MARYLAND POPULATION RESEARCH CENTER

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请要求支持马里兰大学（UMD）马里兰人口研究中心（MPRC）的人口研究基础设施奖的延续。MPRC成立于1988年，于2000年成为一个跨学科的研究中心，并于2002年获得了第一届R24基础设施奖。该奖项扩大了中心的规模，增加了外部资助项目的数量，并促进了跨学科的交流。第一届R24奖支持的活动对MPRC同事，特别是年轻教师的研究环境产生了重大影响。NIH资助的R03机制是有针对性的，并导致资助的研究人员数量大幅增加。UMD教务长引用了MPRC在培养年轻教师和促进跨学科小组方面的成功，宣称“我们强烈建议这个项目有可能成为校园其他努力的典范。”MPRC目前有55名从事创新研究的科学家，是人类学、犯罪学、经济学、地理学、人类发展、公共卫生、公共政策、社会学和调查方法等学科教师的智力家园。中心附属机构的研究项目通过解决有关时间利用、儿童发育和健康的问题来促进公共卫生；社会和经济不平等及其对健康和保健差距的影响；家庭变化和亚群变异及其与健康家庭的关系。中心同事还通过为人口研究提供新的数据和方法来促进公共卫生。新合同将帮助支持MPRC的管理、计算、信息和发展基础设施核心。核心的使命是满足人口科学家的需求，并培养一个跨学科的环境。MPRC的新信息核心将扩大基于网络的工具的部署，以加强中心的活动，并为学者提供管理研究合作的有效手段。该奖项将资助旨在研究时间利用、犯罪和人口、定性方法和空间分析的合作者团体的新活动。这些跨学科小组是吸引相关领域的科学家加入人口科学和增加跨学科交流的关键因素。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application requests support for continuation of the Population Research Infrastructure Award to the Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC) at the University of Maryland (UMD). MPRC was founded in 1988 in Sociology, became an interdisciplinary center in 2000 and received its first R24 Infrastructure Award in 2002. The award enabled an expansion in the size of the center, the number of externally funded projects, and fostered interdisciplinary exchange. The activities supported by the first R24 Award had major impact on the research environment for MPRC associates, especially for young faculty. The R03 mechanism for NIH funding was targeted and led to a substantial increase in the number of researchers funded. The UMD Provost, citing MPRC's success at developing young faculty and promoting interdisciplinary groups, declared "we strongly recommend that this program potentially serve as a model for other Campus efforts." MPRC now has 55 scientists engaged in innovative research, and is the intellectual home for faculty in anthropology, criminology, economics, geography, human development, public health, public policy, sociology, and survey methods. The research program of Center affiliates advances public health by addressing questions about time use and childhood development and health; social and economic inequality and its impact on heath and health disparities; and about family change and subgroup variation and its relation to healthy families. Center associates also advance public health by contributing new data and methods for population research. The new award will help support MPRC's Administrative, Computing, Information, and Developmental Infrastructure Cores. The Cores' mission is to meet the needs of population scientists and to foster an interdisciplinary environment. MPRC's new Information Core will expand the deployment of web-based tools to enhance Center activities and to provide scholars effective means of managing research collaborations. The award will fund new activities aimed at groups of collaborators studying time use, crime and population, qualitative methods and spatial analysis. These interdisciplinary groups are a key element in attracting scientists from allied fields to the population sciences and in increasing interdisciplinary exchange.