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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that Director Robert Groves has been elected a new member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his excellence in original scientific research. Elected into the behavioral and social sciences section, Groves will be formally inducted into the Academy in April of 2012 during its 149th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

"This is a well deserved honor," said Commerce Department Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Rebecca Blank. "Bob Groves is one of the brightest minds in the country in survey methodology. His life-long effort to improve and inform survey data collection has impacted academic and professional arenas at home and abroad. The Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau are overjoyed that he is currently sharing his expertise as Director of the Census Bureau."

Dr. Groves is among 72 men and women elected to the NAS this year, thereby achieving one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States. Upon his induction, the NAS will have 2,113 active members, including nearly 200 who have won Nobel Prizes. Among the more renowned members of the NAS since its establishment in 1863 are Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell.

Groves began his appointment as Census Bureau director on July 15, 2009, and has overseen the operations of the 2010 Census. He also has proposed major improvements in the Census Bureau's operations, most notably through the Improving Operational Efficiency program, in which ideas on ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve programs were solicited from the agency's employees.

Prior to his appointment as Census Bureau director, Groves was a professor at the University of Michigan and director of its Survey Research Center, as well as a research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland. He was the Census Bureau's Associate Director for Statistical Design, Methodology and Standards from 1990 to 1992, on loan from the University of Michigan.

Groves has authored or co-authored seven books and scores of scientific articles. His 1989 book Survey Errors and Survey Costs, was named one of the 50 most influential books in survey research by the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). His book Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys, with Mick Couper, which was written during his initial service at the Census Bureau, received the 2008 AAPOR Book Award.

He is also an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, and the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research; a member of the International Statistical Institute; and a National Associate of the National Research Council.

Groves has a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and master's degrees in statistics and sociology from the University of Michigan. He also earned his doctorate at Michigan.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research dedicated to the furthering of science and technology and their use for general welfare.

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