Temple has launched a new Urban Apps & Maps Studio, a program being funded by a five-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The studio, which is led by Todd Abrams, draws on resources from across Temple. The principal investigator on the grant is Youngjin Yoo, a management information systems professor in the Fox School, but the co-investigators include faculty from five other schools and colleges at Temple. The studio combines two broad initiatives under way at Temple — encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and promoting economic development of the region around the university, with a focus on health care, transportation, personal finance, community development and education. "All interface with the needs of the residents of the Philadelphia Housing Authority," said Michele Masucci, who chairs the Department of Geography and Urban Studies.