  Born January 11, 1921 in New York City, Monroe Sirken grew up in a suburb of
Pasadena, California. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in sociology at UCLA in
1946 and 1947, and a Ph.D. in 1950 in sociology with a minor in mathematics at
the University of Washington in 1950 where Professor Z. W. Birnbaum was his
mentor and thesis advisor. As a Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Social Science
Research Council, Monroe spent 1950--1951 at the Statistics Laboratory,
University of California at Berkeley and the Office of the Assistant Director
for Research, U.S. Bureau of the Census in Suitland, Maryland. Monroe visited
the Census Bureau at a time of great change in the use of sampling and survey
methods, and decided to remain. He began his government career there in 1951 as
a mathematical statistician, and moved to the National Office of Vital
Statistics (NOVS) in 1953 where he was an actuarial mathematician and a
mathematical statistician. He has held a variety of research and administrative
positions at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and he was the
Associate Director, Research and Methodology and the Director, Office of
Research and Methodology until 1996 when he became a senior research scientist,
the title he currently holds. Aside from administrative responsibilities,
Monroe's major professional interests have been conducting and fostering survey
and statistical research responsive to the needs of federal statistics. His
interest in the design of rare and sensitive population surveys led to the
development of network sampling which improves precision by linking multiple
selection units to the same observation units. His interest in fostering
research on the cognitive aspects of survey methods led to the establishment of
permanent questionnaire design research laboratories, first at NCHS and later
at other federal statistical agencies here and abroad.
