R-Next Initiative

CAL’s new R-Next Initiative seeks to reimagine what it means for SDSU to be an R1 institution at this moment, in this place, and for our communities. R-Next seeks to foster socially responsive research, grounded in our shared disciplines, and extends the driving questions, methods, applications, and audiences of our work beyond traditional, investigator-driven, discipline-focused scholarship.

At its core, R-Next emphasizes that the humanities and social sciences play essential roles in the health, vitality, and future of human societies. We facilitate “community impact” by building relationships and addressing the diverse factors that contribute to human flourishing.

Three such projects have received two years of seed funding:

Africana Research & Cultural Renaissance Center

Project Director: Taharka Adé, Africana Studies

This initiative, which has achieved formal center status at SDSU, aims to research and preserve African and diasporic cultural heritage. It seeks to combat misrepresentation and exploitation through digital humanities, community partnerships, and student scholarships. In San Diego, the center will collaborate with the Alliance for African Assistance and the Black Leadership Alliance Coalition, and has also secured a partnership with the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies in Philadelphia.  

Documenting Data Center Development

Project Director: Dustin Edwards, Rhetoric and Writing Studies

With the support of community collaborators in Doña Ana County (NM), Las Cruces (NM), and Imperial Valley (CA), researchers and border communities will unite to document the environmental and social toll of AI data centers. The initiative aims to build public resources available to communities, legislators, and others that will drive equitable, sustainable policies for our shared technological future.

Global Border Nexus Initiative

Project Director: Haley Ciborowski, Geography

Partnering with colleagues across five SDSU colleges and external offices such as the California Department of Public Health, this initiative will unite currently dispersed researchers into a cohesive interdisciplinary network that addresses borders as dynamic global systems. In doing so, the initiative will catalyze research with real-world relevance for communities shaped by migration, climate, and cultural exchange.