Best Penn Science Policy Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 24: Research Translation Platform: Virtual Panel – Approaches to Addressing Substance Use Disorders in Justice-Involved Populations 55:28

4M ago55:28

55:28

Supporting Recovery, Strengthening Families, & Fostering Healthier Communities: Effective Approaches to Addressing Substance Use Disorders in Justice-Involved Populations Summary: The substance use epidemic in the United States remains a significant public health concern. The rate of drug overdose deaths has increased substantially over the past de…

1
China’s Response to COVID-19 – Yanzhong Huang 1:30:55

7M ago1:30:55

1:30:55

Perhaps the historic event of our time, the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare every country’s particular health care vulnerabilities and regulatory deficiencies, more starkly than in any other circumstances. In this episode, Neysun Mahboubi discusses with Yanzhong Huang, a preeminent expert on China and global health, the historical background to and dee…

1
Episode 23: The Adolescent Health Network from Penn State PRO Wellness

1y ago

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We’re back! The Evidence-to-Impact Podcast is back with a new episode where we discuss The Adolescent Health Network (AHN) from Penn State PRO Wellness. This episode features a conversation with Dr. Deepa Sekhar, executive director of Penn State PRO Wellness, Victoria Smith, career coordinator at Hershey High School in the Derry Township School Dis…

1
Episode 22: A Government-Research Partnership in Action 1:00:56

2+ y ago1:00:56

1:00:56

We're closing out this semester's season with a conversation about prevention and partnerships. We focus on a discussion between a long-standing collaborative relationship between Penn State and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth government, which targets interventions and prevention work targeted towards youth and families. Our episode covers a wide sp…

1
Episode 21: The Knowledge Mobilization Problem

2+ y ago

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For this month’s episode, we did something a little different. We spoke to two researchers with two different approaches to tackling the same problem: knowledge mobilization. In essence, the concept of knowledge mobilization focuses on making knowledge, resources or practices that exist in one space and making them accessible to specific audiences.…

1
Episode 20: Chronic Diseases: Underserved Communities, Prevention, and Genetic Factors 34:29

2+ y ago34:29

34:29

This month's episode tackles a fascinating combination of topics involving the impact of biological and social factors on chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, and the prevention and treatment efforts for those chronic diseases through state and local government programs. We spoke to Lindsay Fernández-Rhodes, Assistant Professor of Biobehavio…

1
Reporting From a Rising China – Edward Wong 2:22:21

2+ y ago2:22:21

2:22:21

Western media presence in China has been vastly reduced since February 2020, the consequence both of political tensions and the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Chinese government finally begins to dismantle its “zero-Covid” policy in December 2022, the prospect of Western journalists returning to on-the-ground reporting from China appears more promising …

1
Episode 19: Mental Health Screenings for Adolescents in the K-12 School System

3y ago

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This month's episode discusses mental health screenings for adolescents in the K-12 school system. We spoke to Deepa Sekhar, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine, and Executive Director, Penn State PRO Wellness; Perri Rosen, PhD, NCSP, Consulting Psychologist, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Servi…

1
Episode 18: The Perfect Storm: College Students, Mental Health, and the Sense of Belonging on Campus 44:40

3y ago44:40

44:40

The end of the spring semester marks the release of another episode! This month, we tackled the tough topic of mental health among college students. We talked about how COVID-19 has impacted college students seeking mental health services, the challenges for counselors and administrators working in university mental health centers, policy solutions…

1
Episode 17: Digging Deeper into the Juvenile Justice System

3+ y ago

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We're back for our third season! Kicking off the 2022 season, we explore the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania. We spoke to Megan Kurlychek, Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Public Policy and Associate Director of the Criminal Justice Research Center at Penn State, and Rick Steele, Executive Director of the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commi…

1
U.S. Human Rights Policy Towards China – Amy Gadsden 1:54:55

3+ y ago1:54:55

1:54:55

While the Chinese government’s actions in Xinjiang and Hong Kong lately have been the subject of particular scrutiny from U.S. policymakers, systematic attention to China’s human rights practices, more broadly, has been a consistent feature of U.S. policy towards China in recent decades, through successive Democratic and Republican administrations.…

1
China's Overseas NGO Law – Mark Sidel 2:08:01

3+ y ago2:08:01

2:08:01

In recent years, and especially under the administration of Xi Jinping, the Chinese government has “securitized” all manner of relationships between its citizens and outsiders. An important marker of this trend, which continues to generate intense concern, was the 2016 passage of the Overseas NGO Law, a new legal framework for managing the domestic…

1
Episode 16: Debunking the U.S. Census 46:33

4y ago46:33

46:33

This month's episode tackles all things related to the U.S. Census. We discussed the decennial Census, the data products created and released from the U.S. Census Bureau, the current demographic trends and challenges, and measuring hard-to-reach populations. We spoke to Raeven Chandler, Ph.D., Director of the Pennsylvania Population Network (PPN) a…

1
Episode 15: Innovations In Healthcare: Enhancing Value, Health Equity, And The Social Determinants Of Health

4y ago

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In this month’s episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can…

1
Episode 14: Navigating Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare System And Issues Of Child Maltreatment

4y ago

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This month marks the beginning of the third season of this podcast! We're kicking things off by exploring the opportunities and challenges of Pennsylvania's child welfare system. For the past several years, there has been an ongoing partnership between Penn State researchers and government partners to change the Commonwealth's county-based child we…

1
Episode 13: The Pandemic Perspective: Examining The Hardship Of Unemployment And The Pandemic Labor Market

4y ago

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For this month's episode, we explore a topic that we have wanted to cover for some time: unemployment and the pandemic labor market. As the nation begins to "reopen" and the economy begins shifting, many states have begun ending pandemic-era unemployment insurance benefits. For many, unemployment insurance was the only thing keeping them afloat fol…

1
Episode 12: The Pandemic Perspective: Revealing the Hidden Crisis of Food Insecurity

4y ago

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For this month's episode, we examined how the pandemic has revealed the "hidden crisis" of food insecurity throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the country. According to the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money or other reso…

1
Episode 11: The Pandemic Perspective: The Challenges and Opportunities of the Childcare System

4+ y ago

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This month, we return to our Pandemic Perspective series and explore the state of the childcare system in Pennsylvania during the pandemic. We discuss the challenges and opportunities to funding, access, and quality for the childcare system. We spoke to Karen Grimm-Thomas, Director of External Relations at the Pennsylvania Office of Child Developme…

1
Episode 10: Exploring PacMAT, The Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication-Assisted Treatment Program

4+ y ago

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This month, we are taking a break from our Pandemic Perspective series to examine an existing working relationship between academia and government. Since we talk a lot on this podcast about how the research community and government partners or policymakers can work together more effectively, it made sense for us to dig into an existing policy colla…

1
Episode 9 - The Pandemic Perspective: The Local and State Government's Response to COVID-19, the 2020 Election, and Everything in Between (Part 2)

4+ y ago

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This month's episodes feature everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. As part of our new series…

1
Episode 8 - The Pandemic Perspective: The Local and State Government's Response to COVID-19, the 2020 Election, and Everything in Between (Part 1)

4+ y ago

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This month's two part (!) episode features everything but the kitchen sink! We're tackling how government, primarily at the local and state levels, transitioned to remote work, unemployment and the recession, the messaging behind school closings/mask wearing, the 2020 Election, COVID-19 vaccines distribution, and everything in between. For the seco…

1
Episode 7 - The Pandemic Perspective: Examining the Delivery of Special Education Services During COVID-19

4+ y ago

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The Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative Podcast is offering a new series called The Pandemic Perspective, where we examine how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and various aspects of our society, institutions, and other systems have collided, changed, and even collapsed in the last nine months. For the first episode of this series, we spoke with three ex…

1
China's Rise and IR Theory – Yan Xuetong 1:22:16

4+ y ago1:22:16

1:22:16

No foreign policy topic currently garners more attention in the United States than its relationship with China, especially in light of China’s rise over the past few decades as an economic, technological, military, and strategic power and rival. In this episode, Neysun Mahboubi discusses with Yan Xuetong, one of China’s leading experts on internati…

1
Episode 6 - Examining Income Inequality in Pennsylvania: Why We Need More (and Better) Data

5y ago

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In this month's episode, we spoke to Alexis Santos, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State, and David Saunders, Director of the Office of Health Equity for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, about different disparities throughout the Pennsylvania Commonwealth and how the lack of good data impacts what we …

1
Episode 5 - The Stigma of the Opioid Crisis

5y ago

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What is there left to say about the opioid crisis that has not already been said? It's claimed thousands of lives, torn apart families and communities, strained our country's already fractured healthcare system, and cost the economy billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars. If burning a path through communities for the last twenty years was not enou…

1
Episode 4 - The Chronic Crisis of Housing

5y ago

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and unemployment benefits for many Americans decrease significantly at the end of July, many Americans will be unable to pay rents and mortgages and may face eviction. Given the severity of this particular crisis, July's episode focuses on multiple issues related to housing in America, like the lack of affordable …

1
China’s Domestic Security Under Xi Jinping – Sheena Chestnut Greitens 2:06:35

5y ago2:06:35

2:06:35

One of the hallmarks of Xi Jinping’s tenure as China’s leader, since 2012, has been the notable strengthening of the state’s coercive architecture, through which it endeavors to control Chinese society. In particular, Xi Jinping’s administration has substantially restructured the legal and institutional frameworks underpinning China’s domestic secu…

1
Episode 3 - Health in Rural Communities

5y ago

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For this month's episode, we spoke to Lisa Davis, Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health and Ann Tickamyer, PhD, Professor Emerita of Rural Sociology and Demography at Penn State, about the challenges and opportunities of healthcare in rural communities. Pennsylvania is considered one of the most rural states in the nation, and is anch…

1
Episode 2 - Aging in America: Challenges and Opportunities

5+ y ago

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For this month’s episode, we spoke to Penn State’s Marty Sliwinski, PhD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, and Stephanie Cole, Director of Special Projects and Executive Assistant at the Office of the Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Aging, about challenges and opportunities relat…

1
Episode 1 - Criminal Sentencing Guidelines

5+ y ago

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This week, we spoke to two experts on issue about criminal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing guidelines are a set of standards that are generally put in place to establish rational and consistent sentencing practices within a particular jurisdiction. Guests: Jeff Ulmer is a Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Penn State and the Program Head o…

1
Teaser Trailer

5+ y ago

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Join us each month as we explore issues affecting our families and communities.By The Social Science Research Institute

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Unpacking the Present Crisis in US-China Relations – Ryan Hass 1:21:36

5+ y ago1:21:36

1:21:36

Whatever the likelihood or implications of a potential truce in the US-China trade war, it seems clear that the overall relationship between the two countries has lately entered into a new, more harder-edged phase, defined by competition and perhaps even conflict in multiple areas: economic, technological, ideological, strategic, and conceivably mi…

1
The Rule of Law in Hong Kong (Part Two) – Johannes Chan 2:09:21

6y ago2:09:21

2:09:21

Dramatic protests in Hong Kong over the past four months, initially over a now-withdrawn draft law that would permit extraditions to mainland China, have brought to worldwide attention broader fears amongst Hong Kong residents that their city is losing its distinctive legal and political characteristics, that were supposedly to be preserved under C…

1
The Rule of Law in Hong Kong (Part One) – Johannes Chan 1:19:00

6y ago1:19:00

1:19:00

Dramatic protests in Hong Kong this month, over a draft law that would permit extraditions to mainland China, underscore broader fears amongst Hong Kong residents that their city is losing its distinctive legal and political characteristics, that were supposedly to be preserved under Chinese rule, according to the principle of “One Country, Two Sys…

1
How to Be a Sensitive China Watcher – Kaiser Kuo 1:47:25

6y ago1:47:25

1:47:25

Today, the reality and consequences of China’s rise have come to dominate news headlines the world over. Along with China’s growing wealth and power have come new tensions, with the United States and other countries, that further require better understanding of China’s story, in all its different facets. Given the stakes, there may never have been …

1
Chinese Governance Under Xi Jinping – Victor Shih 1:54:44

6+ y ago1:54:44

1:54:44

Despite little foreshadowing before he took office, President Xi Jinping has emerged as perhaps the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. This was reinforced in March 2018 when China’s National People’s Congress voted overwhelmingly to abolish presidential term limits, as had been stipulated under the 1982 PRC Constitution, a feature which…

1
Diagnosing China's State-led Capitalism – Yasheng Huang 1:47:02

6+ y ago1:47:02

1:47:02

As Chinese economic growth slows to its lowest rate in 30 years, there is rising concern (including among some Chinese scholars and officials) about the long-term viability of China's distinctive form of state-led capitalism, sometimes characterized in terms of a "China Model". Nevertheless, the Chinese government still appears committed to the app…

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