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Benjamin M. Reist

Pronouns: He/Him

Principal Statistician
Ben is a statistician with expertise in sample design, model-assisted estimation, missing data, experimental design, data quality, data governance, and disclosure avoidance.

Ben is a principal statistician in the Statistics & Data Science department for NORC at the University of Chicago. He has over 15 years of statistical consulting experience in the areas of sample design, model-assisted estimation, survival analysis, adaptive survey design, variance estimation, analysis of complex survey data, experimental design, missing data, paradata, quality metrics, data governance, and disclosure avoidance.

Ben oversees statistical operations for two large scale federal surveys - the High School and Beyond Follow-up Survey (HS&B) and the Survey of Doctoral Recipients (SDR). His work on these surveys includes implementation of adaptive survey design techniques, sampling, weighting, and variance estimation. In addition, he is developing a disclosure avoidance strategy for the Administrator-Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative (ARC3) Survey. He also served as the lead statistician and implemented multiple imputation for the Improving HIV Health Outcomes for Black-Men-Who-Have-Sex-with-Men project. Ben is a member of the NORC Data Governance Board and co-chair of the NORC Disclosure Review Board.  

Prior to joining NORC, Ben spent over 15 years in Federal Service. While in Federal Service, he worked at NASA, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and the U.S. Census Bureau. He was the Deputy Chief Data Officer for NASA and the Deputy Director for Science and Planning at NASS.  At the Census Bureau, he held numerous positions, including Survey Director and Lead Scientist for the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) and Assistant Center Chief in the Center for Adaptive Design.

Education

PhD

University of Maryland

MS

George Washington University

MS

University of Vermont

BA

University of Vermont

Appointments & Affiliations

Assistant Adjunct Research Professor

Joint Program in Survey Methodology - University of Maryland, College Park

Honors & Awards

Circle Award for Excellence | 2019

USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service

Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service | 2014

U.S. Census Bureau

Project Contributions

Healthy Illinois Survey

One of the largest state-level health surveys in the United States, providing high-resolution information for all of Illinois

Client:

Illinois Department of Public Health

High School and Beyond Sixth Follow-Up Survey

Ongoing study of 1980 sophomores/seniors tracks influence of education and labor on health and aging

Client:

University of Minnesota

Improving HIV Health Outcomes for Black Men Who Have Sex with Men

Evaluating clinical care and behavioral health support services for Black MSM with HIV

Funder:

Health Resources and Services Administration

Provider Resiliency Evaluation

Rigorous evaluation of three programs addressing health care workforce burnout and mental health

Client:

Health Resources & Services Administration

Sampling Strategies for the National Agricultural Statistics Service

Create a unified vision of sampling methodologies for NASS, the premier U.S. agricultural statistical agency.

Client:

National Agricultural Statistics Service

Survey of Doctorate Recipients

The only comprehensive data on U.S.-trained doctorate holders in science, engineering, and health

Client:

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics at the National Science Foundation (NCSES/NSF)

Understanding California’s Middle-Income Older Adult Population

California’s middle-income seniors projected to grow to 1.6M by 2033

Client:

The SCAN Foundation, West Health