Central Plains Federal Statistical Research Data Center
Federal Statistical Research Data Centers are partnerships between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions. They are secure facilities providing authorized access to restricted-use microdata for statistical purposes and help facilitate and support researchers in business, economics, social, behavioral, health, and life sciences.
The University of Iowa along with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Iowa State University (ISU), and other consortium partners won National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to establish the Central Plains Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC), the first Federal Data Center in the Great Plains. The center will be based at UNL and ISU is scheduled to build a satellite location by 2018.
Logistics
UI researchers must travel to one of the secure rooms to access any non-public data. Access is arranged through a short proposal process and security check that can take a few months. The RDC will help provide support for preparing such proposals.
Once approved, researchers set up a time to visit the RDC to do their analysis under the supervision of Federal Census employees on site. The products of this analysis are screened so that only certain information can be taken back with the researcher (e.g., tables of results or figures).
Cost
Access to the Central Plains Federal Statistical Research Data Center for UI researchers is currently provided at no additional charge.
Contact Information
Contact the ISRC through our general email address at isrc-info@uiowa.edu.
Advisory Board
Frederick J. Boehmke, ISRC and Political Science
Corinne Peek-Asa, College of Public Health and Associate Dean for Research
Ben Rogers, Director of UI ITS
Rich Hichwa, Department of Physics & Astronomy and Senior Associate Vice President for Research
Maggie Carrel, Department of Geographical & Sustainability Sciences
Dave Frisvold, Department of Economics
Resources
Video introduction to the Central Plains RDC
Video of presentation by Dr. John Abowd, "Social Science Research in the Era of Restricted Access Data"
Available Data can be found here.
Information about getting access to the RDC can be found here.
Information about how to apply for access to an RDC can be found here.
View a news article about the UNL site that we will partner with here.
The NSF proposal to establish the center can be viewed here.