Ashish Sen Named Director of DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Contact DOT 193-98 Carolee Bush 202-366-6946

Wednesday, October 21, 1998 -- Dr. Ashish Sen was confirmed today by the United States Senate as the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

Sen was nominated for the position by President Clinton on Sept. 29th, 1998.

"It is a pleasure to have Dr. Sen join the DOT team," Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater said. "I look forward to working with him as he brings a wealth of experience in statistics, mathematics and urban transportation planning to the department."

The BTS director is responsible for directing data collection, analysis and reporting to ensure the most cost-effective use of transportation resources. Specific duties include publishing a comprehensive set of transportation statistics that provide summaries of transportation data and working with DOT modal administrators and state and federal officials to establish and implement long-term transportation data collection programs relating to the performance of the national transportation system.

Before accepting his new position, Dr. Sen was the Director of the statistics and evaluation laboratory at the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois in Chicago and in 1997, he was named director of the center. He was also a professor of urban planning, mathematics, statistics, and computer science at the university. He held various positions at the College of Urban Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle such as associate professor, acting dean and director of the school of urban sciences. Sen has authored numerous articles and co-authored two books about statistics and transportation.

A native of Delhi, India, Dr. Sen received his school certificate in 1958 from St. Xavier’s College in Calcutta, India. He received his B.S. in mathematics in 1962 with honors from Calcutta University, his M.A. in mathematics and his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Toronto in 1964 and 1971 respectively.