Van Hook to lead data resources unit
Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) recently announced that Jennifer Van Hook, distinguished professor of sociology and demography, will become the new director of its Data Resources Hub (DRH), effective July 1. Van Hook, who is also an SSRI cofunded faculty member and…
Faculty panel to discuss migration, asylum and refugee experience on April 16
The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture’s Woskob Family Gallery, located at 146 S. Allen Street in downtown State College, will host a cross-disciplinary faculty panel to discuss the current migration landscape, asylum and refugee law and on-the-ground advocacy efforts on April 16 at 4 p.m…
Thiede named new PRI director
Brian Thiede, associate professor of rural sociology, sociology, and demography, has been named the director of the Population Research Institute (PRI) at Penn State. PRI is a multidisciplinary research center at Penn State that promotes innovative population research. Part of the Social Science…
A hard year for federal workers offers a real-time lesson in resilience
By Anne Pisor, SSRI cofunded faculty member and assistant professor of anthropology and demography, for "The Conversation" Imagine going from having a book club with your co-workers to seeing them only on a Signal chat where every member has to be vetted – and the main conversation topic is when…
Private tutoring linked to student disengagement, researchers find
Private tutoring and supplemental learning are intended to enhance classroom learning, but new research led by a professor in the Penn State College of Education has revealed that it may actually erode student engagement. The finding came from an analysis of South Korean elementary students but has…
Why Social Science? - Because We Need Good Data to Predict the Future
This month's Why Social Science? post comes from Mark Mather and Beth Jarosz from the Population Reference Bureau who write about the importance of demography and how it can help community leaders, policymakers, business leaders, advocates, and residents plan effectively for a…
High school experiences linked to midlife body weight
High schools have long been recognized for shaping students’ futures. According to a new study by researchers from Penn State, the University of Texas, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota, high schools may even contribute to how much a person weighs later in life.…
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,…
Penn State professor named among most influential in shaping education - 2025
Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership) and demography at Penn State and director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights, was recently named to the 2025 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings list of top 200 U.S.-based university scholars who influence education…
Penn State among top universities for social science research expenditures
Michael T. Nietzel, Senior Contributor, Forbes Magazine Because many of the most pressing problems facing the nation today involve patterns of human behavior and the social forces affecting them, research in psychology and the social sciences continues to be a vital source of information about…
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Social Science
Demography
Increased area income improves birthweight rates, researchers find
Higher incomes are often correlated with healthier pregnancies and babies, but is it really the money that matters? Sedimentary rocks that formed 390 million years ago, surprisingly, help provide the answer, at least for those who live above the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a team led by…
Byun part of team awarded $3.5M grant
A Penn State College of Education faculty member is part of a multidisciplinary team across several universities that has been awarded a $3.5 million Transformative Research Grant from the Spencer Foundation to conduct a large-scale, five-year study on community-driven initiatives to teach Asian…
Australia offers lessons for increasing American life expectancy
Despite being home to some of the world’s most dangerous animals, Australia has led the English-speaking world in life expectancy for the last three decades. As for other high-income Anglophone countries, the Irish saw the largest gains in life expectancy, while Americans have finished dead last…
$5M grant to engage Indigenous communities in climate change research
Indigenous communities around the globe face profound threats from climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation. Now, an international team that includes researchers from Penn State have been awarded $5 million by the U.S. National Science Foundation, along with funding from Canada, the…
Bringing health care back to a rural Pennsylvania community
Snow Shoe Township is a small, rural community of around 1,700 people in central Pennsylvania that lies approximately 30 miles north of State College. A former coal mining town, Snow Shoe has seen an economic decline over the years. Then, in the span of one year starting in 2020, Snow Shoe lost its…
Professor’s new book examines universities’ role in advancing science
The last century has been a remarkable period of scientific discovery. And one of the primary drivers of it? Universities like Penn State, according to Professor of Sociology, Education and Demography David P. Baker. That’s the main takeaway of “Global Mega-Science: Universities, Research…
Thiede named interim director of PRI’s CSA Core
Brian Thiede, associate professor of rural sociology and demography, has been appointed as the interim director of the Computational and Spatial Analysis Core (CSA) of the Population Research Institute (PRI) at Penn State. His appointment begins July 1. Thiede is a demographer and…
College Shapes Black, White, and Latina Women’s Work and Family Lives Differently
Having a college education shapes women’s work and family trajectories—including their marriage, parenting, and employment patterns—but the effects of education differ among Black, Latina, and white women, according to new research in the journal Demography. Here are some of the key findings…
Professor wins diversity mentorship funds to bring Texas student to Penn State
It was a presentation he never intended to do, yet it changed the entire outlook of his post-undergraduate journey. Little did Michael Segovia know, his presentation at an October conference in warm San Antonio, Texas, would a bring him to chilly State College in February for a post baccalaureate…
SSRI cofounds participate in Capitol Hill Research and Policy Briefing
On March 13 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., a Capitol Hill Research and Policy Briefing will take place featuring two SSRI cofounds: Erica Frankenberg and Jennifer Van Hook. The event will be hybrid with the in-person option located in the Russel Senate Office Building, Room 118, 2…
Van Hook named distinguished professor
Jennifer Van Hook, Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography, College of the Liberal Arts, was recently named distinguished professor by Penn State's Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. The distinguished professor or distinguished librarian title recognizes outstanding…
Mortality rates among rural US residents vary based on race, ethnicity, region
Rural Black residents of the South have higher mortality, or death, rates than rural Black residents elsewhere, and so did Hispanic residents of the rural South and West, according to a new study by two researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development. These populations have…
Daw and Shenk complete Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders program
The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs has recognized a select group of faculty members for completing the Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders (PSEAL) program. This initiative, a collaborative effort between Faculty Affairs and Penn State Human Resources Talent Management, is…
New demographic analysis of school-age population projects increased diversity and lessened social and cultural differences
Demography may not, as the famed French philosopher Auguste Comte once wrote, “be destiny,” but two new analyses, a demographic simulation of the school-age population of the United States and a projection of the racially-identified American Indian and Alaska Native population to 2050, make clear…
Americans will spend half their lives taking prescription drugs, study finds
An American born in 2019 will spend a larger share of their lifetime taking prescription drugs than being married or receiving an education, according to new research by Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. She found that American males will spend approximately…