Hosted by the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics

The 13th Biennial 

Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM)

Policy Conference 

The Future of Federal Statistics – Use of Multiple Data Sources, 

Anchored in Fundamental Principles and Practices

December 6-7, 2016 

Walter E. Washington Convention Center 

Final Program Corrected 12/20/2016 

for permanent publication on COPAFS website 

Sponsored by: 

Bureau of Economic Analysis 

Bureau of Justice Statistics 

Bureau of Transportation Statistics 

Economic Research Service 

Energy Information Administration 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

National Center for Education Statistics 

Social Security Administration, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics 

U.S. Bureau of the Census

We are also grateful to ICF International for their generous sponsorship.
Page 1 revised 12/20/2016

Program 

 Members of the federal statistical system, and colleagues from academia and business will exchange 

information and advances in statistical policy and how other policies affect the statistical system. The 2016 

conference is organized around the theme of adaptation to alternative data availability. 

Day 1 – Tuesday, December 6, 2016

7:30 am Registration Opens, Coffee and Pastries

8:45 – 9:50 am 

Keynote Speaker:

Welcome Remarks/PLENARY Session 

Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program and co-Director 

of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institute, and CoChair, Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking 

9:50 – 10:10 am Break

Sessions 1 and 2 (Concurrent) Day 1 – Tuesday, December 6, 2016 

Session 1: 

10:10 am – 12:00 

noon

Room 207A

Causes and Consequences of Changes in Federal Data Collection 

(Organizers: Amy O’Hara, Census; Shelly Martinez, OMB)

Chair: John Thompson, Director, U.S. Census Bureau 

Speakers: 

 From the Ashes: Re-envisioning and Re-building the Survey of 

Income and Program Participation 

Jason Fields, Survey Director, Survey of Income Program

Participation, U.S. Census Bureau 

 Redesigning the National Health Interview Survey 

Questionnaire 

Stephen Blumberg, Associate Director for Science, Division of Health 

Interview Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics 

 Responding to Energy Data Challenges: Different Horses for 

Different Courses 

Stephen Harvey, Senior Advisor, Energy Information Administration 

 Using Administrative Data with Survey Data to Measure 

Occupational Health 

Hilery Simpson, Assistant Commissioner for Occupational Safety and 

Health Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Discussant: Brian Harris-Kojetin, Deputy Director, Committee on National 

Statistics, National Academy of Sciences 

Session 2: 

10:10 am – 12:00 

noon

Room 207B

Private Sector Production of Economic Indicators

 (Organizers: Peter Meyer, NCHS; Polly Phipps, BLS) 

Chair: Erica Groshen, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Panelists: 

 Steve Berchem, Chief Operating Officer, American Staffing Association 

 Chris Wheat, Director of Research, JP Morgan Chase Institute 

 Tara Sinclair, Associate Professor of Economics, George Washington 

University and Senior Fellow, Indeed Hiring Lab 

 Alberto Cavallo, Associate Professor, Sloan School of Management, 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology; co-founder Billion Prices 

Project
Page 2 revised 12/20/2016 

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch on Your Own

Sessions 3 and 4 (Concurrent) Day 1 – Tuesday, December 6, 2016 

Session 3: 

1:30 –3:20 pm 

Room 207A

Realizing the Potential Offered by Administrative Data

 (Organizers: Jennifer Madans, Nat Schenker, Peter Meyer, NCHS) 

Chair: Charlie Rothwell, Director, National Center for Health Statistics 

Speakers: 

 Policy Issues in the Use of Administrative Records in Census 

Bureau Surveys 

Quentin O. Brummet, Branch Chief, Experiments & Innovation, Center 

for Administrative Records Research and Applications, U.S. Census 

Bureau 

 Policy Context of Moving the National Health Care Surveys 

toward Electronic Health Record Data Collection 

Denys Lau, Acting Director, Division of Health Care Surveys, National 

Center for Health Statistics 

 National Center for Health Statistics Data Linkage Program: 

Accomplishments and Challenges 

Lisa Mirel, Chief, Special Projects Branch, Office of Analysis and 

Epidemiology, National Center for Health Statistics 

 National Center for Education Statistics: Two Decades of 

Experience Blending Surveys and Administrative Data 

Marilyn Seastrom, Chief Statistician and Director, Statistical 

Standards and Data Confidentiality, National Center for Education 

Statistics

Session 4: 

1:30 –3:20 pm 

Room 207B 

Necessary Changes: Updating Workforce Skills and Management 

Styles for Work with Hybrid Data

(Organizers: Amy O’Hara, Census; Rolf Schmitt, BTS; John Eltinge, BLS)

Chair: John Gawalt, Division Director, National Center for Science and 

Engineering Statistics 

Speakers: 

 Staffing for Data Science in Federal Agencies 

Michael Valivullah, Chief Technology Officer, National Agricultural 

Statistical Service

 Attracting, Feeding, and Caring for your Government

Technologists 

Jennifer Tress, Acting Chief of Staff, Technology Transformation 

Services, General Services Administration, Previous Director, Talent

Team 18F, General Services Administration 

 Analytics Center of Excellence Organizational Development 

Nirmala Ramprasad, Director, Analytics Center for Excellence, Social 

Security Administration 

 D3M: Empowering Users via (Semi-) Automated Data Analysis 

and Machine Learning 

Wade Shen, Program Manager for the Information Innovation Office, 

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Discussant: Natalie Harris, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Science and 

Technology Policy 

3:20 – 3:40 Break 

 
Page 3 revised 12/20/2016 

Sessions 5 and 6 (Concurrent) Day 1 – Tuesday, December 6, 2016 

Session 5: 

3:40 –5:30 pm 

Room 207A

Evolution of Quality Standards in the World of Alternative Data

(Organizers: Arthur Kennickell, FRB; John Eltinge, BLS; Renee Miller, EIA; 

Patrick Cantwell, Census) 

Chair: Jeri Mulrow, Acting Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics

Speakers: 

 Quality Standards for Acquisition and Use of Multiple Data 

Sources 

John Eltinge, Associate Commissioner, Office of Survey Methods 

Research, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

 Financial Data Language and Standards: ISO Standards for 

Financial Services 

Karla McKenna, Chair of Technical Committee 68 of the International 

Standards Organization 

 The Use of Administrative Records to Reduce Cost in the 2020 

Decennial Census Nonresponse Follow-up Operation 

Thomas Mule (presenter), Andrew Keller, and Scott Konicki, U.S. 

Census Bureau 

 Putting Together Pieces of a Gasoline Station Frame Using 

Third Party and Administrative Data 

Amerine Woodyard, Energy Information Administration 

 Administrative Data Collection Education: What We Know and 

How We Know It 

Richard Reeves (Presenter), Mark Glander, and Robert Stillwell, 

National Center for Education Statistics

Session 6: 

3:40 –5:30 pm 

Room 207B 

Management of Hardware and Software Issues in Work with 

Alternative and Blended Data Sources

(Organizers: John Eltinge, BLS; Amy O’Hara, Census; Rolf Schmitt, BTS)

Chair: Patricia Hu, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Speakers: 

 Advance Analytics Environments for Large Data Collections 

Mark Watson, Vice President, Director, Center for the Advancement 

of Data and Research in Economics, Kansas City Federal Reserve 

Bank 

 How Human Organization Drives Hardware/Software 

Purchases 

Adam Porter-Price, Senior Manager, Data Analytic Solutions, Booz 

Allen Hamilton 

 Specialized Computing in the Agencies: Some Examples, 

Scenarios, and Lessons 

Peter Meyer, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

 Statistical Computing Challenges at FDA 

Paul Schuette, Federal Drug Administration 

 Data Infrastructure and Management Systems in 

Manufacturing: The Importance of Developing Context to 

Enable Decision Making 

Moneer Helu, Mechanical Engineer, Systems Integration Division, 

Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and 

Technology

 
Page 4 revised 12/20/2016 

Day 2 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016 

8:00 am Registration Opens, Coffee and Pastries

Sessions 7 and 8 (Concurrent) Day 2 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016 

Session 7: 

9:00 – 10:50 

Room 207A

Confidence in the Outcomes of Traditional Federal Statistical Surveys

(Organizers: Amy O’Hara, Census; Shelly Martinez, OMB)

Chair: John Phillips, Associate Commissioner, Office of Research, 

Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Administration 

Speakers: 

 The Need for Principles 

Jim Lynch, Chair, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 

University of Maryland 

 It’s Not a Survey, It’s a Census 

Dan Bibel, retired Massachusetts State Police 

 Joining Forces to Measure Crime 

Jeri Mulrow, Acting Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics 

John Derbas, Deputy Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of

Investigation 

Discussant: Julie Dingley, Office of Management and Budget 

Session 8: 

9:00 – 10:50 

Room 207B

Disclosure Limitation with Rich External Data Environment: 

Increasing Data Acquisition Practices and Expanding Stakeholder 

Information Needs 

(Organizers: Nancy Bates, Census; Renee Miller, EIA)

Chair: Barry Johnson, Statistics of Income, Internal Revenue Service 

Speakers: 

 Why Statistical Agencies Need to Take Privacy-loss Budgets 

Seriously, and What It Means When They Do 

John M. Abowd, Associate Director for Research and Methodology, 

U.S. Census Bureau 

 Providing Public and Private Access To Confidential Social 

Science Data 

Ashwin Machanavajjhala, Department of Statistical Science, Duke 

University 

 A Modern Approach to Designing Privacy-Aware Data Releases 

Alexandra Wood, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard 

University 

Kobbi Nissim, Professor of Computer Science, Ben-Gurion University, 

and Senior Fellow, Center for Research on Computation and Society, 

Harvard University 

Discussant: Simson Garfinkel, Senior Advisor, National Institute for 

Standards and Technology 

10:50 – 11:10 Break Generously Sponsored by ICF International 

 
Page 5 revised 12/20/2016 

Sessions 9 and 10 (Concurrent) Day 2 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016 

Session 9: 

11:10 – 1:00 pm 

Room 207A

Public-Private Partnerships: Viable in the Federal Statistical 

System?

(Organizers: Amy O’Hara, Census; Shelly Martinez, OMB) 

Chair: Brian Moyer, Director, Bureau of Economic Analysis 

Speakers: 

 Partnering With the Private Sector to Increase the Utility of 

Government Data Collection and Reporting - Lessons from the 

National Center for Education Statistics 

Chris Chapman, Associate Commissioner, Sample Survey Division, 

National Center for Education Statistics 

 Partnering with a Federally Funded Research and 

Development Center: A Trusted Third Party

Joy Tobin, Chief of Health Informatics, MITRE 

 NTIS Data Services 

Avi Bender, Director, National Technical Information Services, 

Department of Commerce 

 Data Partnerships Happening in Promise Zones, and How 

Participating Federal Agencies Contribute and Coordinate 

with Them 

Valerie Piper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Development 

in the Office of Community Planning and Development, Housing and 

Urban Development 

Discussant: Steven Cohen, Vice President, RTI International 

Session 10: 

11:10 – 1:00 pm 

Room 207B

The Challenges of Overlapping Mandates between Federal Statistical 

Agencies and Departmental Chief Information Officers

(Organizers: Rolf Schmitt, BTS; John Eltinge, BLS; Amy O’Hara, Census)

Chair: Bill Wiatrowski, Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Panelists: 

 Jennifer Edgar, Bureau of Labor Statistics 

 Dan Morgan, Chief Data Officer, Department of Transportation 

 Paul Bugg, White House Office of Management and Budget

 Wayne Smith, former Chief Statistician of Canada and Head of 

Statistics Canada

Closing Plenary Session (Room 207A) 

Closing Plenary 

Session

1:00 –2:00 pm 

Room 207A

Turning Talk into Action: Establishing a Research Agenda for the 

Federal Statistical System in a Big Data World

 Jonaki Bose, Chair, Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology 

 Cynthia Z. F. Clark, Former Administrator, National Agricultural 

Statistics Service, USDA 2008-2014 (retired), Co-Chair AAPOR/ASA 

Survey Climate Task Force

Building a Future on Katherine Wallman’s Legacy

 Connie Citro, Director, Committee on National Statistics, NAS

 Erica Groshen, Commissioner, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Luncheon Reception for Katherine Wallman 

Room 207B, 2:00 pm 

Please join us for a luncheon reception for Katherine Wallman, directly following the FCSM 

Conference. All are welcomed, including individuals who are not registered for the conference. 
Page 6 revised 12/20/2016 

Acronyms: 

AAPOR American Association of Public Opinion Researchers 

ASPE Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, HHS 

BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis 

BJS Bureau of Justice Statistics 

BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics 

BTS Bureau of Transportation Statistics 

COPAFS Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

EIA Energy Information Administration 

EOP Executive Office of the President 

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

ERS Economic Research Service 

FDA Federal Drug Administration 

FRB Federal Reserve Board 

HHS Health and Human Services 

IRS Internal Revenue Service 

NAS National Academy of Sciences 

NCES National Center for Education Statistics 

NCHS National Center for Health Statistics 

NCI National Cancer Institute 

NCSES National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 

NIH National Institutes of Health 

NIJ National Institute of Justice 

NSF National Science Foundation 

OMB Office of Management and Budget (White House) 

SAMHSA Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

USCIS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture