New podcast bridges the gap between academia and policymakers
How can academia and government work together to tackle problems? That’s the question that a new podcast launched by the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, a unit of Penn State's Social Science Research Institute, is trying to answer.
The podcast, aptly titled…
Achievement gaps may explain racial overrepresentation in special education
U.S. school districts may be flagged as over-identifying students of color as having disabilities when other factors, such as achievement gaps, may explain these disparities, according to new Penn State research published in Exceptional Children.
Federal legislation and regulations require U.S.…
University Town Halls March 24
As Penn State has taken numerous measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and protect the health and well-being of faculty, staff, students and communities, University leaders are convening two separate hour-and-a-half Town Halls on Tuesday, March 24, to provide updates and answer…
Coronavirus Research Seed Fund
Due to unprecedented interest in the Coronavirus Research Seed Fund, there will only be one more round of proposal evaluation. To give all applicants sufficient time to apply, that final review will begin on Friday, March 27th at 5 p.m. All applications submitted between now and then will be…
OBSSR Seeks Research Community Input for Next Strategic Plan
The OBSSR is seeking broad input on important new directions for health-related behavioral and social sciences research (BSSR). On February 18, we released a Request for Information (NOT-OD-20-059) and launched a crowd-source submission website seeking your input on research directions that will…
Family Symposium book series releases latest edition
The most recent volume in the National Symposium on Family Issues book series, “Rural Families and Communities in the United States” is now available from Springer Publishing. This volume specifically focuses on the implications of rural residency for American families, especially minority families…
Underlying factors affect children's early reading and math achievement
Underlying individual and environmental factors may better explain inter-relations between children’s early reading and mathematics achievement, according to new research that fails to support prior work suggesting that increasing children’s math skills might help increase their reading skills.…
Report offers recommendations for protecting children from trafficking, abuse
Penn State faculty with expertise in public health, nursing, sociology and criminology are working to better protect children from trafficking and sexual abuse. The researchers said they hope that by gaining a better understanding of the complexities of human trafficking and commercial sexual…
Making School Choice More Equitable in an Era of Rising Inequality by Erica Frankenberg
By Erica Frankenberg for the Equity Alliance Blog
In April 2019, the Education and Labor Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing about the legacy of school integration efforts and the federal government’s role 65 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision that…
Morgan cited in CDC report
Paul Morgan, Paul Morgan, Harry and Marion Eberly Fellow, professor of education and demography, and director of the Center for Educational Disparities, was cited in a CDC report on prevalence rates for ADHD and learning disabilities in the U.S. The story was picked up by the New York Times,…
How Siblings’ Gender Can Affect a Child’s Development
When you talk about sibling issues, everyone takes it personally. Whether it’s birth order and the supposed advantages of being the oldest (or youngest, or middle), or the question of having (or being) the favorite child, people tend to respond immediately with their own sometimes very individual…
Community factors influence how long you’ll live, study shows
While lifestyle choices and genetics go a long way toward predicting longevity, a new study shows that certain community characteristics also play important roles. American communities with more fast food restaurants, a larger share of extraction industry-based jobs, or higher population density…
Device helps deliver electronic cigarette vapors for research
The increased use of electronic cigarettes and vaping products has increased the need to better understand how and if addiction to these products is different than in traditional cigarettes. One way to objectively measure addictive potential is through changes in the brain, but researchers say a…
Coronavirus Research Seed Fund call for proposals
The emergence of COVID-19 has reminded the world of our hyper-connectivity and susceptibility to pandemics. An effective response to SARS-CoV-2 and other future emerging pathogens, requires the scientific community to rapidly assess key knowledge gaps and respond with research to improve prevention…
Penn State stands out as 'exception' for team research collaboration
The faculty at Penn State may view their extensive interdisciplinary research collaborations as normal, but it turns out that Penn State’s successful culture of innovation through interdisciplinary collaborations is anything but normal. It is an exception.
In December 2019, a research team led by…
TEDxPSU Talk with Nate Brown
Penn State hosted its tenth-annual TEDxPSU Conference recently with 11 speakers, including Nate Brown, professor of mathematics and principal investigator of the STEM Diversity Lab.
This year’s TEDxPSU focused on continuum — a sequence of events that don’t appear to be different from one…
Emotion expression database new resource for researchers
The ability to understand facial expressions is an important part of social communication. However, little is known about how complex facial expression signal emotions related to social behavior and inner thoughts. To answer these questions, Penn State researchers developed the Complex Emotion…
NIH seeking input on simplifying review criteria
The NIH Center for Scientific Review Is seeking your input on simplifying review criteria. Get the Details on the NIH Peer Review Matters blog.
Stress may drive people to give as well as receive emotional support
Stress has a justifiably bad reputation for making people feel crummy. But new research suggests that despite its negative side effects, it may also lead to a surprising social benefit.
In a study, a team of scientists including Penn State researchers found that experiencing stress made people both…
Speakers for 2020 'Expanding Empathy' lecture series announced
After an engaging and successful inaugural run last academic year, the Rock Ethics Institute’s (REI) “Expanding Empathy” lecture series schedule has been set for spring 2020, with the first lecture to be presented March 5.
The lectures are hosted through the REI’s Moral Agency and Moral Development…
Research suggests adults, not just teens, like electronic cigarette flavors
On Feb. 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to enforce a previously issued policy on unauthorized, flavored, cartridge-based e-cigarette products with the goal of addressing the current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes. A new study by researchers at Penn State finds that…
Multi-year concussion research study underway
Researchers at Penn State are in the midst of a multi-year research study that seeks to examine the consequences of head acceleration events and their relationship to the disruption of normal brain development.
The investigators also seek to identify any critical threshold between subconcussive…
Categorical inequalities between Black and white students are common in US schools—but they don’t have to be
By Kenneth Shores, Ha Eun Kim, and Mela Still for Brookings
The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) reports large, persistent gaps between Black and white students on educational outcomes such as school suspensions, uptake of AP classes, assignment to special education and gifted and talented…
Huck Institutes' HITS fund will support scientific risk-takers
Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has relaunched a program to encourage more risk-taking across Penn State’s scientific community. Dubbed the Huck Innovative and Transformational Seed Fund— or HITS — the initiative will provide financial support for bold ideas that promise…
Planning grants support researcher-community collaborations
Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute's Community-Engaged Research Core awarded three planning grants to faculty and community-based organization teams. These planning grants are laying the foundation for projects that affect a variety of communities.
“We are delighted to…