“Supporting novel interdisciplinary research to address critical human and social problems.”
About SSRI grants:
Objectives & funding priorities
“Our mission is to foster research that addresses critical human and social problems at the local, national, and international levels. We do so by bringing together researchers from different disciplines around emerging areas of study, and by providing consultation, financial support, shared, accessible infrastructure, and services to social scientists at Penn State.”
There are 11 SSRI Institutes and centers, each with their own objectives and funding priorities:
Types of grants funded
There are 5 areas of research that the SSRI focuses on:
- The Human System: How environments and experiences “get under the skin” to affect stress and immune functions, social, cognitive, and affective neural processes, and gene-related mechanisms—and the ways in which these bio-psycho-social processes both shape and are shaped by human behavior, health and development.
- Social Disparities: Discovery of causes and consequences and development of evidence-based policies and practices for remediating widening gaps in the health, education, and community resources of vulnerable populations, including children, youth, elders, and their families—toward sustaining a diverse and changing population in a global society.
- Smart and Connected Health: Health and mental health promotion and disease prevention and treatment using novel methodologies (electronic devices, social media, human-technology hybrids), “big data” analytics, and other innovations for enhancing health and health behavior and optimizing health care and health care delivery using evidence-based practices and policies toward a sustainable health system.
- Innovative Methods: Novel approaches to research design, data collection, security, and archiving, and modeling and analysis pertaining to our targeted foci and beyond.
- Dissemination and Implementation Science: The scientific study of best methods for translating knowledge into policies, programs, practices, and products that achieve broad and sustained uptake and use toward enhancing the health and well-being of individuals, their communities, and the larger society.
Eligibility
Faculty, Co-funded Faculty
Levels of funding
There are several levels of funding, as well as funding related to specific institutes, types of research, and services offered:
- Commonwealth Campuses Research Collaboration Development Program (for Commonwealth Campus Faculty)
- Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse: Community Fellows Program
- Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse Strategic Hires
- Frances Keesler Graham Early Career Professorship
- GIA Pilot Hours for Social Science Research
- SSRI Co-Funding of Faculty
- SSRI Faculty Fellows Program
- SSRI Level 1 Funding
- SSRI Level 1 RDC Funding
- SSRI Level 2 Funding
Important links for more information:
Website
Contact information
114 Henderson Building
University Park, PA 16802
Email: ssri-info@psu.edu
Phone: 814-865-1528
Application and guide
To view applications and guides for submitting a specific type of SSRI grant (see “Levels of funding” for detailed list), go to https://ssri.psu.edu/funding1 to review and select the level/type of funding applicable to your project.
Examples of funded grants
Title: Are Schools in the U.S. South Using Special Education to Segregate Students by Race?
Description/Summary: The researchers hypothesized that minority (e.g. Black and Hispanic) students were being under-identified as having a disability, compared to White students in the US South. Previous research has suggested these populations may be over-represented in special education classes, but theses studies have been dismissed as flawed. They used logistic regressions models of disability status in their analyses, and confirmed that students who are Black or Hispanic are less likely to be identified as having a disability (e.g. speech or language impairments, ADHD, autism etc.).
Journal Article: Morgan, P. L., Woods, A. D., Wang, Y., Hillemeier, M. M., Farkas, G., & Mitchell, C. (2020). Are Schools in the U.S. South Using Special Education to Segregate Students by Race? Exceptional Children, 86(3), 255–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402919868486
Title: Assessing risk of commercial sexual exploitation among children involved in the child welfare system
Description/Summary: This study sought to identify risk factors for children at risk of commercial and sexual exploitation (CSEC) already in the child welfare system’s youth population. Previous research has found a high incidence of children who have been victims of CSEC to have previous involvement in the welfare system. They used previously collected national data (National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being) which includes all children and families that entered the child welfare system. They identified 7 risk factors that predicted CSEC including youth previously running away from home, use of drugs and alcohol, and having been sexually active before the age of 14.
Journal Article: Panlilio, C. C., Miyamoto, S., Font, S. A., & Schreier, H. M. C. (2019). Assessing risk of commercial sexual exploitation among children involved in the child welfare system. Child Abuse & Neglect, 87, 88-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.07.021