Centers, Institutes, Initiatives
American University’s pioneering Centers undertake research regarding the world most pressing issues and carry out American University mission to produce novel ideas that inform society and enable decision-makers to adopt evidence-based practices. Through Centers operating on a system-wide basis and within individual Schools and Colleges, American University catalyzes research, creative production and knowledge dissemination within academia and beyond. Research centers vary in size, scope, and organization between and among the university’s eight schools and colleges.
University Research & Policy Institutes
University Research and Policy Institutes are high priority, well-resourced units that articulate programs drawing on capabilities distributed across the AU academic campus. These University-level entities operate at the forefront of their field and embody AU’s aspiration to world class leadership in select domains of knowledge creation and diffusion.
- Center for Latin American & Latino Studies
- Sine Institute of Policy & Politics
- Center for University Excellence
- The Center for Neuroscience and Behavior
- Center for Environment, Community, and Equity
- The Shahal M. Khan Cyber and Economic Security Institute
- Translating Research into Action Center (TRAC)
Cross-School Research Initatives
The mission of cross-school research initiatives is the discovery of new knowledge and/or service to the public or profession. These entities advance the overall mission of more than one school or college, come under the authority of the corresponding deans. These centers and institutes are intellectual and professional engines that show promise for the participation of leading scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and artists. Centers or institutes involve a team of collaborators.
School-Based Research Centers
Schools and Colleges across campus spearhead initiatives within their units that strive to effect major impacts on scholarship and public understanding of pressing issues. These Centers or institutes can involve a single principal investigator or a team of collaborators positioned to attend to major questions of our time and are supported by external sponsors.
College of Arts & Sciences
- Care Work and the Economy
- Center on Health, Risk & Society (CHRS)
- Integrated Space Science and Technology Institute (ISSTI)
- Design and Build Lab
Programmatic Centers in the College of Arts & Sciences
- Alper Initiative for Washington Art
- Carmel Institute of Russian Culture & History
- Center for Israel Studies
- Center for Language, Exploration, Acquisition & Research
- Critical Race, Gender, and Cultural Studies
- Humanities Lab
- Info-Metrics Institute
- Katzen Arts Center
- Institute for Macroeconomic & Policy Analysis (IMPA)
Kogod School of Business
- Cybersecurity Governance Center
- Tax Policy Center
- Internet Governance Lab
- Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP)
Programmatic Centers in Kogod School of Business
School of Education
School of International Service
- Accountability Research Center (ARC)
- Bridging the Gap
- Center for Security, Innovation, and New Technology
- Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment
- Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy
- Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP)
- Internet Governance Lab
- Research on International Policy Implementation Lab (RIPIL)
- The Transatlantic Policy Center
Programmatic Centers in the School of International Services
- ASEAN Studies Initiative
- Model G20 (MG20) Initiative
- Summer Sisters Summer Exchange Program
- Transnational Challenges and Emerging Nations Dialog (TRANSCEND)
School of Public Affairs
- Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies
- Center for Environmental Policy
- Metropolitan Policy Center
- The Postsecondary Equity & Economics Research (PEER) Center
Programmatic Centers in the School of Public Affairs
Washington College of Law