MPRC Moves to Morrill Hall

For decades, Morrill Hall has housed numerous units within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS). The building is rich in campus history; it opened in 1898 and is one of only two buildings on campus in proximity to the great fire of 1912 to survive the catastrophe, and has been visited by teams of paranormal experts, as it is rumored to be haunted. Now, after an extensive renovation project, Morrill for the first time is home to the Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC).

“We are privileged to be occupying a building that has the longest period of continuous service of any campus building,” MPRC Director Michael Rendall said.

Established in 1988, the MPRC draws together leading scholars from diverse disciplines to support, produce and promote population-related research of the highest scientific merit. Today, MPRC includes 89 Faculty Associates and 93 Student Research Affiliates from 17 University departments across eight colleges and schools including units in the new School of Public Health, founded in 2007. The cross-disciplinary research interests of our faculty allow MPRC to make a unique contribution to the field of population studies, to develop a variety of young scholars, and to encourage scholars from allied fields to engage in population-related research through research support, training and mentoring.

Because of the success and widespread impact of its faculty and research projects MPRC, since 2002, has received core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Population Research Infrastructure Program.

MPRC leadership and staff worked with BSOS and UMD facilities management teams to renovate the space, and the results have been excellent, says Center Director Michael S. Rendall. “We are delighted with the spaces that the BSOS team has created based on interviews where they made an assessment of our needs. The architects, project managers, and all of the workers have done a great job,” he said.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1356","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"299","style":"width: 250px; height: 156px; margin: 5px; float: left;","width":"480"}}]]Most MPRC Seminars are held in the large BSOS conference room on the first floor of Morrill. The second floor features a meeting room with a capacity of 10-12 persons and includes state-of-the-art teleconferencing capabilities. This floor also houses graduate student and faculty flex-space, 10-12 laptop and computer workstations equipped with specialized tools, dedicated space for Center GAs, post-docs, and visiting scholars, and the Migration Lab directed by sociologist Andrés Villarreal.

The third floor of Morrill Hall houses the MPRC Computing Core, which features a Secure Data Laboratory that has been expanded to include six work stations. There, researchers have access to restricted datasets to enable more incisive projects. The area also features a “breakout” space for meetings and collaborative conversations.

In addition to computing facilities in Morrill, MPRC faculty, staff and students have access to advanced computer training facilities in nearby LeFrak Hall, and some seminars are held at various locations in the School of Public Health.

“This new facility expands our opportunities for building interdisciplinary dialogue around population research. We look forward to many years here at the heart of the traditional campus, close to so many important contributing departments and units,” Dr. Rendall said. “You can’t walk from Tydings to LeFrak without passing MPRC. That makes it easier than ever to meet and seek common areas of interest.”

Published on Mon, Oct 27, 2014 - 10:27AM