The University of Wisconsin-Madison received approval to build a new Research Data Center that will allow researchers to study census data that have never been available to them before.
The Research Data Center, or RDC, is a research center that supplies administrative data, such as income, policies and education to the public, according to a university release. The U.S. Census Bureau gathers the information, which the public could otherwise not obtain.
The center will give students, faculty and researchers at UW-Madison the opportunity to study the opinions and patterns of the general public in order to find ways to create a more effective society and economy, according to the statement. Other available data could possibly reveal the sources of business growth, economic growth and the improvement of educational programs.
University leaders said the RDC will present an opportunity for more advanced interdisciplinary research at UW-Madison, according to the release.
“This will enhance our social scientists’ ability to analyze critical economic and social questions using census data,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in the statement.
The UW-Madison RDC will be a branch location of the RDC at the University of Minnesota. The research at the RDC will be available to those at UW institutions such as UW-Milwaukee as well as investigators at Wisconsin state institutions.
“I’m also excited to see graduate students and faculty researchers across many social science disciplines interact through use of these unique data,” Executive Director Brent Hueth said in the release.
The RDC is expected to be built in the Sewell Social Science Building by 2015.
