Michael Hawes Personal Page

I am a senior statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau working at the intersection of privacy, technology, data governance, and stakeholder communication and engagement.

Official Bio

Michael Hawes is the Census Bureau’s Senior Statistician for Scientific Communication. In this role, he is responsible for research and development relating to scientific communication about agency initiatives and on issues relating to the development, access, management, quality, and confidentiality of Census Bureau data and statistical products. He also advises agency senior leadership on improving technical communication to scientific journals, government officials, agency partners, media, data users, and other stakeholders.

Michael has a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in Political Science and History from Duke University, a Diplôme du Programme International des Science Politiques et Sociales from L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Chicago. He also completed six years of postgraduate studies in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.

From 2019 until 2022, Michael served as the Census Bureau’s Senior Advisor for Data Access and Privacy, where he was responsible for outreach and engagement with the Census Bureau’s data users on issues relating to the impact of statistical disclosure limitation methods on the accessibility and usability of Census data. Prior to joining the Census Bureau, Michael served as the Director of Student Privacy at the U.S. Department of Education, where he was the Department’s senior policy official responsible for the administration and enforcement of federal laws governing the privacy and confidentiality of education records. Michael also served as Privacy Consultant to the Federal Commission on Evidence-based Policymaking.

Michael is a member of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) and serves as the FCSM Sponsor and Vice-Chair (ex officio) of the federal, inter-agency Disclosure Review Officer Council. He is a certified government privacy professional (CIPP/G), a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Senior Fellow of the Partnership for Public Service’s Excellence in Government program. He is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA) and serves as an appointed member and Vice-Chair of the ASA’s Privacy and Confidentiality Committee.

Interests

When I’m not working, I enjoy traveling, cooking, camping, and history. If you happen to run into me ‘in the wild’ (perhaps at an amusement park, brewery hopping, or at the dog park with my rescue pup Shelby), be sure to say Hi!