How we make decisions during a pandemic

From mask wearing to physical distancing, individuals wield a lot of power in how the coronavirus outbreak plays out. Behavioral experts including Damon Centola reveal what might be prompting people to act — or not.

Communication
Sociology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

There Are 3 Things We Have to Do to Get People Wearing Masks

Lyle Ungar's New York Times op-ed discusses how best to persuade people to wear protective face masks. “It’s not too late to apply three basic principles from behavioral science: make it easy, understood, and expected, and we’ll soon see face masks everywhere, saving lives.”

Computer and Information Science

Consensus and Contagion in Society

LDI Awards Special Rapid-Response COVID-Related Research Grants

The University of Pennsylvania's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (LDI) has announced the award of thirteen COVID-19 Rapid Response Research Grants. Hamsa Bastani was awarded one of these grants for her study, which aims to recover unbiased estimates of the true number of positive cases in US counties.

Operations Information and Decisions

Ubiquity of Data

COVID-19 and Food Security Challenges

Raghu Iyengar explores the art and science of risk management as it applies to global food security, both today and post-coronavirus, in this recent Wharton Magazine article.

Marketing

Ubiquity of Data

To err is human, to learn, divine

New research from Dani Bassett finds that the human brain detects patterns in complex networks by striking a balance between simplicity and complexity, much like how a pointilist painting can be viewed up close to see the finer details or from a distance to see its overall structure.

Bioengineering
Electrical and Systems Engineering

Evolution, Emergence and the Brain

Vijay Kumar Receives the 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award

Vijay Kumar has been selected as the recipient of the prestigious 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award. He was honored for “Contributions to cooperative robotics; networked mobile manipulation systems, particularly unmanned aerial vehicles; and leadership in robotics research, policy, and education."

Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Ubiquity of Data

Duncan Watts named 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Duncan Watts' Carnegie project aims to deepen our understanding of misinformation and its consequences for democracy, culminating in the production of interactive dashboards that will enable journalists, policymakers, and members of the public to ground policy discussions in facts and evidence.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Operations Information and Decisions

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Q & A with Professor Yoo on internet connectivity during the novel coronavirus pandemic

John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science Christopher Yoo, recently shared his observations concerning the importance of internet connectivity during the pandemic with Penn Law's Office of Communications.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Law

Ubiquity of Data

#ICA20 Top Paper Profile – Jovanova, Lydon-Staley, O’Donnell, Pandey, Parelman, Kang, Bassett, & Falk

The Communication Science and Biology (CSaB) Interest Group awarded four teams top papers for #ICA20. Dani Bassett and Emily Falk are two of the authors on a paper that looked at what makes some people more receptive to health messaging than others.

Bioengineering
Communication
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being

In a Q&A, researcher Lyle Ungar discusses why counties that frequently use words like ‘love’ aren’t necessarily happier, plus how techniques from this work led to a real-time COVID-19 wellness map.

Computer and Information Science

Ubiquity of Data

News

How we make decisions during a pandemic

There Are 3 Things We Have to Do to Get People Wearing Masks

LDI Awards Special Rapid-Response COVID-Related Research Grants

COVID-19 and Food Security Challenges

To err is human, to learn, divine

Vijay Kumar Receives the 2020 IEEE Robotics and Automation Technical Field Award

Duncan Watts named 2020 Andrew Carnegie Fellow

Q & A with Professor Yoo on internet connectivity during the novel coronavirus pandemic

#ICA20 Top Paper Profile – Jovanova, Lydon-Staley, O’Donnell, Pandey, Parelman, Kang, Bassett, & Falk

Language in tweets offers insight into community-level well-being