Sallie Keller

Dr. Sallie Ann Keller is chief scientist and associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Research and Methodology Directorate. She also holds an endowed distinguished professorship in biocomplexity and faculty appointments in the School of Medicine, Department of Public Health Services; School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Engineering Systems and Environment; and School of Data Science at the University of Virginia.

As chief scientist, Keller leads the Research and Methodology Directorate’s research centers, each devoted to domains of investigation important to the future of social and economic statistics. The directorate collaborates with teams across the U.S. Census Bureau and with researchers worldwide to develop innovative scientific solutions and advances to ensure the Census Bureau remains a leader in economic and social measurement.

Keller is a nationally recognized research scientist with expertise in social and decision informatics, statistical underpinnings of data science, and data access and confidentiality. She is a leading voice in creating the science of all data and advancing this research across disciplines to benefit society.

Her prior positions include director of the Social and Decision Analytics Division within UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute and Initiative; professor of statistics and director of the Social and Decision Analytics Laboratory within the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech; academic vice president and provost at the University of Waterloo; director of the Institute for Defense Analyses Science and Technology Policy Institute; the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering at Rice University; head of the Statistical Sciences group at Los Alamos National Laboratory; professor of statistics at Kansas State University; and Statistics Program director at the National Science Foundation.

Keller is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. She has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Mathematical Sciences and Their Applications and the Committee on National Statistics, and as chair of the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an elected member of the International Statistics Institute, and a fellow and past president of the American Statistical Association. Keller earned her B.S. and M.S. in mathematics from the University of South Florida and her Ph.D. in statistics from Iowa State University.