Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

**ABOUT US** Since its inception in 1954, researchers associated with the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University have explored vexing questions and concerns. They have created and extended knowledge of our world, and continue to do so. The Center’s annual mix of distinguished thinkers of proven accomplishment facilitates advanced thinking and research. They study contemporary societal problems and contribute to evidence-based policy and solutions. CASBS, sitting on a bucolic hill above Stanford University, is renowned for providing a home for scholars engaged in pioneering research. In the 20th century, this was undertaken largely through individual projects. The nurturing of such pursuits endures. In the 21st century, progress on theoretical, empirical, and societally important questions increasingly requires multiple perspectives and cross-disciplinary teams. Today, the Center is an epicenter for short- and long-term research networks, projects, and workshops. This reimagining of CASBS supports both individual research and creative collaboration. **MISSION** The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is a place where great minds confront the critical issues of our time, where boundaries and assumptions are challenged, where original interdisciplinary thinking is the norm, where extraordinary collaborations become possible, and where innovative ideas are in pursuit of intellectual breakthroughs that can shape our world. CASBS @ Stanford brings together deep thinkers from diverse disciplines and communities to advance understanding of the full range of human beliefs, behaviors, interactions, and institutions. A leading incubator of human-centered knowledge, CASBS facilitates collaborations across academia, policy, industry, civil society, and government to collectively design a better future. **History** The establishment of the Center For Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1954 embodied the Ford Foundations’s optimism about the contribution of basic science and social science towards “advancing human welfare.” The original charge to CASBS was: “Through scientific work, to increase knowledge of factors which influence or determine human conduct, and extend such knowledge for the maximum benefit of individuals and society.” Although the specifics of implementing that charter have changed over time, the Center remains committed to the goals it was founded to serve. For over sixty years the Center has been inviting a select group of social science and other scholars to its hilltop location for yearlong fellowships. Their residencies, spent in individual studies overlooking the Stanford campus and Silicon Valley, are solely devoted to the production of knowledge. During their time at CASBS, fellows have no departmental commitments and no teaching. Proximity to scholars working in other social and behavioral science disciplines occur regularly at lunch and in fellows’ seminars, providing an opportunity for exposure to new methods, perspectives, theories, and problems. CASBS became part of Stanford University in 2008 and is now one of the independent research centers at the university reporting to Vice Provost and Dean of Research. The Center's program has expanded to include groups of research affiliates, workshops, and ongoing projects. Research, thinking, conversation, and writing done at the Center has had an enormous impact on both social science and society. Among the Center’s over 2,500 alumni, we count 26 Nobel Prize laureates, 24 Pulitzer Prize winners, 51 MacArthur Fellows, and 159 current members of the National Academy of Sciences. With few exceptions, most of these distinguished scholars came to the Center at crucial, often early, stages in their careers.