To enhance the support of data-, computation-, and IT-intensive social science research at Princeton. To build a multidisciplinary community of faculty, graduate and postdoctoral users of such tools to foster both resource sharing and collective problem solving. To encourage innovation in data- and computationally-intensive social science research to better position Princeton as a leader in the area.
The Initiative
The Initiative for Data-Driven Social Science (DDSS) was launched in the summer of 2019 after significant planning and discussion about enhancing the social science data infrastructure at Princeton. In October 2017, a document outlining the creation of a new Center for Data-Driven Social Science called upon the initiative to serve three key roles:
1. Serve the needs of the present and (gently) nudge us toward the future.
2. Create public goods for both Princeton and the world.
3. Ensure Princeton’s long-term position of preeminence in the social sciences and promote the University’s growth into data-driven science.
In the summer of 2019, Nolan McCarty, Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, was appointed as the faculty director of DDSS. Rocío Titiunik, Professor of Politics, became the new faculty director in September 2023.
“I am delighted to serve as the new Director of the Initiative for Data-Driven Social Science. I am looking forward to continuing the great programs and initiatives that the DDSS team has built in the last years, and to furthering DDSS’s mission of supporting data science innovation in the social sciences at Princeton. I am eager to learn more about the interests and needs of the DDSS community, and I encourage you to get in touch.”