Organized Research Unit Administrative Services

Organized Research Units (ORUs) promote multidisciplinary research and provide a supportive infrastructure for interdisciplinary research complementary to the academic goals of departments of instruction and research.

ORUs must go through a structured review process that includes a supporting recommendation from the Academic Senate. Each ORU is headed by a tenured faculty director and receives financial support and space from the campus. Professional researchers and technical staff can hold their appointments with the ORU, which then serves as their home academic unit. Other units on campus, of a less formal character, may designate themselves as a center or a project, but they are not ORUs unless they have been officially approved as such.

The unique culture of research and administration among the major academic areas has led to a number of different implementation and management models for ORUs on the General Campus (GC), in the Health Sciences (HS), and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). The Vice Chancellors for Research, Health Sciences, and Marine Sciences have primary oversight of the ORUs in their respective areas. The Vice Chancellor for Research (VCR) consults closely with the Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC) in managing the ORA's portfolio of General Campus ORUs. 

VC Research IT Guidelines (PDF)

Cyndi Meeves provides event support for ORU Core Services. As an event coordinator, she can assist ORUs with the management of event projects.

Campus

• Synthetic Biology Institute
• Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences
• Center for Circadian Biology
• Center for Comparative Immigration Studies
• Center for Energy Research
• Center for Human Development
• Center for Memory and Recording Research
• Institute of Engineering in Medicine
• Institute for Neural Computation
• Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind

School of Medicine

• Glycobiology Research and Training Center

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

• Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine
• Climate, Atmospheric Science and Physical Oceanography Research
• Geosciences Research Division
• Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
• Integrative Oceanography Division
• Marine Biology Research Division
• Marine Physical Laboratory