Rural Sociology

New grant continues Arctic research addressing climate change and communities

Sep 21, 2022

Climate change in the Arctic is evident as temperatures rise and Alaskan coastal Indigenous communities face severe, urgent, and complex social and infrastructural challenges. A collection of Penn State research in the region, being driven by social sciences and in collaboration with engineering…

The Russia-Ukraine war will hurt millions in Central Asia. Here's why.

Aug 8, 2022

by Guangqing Chi and Erin Hofmann, For The Inquirer The past three years haven’t been easy for Central Asian migrant workers in Russia like Murat and Aigul, a Kyrgyz couple who have worked in Moscow since 2018. In 2020, due to the pandemic lockdown in Moscow, the couple was confined for more than a…

Intensifying heat waves threaten South Asia’s struggling farmers – many of them women

Jun 28, 2022

By Heather Randell, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography and SSRI cofund, Penn State and Emily M L Southard, Ph.D. Candidate in Rural Sociology and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Penn State, for The Conversation Sitting in a semi-circle in the yard outside of a village school…

Researchers address need for bridges in remote Alaska as climate warms

Sep 13, 2021

Bridges are increasingly critical for remote communities in rural Alaska, where global warming is causing rivers to freeze later, thaw earlier and form thinner ice. With a new grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers at Penn State plan to investigate the importance of bridges for the…

Study explores link between earthquakes, rainfall and food insecurity in Nepal

Sep 10, 2021

The effects of monsoon rainfall on food insecurity in Nepal vary by earthquake exposure, with regions that experienced both heavy earthquake shaking and abundant rainfall more likely to have an inadequate supply of nutritious food. That is one of the conclusions of a study led by Heather Randell,…

Book co-edited by Penn State faculty explores gender relations in agriculture

Nov 16, 2020

While women represent a significant portion of the global agricultural workforce, they face many roadblocks to success, including limited access to land, technological advancements, education and financing. They also often are excluded from household-level and policy decisions that determine their…

SSRI associate director and cofunded faculty on team that wins national excellence award for research

Nov 2, 2020

Faculty in SSRI are part of a multidisciplinary, multi-institution research team that was recently awarded the National Excellence in Multistate Research Award from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the United States Department of Agriculture. This prestigious and highly…

Randell receives Roy C. Buck Faculty Award in College of Agricultural Sciences

Apr 14, 2020

Heather Randell, assistant professor of rural sociology and demography in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Roy C. Buck Faculty Award. The award, which recognizes exceptional articles accepted or published by refereed scholarly journals in the…

Sterner, Grozinger recognized as outstanding postdoc and mentor

Sep 10, 2018

The Penn State Postdoctoral Society has announced postdoctoral researcher Glen Sterner III and Distinguished Professor of Entomology Christina Grozinger as the recipients of the 2018 Outstanding Postdoc Award and Outstanding Postdoc Mentor Award, respectively. Sterner, who received his doctorate in…

Schafft elected Rural Sociology Society president

May 10, 2018

SSRI co-fund Kai Schafft has been elected president-elect of the Rural Sociology Society (RSS) for the upcoming year. The RSS is a professional social science association that promotes the generation, application and dissemination of sociological knowledge. It seeks to enhance the quality of rural…