HRI’s Research Clusters initiative enables faculty and graduate students in the humanities and arts from the University of Illinois campus to develop questions or subjects of inquiry that require or would be enhanced by collaborative work. The initiative aims to nurture collaborative faculty development—to help scholars from any discipline to think alongside colleagues old and new in order to generate new knowledge, experiment with novel forms of expression, or illuminate unlooked-for pathways through an existing problem. 

Please join us in congratulating the successful applicants! 

2023–24 HRI Research Clusters 

Black People and the Invention of the Universe 

CO-DIRECTORS: 

• Courtney Becks, University Library 
• Nekita Thomas, Graphic Design, Art and Design 
• Alexandra Barbier, Dance 
• Reiko Huffman, Scenic Design, Theatre

Critical Cybernetics

CO-DIRECTORS: 

• Brian Jefferson, Geography 
• Bethany Anderson, University Archives
• Kevin Hamilton, School of Art and Design, College of Fine and Applied Arts
• Charles Roseman, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior/Anthropology
• Lou Turner, Urban and Regional Planning

Environmental Humanities

CO-DIRECTORS: 

• John Levi Barnard, Comparative and World Literature/English 
• Pollyanna Rhee, Landscape Architecture

Latin American and Caribbean Cities Collective

CO-DIRECTORS: 

• Nikolai A. Alvarado, Geography and Geographic Information Systems 
• Magdalena Novoa E., Urban and Regional Planning

Native American History Research Cluster

CO-DIRECTORS: 

• Jacki Thompson Rand, American Indian Studies 
• David R.M. Beck, History