Manuel de la Puente, Ph.D. was born in Havana, Cuba and entered the U.S. as a refugee in 1962 at the age of nine. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in sociology from Columbia University, an M.A. in sociology from Fordham University, and a B.A. in political science and sociology from St. Peters College in New Jersey.

Dr. de la Puente has over 20 years of professional experience conducting applied social research in the private sector and in the federal government. Currently Dr. de la Puente is Assistant Division Chief for Survey Methodology in the Statistical Research Division at the U.S. Census Bureau. In this capacity he leads a group of twenty five survey methodologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, and other social scientists dedicated to the study of nonsampling errors in surveys and to the improvement of data quality. Since 1989, Dr. de la Puente has held other positions at the U.S. Census Bureau including Chief of the Ethnic and Hispanic Statistics Branch in the Bureau's Population Division. Prior to joining the U.S. Census Bureau, Dr. de la Puente held research positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service and the U.S. General Accounting Office. Dr. de la Puente's private sector experience includes research positions at The Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza, both in Washington, D.C.. Before coming to Washington, D.C., Dr. de la Puente taught for a brief time at Rutgers University.

Dr. de la Puente's current research interests include border communities and how to best obtain social, economic, and demographic data from persons living in these communities. Dr. de la Puente is also continuing his research on race and ethnic origin. His current focus in this area is an examination of the contextual factors that influence race and ethnic self identification.