ASA President Robert Santos Tapped to Lead US Census Bureau

The American Statistical Association congratulates Robert Santos, its 116th president, on his nomination by President Joe Biden to lead the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau. If he is confirmed, Santos will become the first person of color and the first Latino individual to serve as a permanent, US Senate-confirmed director of the Census Bureau.

In addition to leading the ASA and contributing to its analysis of the decennial census, Santos is vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and holds more than 40 years of experience in quantitative and qualitative research design, sampling, survey operations, and statistical analysis. He also has a wide range of policy expertise on hunger, immigration, decennial census counts, education, health, the environment, housing discrimination, travel behavior, and elections. Santos has held numerous leadership positions since joining the ASA in 1977.

For more information about this historic nomination, read the full press release.