Paul Biemer Receives Award for Statistical Innovation

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Paul Biemer, Ph.D., RTI International distinguished fellow in statistics, has been awarded the 2012 Roger Herriot Award for Innovation in Federal Statistics by the Social Statistics and Government Statistics Sections of the American Statistical Association.

The award is intended to acknowledge individuals who develop unique and innovative solutions to statistical problems in federal data collection programs. Award recipients are recognized for their dedication to issues of measurement, improvements to the
efficiency of data collection programs and use of statistical data for policy analysis.

Biemer has 34 years of postdoctoral experience in survey methods and statistics. His scientific contributions to the field include co-developing computer audio recorded interviewing and pioneering the field of latent class analysis for survey evaluation.

Biemer joined RTI in 1991, and during his tenure has served as director of the survey methods program, director of the Center for Survey Methods and Research and is currently director of the Center of Excellence in Complex Data Analysis. As distinguished fellow, he conducts a research program in survey data quality evaluation and control, including methods for latent variable analysis of survey data, analysis of longitudinal data and analysis issues for complex survey designs. His research has examined the relationships between survey design and survey error and statistical methods for evaluating and controlling survey quality.

Biemer holds a joint appointment with the Odum Institute for Research in Social Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he is associate director for survey research and director of the certificate program in survey methodology. He has also served as a consultant to many private organizations including the Voter News Service Consortium, ABC News, A.C. Nielsen, Medical Group Management Association, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson as well as government agencies worldwide.

Over the course of his career, Biemer has written five books, 45 peer-reviewed publications, 17 book chapters and numerous papers and presentations. He is a fellow of both the American Statistical Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an elected member of the International Statistics Institute.

Biemer is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where he earned a doctorate and master's degrees in statistics and a bachelor's degree in mathematics.

The American Statistical Association is a professional and scholarly organization of statisticians who support excellence in the development and use of sound statistical practice to inform public policy and improve human welfare. The Roger Herriot Award for Innovation in Federal Statistics is administered by the Social Statistics and Government Statistics Sections of the American Statistical Association along with the Washington Statistical Society.