Penn State educational and health disparities research featured
Oct 27, 2021
This video highlighting work being done at SSRI's Center for Educational Disparities Research and Child Maltreatment Solutions Network features several SSRI cofunded faculty and is currently being broadcast at the annual conference of the American Public Health Association. Research taking place at…
Penn State GIS Day virtual event to take place Nov. 16
Oct 26, 2021
Penn State University Libraries will observe GIS Day — an annual event celebrating the technology of geographic information systems (GIS) — with a virtual event from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 16.This year’s programming will highlight the geospatial research activities of Penn State…
Rural Alaska has a bridge problem as permafrost thaws and crossing river ice gets riskier with climate change
Oct 12, 2021
America’s bridges are in rough shape. Of the nearly 620,000 bridges over roads, rivers and other waterways across the U.S., more than 43,500 of them, about 7%, are considered “structurally deficient.”In Alaska, bridges face a unique and growing set of problems as the planet warms.
Permafrost, the…
Taking steps toward more effective fitness trackers, more physical activity
Oct 11, 2021
As the popularity of fitness trackers has increased, so have the opportunities to use such devices to not only track fitness goals but also increase the motivation to meet those goals. Researchers in the College of Engineering and the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State have…
Two Penn State faculty members named to Governor Wolf's redistricting council
Oct 4, 2021
Lee Ann Banaszak, head of the Department of Political Science and professor of political science and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, and PRI Associate Christopher Fowler, associate professor of geography and director of the Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach, have…
Revised standards for in-person human subjects research
Sep 29, 2021
In consultation with Dr. Kevin Black, interim dean of the College of Medicine, we are updating the scope of the Revised Standards for in-person human subjects research. Effective October 1, the Revised Standards are applicable to ALL studies with an in-person research component.Previously, human…
Morgan’s research cited
Sep 22, 2021
CEDR Director and PRI Associate Paul Morgan and his research team’s work discovering children's oral vocabularies by 24 months of age can predict their academic achievement and classroom behavior was cited recently by the editorial Board of the LA Times in their call for universal child care and…
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,…
School boundary changes and diversification in a suburban school district topic of new PPN brief
Sep 8, 2021
A recent policy brief by the Pennsylvania Population Network in collaboration with the Center for Education and Civil Rights at Penn State demonstrates diversification of suburban communities do not necessarily translate into school-level integration. This is partly due to school attendance zone…
Report finds lack of teacher diversity in Pennsylvania
Aug 31, 2021
Research on racial desegregation and inequality in K-12 schools has consistently demonstrated the benefits of school integration for students but according to Penn State College of Education researchers, teacher diversity is also important for providing students with a well-rounded educational…
2021 Family symposium to focus on environmental impact to relationships and well-being
Aug 25, 2021
Penn State’s 29th annual Symposium on Family Issues will examine the role of the physical environment in family relationships, behaviors, and well-being, with a focus on disasters, climate change, and the built environment.“Environmental Impacts on Families: Change, Challenge, and Adaptation” will…
16th Annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography taking place on Oct. 1
Aug 18, 2021
“Surviving Two Epidemics: Resilience and Health in the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health 1998-2021” will be presented by Hans-Peter Kohler at Penn State's 16th annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography Oct. 1, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. in The Living Center, Henderson Building, and virtually…
Black women with ADHD start healing, with a diagnosis at last
Jul 19, 2021
CEDR Director and PRI associate Paul Morgan and his research team's IES-supported research was recently cited in a Washington Post story discussing the intersections of race, gender, and disability, found here.
PRI's Brian King named head of the Department of Geography
Jul 19, 2021
Brian King, professor of geography, associate head for the department’s resident graduate programs and Population Research Institute associate, has been appointed head of the Department of Geography. He began on July 1.King succeeds Cynthia Brewer, who will remain an active member of the faculty…
Flood Risk is Higher in Rural and Disadvantaged Communities
Jul 19, 2021
A joint research brief by Penn State's Danielle Rhubert, assistant professor of biobehavioral health and Population Research Institute associate, and Yu Sun, Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Syracuse University, addresses how flood risk varies across places with different demographic and social…
New EIC Podcast - Unemployment and the Labor Market
Jul 13, 2021
This month on the Evidence-to-Impact Podcast, we continue the Pandemic Perspective series and examine how the pandemic impacted unemployment and the labor market.To debunk some of the concerns and myths of unemployment and dive into the shifting economy, we spoke to Sarah Damaske, Ph.D., associate…
COVID-19 and The Commonwealth: County-Level Differences in Vaccination and Death Rates
Jul 13, 2021
A recent policy brief by the Pennsylvania Population Network at Penn State shows the “great differences” in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the Commonwealth. Written by Cassandra Krencisz, Anna E. Shetler, Samiha Taseen and Raeven Faye Chandler, this report explores these differences and analyzes…
Morgan named AERA Fellow
Jul 13, 2021
CEDR Director and PRI Affiliate Paul Morgan, the Harry & Marion Eberly Faculty Fellow and professor of education (education theory and policy) in the Penn State College of Education, is one of 19 exemplary scholars chosen by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) as 2021 AERA…
US women feel guilty about this, but men don't
Jun 28, 2021
Opinion by PRI Associate Director Sarah Damaske for CNNAn engaged mother of three, Vanessa worked as a certified nursing assistant, making just above minimum wage. She had no savings when her employer downsized, and she worried about how her job loss would impact her kids and her fiancé. She…
Ehrenthal named director of Social Science Research Institute
Jun 23, 2021
The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research welcomes Deborah Ehrenthal, MD, MPH, as the new Director of the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), effective September 1, 2021. Dr. Ehrenthal succeeds Dr. Susan McHale, who is returning to her full‐time faculty position after 14 years as…
After School Shootings, Well-Off Families Flee and Enrollment Drops. Low-Income Kids are Left to Confront the Aftermath
Jun 21, 2021
For more than a decade after the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in suburban Denver, Frank DeAngelis held a simple promise: He’d stay on as principal until every student class enrolled in the district during the attack reached the graduation stage.Despite the community upheaval and…
New book, 'The Tolls of Uncertainty,' examines the US unemployment system
Jun 18, 2021
In April 2020, soon after the pandemic forced the U.S. into lockdown, the unemployment rate reached 14.8%, the highest documented since data collection began in 1948. More than a year later, 4.2 million fewer women and 3.5 million fewer men are employed, compared to just before the start of the…
McHale featured in Best and Worst Places to Raise a Family feature
Jun 15, 2021
SSRI Director Susan McHale is featured as an expert in WalletHub's 2021 Best and Worst Places to Raise a Family feature. Read McHale's insight and advice here.
Consequences of COVID-19 on adolescent behavior
May 12, 2021
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been widely reported, but less is known about the indirect consequences on health-related behaviors. Researchers recently discovered that while there was a decline in physical activity in adolescents during stay-at-home orders, there were no changes in the…