Biography

Robert M. Groves serves as Interim President at Georgetown University. 

For the past 12 years, he held the position of Executive Vice President and Provost. He is also the Gerard J. Campbell, S.J. Professor in the Math and Statistics Department as well as the Sociology Department at Georgetown University. Groves is a social statistician who studies the impact of social cognitive and behavioral influences on the quality of statistical information. His research has focused on the impact of mode of data collection on responses in sample surveys, the social and political influences on survey participation, the use of adaptive research designs to improve the cost and error properties of statistics, and public concerns about privacy affecting attitudes toward statistical agencies.

Prior to joining Georgetown, from 2009-2012, he was director of the U.S. Census Bureau (presidential appointment with Senate confirmation), a position he assumed after being director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, professor of sociology, and research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland.

He has authored or co-authored seven books and scores of peer-reviewed 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. Some of his other books were given national awards.

He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the US National Academy of Medicine. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. Groves is the chair of the Board of Directors of the Pew Research Center.

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.