Office Hours: Julia Ticona talks sociology and superpowers
In the latest episode of 'Office Hours,' a Penn Today podcast, Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.
Julia Ticona, assistant professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication.
Here, in the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Office Hours” podcast series, which explores the minds of the University’s academic talents in a more unbuttoned setting outside of the lecture hall, Ticona unpacks the “sociological imagination,” explains how people are adapting to new technologies and gig economies born from them, and what superpower she’d embrace if given the choice.
1:12: The “sociological imagination” and what Ticona studies
3:50: The “actual story” of how the cell phone kickstarted her research
13:55: Smartphones as a utility
23:20: Chitchat about roller rinks, who she’d invite to an ideal dinner, and more
34:22: Which superpower she’d choose between reading minds, being invisible, or flying
Griffin Pitt, right, works with two other student researchers to test the conductivity, total dissolved solids, salinity, and temperature of water below a sand dam in Kenya.
Griffin Pitt’s upbringing made her passionate about water access and pollution, and Penn has given her the opportunity to explore these issues back home in North Carolina and abroad.
Rashi Sabherwal, a doctoral student in political science, explores how women engage politically in society in informal roles through her research in India.
Helping robots work together to explore the Moon and Mars
Penn Engineers, NASA, and five other universities tested robotic systems designed to help unmanned explorers cooperate in the dunes of White Sands, New Mexico, paving the way for Moon and Mars exploration.
