Why Social Science? - Because Psychology Can Help Reduce Police Violence
This month's Why Social Science? post comes from Dr. Kimberly Kahn from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) about how psychology can help us build safer, fairer communities by finding solutions rooted in evidence, empathy, and mutual responsibility.
By…
Lloyd Prize for Innovative Health Research seeks proposals
Penn State emeritus professor Tom Lloyd and the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) invite proposals for the annual Lloyd Prize for Innovative Health Research at Penn State.
The Lloyd Prize is funded by an endowment of more than $500,000 for an annual prize that will…
Burkhouse and Veturi receive early career professorship awards
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Katie Burkhouse, associate professor of psychology, and Yogasudha Veturi, assistant professor of biobehavioral health and statistics, were recently named as recipients of the Dr. Frances Keesler Graham Early Career Professorship by the Social Science Research Institute at…
Annual Substance Use and Addiction Conference to be held on May 4
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Social Science Research Institute’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction will host its seventh annual conference, in-person and via Zoom on Monday, May 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Barron Innovation Hub at the University Park campus.
The all-day event is free, but…
Penn State’s Child Study Center to host 2026 Innovation Hub Symposium
“Community Engaged Research for Public Impact: Process to Policy” is the theme of the Penn State Child Study Center’s (CSC) 2026 Innovation Hub Symposium taking place on Friday, Feb. 6, in the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom at University Park.
CSC’s Innovation Hub Symposium is a biennial event designed…
Buxton featured on “Sleep Quality, Not Quantity” Podcast
Orfeu Buxton, SSRI cofunded faculty member and associate director at SSRI and CTSI, was featured on The Last Show with David Cooper Podcast in an episode titled “Sleep Quality, Not Quantity” released January 16.
In this 11-minute episode, Buxton, a professor of biobehavioral health and a…
Online gambling participation increased in Pennsylvania in 2025, report finds
Online gambling in Pennsylvania continues to increase, according to the 2025 Pennsylvania Interactive Gaming Assessment: Online Gambling Report. The assessment was co-authored by researchers in Penn State’s Criminal Justice Research Center and developed under contract with the…
Contest puts AI-ready teaching to the test
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) has announced the “Teach-a-thon,” a competition celebrating innovative teaching practices in response to the rise of large language models and generative AI. The virtual event is open to all Penn…
New Penn State Cores Facility Website
Penn State Research has recently launched a new website for core facilities. These facilities offer critical specialized instrumentation, services, and guidance to researchers and businesses. The goal is to supplement projects with resources and expertise that may be cost-prohibitive for direct…
Fathers’ early interactions with babies may affect child health years later
How a new father behaves toward his baby can change family dynamics in a way that affects the child’s heart and metabolic health years later, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.
In the study, recently published in Health Psychology, the…
Center for Socially Responsible AI awards seed funding to seven diverse projects
The Penn State Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) has announced the results of its most recent seed-funding competition. The center awarded more than $152,000 to seven interdisciplinary research projects representing six colleges.
Each proposal was evaluated by peers…
Estate commitment to enhance resources for students from foster care system
Building on her early career advocacy on behalf of abused and neglected children, Penn State graduate Rosemary Katchmar has come forward with a $200,000 estate commitment that will benefit the Fostering Lions Program. The gift will bolster services and programming designed to improve postsecondary…
Roberts retires after leading center from inception to success
Mark Roberts, former director of the Penn State’s Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC), and liberal arts professor of economics, retired at the end of December after 45 years at Penn State.
Roberts has led the FSRDC, part of the Social Science Institute, since its inception in…
Penn State professor named among most influential in shaping education
Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership) and demography at Penn State and director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights, was recently named to the 2026 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings list of top 200 U.S.-based university scholars who…
Revolutionizing Economic Measurement At The Census Bureau’s Center For Economic Studies: Pioneering Research On Firm Dynamics, Employment Flows And Transformative Statistical Products
Written by:Ron Jarmin, Deputy Director of the United States Census Bureau I recently had the privilege of speaking at conferences honoring two economists who’ve made huge contributions to the profession and, most importantly for this blog, to the U.S. Census Bureau. Mark Roberts of Penn State…
Back pain linked to worse sleep years later in men over 65, according to study
About half of older men suffer from sleep problems, back pain or both, according to Soomi Lee, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. Lee recently led a study to investigate whether one precedes the other and found that back problems…
Night waking impacts cognitive performance regardless of sleep duration
When it comes to sleep, traditional advice has focused on the number of hours a person sleeps. But for older adults, the quality of sleep may affect cognitive performance the following day regardless of their quantity of sleep, according to a new study by researchers from the Penn State College of…
CTSI to host three-part virtual mini-series on team science
Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will host a three-part virtual mini-series focused on team science, led by Susan Simkins, director of Team Science with Penn State CTSI. Designed for researchers, staff and leaders working in collaborative environments, the series will…
Forum focuses on helping military medics transition into civilian health care
Nearly 50 individuals, including members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, policy staff and representatives from leading health care organizations, attended the Veterans’ Solutions Forum on Dec. 10 at the Pennsylvania State Capitol. The event, hosted by the Clearinghouse for Military Family…
SSRI Launches Mid-Career Research–Practice Partnership Fellows Program
The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) has opened applications for its 2026–2027 Mid-Career Research–Practice Partnership Fellows Program, a new initiative designed to strengthen collaborative research that drives real-world impact.
Supported in part by a William T. Grant…
Sharkey to lead SSRI Grants and Contracts Office
Nicole Sharkey was recently named the Director of Grants and Contracts for the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI).
In this role, Sharkey will lead SSRI’s newly created Grants and Contracts Office, a team of administrators who support researchers with complex, multi-disciplinary proposal…
Penn State researchers attend empathy conference in the UK
Penn State researchers Daryl Cameron, Daniel Max Crowley, Robert Roeser, and Mark Brennan recently participated in the Wilton Park Empathy Conference in West Sussex, UK.
The event explored how empathy can act as an antidote to the global rise of polarization and extremism, focusing on the…
Fowler named director of statistical data center
Christopher Fowler, professor of geography, was recently named director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) at Penn State, a unit within the Social Science Research Institute and one of over 30 Federal Statistical Research Data Centers located across the country.…
NIH Application Policy Update
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new Application Policy Update, effective December 3, 2025 implementing the Removal of Requirements for Letters of Intent and Unsolicited Applications Requesting $500,000 or More in Direct Costs
The Update, Notice Number: NOT-OD-26-019, states that…
CERAP researchers present at recent human development conference
The Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) held their biennial conference in Lexington, KY from October 24-26, 2025. The theme of this year’s conference was Developmental Science for the Public Good, focusing on how “research on human development across the lifespan has the potential to…