Fostering Lions program strengthened by gift from dedicated alumni couple
A new $50,000 gift and a $100,000 estate commitment from Penn State alumni and longtime donors and volunteers Alan Bedrick, MD (Science, 1974; Medicine, 1978) and Sally (Pollock) Bedrick (Education, 1975) were inspired by Sally’s simple question: “What does Penn State do for students who have been…
Nese College of Nursing SAFE-T System receives 2025 ANA Innovation Award
Each year, the American Nurses Association (ANA)recognizes nurse innovators whose novel approaches improve patient care and health outcomes and also recognizes them for their sustainability and scalability in U.S. markets. Sheridan Miyamoto, associate professor in the Penn State Ross and Carol Nese…
This Week in Immigration Podcast: "Estimating the Unauthorized Immigrant Population"
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Robert Warren from the Center for Migration Studies, Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Research Center, and Jennifer Van Hook from Penn State's Migration Policy Institute to discuss methodologies used to estimate the…
Grant to explore maternal depression’s effect on young children
Does maternal depression affect mothers’ young children? If so, how? Those are the questions that Penn State Associate Professor of Psychology Katie Burkhouse and a colleague at Vanderbilt University aim to answer with a five-year, $3.8 million grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health…
Search underway for next Penn State ICDS director
Penn State is currently seeking nominations and candidates for the position of director of the Institute for Computational and Data Science (ICDS), housed within the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research. This role leads the institute's vision and strategy, enhances interdisciplinary…
Pinwheels for Prevention events raise awareness
Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network (CMSN) is sponsoring “Pinwheels for Prevention PSU” to engage the University community and foster awareness around child abuse during National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month in April.
On April 11, 1-3 p.m., the CMSN, along with the…
Frankenberg named 2025 AERA Fellow
SSRI Associate Director Erica Frankenberg was recently named a 2025 American Educational Research Association Fellow.
The AERA Fellows Program honors scholars for their exceptional contributions to, and excellence in, education research. Nominated by their peers, the 2025 Fellows were…
In many of Appalachia’s flood-ravaged areas, residents have little choice but rebuild in risky locations
By Kristina Brant, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology and SSRI cofund, for The Conversation
On Valentine’s Day 2025, heavy rains started to fall in parts of rural Appalachia. Over the course of a few days, residents in eastern Kentucky watched as river levels rose and surpassed flood levels.…
Why Social Science? - Because It Turns Talk into ACTION
By The American Anthropological Association
Every year on the third Thursday of February, we celebrate Anthropology Day—a chance to further our understanding of what it means to be human. Established by the American Anthropological Association, this day brings students, teachers, and professionals…
Thiede featured at PopTalks on climate shocks in population research
Megatrends met migration patterns as we launched the all-new PopTalks conversation series, hosted by Columbia’s own Thoai Ngo and featuring Brian Thiede of the Population Research Institute (PRI) at Penn State. On February 17, 2025, nearly 130 in-person and virtual attendees gathered for a spirited…
Annual substance use and addiction conference to be held on May 5
The Social Science Research Institute’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA) will host its sixth annual conference, in-person and via Zoom on Monday, May, 5 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Barron Innovation Hub at the University Park campus.
The all-day event is free, but all in-…
Scala celebrates 20 years at Penn State
Tracy Scalla began her career in 2005 with the College of Education, serving as Project Coordinator and Senior Research Technologist for the NSF-funded Mid-Atlantic Center for Teaching and Learning. During this time, she also contributed as an Editorial Staff Assistant for the Journal for Research…
Andrew Read to host conversation focused on executive action affecting research
The Penn State community is invited to attend a conversation hosted by Penn State Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read at 11 a.m. on Feb. 28 at University Park campus and online. The conversation will provide an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to engage in dialogue with Read…
SSRI faculty to present at Climate Solutions Symposium
The two-day Penn State Climate Solutions Symposium, taking place May 19-20 at The Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center, will highlight innovations from numerous disciplines through dynamic breakout sessions, keynote talks from leaders in the climate solutions space, a poster session, and more.…
'Cheat-a-thon' contest explores AI’s strengths and flaws in higher education
Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) will host “Cheat-a-thon,” a competition that explores the benefits and pitfalls of using generative AI in academic environments. The virtual event will take place March 3-April 6.
The challenge is open to all…
Penn State rises in NSF Higher Education Research and Development rankings
Penn State has moved up two spots to No. 26 in the 2023 U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, the most recently released rankings. The University also earned top 10 rankings in key research fields, including engineering, mathematics,…
SLEIC co-director receives Penn State Opportunity Grant Award to expand neuroimaging research
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Xiaoxiao Bai, co-director of human imaging at the Social, Life and Engineering Imaging Center (SLEIC), was recently awarded the 25-26 Opportunity Grant through Penn State’s Opportunity Grant Professional Development Program. The Opportunity Grant Professional Development…
Consortium on Moral Decision-Making Seed Grants Now Open
We’re re-opening the call for submissions and highly encourage teams to apply
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. …
Q&A: Is it always ‘us vs them’? Researcher explains why flexibility is key
Urban versus rural. Penn State versus Michigan. Star Wars versus Star Trek. As social beings, humans gravitate toward groups. But sometimes group living can spur an “us versus them” mentality that causes conflict, especially when two groups are competing for the same limited resources, like money…
Webinar series to focus on parenting from pregnancy to age three
The first three years of a child’s life bring both joy and stress. To help parents and caregivers meet challenges and give the baby a great start, Penn State Extension’s food, families and communities unit partnered with the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness at Penn State to offer the “…
Emails with personal stories may be more likely to catch lawmakers’ attention
Email is one of the easiest ways to contact policymakers, especially for researchers who want to share their expertise on complex topics like substance use, but can an email effectively foster connection? Researchers at Penn State recently found that policymakers were more likely to engage with…
New estimates reveal size and heterogeneity of unauthorized immigrant population
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) recently released its latest estimates of the size of the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population, finding that between 2019 and 2023, the unauthorized immigrant population grew by 3 million, or an average of 6 percent per year. According to the MPI,…
Saunders named as 2024-25 cohort member of the Health Equity Scholars Program
Tracee Saunders, assistant professor of political science and Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member, was announced in fall 2024 as a member of the 2024-25 cohort of the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN)’s Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP).
This fellowship supports…
Join Us on Bluesky!
SSRI is still on X/Twitter, but is focusing on our new Bluesky account at @ssripennstate.bsky.social. Bluesky has become the preferred social media platform for many academics. Also follow us on Instagram at @ssripennstate and LinkedIn.
NIH cost recovery update
On Friday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the world’s leading public funder of biomedical research — announced that the agency is making cuts to grants that support research institutions across the country by limiting the amount of indirect cost recovery for research projects to 15%.…