Research at Berkeley is undertaken within several types of organizations—academic departments, institutes and centers, museums, and field stations.
Academic departments offer courses and grant degrees, as well as sometimes housing laboratories and other research infrastructure. They are organized according to academic disciplines (e.g. Sociology, Economics, Physics).
Research Centers and Institutes, sometimes referred to as Organized Research Units (ORUs), are organized around broad substantive research topics (e.g. international affairs, information technology, the environment). As such, they draw into their research programs faculty and students from multiple departments and disciplines. Berkeley has more than 100 such research units.
Museums also serve as important research sites on the campus. Berkeley has eight museums with strong collections in a variety of fields, including anthropology, paleontology and entomology.
UC Berkeley also manages a number of biological field stations. Most are in remote locations within California ideal for the study of ecosystems, botany, zoology, and forestry.
For information about research activities within an academic department, go directly to that department's webpage from this list of departments. For information regarding institutes, centers, museums, and field stations, use the drop down lists above to filter by field of research and type of research unit. You can also use a keyword search. Also see this list of research centers and institutes by subject area.
To provide a new unit profile or update an existing profile, please send an e-mail to research@berkeley.edu.