Study finds dramatic rise in Pa. babies affected by opioids
A new study shows the number of babies born in Pennsylvania with opioid withdrawal symptoms has increased 1,000 percent since 2000. The Health Care Cost Containment Council released the data, saying more babies are born diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome.
Joe Martin of the council says…
Why Social Science? - Because It Produces Essential Data for Our Democracy
By Ronald L. Wasserstein, Ph.D., Executive Director, American Statistical Association
The social sciences are vitally important to the institutions of democracy. Those institutions include a constellation of federal statistical agencies responsible for collecting and disseminating data. With these…
Solutions Network researcher funded to study cardiovascular disease risk in children
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes over 30 percent of all deaths in the U.S. and its roots can be found even in children. Hannah Schreier, Child Maltreatment Solutions Network co-funded faculty member and assistant professor of biobehavioral health, was recently awarded a grant from the National…
Sexsmith receives Roy C. Buck Award for paper on health care access
PRI affiliate Kathleen Sexsmith, assistant professor of rural sociology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, is the recipient of the college's 2017 Roy C. Buck Faculty Award, which recognizes the best article accepted or published by a refereed scholarly journal in the social sciences…
Science achievement gaps study recognized
Penn State researchers Paul Morgan, CEDR director and professor of education, and Marianne Hillemeier, professor of health policy and administration and demography, and their colleague George Farkas, professor of education at University of California Irvine, received the Distinguished Research…
Perkins named to National Academies committee on military family well-being
Daniel Perkins, founder and principal scientist of Penn State’s Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness and professor of youth and family resiliency and policy, was recently appointed to serve as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on the Well-…
Parenting and personality work together to affect baby’s weight gain
Offering a snack may be a sure way to soothe a fussy child, but researchers say making it a habit can result in unnecessary weight gain in babies with certain temperaments.
The researchers studied the babies’ temperament and how their mothers soothed them when the babies were six months old. When…
Forgetting details, getting the gist may prompt false memories in older adults
Older adults often complain about forgetting, but Penn State psychologists suggest that another problem may be misremembering.
In a study, the researchers found that as people age, they may be more likely to rely on a type of memory — called schematic memory — that helps them remember the gist of…
COSSA Releases 2018 Edition of State Fact Sheets, New Federal Funding Dashboard
COSSA has released the 2018 edition of its state funding fact sheets, a set of one-pagers that highlight the amount of federal social science research funding that goes to each state, including one for Pennsylvania. Accompanying this year’s fact sheets is a brand-new federal funding dashboard with…
Giving grant applications a second chance
NIH receives many meritorious grant applications for which there are inadequate resources to fund. Thanks to the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR), there is now a second chance at funding for these applications.
Leidos Health’s Life Sciences has partnered with NIH to…
Students who think their parents approve of drinking may drink more
Teens may act like they’re not listening, but students who think their parents are more accepting of drinking tend to drink more in college, according to researchers.
The researchers asked students about their drinking habits and how much they believed their parents were accepting of them…
Building resilience and hope in foster children awareness event April 7
In America today, there are nearly 400,000 children in the foster care system. Although they can face many challenges, positive experiences during PreK-12 education may offset abusive or neglectful treatment. Foster youth who continue into college are better prepared for adulthood and more likely…
Former U.S. Census director Robert Groves to present Clogg Lectures
Robert M. Groves, executive vice president and provost and Gerard J. Campbell S.J. Professor in the Department of Math and Statistics and the Department of Sociology at Georgetown University, will present the 2018 Clifford C. Clogg Memorial Lectures on March 26 and 27 at the Penn State University…
Fellowship equips researchers with skills to engage community in research
Gina Brelsford’s daughter was born at 32 weeks in 2007 and was hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care (NICU) unit for five weeks. That experience inspired the associate professor of psychology at Penn State Harrisburg to study the role of religion and spirituality in coping by parents of…
Congressional briefing on school violence and march taking place
Just last month, Parkland High School was the scene of one of the deadliest school shootings in the world. Now these Parkland students, as well as students all over the country, are uniting as advocates for change and marching in the March for Our Lives demonstration that is taking place in…
Clinical research guidebook is solid example of collaboration
A newly launched online guidebook can help early-career to established Penn State researchers more easily navigate the clinical research process at Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
The guidebook, a project sponsored by the Penn State Clinical…
Penn State professor joined Dalai Lama in panel discussion
Robert Roeser, Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion and professor of human development and family studies at Penn State, took part in a panel discussion with the Dalai Lama on March 15 at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, India.
Roeser and the Dalai Lama participated in a panel…
Individual education programs not being used as intended in special education
Gone are the days when students with disabilities were placed in a separate classroom, or even in a completely different part of the school. These students often sit alongside their traditional student peers for at least part of the day, with the help of individualized education programs (IEPs).…
Libraries surveying faculty on digital technologies’ impact
Penn State University Libraries is conducting a survey of all Penn State faculty about the impact of digital technologies on research, teaching and publishing.
The survey will be conducted from Tuesday, March 13, to Tuesday, April 10, in partnership with national research organization Ithaka S+R,…
Opioid epidemic to be topic of April 6 panel presentation
Pennsylvania has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. Heroin and opioid overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the Commonwealth, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. Few residents will be untouched by this crisis, and health care professionals…
Spicing it up: High school students may prefer seasoned veggies over plain
High school students prefer vegetables seasoned with herbs and spices, rather than plain veggies, according to Penn State researchers, who add this may lead to students liking and eating more vegetables, and result in less food waste in schools.
The researchers asked high school students to rate…
Researchers work together to improve communication-aiding technologies
Deciding which hand to use for communication-aiding technology is a cognitive task that can slow the user down, potentially inhibiting communication and performance, according to a Penn State study.
More than four million Americans who have such complex disabilities that they cannot meet their…
Summer Translational Science Fellowship providing real-world research training
Bethany Latten is a second-year medical student in the Penn State College of Medicine. Scott Graupensperger is a second-year graduate student completing a dual-title doctorate in kinesiology and clinical and translational science at Penn State University Park.…
Discovery Series to feature 'Innovations Training and iCorps @ NIH'
"Innovations Training and iCorps @ NIH: Planning and Funding the Future of Your Research" will be presented at the next Discover Seminar Series, part of the Research Quality Assurance Lunchtime Lecture Series at Penn State College of Medicine. The seminar will be held at noon in Lecture Room D at…
CTSI Community Engaged Research Core accepting Faculty Fellowship applications
This opportunity is open to all Penn State junior or mid-level faculty who want to advance their practice of community-engaged research. Community-engaged research is the active involvement and participation of community stakeholders. The degree of community involvement in research is determined…