Dr. Cameron took part in the event "Promoting Empathy in Adolescence: Creating Engaged Global Citizens and Enabling More Peaceful, Inclusive Societies" at Wilton Park in West Sussex, England in early December. Details about the event can be found...
Lab News
Lab Publishes Interdisciplinary Paper on Empathic AI in Current Directions
Dr. Cameron has published a paper on empathy expressed toward, and empathy received from, embodied social robots, in Current Directions in Psychological Science. This paper is the culmination of years of conversation with engineer Alan Wagner (at...
Dr. Cameron Receives CSRAI Grant For Empathic AI 2026 Conference
Dr. Cameron has received a seed grant from the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence to help support an interdisciplinary conference on empathy and AI in late spring 2026. Look out for more details at the website for the...
Dr. Cameron Receives Faculty Upskilling Fellowship in AI
Dr. Cameron received a Faculty Upskilling Fellowship in AI and Quantum Sciences from the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (see more details here). Through this fellowship, Dr. Cameron will receive a course release and travel funding to...
Congrats to Faruk Yalcin for Defending his Thesis!
Congratulations to third-year graduate student Faruk Yalcin, who defended his masters thesis on outrage and information-seeking. Excellent work, Faruk!
Dr. Cameron on Empathy for Deep-Sea Animals
Dr. Cameron was interviewed by Caitlin Bailey, a wildlife cinematographer who films deep-sea exploration for the Global Foundation for Oceanic Exploration, on the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer (she's also a National Geographic Explorer). She reached...
WPSU Reach Podcast on Empathy with Dr. Cameron
Dr. Cameron discussed empathy on the Reach podcast, on WPSU, our local NPR affiliate. Take a listen, and please share to support empathy, science communication, and public media! Listen below, and to learn more about Reach (and their approach to...
Dr. Cameron Discusses Empathy on Maine Calling
This summer, Dr. Cameron was invited to talk in a panel discussion about empathy and social life for Maine Calling, a well-known live show on Maine Public Radio. There were several callers and panelists, and it was a wide-ranging and interesting...
Paige Amormino Joins EMP Lab as PAMT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Paige Amormino has joined the lab as a new post-doctoral scholar! She will be taking part in the Prevention Research Center's Prevention and Methodology Training (PAMT) program, as a PAMT Post-Doctoral Fellow. Paige studies prosocial decisions...
Congrats to Josh Wenger for Defending his Thesis!
Josh Wenger successfully defended his master's thesis on AI and empathy choice at the end of May. Congratulations, Josh!
Kudos to EMP Lab Undergraduates!
Congratulations to several of our EMP Lab undergraduates, graduating and otherwise -- well deserved and excellent work! Skylar Cui, who graduated this spring, will be taking a new position as a full-time research assistant at the Cognition, Affect,...
Rachel Buterbaugh Named Psychology Student Marshal
One of our graduating seniors, lead research assistant Rachel Buterbaugh, has been named the Psychology Department student marshal for this weekend's commencement ceremony. Congratulations, Rachel!
Expanding Empathy Series Returns for 2025
For the 7th year, Dr. Cameron is bringing back the Expanding Empathy Speaker Series through the Rock Ethics Institute, and now the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making. For more about the series and how to register for the free Zoom webinars in May,...
Political Morality Conference at Penn State
We held a conference here at Penn State, through the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making, about political divisions and morality. We brought together scholars from psychology, political science, philosophy, sociology, communications, and media...
Welcome to Jolie Kretzschmar!
The EMP Lab welcomes Jolie Kretzschmar, who will be joining the lab in fall 2025 as a new graduate student. Congrats, Jolie!