Archive of 2008 Announcements

ICPSR Announces the 2007/2008 Undergraduate Research Paper Competition Winners!

ICPSR would like to congratulate the winners of its annual Undergraduate Research Paper Competitions! These winners were selected out of 10 well-written submissions.

The winning paper titles, students, and institutions are found below. Abstracts and full-text can be found in the 2008 Winners section of the competition Web site.

MDRC Competition

1st Place - Intergenerational Class Mobility by Race: Can the Black Middle Class Reproduce Itself?; Sarah Ireland, Yale University

ICPSR Competition

1st Place - Examining the Economic Basis of Ethical Vegetarianism; Poh Lin Tan, Princeton University

2nd Place - The Effect of Property Taxes on Elderly Residential Geography: A County-Level Analysis; Corina Mommaerts, University of Michigan

3rd Place - Manipulating the "Truth": The Unintended Consequences of Truth-in-Sentencing Laws in California, 1992-1996; Caroline M. Savello, Yale University

Please note that the Web site has been updated to reflect the upcoming competition for the 2008/2009 academic year. We encourage you to share this information with your campus community early and often!

Once again, congratulations to our winning authors and their institutions!

Linda Detterman
Marketing & Membership Director
ICPSR
University of Michigan
734.615.5494
lindamd@umich.edu

2008-04-29

New Resource Supports FCD's PK-3 Initiative

ICPSR is pleased to announce a new Web site in support of FCD's PK-3 Initiative

A PK-3 DATA RESOURCE CENTER: THE FIRST SIX YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND BEYOND
NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

The PK-3 Data Resource Center provides access to four longitudinal datasets selected for their potential to inform PK-3 policy and practice. Resource guides assist researchers in creating extract data files. Links to PK-3 publications provide more information about PK-3.

The datasets are:

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K)
National Head Start/Public School Early Childhood Transition Demonstration Study
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), Child Surveys
Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), Child Development Supplement

Research on how well integrated children's learning experiences are across the years from PK through Third Grade, and its impact on children's educational achievement and well-being is needed. PK-3 is the first part of a P-16 education system--from birth through postsecondary education. A PK-3 approach integrates and coordinates learning experiences across the first six years of schooling, PK through Third Grade.

The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) announces a small grants program to be funded through its PK-3 Research and Evaluation Forum. A maximum of four awards of up to $50,000 each will be awarded to researchers proposing to use one or more datasets from the PK-3 Data Resource Center.

For questions about the RFP contact research@fcd-us.org.

For questions about the PK-3 Data Resource Center pk3@icpsr.umich.edu.

This Web site is hosted by ICPSR with support from the Foundation for Child Development.

2008-04-10

Multiple Versions of TIGER/Line Files Available at ICPSR

1990-2006 versions of TIGER/Line Files are now available for download. The new Web site, TIGER/Line Files@ICPSR offers data no longer available online from the US Census Bureau. TIGER is an acronym for Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing and provides users with the appropriate data to prepare maps through geographic information system (GIS) software packages.

As the Census Bureau states, "The TIGER/Line files are a digital database of geographic features, such as roads, railroads, rivers, lakes, legal boundaries, census statistical boundaries, etc., covering the entire United States. The database contains information about these features such as their location in latitude and longitude, the name, the type of feature, address ranges for most streets, the geographic relationship to other features, and other related information."

The cartographic information in these files reports on all counties and statistically equivalent entities in the United States as well as files for Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. Since its inception in 1988, the TIGER Line Files have been continually improved with updated address and more precise geographic data.

Researchers use TIGER data to build shapefiles that contain geographic attributes for points, lines, or polygons and are used in a variety of mapping applications. Once the shapefiles are loaded into GIS software packages, researchers can input subject matter data, such as Census population and housing information, as overlays on the maps.

ICPSR has the 1990 version of these files available as well as several versions based on Census 2000 information, including the most recent second edition files from 2006. Data for individual counties can be downloaded from special map or table interfaces on the Web site. Data for entire states may also be downloaded.

2008-04-01

ICPSR Summer Training on Cultural and Ethnic Influences on Mental Health, Methodological Issues in Research on Race and Ethnicity

The deadline for applying for this year's ICPSR Summer Program workshop "Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES): Investigating Cultural and Ethnic Influences on Mental Health" is April 28. If students or faculty on your campus or in your organization are interested, please direct them to the Web page for information about applying to this 3-day workshop. A four-week course "Methodological Issues in Quantitative Research on Race and Ethnicity" is also offered this summer, and has an April 28 deadline for applying, as well. See the Web page for more information about this course. Please forward this information to members of your campus or organization who may be interested. Thank you.

JoAnne McFarland O'Rourke, Research Investigator
ICPSR, Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
330 Packard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
(734) 615-9530 (phone)
(734) 647-8200 (fax)

2008-04-23

ICPSR Welcomes New Consortium Members

ICPSR is pleased to announce that several new institutions have joined the Consortium since October, 2007. We extend a sincere welcome to the following new members:

Ball State University
Brock University (OCUL Federation)
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
College of the Holy Cross (U-Mass Federation)
Kenyon College (ACM Federation)
Mount Union College
Radford University
Sam Houston State University
Trinity University (ACS Federation)
University of Montana
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Winston-Salem State University
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Sabanci University (Turkey)
Sejong University (Korean National)
Catholic University of Daegu (Korean National)
Universite de Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines (French National)
Ochanomizu University (Japanese National)
Blekinge Institute of Technology (Swedish National)
Chalmers University of Technology (Swedish National)
Dalarna University College (Swedish National)
Gotland University (Swedish National)
Halmstad University (Swedish National)
Karolinska Institute (Swedish National)
Kristianstad University (Swedish National)
Lulea University of Technology (Swedish National)
Malmo University (Swedish National)
Mid Sweden University (Swedish National)
Malardalen University (Swedish National)
Royal Institute of Technology (Swedish National)
Stockholm School of Economics (Swedish National)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Swedish National)
Sodertorn University College (Swedish National)
University College of Boras (Swedish National)
University of Gavle (Swedish National)
University of Kalmar (Swedish National)
University of Skovde (Swedish National)
University West (Swedish National)

2008-02-28

ICPSR Hosts Digital Preservation Management Tutorial

ICPSR is now the host of the Digital Preservation Management tutorial. The tutorial provides an overview and foundation - a starting point - for anyone who is interested in digital preservation. Highlights of the tutorial include: a digital preservation timeline, a "Chamber of Horrors" that features examples of technology obsolescence, digital preservation program development basics, community standards and documents, terms and concepts, and resources.

A number of courses in several countries use the tutorial as a prerequisite or as a supplement to course materials. The tutorial is linked to the Digital Preservation Management: Short-term Strategies for Long-term Problems workshop curriculum. ICPSR received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to relocate the workshop from Cornell to ICPSR, to enhance the curriculum, and to extend the base of workshop instructors. Hosting the workshop and the tutorial contributes to ICPSR's broadening participation in the digital preservation community.

The tutorial was developed by Nancy Y. McGovern, ICPSR Digital Preservation Officer, and Anne R. Kenney, Interim University Librarian at Cornell University Library. The tutorial won the 2004 Society of American Archivists Preservation Publication award. There is a French version of the tutorial that is sponsored by the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) [le Réseau canadien d'information sur le patrimoine (RCIP)]. The Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale is working on an Italian version of the tutorial that should be out by Summer 2008.

2008-02-22

Launch of the Online Learning Center - Teaching Resources!

ICPSR is pleased to announce the beta launch of the Online Learning Center (OLC). (The site can also be found under the Courses & Learning Tools tab on the ICPSR main page).

The OLC is the result of discussions with teaching faculty about using data in their classrooms and the challenges such undertakings can entail. Instructors directed ICPSR to develop tools that would: 1) quickly locate relevant data that are easy to work with and that nicely demonstrate the concept(s), and 2) enable the instructor to customize the materials to their own teaching approach and syllabus.

To that end, Data-driven Learning Guides, a core element of the OLC, were created for the express purpose of making ICPSR data more user-friendly for classroom exercises. The guides are designed for faculty to use for in-class demonstrations or to assign as supplemental activities for giving students greater exposure to concepts.

Note: This launch is a beta launch of the OLC. More topics, guides, and tools will continue to be added over the coming weeks and months. The purpose of the beta launch is to go live and allow instructors to use the site while encouraging their feedback and watching for any potential bugs in the site's use. A more widely-publicized full launch is expected in Summer 2008.

Please share this with your teaching community. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions!

2008-01-28

Site Down on Sunday, March 30

Most of our servers will be sporadically unavailable on Sunday morning between 8am EST and 12 noon EST so that we can perform maintenance and do software and operating system upgrades. Because of this, access to the Web site will be limited during that time period.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact netmail@icpsr.umich.edu.

2008-03-27

ICPSR's 2006-07 Annual Report

ICPSR's 2006-2007 Annual Report (PDF 1.1MB) features the theme "Our Diverse Community." The report highlights the new Minority Data Resource Center; educational programs, including our first Undergraduate Research Paper Competition; community-building activities undertaken by staff; and innovations in technology. ICPSR Director Myron Gutmann and Council Chair Ruth Peterson report on the organization's achievements and the valuable addition of new leadership over the year. Also included are the end-of-year financial summary, membership information, research insights, and a farewell to two long-serving staff members.

2008-01-28

Email Verification Added to MyData

Effective January 2, 2008, ICPSR uses email verification for newly created MyData accounts. When one creates a new MyData account, ICPSR sends a verification message to the email address that was used. To complete the account creation process, one must then click on a link (URL) contained in the verification message. This verification step is similar to the process used at service providers, social networks sites, online merchants, etc.

2008-01-04

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