The U.S. Census Bureau has approved the construction of a new Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The new center will join the network of 23 FSRDCs located around the country, including one on the Penn State University Park campus.
The FSRDCs provide qualified researchers a secure environment in which to access restricted-use microdata from the Census Bureau, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Center for Health Statistics, and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Four research institutions, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Penn State, have formed a consortium to operate and fund the Philadelphia center together with the existing FSRDC on the Penn State University Park campus.
The Philadelphia FSRDC is planned to open in 2017.
Information about the FSRDC network is available at http://www.census.gov/fsrdc.
The Penn State FSRDC is a unit within the Social Science Research Institute. Funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation, it opened in April 2014 and is located in Paterno Library. Questions about the center can be directed to Mark Roberts, director of the Penn State FSRDC and professor of economics, at mroberts@psu.edu.