Aaron W. Smith

Aaron's primary areas of research with the Project include the role of the internet in the political process, technology in civic life and online engagement with government. He has also authored research on mobile internet usage, the role of the internet in family life and demographic trends in technology adoption.

Aaron has been with the Project since the spring of 2007. He holds a Masters degree in Public Affairs and an undergraduate degree from the Plan II Honors Program, both from the University of Texas at Austin.

Steven J. Jost

Steve Jost is the U.S. Census Bureau’s Associate Director for Communications. President Obama appointed him to the position in May 2009.

Jost oversees a staff of approximately 200 from the Public Information Office, Congressional Affairs Office, Customer Liaison and Marketing Office, the Advisory Committee Office, and the 2010 Census Publicity Office.

Jost held the same position during Census 2000 and was given a Bronze Medal Award, the highest honorary recognition by the Census Bureau. 

After leaving the Census Bureau in 2001, he became Director of Communications and Marketing for NARAL Pro-Choice America, followed by working as campaign manager for Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) successful congressional bid.

He moved on to Capitol Hill, where from 2003 to 2009 he was legislative director to U.S. Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-Md.), a member of the Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Commerce Department and Census Bureau.

During this time, Jost helped start Operation Hero Miles, a program that allows everyday Americans to donate unused frequent flyer miles to American military personnel and their families. He is also a board member of Any Soldiers Inc., an organization that distributes care packages to anymember of the Armed Forces in harm’s way.

Jost earned honors for a Rotary Foundation International Fellowship at the University of Leicester in England and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University, Stanislaus. He lives in Dunkirk, Md., with his wife, Tracy, and three children.

Brian McGrath

Brian McGrath has been the U.S. Census Bureau’s Associate Director for Information Technology and Chief Information Officersince May 24, 2009.

McGrath oversees the information technologyinfrastructure that supports the Census Bureau in fulfilling its mission as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy.

McGrath worked for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1999 to 2009, serving the final five years as the chief information officer for the Executive Office for Immigration Review. While as program manager for the Joint Automated Booking System, the staff received the Federal Executive Leadership Council’s Showcase of Excellence Award and the Federation of Government Information Processing Council’s Intergovernmental Solutions Award.

From 1989 to 1999, he directed the Criminal Justice Information Systems for the City of Alexandria (Va.) and was employed for seven years as a probation/parole officer in Virginia and New Jersey. McGrath served on the Virginia State Bar, 5th District Disciplinary Committee and the Board of Directors of Offender Aid and Restoration. McGrath has traveled abroad with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the American Bar Association’s Central and Eastern European Law Initiative to provide technical assistance to the Russian Federation for the reinstitution of trial by jury.

McGrath holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and political science from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He is also a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and a fellow of the National Center for State Courts’ Institute for Court Management.

McGrath lives in Alexandria with his wife, Theresa, and has two children (Kyle and Shannon) in college.

Deborah Diaz

Ms. Diaz, Deputy Chief Information Officer, originally joined the NASA Office of the CIO (OCIO)  as Associate CIO for Architecture and Infrastructure and Director of the Information Technology Integration Program (I3P), the new IT infrastructure program created to consolidate the $4.3 billion of Agency's IT and data services. As an experienced information technology executive, she is recognized as a top agent of change who has provided innovative, business solutions and developed strong partnerships between industry and government. Prior to NASA, as the Chief Information Officer for Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, she developed and implemented $1 billion of high-profile, ground-breaking scientific programs and IT infrastructure. As she served to provide new and effective ways to fight the war on terrorism, she also served as the senior advisor on IT interoperability, biometrics, geospatial, and wireless technologies.

As Deputy CIO at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, she helped transform USPTO electronic commerce and managed complex IT initiatives to modernize business process and data exchange systems. During Ms. Diaz's tenure as Deputy Associate Administrator of Citizen Services at General Services Agency, she created the government's first electronic government-wide citizen portal and shepherded many public-private partnerships from concept to delivery. She has provided executive leadership to the President's Management Council and was the pioneer creating many of the first e-Government initiatives such as USA.gov (FirstGov) and USA Services. Diaz also helped blaze a trail to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia where she used her background in international business to help forge private-sector development, as an international consultant and with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Tsengdar Lee

Tsengdar Lee is currently Deputy CTO for IT at NASA Headquarters.He is working on research, development, and infusion of new technologies into NASA’s operational IT environments. Prior to the current assignment, he is responsible for maintaining the high-end computing capability to support the agency's aeronautics research, human exploration, scientific discovery, and space operations missions. Lee is also the manager of the NASA Weather Data Analysis Program, focusing on the transition of research results into the operational centers and the acceleration of operational use of research data.

Lee joined NASA in 2001 as the High-End Computing Program Manager for the Earth Science Enterprise. He was responsible for the Earth science computational modeling and data analysis needs. Prior to 2001, Lee held positions as Senior Technical Advisor with Northrop Grumman Information Technology and Senior Staff Engineer with Litton PRC.

Lee received a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University in 1992. He credits his training as a short-term weather modeler and later contributions to large information technology (IT) projects, including the National Weather Service's Advanced Weather Information Processing System, as guiding his present-day decisions.