Commonwealth Campus Funding

Group of hands holding at the wrist and forming a circle.

Commonwealth Campus Funding

- Closed -

Independent and collaborative research between commonwealth campuses and interdisciplinary institutes and units at University Park.
Eligibility: Faculty at Commonwealth Campuses
Financial support range: up to $10,000
Deadline: Under Revision

To encourage and support both independent and collaborative research projects between Penn State Commonwealth Campuses and core multi-user faculty and research facility staff at the Interdisciplinary Institutes at University Park and at the College of Medicine, Commonwealth Campus faculty are provided the opportunity to submit research proposals that will provide access to Penn State’s shared facilities (equipment, instruments, capabilities, and/or expertise).

This program is currently run through InfoReady and is under revision by OSVPR. If would like further information please contact ssri-seed-grant@psu.edu.

Download Files :

CCRCDP Proposal Requirements and Submission Form 2023.docx (20.74 KB)

Funded Projects

Project Team
Michelle Cook, Assistant Professor, Special Education

Project Description

The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the effects of culturally responsive instruction to teach students schema strategies to better understand underlying structures of math word problems and increase performance outcomes on word problems. For this study, we want to work with 3rd grade teachers and students in Erie PA to deliver hip hop schema strategy lessons. We will assess student performance on word problems before and after schema instruction. We believe that students have beautiful things to share. We want to elevate their voices, interests, and lived experiences in learning math. By having students coauthor culturally relevant math problems and develop a hip hop strategy song, we increase students’ understanding of mathematics and create a product that will support future learners.

Project Team
Iffath Syed, Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, Health Policy and Administration

Project Description

Using a mixed-methods approach, the CONNECT study (Collaboration on Neighborhood Needs and Elder Care Transitions) will illuminate the health equity concerns of aging populations in rural and urban communities. A goal is to inform policies and interventions to break down barriers to good health and wellbeing and improve quality of health and social care for aging adults in economically vulnerable contexts. The proposed study will inventory and explore barriers and facilitators of healthy aging among residents in several counties of the Appalachian region. The study will be attentive to the needs of aging rural dwellers and their readiness for various age-related transitions. For example, for those who are considering retirement within the next decade, what are the needs for a healthy and sustainable transition into retirement? For those who are elders, what are the needs for transitions from hospital care to assisted living/rehabilitative care, or from institutional nursing to home care? Furthermore, this study will also investigate how the transition from COVID-19 to post-COVID-19 conditions has impacted peoples’ mental, physical, and social wellbeing, as well as the impacts on vulnerable neighborhoods and communities. The meaning of aging rural dwellers is broadly conceived to encompass those who are 50+ years old living in rural and remote communities.

Project Team
Daniel Mallinson, Associate Professor, Public Policy and Administration

Project Description

The overarching goal of this fellowship is to bring together my work on state medical marijuana policy with that of Lillard Richardson who has developed a robust measure of variation in the design of state cannabis laws. Dr. Richardson is an affiliate of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) and Director of the School of Public Policy at University Park. Dr. Richardson has co-developed the concept of cannabis policy bundles. He has also published on the effects of policy design (e.g., Houston & Lilliard E. Richardson, 2007; Houston & Richardson, 2005). I am also an expert in state cannabis policy but have focused more on questions of federalism and state politics (Hannah & Mallinson, 2018; Hannah et al., 2023; Mallinson & Hannah, 2020, 2023, 2024; Mallinson et al., 2020). To date, 35 states have adopted medical marijuana legalization and 21 have adopted recreational legalization. The effects of these programs are much debated, but not well tested. This project will use bundles as a stronger method for assessing the positive and negative externalities of cannabis liberalization in the United States.