Types of Events
Work in Progress Series
Work in Progress is a series of events where graduate students and faculty members across disciplines present their ongoing work in front of an audience.
We especially invite you to participate if you are a student who may find yourself teaching or taking a methods course in the future, if you are a student who teaches methods or data analysis informally through one one-on-one meetings with your students or peers, or if you are a faculty member using or teaching research methods in a quantitative/qualitative/mixed methods course!
This is also an excellent place to interact with and know more about the plethora of methods grad students and faculty members use across disciplines at Purdue and explore opportunities for potential collaborations! Reach out to mcap@purdue.edu if you are interested in presenting your work.
Workshops
MCAP hosts several workshops on quantitative and qualitative research methods conducted by faculty members from across disciplines in behavioral, social, and health sciences as well as graduate students. This is an incredible place to learn the usage of new tools and methods of research with hands-on experience from experts across different fields.
Special Events
MCAP also hosts miscellaneous special events. Often, these include guest speakers discussing methodological research or other topics of interest to the MCAP audience. We also host a flash talk event at the beginning of each academic year to showcase the methodological work of newly hired faculty.

Upcoming MCAP Events
| September 4rd, 2025, 1:00-4:00 PM Workshop | PFEN 241 | Introduction to R Dr. Katie Thompson (Post-Doc, Sociology, Purdue University) Slides and Code Here |
| September 19th, 2025, 2PM-5PM Workshop | WALC 3122 | Longitudinal Network Analysis Workshop Dr. Scott Duxbury, Associate Professor, UNC Slides and Code Here |
| October 1st, 2025, 11:30am-12:30PM WIP | Stone 215 | Chenchen Lu: Whose Stories Trigger Reflection? A Curriculum Experiment on Teacher Sensitivity Jennifer Hu: Personalized Machine Learning to Predict Parent–Youth Biobehavioral Interaction across Timescales. |
| Oct. 3rd, 2025, 3PM-5PM Special Event | Cornerstone Library, First Floor, HSSE | Annual MCAP New Faculty Flash Talk Event Wine, Cheese, and Heavy Appetizers |
| Oct. 22nd, 2025 | PFEN 241 | Noninvasive and minimally invasive measures of human development: A focus on puberty, stress, and adolescence Dr. Birdie Shirtcliff, Research Professor, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and University of Oregon |
| November 5th, 2025, 11:30AM-12:30PM WIP | PFEN 241 | Reproductive Healthcare Deserts at the U.S. County level, 2010-2023 Christie Sennott, Purdue University Sara Yeatman, University of Colorado Denver Matt Gunther, NORC at the University of Chicago Piritmwa Shemu, Purdue University |
| December 9th, 2025, 12:00PM-1:15PM WIP | Location TBD | Poster Session for MCAP/HDFS Course |
| December 12th, 2025 WIP | Location TBD | Co-sponsored with Political Science Department Guest Methodologist: Arthur Spirling Details forthcoming |
Past MCAP Events
| February 3rd, 2025, 1:30-2:30 PM WIP | WALC 2121 | Deep Learning Techniques for Diagnosing Mental Health Disorders using Genetic Information and Environmental Factors Dr. Rafael Geurgas (Post-Doc, Sociology, Purdue University) & Advocacy of Love: International LGBTQ+ Discourse and the Essentiality of Human Rights Aditya Anand Singh (PhD Student, Political Science) |
| February 7th, 2025, 1PM-4PM Workshop | WALC 3121 | Intro to Deep Learning Models and Application to Social Sciences Dr. Rafael Geurgas (Post-Doc, Sociology, Purdue University) |
| March 7th, 2025, 11am-2pm Workshop | Nelson 1215 | A Social Scientist’s Introduction to Item Response Theory Dr. Brooke Magnus (Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College) Slides Example R code Example Stata code |
| April 2nd, 2025 1:30-2:30PM WIP | KRAN G002 | Developing Tools for Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure Training in the Social Sciences Dr. Nicole Kong (Associate Dean for Research, GIS, Purdue University) and Dr. Ian Lindsay (Associate Professor, Anthropology, Purdue University), and Dr. Rajesh Kalyanam (Senior Researcher, Rosen Center for Research Computing) Drawing Parallels across Complex Trait Genomics and Social Science: Integrating Environmental and Genetic Risk Factors for Depression Dr. Katie Thompson (Post-Doc, Sociology, Purdue University) |
| April 7th, 2025, 1PM-4PM WORKSHOP | WALC 3132 | Building Strong Research Foundations: How to Design and Publish Your Simulation-Based Power Analysis Yongseok Lee (Post-Doc, Human Development and Family Science, Purdue University) Slides R files |