5.18
Michele W. Berger
Science News Officer
mwberger@upenn.edu
Sociology
Latin American and Latino Studies celebrates 30 years of growth, plans for the future
What began as a handful of faculty and students has matured into a program offering a major and minor, grants, and a local and international community hub.
Weekly paid professional staff learn resilience through free, online opportunity
Offered through the Online Learning Initiative and the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, the course teaches participants resilience, gratitude, authenticity, and more.
U.S. fertility is at an all-time low, but is that a bad thing?
Researchers from the Population Studies Center dissect the latest CDC numbers and explain the role of migration patterns, better family planning, and delayed parenthood.
When green ‘fixes’ actually increase the carbon footprint
New research shows that when tech companies move in, they often encourage a sustainability mindset, but lead to gentrification and stable or higher emissions.
The times and life of W.E.B. Du Bois at Penn
In 1896, Du Bois was appointed an assistant instructor at Penn and began his investigation of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia—research that he would turn into his groundbreaking work, “The Philadelphia Negro.”
Supreme Court decision a boon for truck drivers and, potentially, the gig economy
Three Penn experts discuss the ruling, which gives transportation workers the ability to sue their employers in class-action lawsuits, sidestepping forced arbitration.
Becoming a mother reduces a woman’s earning potential by up to 10 percent per child
In a Q&A, Sandra Florian, a post-doctoral fellow in sociology and the Population Studies Center, discusses motherhood’s short- and long-term effects on a woman’s career.
What happens when someone’s skin color and racial identity don’t align?
Doctoral student Haley Pilgrim is trying to answer this question through her research, which focuses on second-generation multi-racial populations.
Testing the reproducibility of social science research
A team co-led by Gideon Nave of the Wharton School replicated 21 high-profile social science studies and found discrepancies with the original research. Researchers betting in prediction markets, however, were quite accurate at predicting which findings would replicate and which would not.
Centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth
It has been 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela, elected as South Africa’s first black president after being imprisoned by the apartheid government for nearly three decades. Penn Professor Tukufu Zuberi of the School of Arts and Sciences discusses Mandela’s legacy and his continuing impact today.
Media Contact
In the News
Associated Press
Study Finds False Stories Travel Way Faster Than the Truth
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center questions a study’s methods for measuring truth in news stories, and suggests rebranding “false” stories as “viral deception” to emphasize the severity of potential harm.
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Dame Magazine
The New Yorker Has a Byline Problem
Research by Alex T. Williams of the Annenberg School for Communication has shown that minority journalists are hired at lower rates after graduation than white journalists, in part because of fewer opportunities while still in school.
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