PHILADELPHIA — Two University of Pennsylvania professors received a three-year, $1.4 million MacArthur Foundation grant to expand the use of integrated-data systems, which have emerged as a new tool for measuring how public agencies are serving their clients and how multiple agencies may be working with the same clients collaboratively or redundantly.

Dennis Culhane, from the School of Social Policy and Practice, and John Fantuzzo, from the Graduate School of Education, will establish a professional network and standards of practice for sites with existing integrated-data systems, including South Carolina, Michigan, Washington, Los Angeles County, Allegheny (Pa.) County, the University of South Florida, Case Western University and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

“Integrated-data systems are at the core of a new generation of public-policy-analysis efforts across the country, and we are looking forward to bringing attention and resources to these efforts,” Culhane, principal investigator on the project, said. “With this grant, we will be able to establish a new area of professional practice that connects researchers, funders and policymakers to identify opportunities for innovation and reform across a broad array of sectors.”

The grant also allows Penn researchers to focus on sites with strong commitments to developing an integrated-data system, such as New York, City Miami/Dade County, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Culhane, Fantuzzo and Trevor Hadley, from the Penn School of Medicine, are the co-founders of the Kids Integrated Data System in Philadelphia and recognized as leaders in the integration of administrative data for research.