The University of San Diego will soon appoint a group of researchers to a new lab that focuses on violence, inequality, and power. The lab uses the acronym VIP.
California U.S. Representative Sara Jacobs was on campus Wednesday morning to announce $580,000 in federal funding. It will be spent hiring eight research fellows who will work to solve local and world problems.
"It's a little bit of a play on the term. Usually, VIP is a very important person, sort of the elite," said VIP lab director Rachel Locke. "What we are doing is flipping it with the terminology of VIP to get to the issues of inequality, and how they affect violence.”
Violence like the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The mass shootings that continue almost weekly on school campuses.
The money will be used to find and hire researchers around the world. There are also a couple of spots for USD fellows to work on campus as part of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.
"Addressing inequality isn’t just about addressing it right now. But, actually, how it factors into the broader issues we’re having in society," Jacobs said.
You can learn more about the VIP Lab here, and the upcoming fellowship program here.
