not what the history tells us. Some things may change, but the kind of profound social reorganization one might expect is unlikely."
- Kay Sugahara Professor of Social Sciences and Statistics
Jonathan N. Katz
Money is very important in politics, but all the previous studies about campaign finance were restricted to relatively large donors, leading to a skewed picture of this important political activity. Given changes in technology, smaller donors are becoming both more numerous and important."
- Assistant Professor of Economics
Yi Xin
Data are powerful. Understanding human behavior with real-world data provides important insights into policy design aimed at improving consumer welfare and market efficiency."
- Assistant Professor of Political Science
Michael Gibilisco
Here, political scientists are right next door to economists and right next door to neuroscientists. We often tackle similar problems, like collective decision making, but from very different approaches."
- Professor of Comparative Literature
Jocelyn Holland
The humanities have the practical function of giving students something they wouldn't otherwise have. The humanities classroom is a space where they can take a step back from their scientific work and learn to think about the world in a different way."
- Professor of English; Dean of Undergraduate Students
Jennifer Jahner
We live in unprecedented times, but I hope that students leave my classes with the recognition that the questions we ask about inquiry, ethics, environment, and art are not new ones. Attention to the past can make us more creative stewards of the present."
- Professor of Visual Culture
Brian R. Jacobson
There’s no better place to work on questions about the intersection between art, aesthetics, science, and technology than at Caltech, where students, faculty, scientists, and engineers are working on visual culture all the time—just in a way that we don’t necessarily always think of as visual culture."
- PhD '18, Social Sciences
Lucas Núñez
The mix and interactions between multiple social science disciplines at HSS make it a uniquely enriching place to study."
- Social Sciences Graduate Student
Peter Doe
After speaking with one of the students in the social sciences PhD program, I saw Caltech as a place where the faculty would invest in me as a student, rather than try to get things out of me."
- Social and Decision Neuroscience Graduate Student
Qianying Wu
Here in HSS, I'm able to apply multidisciplinary approaches to my research—to understand typical and atypical human social behaviors with functional neuroimaging, and to characterize those behaviors using computational models."
- Social Sciences Graduate Student
Ke Shi
I came to Caltech because I was drawn to its unique and rigorous social sciences program. I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful campus and the tight-knit community after I arrived."
- PhD '20, Social Sciences
Alejandro Robinson-Cortés
Caltech is a unique place. Characterized by its focus on theoretical reasoning and rigorous methods. And located at the heart of the lovely and multicultural San Gabriel Valley. It’s a tough combination to beat."
- Social Sciences Graduate Student
Shunto Kobayashi
Because the number of graduate students is relatively small, we all know each other well. I think this encourages us to discuss research frequently and support each other's endeavors."
- PhD '23, Social Sciences
Claudia Kann
I originally came to Caltech for mechanical engineering before realizing that that’s not where my passion lay. I’m really excited to use what I already know to new and exciting problems within the social sciences."
- Social and Decision Neuroscience Graduate Student
Sneha Reddy Aenugu
The drive to understand the nature of intelligence is what brought me to Caltech. Only with a vision of merging the disciplines of humanities, neuroscience, and AI, will we be able to build and deploy artificial intelligence in a safe and sustainable manner—and that happens to be my vision."
- Linde Institute Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate in Economics (2021–22)
Alexander Bloedel
HSS is a remarkable place, especially for young scholars with broad interests in economic theory. It has a rich history as—and continues to be—a home to some of the most exciting developments in theoretical social science, including foundational work on social choice and political economy, the incorporation of social networks into economic analysis, and a range of recent advances in information economics."
- Linde Postdoctoral Scholar in Economic and Management Sciences (2017–19)
Teddy Mekonnen
We economic theorists come up with problems that are real and relevant, but some of our solutions are impractical, with implicit assumptions of infinite time, resources, or data. When you use computer science to approach economic questions, such as matching problems related to apps for ride-sharing or dating, those assumptions matter."
- Howard E. and Susanne C. Jessen Postdoctoral Instructor in Philosophy of Physics (2019–22)
Mario Hubert
Caltech not only nourishes curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking among students and faculty but also a community of solidarity and humility."
- Jessen Postdoctoral Instructor in the Humanities (2017–19)
Melanie Masterton Sherazi
I have found that the humanities are integrated seamlessly into Caltech’s curriculum. My students have expanded my own ideas about literature with their original interpretations, driven by their interests and areas of expertise."
- Linde Postdoctoral Scholar in Economics (2020–21)
Joseph Root
The faculty and the research environment at Caltech are unique. It’s a place where people tackle the most challenging problems, crossing the traditional boundaries between disciplines to do so."
- Ahmanson Postdoctoral Instructor in History of Biology (2020–23)
Charles A. Kollmer
I enjoy working with Caltech undergraduates to deepen their engagement with the history of science. Doing this at Caltech is doubly exciting because Caltech itself has been the site of so much fascinating research in the life sciences."
- Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate in Affective Neuroscience (2020–23)
Sarah M. Tashjian
Caltech is unique because it fosters creativity. Being at Caltech allows me to push the boundaries of my research and to tackle questions of how the human brain functions from new angles."
- Fletcher Jones Foundation Postdoctoral Instructor in Contemporary Literature (2020–21)
Julia Hori
I think coming from a different discipline or background, the questions that emerge are just different. Also, perhaps the students are a little bit less afraid to ask certain grounding questions that a student with a major in English might not ask. And these questions actually help to facilitate the conversation tremendously."
- Senior Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate in Neuroscience
Jeffrey A. Cockburn
Science and education isn't about filling buckets, it's about lighting fires. If you bring the gasoline, HSS will hand you the match."
- Linde Institute Postdoctoral Instructor in Economics (2020–2023)
Fedor Sandomirskiy
HSS is home to exceptional talents, distinct methods, and diverse tastes. This dissimilarity, along with an openness to ideas of others, makes HSS unique. Witnessing the magic of interdisciplinary work in action and, moreover, being a part of it is amazing."
