Statistics Institute launches Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate access to data.

PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI‐SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Statistics Institute announces enrollment period for the first semester of its training courses in data production and analysis

San Juan, PR, October 12, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) announced the beginning of the enrollment period for the first semester of its Academies and Workshops for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, whose purpose is to provide the theoretical basis and best practices on issues related to statistics.

For this first semester, several academies and workshops of interest will be offered, including a course online which is included in the curriculum under Virtual Academy. It is called “Ckan as a data tool” and will take place from October 29 to November 5 for a total of 15 hours. For this purpose, the learning platform will be used Moodle and a link will be provided to access it via the Internet.

In addition, the following workshop will be offered “RStudio: Statistical Tool” at the Pre-Basic, Basic, Basic-Intermediate and Intermediate levels. All have a duration of 3 hours. While this time there will be a wide range of Webinars which includes five 1-hour alternatives to choose from. These are:”Tableau Public: Tool for dynamic data visualization”, “Interactive Tools of the U.S. Census Bureau/Update on work towards the 2020 Census”, “Introduction to Python” at Pre-Basic and Basic levels, as well as “QGIS for visualizing municipal data” at Basic Level.

The Institute's Academies and Workshops will be held starting next October 18 and will run until December 14, 2018. Pre-enrollment must be done through the Institute's Online Enrollment System (SML), which can be accessed through the following Internet address: https://estadisticas.pr.gov/academia. The SML requires the applicant to complete a pre-enrollment form and accept the pre-enrollment rules and terms. After the Institute processes the application, the applicant will be notified, by email, if he was officially accepted and enrolled, if he was placed on the waiting list or, on the contrary, the request was denied.

“We urge all interested parties to pre-register on time to ensure their participation as spaces are limited. It is important to remember that, in order to benefit from our Academies and Workshops, it is necessary to register through our website,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier Flores, Director of the Institute's Academies and Workshops Program.

If you would like to contact Dr. Disdier Flores directly, you can do so at (787) 993-3342 or via email: orville.disdier@estadisticas.pr.

The Institute's Academies and Workshops are primarily aimed at government professionals working in statistical functions, but are also available to individuals and professionals from non-profit institutions and the private sector. Only in the latter case would a small tuition charge apply. For government employees, courses are free of charge, and employees of non-profit organizations can request a fee waiver.

The curricular design of these courses, which are offered every semester, takes into consideration the fact that statistical analysis is not an isolated process since it is strongly linked to other activities, such as sample design and data entry management. It is for this reason that the courses cover everything from basic topics to more specialized or advanced topics, to address the challenges in data management that public and private organizations face on a daily basis.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through www.estadisticas.pr.gov, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.

In addition, as the leading entity of the SDC in Puerto Rico, the Institute manages the SDC portal, which contains the main statistical reports and publications of the U.S. Census Bureau on Puerto Rico, specifically those that are most in demand, such as annual population estimates; the Puerto Rico Community Survey (Puerto Rico Community Survey) and official statistics on Puerto Rico's 10-year population and housing censuses, among others. The Puerto Rico SDC portal can be accessed through: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/.

For more information you can visit our website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook (estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes/(787) 688-0401

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PRESS RELEASE

The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics has a new president of its Board of Directors

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) has a new president of its Board of Directors. The Board elected the economist and former university professor, Nicolás Muñoz, as president after the resignation on April 3 of Arnaldo Cruz, who had been president for the past three years. Muñoz, who served as vice-president of the Institute's Board, has a master's degree in economics from the University of Puerto Rico and is president of Tactical Planners, Inc., a firm dedicated to economic consulting and strategic planning. Muñoz has held other ad honorem positions in the government of Puerto Rico, including a member of the Governor's Council of Economists, president of the Workforce Investment Board (WIA), a member of the Governor's Committee for the review of the minimum wage in Puerto Rico and a member of the Employment Opportunity Promotion Board of the Department of Labor.

Board members do not earn compensation for their services. The Board is composed, in addition to Muñoz, of Dr. Idania Rodríguez Ayuso, vice-president, Mrs. Carola Ballester Descartes, secretary, Mr. Vicente Feliciano Pérez and the Hon. Manuel Laboy. This Board of Directors, as established in Act 209 of August 28, 2003, is the governing body that establishes the administrative policy of the institute, which is led by Dr. Orville M. Disdier.

Dr. Idania Rodríguez Ayuso has a master's degree in Epidemiology from the University of Puerto Rico and a doctorate in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Walden University. Rodríguez is also an independent consultant in epidemiology, statistics and research and a professor at Ana G. Méndez University. Mrs. Carola Ballester Descartes has a master's degree in Planning from the University of Puerto Rico, where she is also a professor and associate dean of the School of Architecture, and a master's degree in Landscape Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

On the other hand, Mr. Vicente Feliciano Pérez has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA, IMD Business School in Switzerland. Feliciano is also founder and president of Advantage Business Consulting. The Hon. Manuel Laboy Rivera, who represents the government official in the Board as established by law, has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico and a master's degree from the University of Turabo. Laboy is the secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce and executive director of the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company.

As reported, the new members of the Board will concentrate their work on implementing the institute's Strategic Plan, which includes several goals, including: Develop an administrative structure that allows the proper functioning of internal processes, restructuring the statistical coordination committee so that it operates effectively and increases compliance with the law that governs the institute and establishes its mission, and improving the budget or capital by diversifying the institute's services and projects to obtain external income or funds non-governmental.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity tasked with coordinating the government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and accessible quickly and universally.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contact: Idia M. Martínez, R‐28 787‐603‐3200

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