Current Research

LACC and its affiliated centers and institutes support faculty and student field research, administer faculty research grants, and host visiting researchers. LACC depends upon its associated faculty for research expertise and to assume the responsibilities of research project principal investigators. LACC’s grant writing gives priority to proposals that provide maximum opportunities for research participation by graduate students. Research collaboration with LACC’s many university and overseas partners is a high priority.

The following are examples of current and ongoing or completed LACC research projects. For information about LACC research, contact Michael W. Collier, Research Director, at 305-348-2894 or collierm@fiu.edu

Remittances Program/Programa de Remesas

Remittances, the money that migrants send back to relatives and communities in their countries of origin, today make up the fastest growing and most stable capital inflow to Latin America and the Caribbean. Over $230 billion in remittances were estimated worldwide in 2005, with Latin America and the Caribbean accounting for over $53.6 billon or 24.5 percent of the total amount—the highest volume of remittances of any geographic region. LACC’s Remittances Program is an on-going research initiative that investigates the socioeconomic impact of this phenomenon on the countries of the hemisphere.

Assessing Anti-Gang Policies and Programs in the Middle Americas

This is a partnership research program between LACC and the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in San José, Costa Rica. It provides current social science research and policy analysis aimed at informing governmental and civil society efforts to mitigate the criminal youth gang problem in the Middle Americas. The project consists of several tasks, including: hosting research workshops with government institutions and NGOs to share existing information and develop research and analysis methodologies; collecting data in the Middle Americas on the nature of each country’s gang problem and anti-gang policies and programs, researching the US policy of deporting criminal aliens, holding workshops with government officials and NGOs to consolidate and analyze the collected information; and publishing and distributing the project in coordination with international organizations (the OAS, PAHO, etc.). The study gives particular attention to the transnational character of the gang threat.

Principal Investigators: Eduardo A. Gamarra, Michael W. Collier, Francisco Rojas Aravena, Luis Guillermo Solis.

Risk Management in Latin American and the Caribbean

“Assessment of Risk Management in LAC Region Higher Education: A Strategic Plan for Improvement” is a 15 month long follow up program to a similar initiative conducted from 2003-2004. The purpose is to assess risk management programs of higher learning in Latin America and the Caribbean with the cooperation of leaders from those programs. The aim of the project is to produce a document assessing those risk management education and training programs institutions and to develop a plan for their future improvement and cooperation.

Principal Investigator: Richard Olson

Global Water for Sustainability Program (GLOWS)

The Global Water for Sustainability Program (GLOWS) is a 5 year, international project aimed at aiding communities through water management. GLOWS takes an interdisciplinary approach (from policy making to community development to biodiversity conservation) while engaging local communities to make short-term human needs for water compatible with long-term sustainability. The program also seeks to aid relationship building among water management organizations. GLOWS includes pilot programs in Latin America, Asia and Africa and works closely with USAID. In this project, FIU is partnered with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), World Vision U.S., LakeNet, and Amizade.

Principal Investigator: Michael McClain

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC)

The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) is an international digital library project that preserves and increases access to resources for the study of the Caribbean. The project assembles research related to the social studies and humanities of the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean from individual institutions in order to provide a body of resources available in a single location. The goals of dLOC are to increase access through prominent databases, in English, French, and Spanish; develop a digitization training program for international partners; advance Caribbean studies by building an outreach program that delivers these collections to the public; encourage new research initiatives among Caribbean scholars by providing a framework to disseminate this research; ensure its sustainability by consolidating the organizational framework. This project is made possible by a US Department of Education grant (TICFIA). Project partners include LACC, the Libraries at Florida International University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, the University of the Virgin Islands and five Caribbean partners.

Principal Investigators: Eduardo A. Gamarra, Carmen Diana Deere
Project Directors: Catherine Marsicek, Judith Rogers

Colombian Diaspora in South Florida

This is an ongoing research project of the FIU Colombian Studies Institute. Initial project results published in a LACC Working Paper generated wide interest in the US and South American press. Since the initial research, the project has spawned theses by four FIU students in the MALACS program as well as a partnership research program with the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá. Future planned work on the project includes a Florida-wide assessment of Colombian migrants and expansion of the research to Colombian migrant communities in Spain and Costa Rica.

Principal Investigators: Victor Uribe, Ana María Bidegain, Alex Stepick, Hugh Gladwin, Eduardo A. Gamarra, Michael W. Collier.