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Research

The College of the Liberal Arts’ graduate programs offer a wide range of opportunities within the humanities, languages, and social sciences for students to complete research.

Our innovative centers and institutes facilitate interdepartmental and interdisciplinary research and outreach on particular topics of academic or societal importance. These—in addition to our dozens of research labs—allow undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty to work alongside each other to examine our past and present through various lenses to address and solve our most prominent societal issues and prepare future generations to create a better tomorrow.

Find research opportunities
Doctoral student Maggie Hernandez received a five-year, $327,812 award to study Cuban and Cuban-American health disparities.

Graduate Research

A great way to enhance your graduate experience and develop skills that will be attractive to future employers is through research. Participate in research and get to know faculty on a different level, in a different setting.  

Maggie Hernandez
Grad Research

Maggie Hernandez

’24
Ph.D. Anthropology
Ph.D. Anthropology
Maggie received a five-year, $327,812 Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Transition Award for a Diverse Genomics Workforce from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to support her multifaceted research project, “Noventa Millas: Migration history, genomic ancestry, and health disparities among Cuban immigrants and Cuban-Americans in the United States.”
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Alex Herrera
Grad Research

Alex Herrera

’25
Ph.D. Latin American History and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Ph.D. Latin American History and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Alex was awarded the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship through the U.S. Department of Education to conduct her dissertation research in Guatemala, where is is examining how transnational networks of Guatemalan, American, and European doctors, public health officials, politicians, city police, and sex workers created and shaped prostitution regulations and medical knowledge about sexually transmitted infections in Guatemala City.
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Estilita Maria Cassiani Obeso
Grad Research

Estilita Maria Cassiani Obeso

’22
Ph.D. Spanish and Linguistics
Ph.D. Spanish and Linguistics
“My research focuses on the use of Creole by a new generation. Palenquero is a Creole language, so my research compares its uses by other speakers, and I am reporting changes in the language. I am also helping teachers at schools in Palenque find better ways to teach Palenquero.”
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Faculty Research

There are more than 780 full-time faculty in the College of the Liberal Arts spanning more than fifty disciplines in the liberal arts ranging from anthropology and economics to global security and women’s studies. Our graduate students have the opportunity to find faculty whose interests match theirs and work with the best of the best. 

Faculty ResearchHistoryRichards Center

Rachel Shelden

Director of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
Director of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center
Rachel is an associate professor of history who focuses her resarch on the political and constitutional history of the the long nineteenth century—encompassing 1789 to 1914.
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RachelShelden
Faculty ResearchHistoryMiddle East Studies

Laura Robson

William L. and Donna F. Oliver-McCourtney Professor of History
William L. and Donna F. Oliver-McCourtney Professor of History
A scholar who specializes in the Middle East and especially the Arab world, Laura and a fellow scholar launched a digital humanities project to tell the stories of and raise awareness and scholarship about stateless people.
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LauraRobson
AnthroplogyFaculty AchievementFaculty Research

Kirk French

Teaching Professor of Anthropology
Teaching Professor of Anthropology
In the summer of 2022, Kirk’s documentary—which explores environmental challenges faced by a Mexican community—was nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy.
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KirkFrench (1)
AnthropologyArchaeologyFaculty ResearchMatson Museum of Anthropology

James Doyle

Director, Matson Museum of Anthropology
Director, Matson Museum of Anthropology
A former assistant curator of art of the ancient Americas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, James Doyle has big plans for the Matson Museum of Anthropology at Penn State, which will be relocated in the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building in 2024.
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JamesDoyle (1)
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Rock Ethics researcher Yael Warshel's book receives second major accolade

Rock Ethics Institute research associate Yael Warshel is poised to receive a book award at the International Communication Association’s annual meeting for her pioneering work in the book “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication, and Socialization.” Her book, a critical examination of peace communication interventions and their effects on children in conflict zones, has received international acclaim, with this being the book’s second major accolade.

University Libraries Open Publishing launches 'The Future of Foster Care'

Penn State University Libraries’ Open Publishing program recently launched a new Open Access monograph. “The Future of Foster Care: New Science on Old Problems,” edited by Yo Jackson and Sarah Font, is a collection of expanded conference proceedings from the 2019 conference of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, a national leader in research designed to influence public policy that better protects vulnerable children from abuse.

New book celebrates the life and work of 19th-century enslaved potter and poet

P. Gabrielle Foreman, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature and professor of African American studies and history at Penn State and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, embarked on a decade-long creative endeavor that culminated in her recently released edited volume, “Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake.”

WPSU explores the present-day lessons hidden in the shared tales of 'Past PA'

WPSU uncovers the stories that unveil the triumph, grit, caution and legend that make up the history of the commonwealth in a new digital series titled “Past PA.”

Janet van Hell named Penn State distinguished professor

Janet van Hell, a longtime Penn State faculty member in the College of the Liberal Arts’ Department of Psychology and director of the Center for Language Science, was recently promoted to distinguished professor of psychology and linguistics.

‘Third space’ offers clearer insights into ancient and modern Chinese issues

Liberal Arts Professor of English and Asian Studies Xiaoye You’s new book on rhetoric in early imperial China offers insights into how ancient rulers built and maintained an empire, and what that may reveal about contemporary issues.

Center for Language Science hosts Language and Linguistics Day

Nearly 100 Centre County high school students visited Penn State’s University Park campus on April 12 to participate in the fourth annual Language and Linguistics Day hosted by Penn State’s Center for Language Science.

Annual substance use conference examines stigma, opioid crisis

The Penn State Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction recently hosted its fourth annual conference in the HUB-Robeson Center at the University Park campus. 

Penn State research team receives NIH grant to study HIV treatment messaging

An interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers have received a $442,750 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, to support a multi-faceted, three-part study that observes how gay and bisexual men search and find HIV prevention information — specifically information about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a medicine that when taken as prescribed, is very effective at preventing HIV.

Three-part project probes, celebrates art, culture and history of Andean peoples

Two Penn State professors — one in history and the other in art history and anthropology — have collaborated on a three-pronged project that will spark conversation and awe about the art, culture, science and history of Andean peoples.

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