Jorgensen Research Building

Located on the campus of the United States Academy of Extranormal Studies on the opposite edge of the Academy Forest from the USAES Old Campus, the Jorgensen Research Building) (also known as the Jorgensen Research Center, or  'JRC' ) is the location of the USAES Mental Enhancement Program. (Before the major program restructuring of 1962, the building was the home of the USAES Special Communications Systems Program. The newly christened USAES Mental Enhancement Program was given the JRC when the renovations were completed, while the other part of the SCS Program - now known as the USAES Advanced Cybernetics, Mechanics and Electronics Program (ACME) - was moved into their permanent home in the newly-constructed Compton Engineering Building.)

The building is five stories tall, with three subterranean floors. The second subterranean floor is designed for high-level psionic testing, and is therefore built to specifications closely resembling Zero Area). The top (fifth) floor of the JRC is a residence floor; it is constructed with reinforced materials, with special dampener systems, redundant emergency systems for continuous power and consumables (like water) and other security systems. This was done to accommodate cadets and other individuals who have severe psionic power-control issues and need to be placed in protective quarters for the safety of themselves and others.

The third floor houses short-term resident accommodations.

The second floor houses the Academy Child Care Center. Designed to provide 24/7 care services for children of Academy personnel and young psi-actives who require such care, the Center encompasses two-thirds of the entire floor, and the walls, floors and ceilings are all reinforced (so that even high-gravity/weight beings and those with uncontrolled enhanced strength can move about without causing catastrophic damage to the building. Each activity room on the floor possesses an environmental regeneration system and defense field generators that can seal off the room in case of emergencies, allowing persons inside a secure area for up to seventy-two hours. The Center possesses everything needed to take care of infants to tweens, including meals, toys, video games, snacks, places for them to sleep and bathe, laundry and seamstress services for clothes, lockers for personal things, books, study materials, an exercise area,  tutors from the Elite Academy, and cadet volunteers to care for the children (infants in particular).

The first subterranean floor is of note, as it is where the memorial to fallen cadets and graduates of the program is located.

The JRC was built to replace the Altorfer Sciences Hall, which was all but destroyed by an F4 tornado on March 18, 1925 (during the tornado outbreak that spawned the infamous Tri-State Tornado. The tornado damaged several buildings on campus, including the Administration Hall (which was also severely damaged); the destruction was the impetus for a massive rebuilding effort that reshaped the Academy and almost tripled the size of the campus.

Construction of the building was begun in 1928 and completed in July 1934. (The rebuilding efforts was one of the reasons why the surrounding area did not suffer the same terrible effects of the Great Depression as most of the rest of the nation, as local workers made up a great deal of the construction efforts, and the local towns were beneficiaries of secondary benefits of the years-long project, including food banks and coup kitchens that remained open even during winter and summer months to provide healthy foods (including fruits & produce) as well as providing advanced medical care for the area.)

Built to be more impregnable to damage than any other building on the USAES campus, the Jorgensen Research Building is designated as a Level 4 secure emergency shelter where cadets and others can seek shelter in the event of any emergency situation. (Level 4 shelters are built to allow persons to survive anything short of a direct hit from nuclear weapons for indefinite periods.) The building possesses a dedicated defense shield generator that also acts as an environmental screen; in addition, there are also a pair of secondary generator units that can reinforce the main generator or act independently at 70% of the main generator's capacity. (This was part of the design requirements included with the first major renovation of the JRC after the technology was certified for static defensive use, and was included because of the destruction of the former Mental Enhancement Program building because of a tornado.) In addition to existing safeguards, the emergency systems in the JRC are designed to be reinforced by Academy staff or cadets who have forcefield-generation abilities (should the need arise).

There have been three major renovations to the JRC since its construction; in the early 1960s, the mid-1980s and in the mid-2000s. A fourth major renovation project is scheduled for the early 2030s.

President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy (the U.S. Attorney General) were in attendance at the official re-opening of the building on August 1, 1962, after the JRC's first major renovation. This was considered an especially prestigious event, as both Kennedy brothers were psi-actives (this is still considered an 'open secret' from the general public) and were met with open arms by the psi-active personnel. The 1962 renovation also included the construction of a helicopter landing facility large enough to support the largest helicopters currently in existence, as well as any J/STOL aircraft (such as the Gridrunner-A aircraft used by members of National Legion Chapter #1). This are has been renovated with current upgrades and improvements during each of the subsequent renovations of the JRC.

In the second major renovation (which went from January 1984 to May 1985), additions included two small cafeteria with 24 hour service (on the first and third floors; this replaced a daily service which delivered meals from the Faulkner Dining Hall), three personal holo-chambers (on the third floor) for use by individuals or small groups), a small lecture hall on the first floor (it seats 300 people) which can also be used for conferences and viewings of films and other material, and two lounge areas (on the first and fourth floors). The first-floor main lounge has been said to resemble a comfortable hunting lodge, with large, oversized chairs and couches, hardwood floors, and a pair of large, luxurious fireplaces. The Academy Child Care Center was also rebuilt into its current configuration during this renovation.

For security purposes (especially because of the Academy Child Care Center), the JRC also has a full squad of Marines stationed in the building for 24-hour security. In addition, the Phantom Eagles (the USAES elite cadet cadre) also has standing orders that in case of an emergency alert being declared at the JRC, they have a sixty-second response time to be on-site, with orders to immediately secure the Child Care Center.

A decades-long tall tale concerning the JRC is that it was built on its location expressly for the purpose of annoying the faculty and cadets of the USAES Mystical Enhancement Program, as they have had a rivalry with the program all the way back to the founding of the Academy, when the psi-active cadets were part of the now-disbanded USAES Special Communications Program.