Department of Economics
New Faculty
Getting Started with IT
Computational and Data Resources
I. Computational Resources:
a. Social Sciences Computing Services (SSCS):
Social Sciences Computing Services consults with Economics Faculty in regard to Desktop Support, Server
Support, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Data Archival. The SSCS website offers a wealth of
information about the computing environment offered to social sciences faculty, including: FAQs, News,
Contact Information, Service Requests, and Guidelines.
Contact:
Desktop Support Vincent Johnson
Server Support
John Lodder
GIS
Data Archive
ssrbcomputing@lists.uchicago.edu
ssc-server-support@lists.uchicago.edu
gis@lists.uchicago.edu
sscs-data-archive@lists.uchicago.edu
(773) 795-6226
(773) 702-4938
(773) 702-4225
(773) 702-5591
b. Information Technology Services (IT Services):
Information Technology Services manages the computer and telephone networks on campus, as well as
numerous services such as email and personal web pages. Please download and review their orientation
materials.
Contact:
ITS Support
Full Contact List
itservices@uchicago.edu
(773) 834-8324
c. The Economic Research Center (ERC):
The Economics Research Center was developed at the University of Chicago in 2001 to support basic empirical
research in economics at Chicago directed toward policy problems. The Center was founded with aims to
support empirical and quantitative research in economics, to systematically publicize research, and to support
conferences on major public policy questions for faculty, students, and visitors.
Contact:
Associate
Director
Alison Baulos
abaulous@uchicago.edu
(773) 834-0761
d. Institute for Computational Economics (ICE):
The Institute for Computational Economics disseminates computational methods in Computer Science useful in
the solution of economic models. Applicants must be a graduate student or post-doctoral scholar working in a
relevant academic field.
e. Computational Institute (CI):
The Computation Institute was established in 2000 as a joint initiative between The University of Chicago and
Argonne National Laboratory to advance science through innovative computational approaches. Incoming
faculty can acquire resources and consultation from the CI in support of their computational research.
Contact:
Computational
Institute
f.
Full Contact List
info@ci.uchicago.edu
(773) 834-6812
Umbrella Initiative:
The Umbrella Initiative was put together as an organization dedicated to informing incoming faculty about the
resources available to them. The Umbrella Initiative also offers an Annual Faculty Technology Day featuring
technology briefings and consultations at the beginning of the school year; faculty can meet representatives from
ITS service groups, SSCS, and the Libraries.
Contact:
Umbrella Initiative
umbrella@uchicago.edu
g. Other Resources:
Other useful websites include:
Employee Self Service: view benefits and payroll information.
Gems: manage business expenses through the University’s corporate credit card.
II. Getting Started:
The following information is provided to new faculty within the Department of Economics in order to familiarize them with the
department’s IT resources.
a. Purchasing New Hardware:
To purchase a new computer and software packages, begin by reviewing the University of Chicago’s Solution
Center website. This site is updated regularly and contains the latest price listings for a wide variety of computers,
printers and popular software along with standard computer bundles recommended by ITS staff.
If you wish to purchase a new computer from an alternative vendor (ex. ordering directly online), special
permission (for all purchases over $500 dollars) must be requested through the Social Sciences Local Business
Center. You must have your support staff place a request and gain approval through Melissa Serrano at
mserrano@uchicago.edu, Extension: 4-8211.
We suggest you contact the department’s desktop support staff for recommendations for your unique needs.
Please contact: Vincent Johnson, Rosenwald 325 B, Extension 5-6226, ssrbcomputing@lists.uchicago.edu.
Ideally, these decisions would be made before your arrival.
b. Purchasing New Software:
To purchase new software, please consult the Site Licensing website. This website maintains a list of software
available at a discounted licensing fee to faculty members; some basic software heavily utilized by economists:
Microsoft Office, MATLAB, STATA, SAS, Mathematica, and Scientific Word. However, the Site Licensing
website does not include information regarding additional applications (e.g., AMPL, KNITRO, MATLAB
toolboxes, etc.) available on the departmental server (ATHENSX). Be sure to consult with the department’s
Server Support Administrator, John Lodder, before making any decisions regarding software purchases. John
Lodder may be contacted at: Rosenwald 325 B, Extension 2-4938, ssc-server-support@lists.uchicago.edu.
Once you have decided on what hardware and software to purchase, the department’s desktop support staff will
coordinate with the department’s financial administrators to place the order. Additionally, desktop support will
set up your new system along with any peripheral devices (printer, scanner, external storage devices, etc.) and
install any licensed or purchased software.
c. Getting Connected:
Information Technology Services is the central computing group at the university. ITS, in part, provides for
voice services, network services, collaborative tools, and instructional computing. Contact ITS at:
support@uchicago.edu, or Extension 4-8324.
As a new faculty member, ITS allots you one email account; this is strictly enforced, without exception. If you
need more than one account, please explore the option of using one of the many free email services available
online (Hotmail, YahooMail, or Gmail)
To begin using your uchicago.edu email: log onto the university’s CNet Account Management Page, select
“Create your CNet ID and Password”, select “Next”, then carefully read the text titled “ITS Account Claims
Introduction” (instructions on how to claim and utilize your new email account).
For access to the campus network and the rest of the Internet, your machine be properly configured and
inventoried after creating your CNet account. Please contact: Vincent Johnson and schedule an appointment for
setting up your computer.
d. Access your Departmental File Sharing and Computation Server:
The Department of Economics has servers that provide both file (ATHENS) and computational services
(ATHENSX). Without charge, new faculty receives server space of 200GB of personal storage and 400GB of
group storage for lab directories on the departmental file server ATHENS. In addition, statistical packages are
available on the departmental computational server ATHENSX; this includes R, STATA, MATLAB,
Knitro/Ampl, standard open-source and Sun compliers for a number of languages, and most open-source
databases.
To access these servers, an account must be created with the Social Sciences Computing Services (SSCS) with a
valid CNetID. Request an account through the SSCS by entering your CNet ID and password; you will be
notified when the account has been created (usually within one business day). The account created with Social
Sciences Computing Services (SSCS) is used for your departmental file sharing and computational server.
Note: When your SSCS account is first created, your username and password are the same as your ITS (CNet)
password information. However, password information is not synced between the SSCS and ITS beyond
account creation. If you wish to change your password on an SSCS server it will not affect your ITS (CNet)
password information, and vice versa.
e. Access DropBox:
To have the remote server DropBox installed, please contact: Vincent Johnson, Rosenwald 325 B, Extension 56226, ssrbcomputing@lists.uchicago.edu
f.
Back Up Data:
Social Sciences Computing Services installs a backup program called Bacula on all faculty and staff desktop
computers. Bacula runs nightly on all desktop systems and backs up to servers managed and maintained by the
SSCS. SSCS closely monitors all backup processes and regularly checks on all systems backing up on the Bacula
system for errors and mixed backups.
Bacula requires a static, wired network connection. Bacula backs up all user account data under Documents &
Settings in Windows XP, under Users in Windows 7, and under Users in Mac OXS. Any data outside of those
directories is NOT backed up.
g. Creating a Personal Webpage:
To request a personal webpage, please consult IT Services’ Web Hosting website. The webpage is placed on an
ITS server and viewed using the URL: http://home.uchicago.edu/~CNet ID/. (Quota is 20 megabytes and
.htaccess files are allowed.)
Research web applications can be facilitated through contacting the department’s Server Administrator, John
Lodder.
h. Identification:
The UChicago Card is the official University identification card. This multi-function picture ID grants access to a
number of services on campus, including but not limited to access to the libraries, athletic facilities, Rosenwald
after hours, and free campus CTA buses (#170, #171, #172).
Once you are in the payroll system, you can get your UChicago Card at the Identity & Privileges Office, located
in room 100F in the lobby of Joseph Regenstein Library.
i.
Other Services:
IT Services offers many technologies to enhance teaching and research, such as audio-visual services, media
classrooms, and Chalk, the learning management system. Find out more about these services at the Academic
and Collaboration Technologies website and via the Umbrella Initiative.
Some websites useful to teaching are:
Faculty Access: access course listings, class rosters, and grades.
Chalk: website where students may access electronic course materials, posted grades, and announcements.
College Catalog: view program of study and requirements.
Time Schedules: access quarterly schedules for program of study.
Academic Calendar: view quarterly calendar, including observed University holidays.
III. Datasets Available:
These datasets are available, free of charge, to individuals in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Chicago and the
Academic Research Areas of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) through the UChicago network.
a.
SSCS Data Archive:
o
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
o
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
o
LexisNexis Academic
o
LexisNexis Congressional Publications
o
LexisNexis State Capital Search Forms
o
LexisNexis Statistical Insight
o
Fedstats
o
Historical Statistics of the United States Millennial Edition
o
U.S. Census Bureau Statistical Abstracts
o
SSCS Nesstar data server
These datasets are outside of SSCS Data Archive. Special arrangements with data owners may be required.
b.
Other Datasets That May be of Interests to Social Scientists
o
Chicago Census Research Data Center:
a.
The Chicago RDC provides data in collaboration between the Census Bureau and a
consortium of the Argonne National Laboratory, the Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University of
Illinois. Economic, demographic, and mixed data are available. To access the
Chicago Census Research Data Center, please contact Frank Limehouse (CRDC)
at: flimehouse@frbchi.org, (312) 322-6002. Access requires a proposal submitted
to the sponsoring government agency (Census, NCHS, or AHRQ). Frank
Limehouse can assist with the development of full proposals, from preliminary
proposal ideas by interested researchers.
o
Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS):
a.
The WRDS is a web-based business data research service from The Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania that provides researchers with instant
access to financial, economic, and marketing data though a uniform, web-based
interface. To access to WRDS, please contact Julie Less at: jless@uchicago.edu,
Extension: 2-8254.
o
Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) data products:
a.
Stock
b.
Indices
c.
Cap-based portfolios
o
o
o
o
o
o
d.
CRSP/COMPUSTAT Merged Database
e.
Treasuries
f.
Mutual funds
g.
CRSP/Ziman Real Estate Data Series
h.
Customized CRSP datasets
Conference Board Data Series:
a.
Consumer Confidence
b.
Employment Trends Index
c.
Help-Wanted Online
d.
Leading Economic Index
e.
Measure of CEO Confidence
Sociometrics Data Archives:
a.
HIV/AIDS/STI
b.
Teen Pregnancy
c.
Aging
d.
Family
e.
Child Poverty
f.
Alternative Medicine
g.
Contextual
h.
Disability
i.
Maternal Drug Abuse
Panel Study of Income Dynamics Datasets:
a.
Aging
b.
Philanthropy
c.
Food related issues
d.
Children and youth data
Center for Population of Economics Datasets:
a.
Union Army
b.
U.S. Colored Troops
c.
Public Health
d.
Examination Sample
Chapin Hall Longitudinal Data Analytics Publications:
a.
Improving Indicators of Child Well-Being
b.
Chicago Children and Youth 1990-2010
c.
Foster Care Dynamics 2000-2005
Other datasets available through Booth School Research and Learning Centers:
f.
Accounting Research Center
g.
The Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory
h.
Center for Decision Research
i.
Center for Population Economics
j.
Center for Research in Security Prices
k.
Chicago Energy Initiative
l.
George J. Stigler Center for the Study of Economy and the State
m.
The Initiative on Global Markets
n.
James M. Kilts Center for Marketing
o.
Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship
p.
The Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics