Research Study on Research Computing and Data Workforce

NOTE: The survey has now closed. Thanks to all those who participated. Results will be shared in 2022.

The Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) Professionalization Working Group and Northwestern University invite members of the Research Computing and Data (RCD) community to participate in a research study of the Research Computing and Data (RCD) workforce in the United States. 

This study aims to provide the first large data set on the composition of the RCD workforce in terms of demographics, job responsibilities, job types, compensation, and perceptions of the RCD field. The study is limited to the United States due to varying data privacy laws and research requirements internationally.

The survey results will be widely shared with the community and provide data to:

  • Describe the current research computing and data professionals workforce to provide a measure of equity across institutions and positions, which in turn can aid in effectively attracting, retaining, and diversifying RCD professionals
  • Compare this workforce to related academic and technical workforces in terms of demographics and educational background
  • Characterize the types of job positions present in the field and the work done by different job positions
  • Generate data for use by individuals, hiring managers, and human resources professionals in the field on salary, job titles, job families, and job responsibilities

The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. Adults residing in the United States who are currently or were previously employed in RCD roles or a position with RCD responsibilities are eligible to participate in the study. RCD positions include but are not limited to:

  • Research computing facilitators, system administrators, cyber infrastructure engineers
  • Research network, storage, and HPC engineers and specialists
  • Research software engineers
  • Research data professionals, including data scientists, data management specialists, data librarians, statistical and data consultants
  • Research computing managers, directors, and other leaders
  • Cybersecurity and research networking professionals
  • IT professionals whose positions include research computing or data responsibilities
  • Research staff whose positions include research computing or data responsibilities
  • Anyone supporting researchers in using computational and data tools and resources in their research

If you have questions, please contact the study Principal Investigator, Christina Maimone, at christina.maimone@northwestern.edu.  This research has been reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Northwestern University, IRB # STU00215053.