University of Michigan Institute for Social Research awarded $25 million for construction, election studies

Today is a $25 million payday for the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

The ISR received word it has won a $14.8 million grant for construction and renovation, which it will use for an addition - including a high-tech, 220-seat auditorium - to its 1965 building at 426 Thompson St. in Ann Arbor.

And the National Science Foundation awarded $10 million to the institute to fund the American National Election Studies, one of its most well-known endeavors.

ISR has conducted the ANES since 1948, and it shares the award with the Stanford University Institute for Research in the Social Sciences. The award will allow ISR to study voter participation and decision-making in the mid-term elections of 2010 and the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

The injection of cash from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, via the National Institutes of Health, brings total ARRA stimulus funding for the ISR to $48.3 million.

ISR Director James Jackson said the construction and renovation project is expected to create as many as 200 short-term and long-term jobs.

This 1964 photo from the Bentley Historical Library shows construction on the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. ISR will receive a $14.8 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant for construction and renovation.

Photo courtesy of University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

The ISR's five centers and $80 million annual budget support the research of 200 scientists across 20 disciplines. In addition to survey studies, the ISR develops and tests survey methodologies, hosts a global archive of computerized social science data and serves as a training ground for researchers and students.

"I appreciate the National Institutes of Health continued commitment to maintaining the excellence of institutes of social research and improvement," Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said today in a written statement. "ISR is internationally renowned and respected around the nation for the work they accomplish."

Jackson said at the ISR's 60th anniversary celebration last October that the future will include more disciplines, more funding, a greater international reach and a focus on climate change.

"The construction grant will help us build and develop space that will allow programs of research to evolve that really address these issues," Jackson told AnnArbor.com today.

The building currently lacks a large-scale meeting place, he said.

The infusion of construction money and addition will allow for a large, modern communication space that encourages collaboration, as well as an increase in research and training facilities.

Jackson called the ANES project a great opportunity. "We're very excited," he said.

The project will include face-to-face interviews with voters before and after the presidential election. There will be a large focus on race and ethnicity via a series of new Internet surveys, and overall, the study will seek to include large numbers of black and Hispanic voters.

"We will use the study to probe the extensive political and social dynamism of the period between 2009 to 2013, a remarkable period of American history marked by a dire economic situation, two wars and the inauguration of the country's first African American President," U-M political scientist Vincent Hutchings, a principal investigator for the four-year project, said in a written statement.

Hutchings said other survey topics will be selected via an online commons designed to include input from a range of scholars.

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter