McCourt School of Public Policy
Massive Data Institute
Massive Data Institute

Research Data Center

GURDC is a joint project by the Census Bureau and the Massive Data Institute, which provides a secure data lab to enable research on restricted data sets.  To use the lab, researchers must develop a project proposal, receive approval for the project, and undergo security clearance.

Contact us to discuss the feasibility of your project ideas:

Jelena Leathard, GURDC Administrator, jelena.leathard@census.gov
Amy O’Hara, GURDC Executive Director, amy.ohara@georgetown.edu

Check out our Resources

GURDC Overview slidedeckGURDC Fee Schedule (updated June 2026)FSRDC WebsiteResearcher HandbookThin Client User Guide
Current projects at the GURDC

FAQ

The lab is located in Healy Hall, Room G-05. Link to directions.

There are no entry or project submission fees for faculty, staff, and students at Georgetown and our partner institutions.  Other researchers should refer to our Fee Schedule and contact Amy O’Hara (amy.ohara@georgetown.edu) with any questions.

Foreign nationals must show that they have lived in the US for three of the past five years.  They must recertify annually with the Census Bureau (ask Administrator for current recertification fee).

Yes, provided you and your advisor acknowledge (in writing) that you understand the timelines involved with a FSRDC project.

It generally takes 6-9 months to complete the proposal development process, security clearances, and training before you can start analyzing data in the lab.

Check out SAP.NSF.gov  to search for datasets.  The FSRDC network includes data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Census Bureau, National Center for Health Statistics, and National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics – and is still growing.

Some agencies support proposals to use state, local, and private sector data that have been acquired for statistical use.  Browse available datasets at SAP.NSF.gov .  Contact Amy O’Hara (amy.ohara@georgetown.edu ) with any questions.

Yes, there are protocols for bringing Researcher Provided Datasets to your project space.  If you want data matched at the person or business entity level, you may incur additional fees (described at this link).  Contact Jelena Leathard (jelena.leathard@census.gov) with any questions.

The Census Bureau used to post a downloadable list of their approved projects, but that site is unavailable.  We will relink the info when it becomes available again.

The lab contains secure terminals that access restricted data from federal agency servers; no data are stored onsite.  Researchers are monitored for compliance with security measures.  Anyone who violates security or disclosure protocols are subject to loss of privileges, as well as civil and criminal penalties.

Certain projects are eligible for secure remote access.  Researchers on approved projects must conduct a number of research sessions in the GURDC and complete additional training for virtual access before using remote log-in credentials.

The following software applications are available on the FSRDC server: Fortran, Gauss, GEODa, Gurobi, Intex Composer X, Knittro, Madd, Mathematica, Matlab, NX Enterprise, PBS Pro, Perl, Python-Anaconda, QGIS, R, Rstudio SAS, SAS Dataflux, Stata, Stata-MP, StatTransfer, SUDAAN, Tex/LaTex, and Tomlab.

Yes, refer to our fee schedule to learn about costs associated with regular use of GURDC.  If you only need access for a limited time (e.g., three months while interning in DC), please contact Amy O’Hara (amy.ohara@georgetown.edu).

The Georgetown University RDC seeks to provide a safe and productive environment free from harassment and discrimination based on social identity. GURDC researchers have a professional obligation to conduct themselves and interact in a civil and respectful way and to abide by standards of scientific integrity and professional ethics.