SMU is opening a new Family Research Center to work with Dallas-area women’s shelters, according to a press release from SMU’s Assistant Director to News and Communications Robert Bobo.

The dedication is at 10 a.m. today on the 11th floor of the Expressway Tower located at 6116 Central Expressway between Yale Boulevard and Mockingbird.

Kristing Kracke from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is expected to join SMU President R. Gerald Turner and psychology professors Ernest Jouriles and Renee McDonald.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be accompanied by demonstrations of equipment that monitors heart rate, respiration and other physiological responses. There will also be interviews that demonstrate how audio/visual recording equipment is used.

According to a study in the Journal of Family Psychology, more than 15 million children have witnessed some form of violence between cohabiting adults, and more than 20 percent of American couples engage in domestic violence.