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Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Communications
Having a strong life purpose eases the loneliness of COVID-19 isolation
Having a strong life purpose eases the loneliness of COVID-19 isolation
Those who felt their life was guided by meaningful values or goals were more willing to engage in COVID-19 protective behaviors.
The multilayered challenges of broadband expansion
The multilayered challenges of broadband expansion
Penn professors identify the challenges ahead for expanding broadband access to people who need it, in areas both rural and urban.
Correcting misperceptions about—and increasing empathy for—migrants
Correcting misperceptions about—and increasing empathy for—migrants
Americans dramatically overestimate the number of migrants affiliated with gangs and children being trafficked.
Partisan politics and the opioid epidemic: A social media analysis
Partisan politics and the opioid epidemic: A social media analysis
Researchers at Penn Medicine explored how partisanship might affect legislative progress on the opioid epidemic by analyzing the content of state legislators’ opioid-related social media posts over time.
How news coverage affects public trust in science
How news coverage affects public trust in science
News media reports about scientific failures that do not recognize the self-correcting nature of science can damage public perceptions of trust and confidence in scientific work.
From facts to fake news: How information gets distorted
From facts to fake news: How information gets distorted
Wharton’s Shiri Melumad on how news becomes increasingly biased when it’s repeatedly retold.
2021 cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows for Academic Diversity named
2021 cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows for Academic Diversity named
The competitive program, managed by Office of the Vice Provost for Research, is designed to support early career researchers and scholars while enriching the Penn community.
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs increased among users of conservative and social media
COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs increased among users of conservative and social media
Belief in conspiracies about the COVID-19 pandemic increased through the early months of the U.S. outbreak among people who reported being heavy users of conservative and social media.
Four Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Four Penn faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences
The new members of the Academy, honored scholars recognized for their unique and ongoing contributions to original research, include researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Annenberg School for Communication.
A new theory for what’s happening in the brain when something looks familiar
A new theory for what’s happening in the brain when something looks familiar
This novel concept from the lab of neuroscientist Nicole Rust brings the field one step closer to understanding how memory functions. Long-term, it could have implications for treating memory-impairing diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Media Contact
In the News
Boston Globe
Two public radio stations. Two different business models. One future of public radio in Boston hangs in the balance
Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication says that there’s a greater need for public broadcasting than ever before, especially as entire sectors of the commercial news media system are crumbling.
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CNN
After four years with COVID-19, the U.S. is settling into a new approach to respiratory virus season
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that the sense of urgency around vaccination has faded as attention on respiratory viruses wanes.
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Forbes
Americans’ confidence in science remains high, finds new review
A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center suggests that most Americans continue to have confidence in science and scientists.
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Yahoo! Finance
Media companies cut thousands of jobs so far this year. They're not coming back
Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication says that the ad-revenue business model for journalism has collapsed and can’t be replaced with paywalls.
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Christian Science Monitor
Meet Sora: AI-created videos test public trust
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that AI video-creation can manipulate images in ways that make them seem more real than the original artifacts.
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MarketWatch
Meta, Google and other social-media companies brace for heightened deepfake perils ahead of 2024 elections
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that the capacity exists in 2024 for individuals and nation-states to generate more misleading content that is microtargeted and harder to detect.
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