“S4, as it is known on campus, is one of several initiatives through which Brown University is building new strengths as a research university. Brown has a core group of outstanding faculty who are taking seriously the impacts of spatial relations and contextual effects on social science issues. Through new faculty recruitments, investments in the research and teaching infrastructure, and outreach to researchers in such areas as community health and environmental change, the mission of S4 is to stimulate and support new work in this emerging interdisciplinary arena.”