About

The NSF-Census Research Network Coordination Office (NCRN-CO) coordinates activities of the eight nodes of the NSF-Census Research Network (NCRN). Each node is comprised of researchers conducting innovative, high-disciplinary investigations of theory, methodology and computational tools of interest and significance to the Census Bureau, the federal statistics system and the broader research community. The eight nodes include

• Carnegie Mellon University,
• the University of Colorado at Boulder/University of Tennessee,
• Cornell University,
• Duke University/ National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), 
• the University of Michigan,
• the University of Missouri,
• the University of Nebraska and
• Northwestern University.

Operations and Goals

The NSF-Census Research Network Coordinating Office (NCRN-CO) is operated collaboratively by Cornell University and the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) in support of the NSF-Census Research Network internally as well as its relationships with multiple stakeholder communities. Major goals, as outlined in the original proposal, are to:

1. Organize the semi-annual meetings of the NCRN research leaders, as specified in the program solicitation;
2. Facilitate communication, information sharing, and collaboration among researchers within the NCRN, using a variety of advanced communication and collaboration tools;
3. Facilitate node interactions with staff from the Census Bureau and other relevant statistical agencies;
4. Facilitate interactions with members of stakeholder communities outside of the network;
5. Facilitate and coordinate educational activities at nodes, and disseminate educational and outreach materials to a wide audience;
6. Coordinate and support activities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows;
7. Host and maintain a website (http://www.ncrn.info) for public dissemination of research findings and their implications to a broad and diverse set of communities.

Organization

The Coordinating Office has a management team composed of individuals with experience at both the nodes and in the larger scientific and statistical community. Lars Vilhuber (Cornell University) is responsible for the success of overall operation of the Coordinating Office, and manages day-to-day activities and planning. He is assisted and supported by staff at Cornell University and NISS. Jerome P. Reiter (Duke University), Maggie Levenstein (University of Michigan), and Daniel H. Weinberg (DHW Consulting) advise and supplement Vilhuber. Vilhuber, Reiter, and Levenstein all have PI roles at their respective nodes as well, and Weinberg, among his many previous activities, was the Census Bureau liaison to the NCRN prior to his retirement from the federal government. (Alan Karr (RTI) and John M. Abowd (Cornell University) were previously part of the management team.)

But because the Coordinating Office is precisely that - namely an office that coordinates - all of the principal investigators of the NCRN are regularly consulted on issues that are of importance to the network. 

History and Funding

The NCRN Coordinating Office (NCRN-CO) is funded through NSF Grant 1237602 and NSF Grant 1507241. The networks activities are funded through a combination of NCRN-CO funds, funds contributed by each of the individual nodes, and in-kind contributions by the U.S. Census Bureau.

• NSF-Census Research Network Program Announcement and Solicitation
• Dear Colleague Letters
• Awarding of the Grant 1237602
• Awarding of the Grant 1507241

Additional Information

• National Science Foundation's page on NCRN
• US Census Bureau's page on NCRN
• Follow us on Twitter: @NCRNCO

Contact

You can contact us through our contact form.