Any researcher at UW-Madison can become a member of the Social Science Computing Core. Researchers at UW-Madison can also sponsor SSCC accounts for their collaborators at other institutions. While SSCC’s services were designed to meet the needs of social scientists, you do not need to be a social scientist to use them. Members receive access to all of the SSCC’s services.
The annual cost of an SSCC membership in FY 2027 is $975. There are also surcharges based on usage:
- $80/TB of data stored at SSCC
- $400 for heavy use (>1,000 core-hours or >10 GPU-hours)
- $500 for very heavy use (>100,000 core-hours or >1,000 GPU-hours)
- $200 for access to the Silo environment (for sensitive and restricted data, including HIPAA data)
Note that a very heavy user is also a heavy user, so the total surcharge is $900/year.
Some research centers, departments, and schools routinely provide SSCC memberships to their affiliates. If you are interested in joining the SSCC, first check our list of member agencies and make sure you’re not affiliated with one of them already. Then contact SSCC Director Andy Arnold for more information or to begin the process of becoming a member.