Inter-Institutional Program for Diversifying Research (IPDR) opens call for proposals
The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in collaboration with the Social Science Research Institute, Materials Research Institute, the Institute of Energy and the Environment, the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and…
Dear Colleague Letter: The Social and Behavioral Science of Bias, Prejudice and Discrimination
Dear Colleague:
Research supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation's (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) directorate has significantly advanced understanding of the science of bias, prejudice, and discrimination. SBE programs have supported transformative projects on many…
Why Social Science? - Because It Helps Us Incorporate Lived Experience into Health Research
The new Why Social Science? post comes from Dr. Monica N. Feit from the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) who writes about how social science can provide valuable expertise to help…
Monica Oakes joins SSRI
SSRI would like to welcome Monica Oakes, who recently joined our team as a Research Project Manager. She previously worked for Optum in the Natural Language Processing group leading collaborative efforts across various departments including client professional services projects and implementing…
Consortium on Moral Decision-Making Call for Seed Grants
The Consortium on Moral Decision-Making is seeking proposals for seed grants to support interdisciplinary research related to the conceptual and empirical study of human morality and ethical decision-making. How do people decide whether to help or harm others, whom to trust and cooperate with, and…
Workplace flexibility associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease
Workplaces have implemented changes since the COVID pandemic began almost four years ago. Some give employees more flexibility in hours and tasks.
A new study that Penn State took part in, finds the risk of heart disease was reduced for some workers who were offered more flexibility.
Orfeu Buxton,…
CSUA 5th Annual Conference call for posters and research talks presentations
We invite you to present your work on substance use and addiction during our Research Talks and Poster Session for the CSUA 5th Annual Conference on Monday, April 29.
We strongly encourage researchers, students, clinicians, community members and partner organizations to attend and participate in…
PSU researcher shares preliminary findings on how counties are spending opioid settlement funds
A Penn State professor is sharing preliminary findings from the Elevate Pennsylvania Initiative. It’s meant to maximize the impact of opioid settlement funds in the state.
Pennsylvania is getting about $2 billion as part of nationwide settlements involving the opioid epidemic.…
Race and ethnicity may affect whether and where hospitals transfer patients
Black patients in Florida are transferred to public hospitals more often than white patients, even when comparing patients from the same hospital with similar health conditions and the same insurance, according to new research led by Charleen Hsuan, assistant professor of health policy and…
Yanling Li recognized for APA contributions
The American Psychological Association (APA) recently recognized QuantDev's Yanling Li for her expertise in intensive longitudinal data. Her contributions "significantly advanced our ability to host a science training session 'Intensive Longitudinal Data: Latent Class Differences in Change…
Mortality rates among rural US residents vary based on race, ethnicity, region
Rural Black residents of the South have higher mortality, or death, rates than rural Black residents elsewhere, and so did Hispanic residents of the rural South and West, according to a new study by two researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.
These populations have…
Veterans of color and female veterans reported more stress during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic led to illness and death, significant economic and employment problems, severe social restrictions and substantially altered family life — the effects of which researchers are beginning to understand. A recent study conducted by researchers at the Clearinghouse for Military…
Liberal Arts initiative to explore historical, societal impacts of immigration
Immigration is the focus of the current offering in the College of the Liberal Arts’ “Moments of Change” initiative — an undertaking that brings students, faculty, staff and alumni together to explore what it means to live through historic and contemporary times of change.
Through…
Connecting researchers and legislators can lead to policies that reflect scientific evidence
In this article written for "The Conversation", RPC's Taylor Scott describes how a disconnect between research-based information and decision-making can lead to ineffective policies. Read more here.
Fostering Lions Program mourns loss of supporter Denise Rohrbach
Penn State’s Fostering Lions Program is grieving the loss of Denise (Shuey) Rohrbach, a 1975 graduate of the College of the Liberal Arts, who established the Rohrbach/Shuey Family Scholarship in 2021.
Created with a gift of $53,000, the Rohrbach/Shuey Family Scholarship provides…
SSRI names new unit directors
Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute recently announced new directors for two of their units, the Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center (SLEIC) and the Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA), effective July 1.
Xiaoxiao Bai and Emma Jane Rose will succeed Michele…
Rural health symposium being held Jan. 24
The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) is hosting a Symposium on Social Science Research on Rural Health at Penn State on Jan. 24, 3 - 5 p.m., in 110 Henderson Building.
According to symposium organizer Danielle Rhubart, assistant professor of biobehavioral health and demography and…
Penn State program to prevent substance use the focus of $2.5 million NIH grant
Penn State researchers have embarked on a five-year, $2.5 million project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study outcomes for adults who participated in the substance misuse prevention system known as PROSPER while they attended middle school. The system, PROmoting…
Researchers to develop early warning system for emerging substance use threats
A newly awarded $1 million U.S. National Science Foundation grant will allow a group of multidisciplinary researchers at Penn State, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, to develop an early warning system (EWS) for identifying and responding to emerging substance use threats such as the rise of…
70 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, public schools still deeply segregated
In this article for The Conversation, author Erica Frankenberg, SSRI associate director and professor of education and demography, writes that the upcoming Brown vs. Board of Education anniversary comes at an especially uncertain moment for public education and efforts to make America’s schools…
Portion size and variety increase food intake at single- and multi-course meals
Previous research has determined that both portion size and variety increase food consumption independently, but researchers from Penn State’s Department of Nutritional Sciences have found that these properties also work together to increase consumption for both single- and multi-course meals.
The…
Extreme Weather Has Long-Term Health Consequences
In this Scientific American article, author and PRI associate Asher Rosinger explains how extreme climatic events affect health and human biology and the need for solutions.
When Hurricane Otis smashed into Acapulco, Mexico, in October, the Category 5 storm left a trail of…
True: Fact checkers tend to agree on validity of news claims, researchers say
The use of fact-checking services spikes during major news events. Fortunately, the fact checkers have generally agreed in their assessments of whether news claims are true or false, according to researchers from the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST).
In…
Interactive screen use reduces sleep time in kids, researchers find
While screen time is generally known to affect sleep, new research suggests that interactive engagement, such as texting friends or playing video games, delays and reduces the time spent asleep to a greater extent than passive screen time, like watching television — especially for teens.
The…
PRI / CSA Troubleshooting Sessions
The Population Research Institute (PRI) and the Computational and Spatial Analysis (CSA) Core are launching a Troubleshooting Team to provide consultation to PRI associates to help address their data and/or computational challenges. This service is particularly…