The IPR Administrative Core has two main goals: (i) to provide essential support to the other two cores (Development and Data & Computing); (ii) to maintain infrastructure which is crucial to IPR's day-to-day functioning. The core is designed to accomplish its two goals with a minimum of staffing and related expenses, thereby freeing maximum resources for more direct investment in population science research. The Core is directed by IPR Director Casterline and has two full-time staff members (Office Manager and Grants Manager), one GRA, and one undergraduate assistant. Support for the Development Core includes management of the large IPR Seed Grant Program. This core also provides all administrative services for the IPR Seminar Series, didactic workshops, working groups, junior faculty mentoring, and various grant-writing activities. Further, the Grants Manager is available to assist with development of external awards for population science research. Support for the Data & Computing Core principally involves purchase of essential supplies including hardware, software, and data-sets. Apart from direct support to the two other cores, the Administrative Core: maintains the IPR Database, produces progress reports; conducts the annual IPR evaluation; assists in dissemination of research findings; communicates with IPR affiliates and the wider OSU community; and manages IPR's 6000- square-feet office space. The Administrative Core also is responsible for assisting IPR affiliates with compliance with research regulations. This core is crucial to the success of IPR as an interdisciplinary population science research center virtually all of IPR's efforts to nurture population science research at Ohio State University rest on an administrative foundation. The interdisciplinary character of IPR makes certain administrative functions especially important. the seed grant program must be well-publicized and conducted in a manner which is regarded as open and fair; events such as the IPR Seminar must be communicated effectively across campus; those persons pursuing population science research at OSU must be aware of the availability of IPR services; and regular activities, such as the IPR Seminar and working group sessions, must be well-managed so that participants feel engagement with IPR is a good use of their time. In addition, thorough and rigorously-structured documentation of IPR activities and accomplishments via the IPR Database is essential for presenting ourselves to others (e.g. annual reports) and conducting ongoing evaluation. Going forward, the main impetus for growth and elaboration of this core will be IPR's new Data & Computing Core. New activities will include: maintaining constructive relationships with supercomputing resources, advocacy for the interests of population scientists within the OSU institutional IT; advocacy for population science in the emerging cloud computing field; and assistance with documenting Data & Computing Core activities for the purposes of performance evaluation and assessment of IPR community data and computing needs. Moreover, procedures for accomplishing routine administrative tasks will inexorably evolve, and this core will keep pace.
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