Yocum receives ACOR 2018 Career Achievement Award
The Administrative Committee on Research (ACOR) 2018 Career Achievement Award was presented to Sherry Yocum at the Annual Retreat Conference on September 7 at the Penn Stater Conference Center. She was recognized for her outstanding contributions towards the support…
New research shows sexual abuse unique risk factor for teenage pregnancy
Children who suffer childhood sexual abuse early are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, adolescent pregnancy, and teenage motherhood, according to new Penn State research.
The findings are important, because becoming a mother during adolescence can have consequences for not only the…
Why Social Science? - Because Social Science Can Have an Impact on Public Policy
By Peter B. Wood, Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University
Why Social Science? Because social science can—and should—have a real impact on public policy at the federal, state, and local levels. More than a decade ago, while serving as President of the Southern Criminal…
Sekhar begins Community-Engaged Research Core Faculty Fellowship
There’s a difference between simply including in a research study the people a scientist wants to help and partnering with those people in the research process. That’s a lesson Dr. Deepa Sekhar learned while studying ways to better detect high-frequency noise-induced hearing loss in…
$6.3 million grant will fund video library of moms and babies at play
When toddlers play, there’s more going on than meets the eye. Play and other natural activities parents engage in help developing children build social, emotional and locomotor skills, among others.
To help tease apart these processes, a team of researchers led by Penn State and New York University…
Sterner, Grozinger recognized as outstanding postdoc and mentor
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…
University Libraries offers maps and geospatial info sessions for fall 2018
This fall, Penn State University Libraries will once again offer informational sessions relating to foundational map and geospatial topics.
Some sessions may be similar or build upon topics from previous offerings, but one new session this semester will introduce users to ArcGIS Pro, a…
Emotions like anger and sadness may cause pain as well as being a result of it
While emotions such as anger or sadness are often thought of as being a result of stress or pain, findings recently published by Penn State researchers suggest that negative or mixed emotions could function as stressors themselves.
The manuscript, published in the journal Psychological Reports…
Researchers can build supercomputing skills in fall training series
Penn State researchers looking to build their high-performance computing (HPC) skills can get both basic and intermediate training through a series of workshops hosted by the Institute for CyberScience (ICS) this fall. Each session is free but requires registration as seating is limited.
The four-…
Simucase allows graduate students to practice with virtual patients
Graduate students studying communication sciences and disorders gain early clinical experience with simulated clinical scenarios offered through a specialized web-based program, which prepares them for true experiences as graduate clinicians.
Simucase is an online program that allows students…
Faculty invited to apply for Penn State Security Center Fellows Program
Penn State’s Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE) invites Penn State faculty to apply for the CSRE Faculty Fellows Program. The deadline for spring 2019 applications is Nov. 1.
The CSRE fellowship program provides fellows with the opportunity to propose and lead an interdisciplinary…
Disparities in education studies most read
Paul Morgan, director of the Center for Educational Disparities Research, has co-authored several studies that were the most read articles in two different publications.
Three of his team’s empirical studies were the most read articles published in Educational Researcher, one of the education field…
National conference on child maltreatment to advance innovation through data
Penn State isn’t just a leader on childhood well-being through its Child Maltreatment Solutions Network — but is pushing others to be leaders, too.
“One of our charges is to bring together experts related to child maltreatment to think more broadly about how to address key issues facing children…
Penn State launches new child abuse prevention pilot programs
A new initiative spearheaded by Penn State researchers is aiming to revolutionize how policymakers understand and prevent child sexual abuse.
The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative officially kicked off Wednesday at the York County Children’s Advocacy Center, which marks the beginning of a…
Tight-knit teammates may conform to each other's behavior
Good relationships between teammates are essential to a team’s success, but athletes who feel more closely connected to their teammates may also be more likely to be swayed by their fellow players’ behavior.
In a study with NCAA athletes, researchers found that the more closely a player identified…
Security Center announces seed grant opportunities for Penn State researchers
The Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE) at Penn State is announcing its 2018-2019 Seed Grant Program to support security-related scholarship and educational programs at Penn State. University faculty and researchers are eligible to apply in the fall 2018 semester by Nov. 1, or in the…
Why Social Science? - Because It Can Challenge Conventional Wisdom
By Olugbenga Ajilore, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics, University of Toledo
Social science research provides evidence that helps us understand the drivers of social problems. A lot of times, this evidence is in contrast to the conventional wisdom and may on the face of it seem…
Officials raise Puerto Rico’s death toll from Hurricane Maria to nearly 3,000 people
By Aimee Cunningham
The Puerto Rican government has officially updated its tally of lives lost to Hurricane Maria to an estimated 2,975. That number, reported August 28 in a government-commissioned study by George Washington University in Washington D.C., dwarfs the island’s previous count…
Farmer Field School addresses food insecurity, gender inequality in Honduras
Studying for her dual-title doctoral degree in rural sociology and in international agriculture and development at Penn State, Paige Castellanos learned about the plight of families living in western Honduras, where many eke out a living in an economy marked by high poverty rates and subsistence…
Parents’ behavior during playtime may affect toddler’s weight later on
Parents who positively engage with their children during play time — and gently steer them to clean up afterward — may help toddlers with low-self regulation have lower body mass indexes (BMIs) later on as preschoolers.
In a study, researchers found that toddlers who had poor self-regulation skills…
"Translational Science in the Era of Big Data” to be held Sept. 6
The ability to work with and analyze large amounts of data for research is gaining in importance, especially involving the incorporation of electronic health records. Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute is planning for the future as it looks towards its renewal application for…
Morgan authors blog post for Psychology Today
Paul Morgan, director for the Center for Educational Disparities Research and professor of education and demography, authored a post for Psychology Today's blog "Children who struggle: Understanding and addressing educational disparities."
Research on neural signatures of inhibitory control in bilingual spoken production by SLEIC researchers Dr. Eleonora Rossi, Dr. Michele Diaz & colleagues
SLEIC researchers, Dr. Eleonora Rossi (who is now an Assistant Professor at California State Polytechnic University), Dr. Michele Diaz and other colleagues recently published a study on neural signatures of inhibitory control in bilingual spoken production. The goal of this event-related functional…
Using social media to solve social problems
Social scientist rely on data to study social problems, however data from traditional surveys can be difficult and time consuming to collect, as well as inaccurate since not all factors can be measured well. A National Science Foundation-funded Penn State project will evaluate the accuracy of using…
People with autism may not have trouble focusing on people in photos
While people with autism may avoid eye contact in one-on-one conversations, they may not avoid looking at people in photos, according to Penn State researchers.
Krista Wilkinson, professor of communication sciences and disorders and SSRI faculty co-fund, said previously it was thought that people…