Center for Socially Responsible AI invites seed funding proposals
Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) invites short proposals for its annual seed funding program. Applications will be accepted through Nov. 1, with projects expected to start in spring 2024 and last up to two years.
Complete details on the program…
Penn State Berks faculty receive inter-institutional research seed grant
With approximately 12% of the population in Berks and Schuylkill Counties living in poverty, food banks are a critical resource for those who face hunger issues. Penn State Berks faculty are collaborating with faculty at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT) to improve…
SSRI Seed Funding now open
SSRI invites proposals for its seed funding mechanisms to provide research support for investigators from diverse fields in the social and behavioral sciences. SSRI funding opportunities also help support research collaborations across disciplinary boundaries, colleges, and research centers.
SSRI…
Why Social Science? Because People Can’t Be Represented If We Don’t Know What They Think
This month’s Why Social Science? post comes from Josh Pasek (University of Michigan) who discusses the importance of using public opinion polling as a key approach to understand the desires of the public. Read on for more.
Nine new faculty join Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute
The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) is welcoming nine new co-funded faculty members to Penn State. By helping to support co-funded faculty members, SSRI is demonstrating its commitment to interdisciplinary research within the social and behavioral sciences.
Mark Ortiz, assistant professor…
Child Maltreatment Solutions Network conference to be held in November
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Social Science Research Institute’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network is hosting an in-person conference, “Biological Embedding of Caregiving Adversity,” in 129 HUB (HUB-Robeson Center) at the University Park campus on Friday, November 15 from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.…
Harm reduction education, tools access may help women prevent opioid overdose
Woman with opioid use disorder and who are also involved with the criminal legal system face unique challenges and stigmas that may keep them from seeking substance use treatment and harm reduction tools that could prevent overdose deaths, according to new research led by a team from Penn State.…
New Child Study Center co-directors to continue collaborative research mission
Over the past five years, Rina Das Eiden and Jenae Neiderhiser have forged a close working relationship as colleagues in Penn State’s Department of Psychology. Recently, their collaboration began a significant new phase when they were appointed co-directors of the College…
Survey Research Center helps to support Corrections Innovation Day
Recently, staff from Penn State’s Survey Research Center supported the inaugural “Pennsylvania Corrections Innovation Day” as facilitators. Innovation Day 2024, co-hosted by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) and Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC), was a one-day…
Veterans report underemployment, pay frustration up to four years post-service
Some veterans continue to struggle with underemployment and dissatisfaction with their pay up to four years after leaving the military, according to a recent survey study by researchers in the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State (Clearinghouse).
Published in the…
Penn State awards five new seed grants to support inter-institutional research
The 2024 awardees of Penn State’s Inter-Institutional Partnerships for Diversifying Research (IPDR) initiative comprise five collaborative projects that connect Penn State researchers with colleagues from Morgan State University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University…
Less sleep and later bedtime in childhood linked to future substance use
A good night’s sleep is essential for children’s health and development, but childhood sleep patterns may also be linked to future substance use. A new study, led by a team of Penn State researchers, found that adolescents were more likely to have consumed alcohol or tried marijuana by age 15 if…
Australia offers lessons for increasing American life expectancy
Despite being home to some of the world’s most dangerous animals, Australia has led the English-speaking world in life expectancy for the last three decades. As for other high-income Anglophone countries, the Irish saw the largest gains in life expectancy, while Americans have finished dead last…
Pregnant women may not be drinking enough water, researchers report
Maternal under-hydration during pregnancy is associated with a range of negative birth outcomes, including low levels of adequate amniotic fluid and plasma, disrupted fetal brain development and risk of low birth weight, according to guidelines from the American Pregnancy Association and…
$5M grant to engage Indigenous communities in climate change research
Indigenous communities around the globe face profound threats from climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. Now, an international team that includes researchers from Penn State have been awarded $5 million by the U.S. National Science Foundation, along with funding from Canada, the…
Bringing health care back to a rural Pennsylvania community
Snow Shoe Township is a small, rural community of around 1,700 people in central Pennsylvania that lies approximately 30 miles north of State College. A former coal mining town, Snow Shoe has seen an economic decline over the years.
Then, in the span of one year starting in 2020, Snow Shoe lost its…
Global Social Science Research Impact Grants
Through a partnership between the Center for Global Studies and the Social Science Research Institute, Global Social Science Research Impact Grants support tenured and tenure-track social science faculty at University Park with a grant of up to $5,000 to advance global social science…
Professor’s new book examines universities’ role in advancing science
The last century has been a remarkable period of scientific discovery. And one of the primary drivers of it? Universities like Penn State, according to Professor of Sociology, Education and Demography David P. Baker.
That’s the main takeaway of “Global Mega-Science: Universities, Research…
Why Social Science? - Because Improving the Lives of Children is Complicated
This month's "Why Social Science?" post comes from Dr. Narayan Sastry (University of Michigan) who discusses the importance of social and behavioral data to improve outcomes for children over time and across generations.
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Nutrional science professor awarded the Hoebel Prize for Creativity
Kathleen Keller, professor and Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences, has been awarded the Hoebel Prize for Creativity by the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, an organization dedicated to studying ingestive behavior and its biological, physiological, and social processes.
Each…
Teens and drinking: What parents need to know and how they can influence behavior
Parents of teens and young adults can help keep their kids safer from the dangers of drinking, says Rob Turrisi, Penn State professor of biobehavioral health and SSRI cofund. Learn more in this new episode of the Raising Good Humans podcast with Dr. Aliza.
Damaske featured on in Atlantic article on retirement
Retirement Gets Harder the Longer You Wait
For men like Joe Biden—highly educated, employed past 65, strongly tied to work—stepping away can pose its own risks to health and happiness.
By Charley Locke
When President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he was ending his campaign for…
New Research Snapshots shed light on the economic and social impacts of caregivers in the North Central and Northeast U.S.
A multi-state team of researchers has released preliminary findings from a groundbreaking survey that examined the caregiving experiences of households in the North Central and Northeast regions of the U.S. The findings were released as two regionally focused “Research Snapshots,” which provide…
Impacts of protests focus of new research funding
Protests can direct attention toward an injustice, but some activist group tactics may turn people away rather than align them with the cause. A team of researchers at Penn State are launching a project to better understand how protests and other activist group approaches impact how people think…
Ask an expert: Health care in the 2024 presidential election
Health care has often taken a central role in political campaigns, and the 2024 presidential election is no different. But the debate around health care isn’t just about policy. The issues at stake — such as health care coverage and affordability, reproductive health and substance use disorders —…