FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2001
Public Information Office CB01-13
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio@census.gov
Janet Shapiro
301-457-1839
Census Bureau and Duke University
Open Research Laboratory
The Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau, in
partnership with Duke University, has opened a Research Data Center (RDC)
laboratory on the university's campus in Durham, N.C.
Located in the heart of North Carolina's "Research Triangle," the new
Triangle Census Research Data Center (TCRDC) laboratory, which opened last
month (December), offers qualified researchers restricted access to
unpublished economic and demographic data collected by the Census Bureau
in its surveys and censuses. RDC operating procedures, strict security and
strong legal safeguards assure the confidentiality of these data as
required by law.
"The fundamental scientific merit of research on crucial issues can be
substantially improved by access to these data," said Marjorie McElroy,
chair of the Duke University Economics Department and faculty advisor for
the TCRDC. Research topics, she said, include health, aging and Social
Security, immigration, education, crime, unemployment, productivity,
economic growth, technological change, information technology and
intellectual property rights.
"The Census Bureau in turn, will have its data enhanced substantially by
feedback from the researchers in these areas," McElroy said. "This center
will bring researchers of the highest caliber to live and work in the
Triangle, and that is particularly exciting to me."
Similar centers already have been established by the Census Bureau in
Washington, D.C., Boston, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Berkeley, Calif.
Before gaining access to information in RDCs, researchers must submit
proposals to the RDC and the Census Bureau for approval. The review
process ensures that proposed research is feasible, has scientific merit
and benefits Census Bureau programs.
The Duke site was chosen jointly by the Census Bureau and the National
Science Foundation (NSF). Funding to support the center has been provided
by the NSF and the three universities that form the geographic triangle
for which the Research Triangle is named -- Duke, the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
For information about the Center for Economic Studies and its Research
Data Centers program, visit its Web site at http://www.ces.census.gov.
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