Rob Santos
Director of the United States Census Bureau
Assumed office
January 5, 2022
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded bySteven Dillingham
Personal details
Born
Robert Luis Santos

1957
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
EducationSan Antonio College
Trinity University (BA)
University of Michigan (MA)

Robert Luis Santos is an American statistician who is the director of the United States Census Bureau. He served as the 116th President of the American Statistical Association in 2021.[1]

Early life and education

Santos was born in San Antonio. After graduating from Holy Cross of San Antonio, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Trinity University and a Master of Arts in statistics from the University of Michigan.[2]

Santos is of Mexican American heritage. He is the first nonwhite person to serve as permanent, Senate-approved director of the Census Bureau (James F. Holmes, a Black man, was acting director of the Census Bureau in the 1990s).[3]

Career

Santos has worked at the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center, NORC at the University of Chicago, and the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University. He was the 116th president of the American Statistical Association,[4] 2013-2014 president of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, and a member of the National Center for Health Statistics board of counselors.[5][6] Santos was the vice president for statistical methods and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute[7] in Washington, D.C.

Santos was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 4, 2021,[8] and was sworn in on January 5, 2022.[9]

Personal life

Santos identifies as a Chicano. From 2012 to 2019, he was a SXSW Festival photographer and later helped manage the photo crew of about 100 photographers at this annual film and music event in Austin.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ "ASA Members Elect Robert Santos, Dionne Price to Association Leadership". www.amstat.org. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. ^ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Robert Santos for Director of the U.S. Census Bureau". The White House. 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  3. ^ Wang, Hansi Lo (2021-11-04). "The Senate has confirmed the 1st Latino to lead the U.S. census, Robert Santos". NPR. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  4. ^ "ASA Members Elect Robert Santos, Dionne Price to Association Leadership". amstat.org. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  5. ^ "Biden To Make Historic Census Director Pick With Latinx Statistician Rob Santos". NPR. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  6. ^ Gonzalez, Oriana (13 April 2021). "Biden picks Robert Santos to be first person of color to lead Census bureau". Axios. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  7. ^ "Robert Santos". Urban Institute. 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  8. ^ Michael Macagnone. Senate confirms new Census Bureau director, Roll Call, 4 Nov 2021
  9. ^ "Robert Santos". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Census director is a Chicano who photographed bands at SXSW and used tortilla dough to fish". NBS News Latino. 28 August 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  11. ^ "What Does Rob Santos Like to Do When He Is Not Being a Statistician?". AMSTAT News. January 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
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