The University of Iowa's Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) and Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) are exploring the renewal of an institutional membership with the Central Plains Federal Statistical Research Data Center (CPRDC).

The institutional membership would provide qualified UI researchers secure access to a wide range of restricted-use federal datasets available through the U.S. Census Bureau's FSRDC Program. UI researchers would be able to access these data at the Iowa Federal Statistical Research Data Center, which opened at Iowa State University in September 2025. The Iowa FSRDC is located in 382 Heady Hall on the Iowa State University Campus, a two hour drive from Iowa City.

Before purchasing an institutional membership, CSSI and OVPR need to gauge research interest to ensure that the membership fees are a good investment for the UI research community.

If you are unfamiliar with FSRDCs, helpful resources and weblinks are provided below. 

Complete Interest Form by January 31, 2026

Please complete this interest form if you are interested in accessing the Iowa FSRDC. The form will give you the opportunity to indicate your level of interest and record a project idea using FSRDC data.

By completing this form, you will also be notified of any updates regarding a UI institutional membership to the CPRDC.

START HERE

FSRDC Introduction Video

More about the FSRDC data

A wide variety of datasets across multiple disciplines are available providing information on demographic, economic, health, crime, education, and other social indicators. For instance, the hub provides access to restricted-use data of the National Crime Victimization Survey, American Community Survey, National Health Interview Survey, and many others. Further, the FSRDCs seek to facilitate broader access to a range of existing ecological and climatological data sets, including those pertaining to water and food security, and sustainability in urban and rural settings. 

Restricted federal datasets at FSRDCs have: (1) detailed geographic identifiers facilitating detailed analysis, (2) the ability to link data sets providing powerful combinations of administrative and survey data, (3) full population counts or full samples supporting greater statistical power in estimation, and (4) original variables prior to data cleaning and processing. 

Interested in FSRDC Access?

Complete this interest form and record your project idea. By completing this form, you will also be notified of any updates regarding a UI institutional membership to the CPRDC.

START HERE