MARYLAND POPULATION RESEARCH CENTER

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请请求继续支持马里兰大学(UMD)马里兰人口研究中心(MPRC)继续颁发人口研究基础设施奖。MPRC于1988年在社会学领域成立，2000年成为一个跨学科中心，并于2002年获得第一个R24基础设施奖。该奖项使该中心的规模扩大，外部资助的项目数量增加，并促进了跨学科交流。第一届R24奖支持的活动对MPRC同事的研究环境产生了重大影响，特别是对年轻教师。NIH的R03资助机制是有针对性的，并导致资助的研究人员数量大幅增加。UMD教务长以MPRC在培养年轻教师和促进跨学科团体方面的成功为例，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名科学家从事创新研究，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、社会学和调查方法教师的智力家园。中心下属机构的研究计划通过解决以下问题来促进公共卫生：时间使用和儿童发展与健康；社会和经济不平等及其对健康和健康差距的影响；以及家庭变化和亚群变化及其与健康家庭的关系。该中心的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。新的奖项将有助于支持MPRC的行政、计算、信息和开发基础设施核心。这些核心的任务是满足人口科学家的需求，并促进跨学科环境。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使用、犯罪和人口、定性方法和空间分析的合作者小组的新活动。这些跨学科小组是吸引相关领域的科学家进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.