---
The U.S. Census Bureau has inaugurated a Federal Statistical Research Center in Puerto Rico, marking the first such facility in the U.S. territories, thereby granting access to a vast array of sensitive data gathered by the U.S. government, including demographics, wages, housing, and health-related information, as reported in the journal Science.
Following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, social scientists in Puerto Rico sought to initiate studies to support the rebuilding and enhancement of its struggling communities and economy; however, they faced challenges accessing U.S. government data. Obtaining these data required travel to one of the 33 secure, limited-access data centers operated by the U.S. Census Bureau located across the continental United States, according to the Science report.
The new center will allow “academics to investigate essential research subjects” and assist “local leaders in making better, data-informed decisions,” stated Don Graves, deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the parent agency of the bureau, as quoted by Science during a ribbon-cutting event on September 9 in San Juan.
Once operational this year, the center will enable Puerto Rican researchers to request local access to a vast collection of data compiled by federal entities such as the Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service, and the National Center for Health Statistics.
Raúl Santiago-Bartolomei, an urban planner affiliated with the University of Puerto Rico, expressed his aspirations to utilize data that would inform his efforts on housing affordability and the impact on residents displaced by disasters like Hurricane Maria, according to Science. Elizabeth Fussell, a sociologist and demographer from Brown University, anticipates that the center will encourage collaborations between researchers based in Puerto Rico and their counterparts on the U.S. mainland.
Moreover, the center could also enhance the competitiveness of researchers in the territory for federal research funding opportunities.
