About MCAP
History
With support from Purdue University’s Provost’s Faculty Cluster Hire Program, the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Sciences collaborated on a cluster hire initiative of tenure-track faculty to expand campus-wide expertise in advanced quantitative and qualitative methods in the behavioral, social, and health sciences. As of Fall 2017, eight new faculty were hired under this initiative and join other faculty at Purdue with research and teaching interests in methods.
Faculty hired under this cross-college initiative contribute to the research and teaching missions of the units in which they affiliate and collaborate with others within the cluster and across the University in interdisciplinary and extramurally funded research.
Over the years, methodologically-oriented faculty already at Purdue and other new hires joined the group, which become known as Advanced Methodologies at Purdue (AMAP). AMAP expanded rapidly from 2017 to 2024, growing to 100 core faculty and affiliates and offering a graduate certificate in advanced methodologies.
MCAP Today
In the summer of 2024, the group officially became The Methodology Center at Purdue (MCAP) with generous support from the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Sciences. The founding co-directors of MCAP were: Trent Mize, Kristine Marceau, James McCann, and Sharon Christ.
MCAP continues to expand its mission in a variety of ways, including:
- Offering a graduate certificate in Advanced Methodologies of the Behavioral, Health, and Social Sciences
- Offering a yearly interdisciplinary course in the methods of the health and social sciences
- Providing grant resources for faculty and graduate students at Purdue
- Offering a methodological expert finder
- Hosting regular events including a Work-In-Progress series, one- and two-day workshops on advanced methodological techniques, special events, and outside speakers
- A yearly Summer Institute on longitudinal data analysis for large, complex data (beginning in Summer 2025)
- Graduate student awards for (a) best methodological paper and (b) a small grant for a methodological project
People
MCAP currently includes 115 faculty members which includes 15 core faculty members and 100 faculty affiliates. MCAP's leadership team includes 4 co-directors and a graduate research assistant.
Looking for a methodological expert? See a list of all MCAP members sorted by their methodological expertise.