William H. Hill

William H. Hill, a statistician and information systems specialist with the Department of the Navy, died January 27, 2014, at the Residences at Thomas Circle retirement community in Washington, DC. He was 97. View his entire obituary in The Washington Post.

Sameena Salvucci

William F. Rosenberger

Sameena Khan Salvucci passed away February 5, 2014, one day shy of her 55th birthday, after a long battle with metastatic breast cancer. She was a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC, and an expert in survey sampling research.

Salvucci earned a bachelor’s degree from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York (where she met her husband). She earned a master’s degree in statistics at SUNY Binghamton, completed further graduate work in statistics at The George Washington University, and earned a PhD in information technology from George Mason University in 2000. Her dissertation, “Imputation Methods in Sample Surveys,” was directed by James Gentle.

Salvucci had more than two decades’ experience directing large, complex contracts involving study design, data collection, survey methodology, statistical analysis, and automated systems development in education, defense, and health. Her early career was spent at Synectics for Management Decisions, where she was director of research for 10 years, before her move to Mathematica. During her tenure at Mathematica, Salvucci was instrumental in many successful statistics-led business development activities. She served as the corporate-area leader for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. She was an innovative area leader, who was fantastic at thinking creatively and reaching out to partners and had contacts everywhere. She was a great mentor throughout her career to junior staff on a range of subject matter and methodological aspects, as well as people skills. Although she was in an intense fight against a debilitating illness, she remained on full-time employment throughout and maintained a cheerful attitude and determined spirit.

Salvucci leaves her husband, Doug; two children, Kazim and Layla; and a large circle of family members and friends, international and ecumenical in scope. Her personal devotion to Islam was a source of comfort and energy to her always. At her service, the imam said, “Sameena loved everyone and was loved by everyone,” which sounds like a cliché—unless you knew Sameena.