What four months ago seemed unattainable for criminology and criminal justice professor Gary LaFree is now solidifying into an international network experts arming themselves with knowledge to tackle a crucial issue facing the world: terrorism.

LaFree’s focus turned from solitary research to more collaborative efforts after Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced in early January that the university’s team of terrorism experts had won a three -year, $12 million research grant for a new center to study terrorism. LaFree will be the director.

Connections with terrorism experts throughout the United States and abroad, with specialists in criminology, psychology, bioterrorism, conflict resolution and natural hazards research, among others, are the main reason the university secured the grant.

These experts will now cooperate in a new Center for Excellence for Behavioral and Social Research on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism, based in College Park, which LaFree, administrators and other professors hope will become a hub for sociological terrorism research.

“We plan to make it a magnet for this kind of research,” said LaFree, who is also a professor in the Democratic Collaborative on the campus.

The intent of the center is to focus on interdisciplinary research, ending the practice of lone professors sheltering themselves from opinions outside their own area of study.

University President Dan Mote was adamant about the center being located on the campus, rather than the other option near the College Park Metro Station at the university’s research park. Details of the location are not definitive.

“We’ll put it on campus somewhere,” he said, adding, “I think on the campus is important, so I’m going to work hard to make it happen.”

LaFree said officials from the homeland security department are expecting a definitive answer when they return to campus in two weeks.

Though there are four similar centers funded by the homeland security department, and more are expected, LaFree and other participators said this one is unique because its research will come from a social science perspective.

“A lot of people are out there studying terrorism without studying people,” he said.

Though terrorist organizations are usually very sophisticated and well-networked, LaFree said they can be studied like less intricate organizations, such as gangs, just on a higher level.

“There are a lot of social and psychological perspectives that could be applied to terrorism that just haven’t been done,” LaFree said.

The research could contribute to understanding of behavioral and psychological patterns, said Arie Kruglanski, a psychology professor and principal investigator of the new center.

“The terrorism phenomenon is a human and social phenomenon,” he said.

The new funding will allow the team to continue to update a terrorism database that will allow researchers, experts and surveyors to go on-scene immediately following a terrorist attack, which LaFree said is “unusual” in the Social Science field.

The database details 70,000 terrorist attacks and with the new grant will allow this information to be implemented into the new research projects.

Though the grant is only slated for three years, many involved in the project are expecting the center to be a permanent part of the campus, and expect to offer internships and certificates for undergraduate and graduate students.

“We want this to be a permanent center, not just around for three years,” said Kruglanski. Others echoed his thoughts.

“Does anyone expect homeland security issues to end in three years?” asked LaFree.

The center proposes to complete 36 projects in three years and hopes the results will help thwart terrorism and give everyone a better understanding of how and why terrorists operate.

“This is an opportunity to gain better understanding of terrorists,” said Kruglanski.

Kruglanski said the other 27 applicants for the grant were well-qualified, and after two days of examination by homeland security officials, he and other team members weren’t certain they had won.

Winning the grant also means a lot for the university, officials said.

“This is exceptional because it’s in social science … because it was highly competitive nationally,” Mote said.

Kruglanski went further. “It’s a great boost to our national prestige. .. the eyes of the scientific community are now upon us, which also means it’s a great responsibility.”