WASHINGTON, D.C., August 30, 2006—Rob Santos, a partner and executive vice president with NuStats Research & Consulting in Austin, Texas, has rejoined Washington, D.C.'s Urban Institute as institute senior methodologist and director of its Statistical Methods Group.
Before joining NuStats in 2001, Santos was a principal research associate at the Urban Institute, serving as a statistics and methodology consultant to all of the organization's research centers. Earlier posts include vice president of the Statistics and Methodology Division and director of the Survey Operations Center, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago; director of survey operations, University of Michigan's Survey Research Center; and senior study director, Institute for Survey Research, Temple University.
Santos has more than 25 years experience as a survey methodologist and sampling statistician, specializing in statistical and qualitative research design, multi-mode complex survey design, survey operations, and rare element sampling. He has been a leader in the design and implementation of sample surveys of minority populations, especially Hispanics.
During his career, Santos has been instrumental in designing a wide range of studies, including ones focused on former prisoners, access to health care, black colleges, pollution reduction, 9/11 behavior at the World Trade Center, minority science students, housing discrimination, managed health care, criminal defense systems, college admissions, mate availability and marital attitudes, high-risk health behaviors, and Latino political attitudes.
"The best policymaking rests on a foundation of solid research that gathers relevant and valid data and applies rigorous and appropriate methodologies. Rob Santos's broad experience as a top-tier designer and director of survey research will be a unique asset to the Institute, policy leaders, program administrators, and the public they serve," said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute.
Santos, who holds a master's degree in statistics from the University of Michigan, is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and has held leadership positions with ASA and the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Earlier this month, ASA honored Santos with its 2006 Founder's Award "for excellence in survey statistics, for distinguished leadership in section and committee activities, including a deep and enduring concern for ASA's open access to members of all races and cultures, and for effective impact in work with sister statistical organizations."
He has written and spoken extensively about surveys of language minorities and about cultural relevance and language equivalence in multilingual studies.
Santos served for six years on the editorial board of Public Opinion Quarterly. He is a member and former chair of the Census Advisory Committee of Professional Associations and holds membership on a National Academies panel conducting a congressionally mandated national study of Social Security representative payees.
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.
Latest Research
Print this page