Research

At CCSP, research is collaborative, community-rooted, and oriented toward transformation. Our active projects address the urgent social, environmental, and political challenges facing communities locally and globally.

“Practicing Freedom, Practicing Democracy”

“Practicing Freedom, Practicing Democracy.” Democracy, Academic Freedom and AI at SBU examines how the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into higher education is reshaping democratic practice and academic freedom. AI is not simply as a technological tool, but a social and political force that reflects and reinforces existing hierarchies of gender, race, colonial power, and economic inequality.

Throughout the duration of the research, activities led by scholars from around the world will focus on three intertwined arenas:

1. Classrooms: How is AI being used in teaching and learning? Does it expand students' capabilities or narrow their learning experiences and their ability to think critically? Desai wants to focus on students’ academic freedom as much as faculty rights.
2. Research: What happens when AI tools summarize literature, generate drafts, or even suggest “promising” topics? How do we protect the integrity of research when the systems that propose projects may also shape what gets funded and published?
3. Governance: Universities are increasingly turning to algorithms to guide decisions and make policies  — from enrollment to performance metrics. Desai’s team will ask what that means for democratic life on campus.

Research Team at SBU: Manisha Desai (Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Michael Rubenstein (The Humanities Institute), Abena Asare (Department of Africana Studies), and Robert Chase (Department of History).

Climate Justice Through Community and Arts-Based Research

The main goal of our seed grant and subsequent applications for a larger grant is to consolidate an interdisciplinary team of social scientists and humanists in the climate arena, around a research agenda that can provide an initial platform and model for
sustained collaborative work on climate change at Stony Brook that centers the strengths and contributions of these disciplines.

We also seek to develop genuinely participatory and community-based methodologies to Stony Brook’s climate research, grounded in ecofeminism and deep listening practices. The Climate Justice Through Community and Arts-Based Research: Building Collaborative Solutions for Marginalized Communities on Long Island will research into how climate impacts intersect with socioeconomic inequalities especially in Long Island’s marginalized communities. Methods include GIS and other data collection and synthesis as well as interviewing, focus groups and participatory arts-based research interventions, which encourage communities to explore their lived experiences with climate change.

The seed grant will enable our development of collaborative research relationships with two community-based organizations on Long Island that are working to address issues of environmental and socio-economic inequalities: Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC) and Erase Racism. Working with these groups, we will lay foundations for fundable lines of research and intervention into ways that the impacts of climate change intersect with social and economic inequalities here on Long Island, starting with select marginalized communities with which our collaborating groups have worked. In addition to launching collaborative investigations with these two groups, the seed grant will also enable us to explore how other SBU and Climate Exchange resources can amplify the project’s scope, by involving other groups and communities and potentially, other academics in the Greater New York area. The grant or grants for which we will then apply will extend our collaborative investigations to additional groups and communities while opening new avenues for co-creating long term and sustainable solutions to the problems our seed grant work has highlighted.

Research Team at SBU: Manisha Desai (Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Christopher Sellers (Department of History), Kathleen Fallon (Department of Sociology), and Linda O'Keeffe (Department of Art).

Part of the Climate Change Seed Grant Program, created to fund collaborative efforts between climate change researchers at Stony Brook University seeking to apply to externally funded research and training initiatives.

Supported by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Executive Vice President of Health Sciences, the Office of the Vice President for Research.