Geography research helps shape recent graduate’s path toward law

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — During her final semester at Penn State, Marsella Degnan gained hands-on research experience through the Department of Geography by helping track how opioid settlement funds are being used across Pennsylvania.

Degnan, who recently earned a bachelor of science degree in earth science and policy, joined the project through the geography department’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Connection, or UROC, program. She worked with postdoctoral scholar Halie Kampman, whose research examines how organizations across Pennsylvania are using opioid settlement funds, a geographic approach that considers how policies, resources and their impacts vary across places and communities.

Degnan’s role involved listening to and analyzing interviews with fund recipients, then working with Kampman to organize participants’ responses by topic and identify common themes.

“Through UROC, I gained experience with qualitative research, which I had not done before,” Degnan said. “I learned the importance of cleaning and coding data and how those steps help us understand how opioid settlement funds are being used and how recipients experience the process.”

The work is connected to the Elevate Pennsylvania Initiative, which was developed by the Penn State Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction to help communities make the most of opioid settlement funding by sharing resources, supporting research and coordinating efforts across the state. Pennsylvania is set to receive about $2 billion over 18 years through settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, with the money intended to support treatment, prevention, recovery and other responses to the opioid epidemic.

Kampman’s research focuses on nonprofits, government bodies, recovery programs and other organizations receiving some of those funds, studying how they are using the money, what challenges they have encountered and how they are thinking about the future of programs supported by the settlements.

“Examples of the funded programs include school-based prevention education, recovery housing and mobile medical units that distribute naloxone, or Narcan,” Degnan said, referring to a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. “One organization was able to hire two full-time prevention specialists and increase its programming in schools with this funding.”

Degnan said the interviews added context that could not be found in program descriptions or funding records alone.

“The interviews help us better understand how the funds are being used and how stakeholders experience the process,” Degnan said. “Hearing from people with lived experience adds an important perspective to the opioid crisis.”

Degnan said the project complemented her existing interest in law, and she is now studying for the LSAT as she prepares for law school.

“The research helped me see the aftermath of decisions that were made regarding a settlement, which is something that relates very much to a career in law,” Degnan said. “I’ve gained a better understanding of the legal and policy frameworks behind the funds, the decision-making process and how they’re implemented at the local level.”

The pair plan to publish a research paper from the project, and Kampman said the work gave Degnan experience as part of a research team studying an issue with statewide implications.

“It’s an opportunity to be part of a research team that has real-world impacts at the state level,” Kampman said. “The research we do feeds back into people who are making decisions.”

Degnan said she valued having the chance to contribute to work connected to an issue affecting people across Pennsylvania.

“This is different than a regular classroom assignment because you are more invested in the work and watch the impact of your research firsthand,” Degnan said. “Knowing that the research could be useful to communities made the work feel more meaningful.”

The UROC program, which began in spring 2014, offers undergraduate students research and professional development opportunities through Penn State’s Department of Geography. Students can earn academic credit while gaining experience that supports future employment or graduate study.