The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

President Obama is expected to nominate Dr. Robert M. Groves, a former Census Bureau associate director of statistical design, to be the director of the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau is the federal agency that gathers demographic and economic data about the United States and manages the census, which is conducted every 10 years.  The nomination comes as the bureau is in the final stages of preparing for the 2010 Census. 

Census data is used to determine voting representation in the House of Representatives and the distribution of federal funding for services like education, housing, and transportation.

Groves is currently the director of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. He must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming the post.