Martha Beatriz Bilotti-Aliaga (1937 – October 15, 2011) was an Argentine statistics educator, who served as the president of the

Caucus for Women in Statistics The Caucus for Women in Statistics and Data Science (CWS) is a professional society for women in statistics, data science and related fields. It was founded in 1971, following discussions in 1969 and 1970 at the annual meetings of the American Sta ...

Early life and education

Martha Beatriz Bilotti was born in

Mendoza, Argentina Mendoza (), officially the City of Mendoza (), is the capital of the Provinces of Argentina, province of Mendoza Province, Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plain ...

, and did her undergraduate studies at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. She earned a master's degree in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, at the Inter-American Center for the Teaching of Statistics. She completed a doctorate in statistics at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1986; her dissertation, supervised by Michael B. Woodroofe, was ''A problem in sequential analysis''.

Personal life

She married Alfredo Aliaga of

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a planned community in Howard County, Maryland, United States, consisting of 10 self-contained villages. With a population of 104,681 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most-populous community in Maryland ...

, and they had three children: Viviana, Pablo and Eduardo.

Career

After teaching in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, she moved to

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, to become an associate professor at the University of Michigan in 1972. She taught from 1981 to 1985 at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, and in the late 1980s at both the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C., United States. The only public university in the city, it traces its origins to 1851 and opened in its current form in 1 ...

and the

(commuting between the two). She was president of the Caucus for Women in Statistics in 2002, and moved from Michigan to the

American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 27, 1839, and is the second-oldest continuous ...

in 2003 as director of education. With Brenda Gunderson, she wrote a statistics textbook, ''Interactive Statistics'' (Prentice Hall, 1999; 4th ed., 2017). In 1999, Aliaga was elected as a

Fellow of the American Statistical Association Like many other academic professional societies, the American Statistical Association (ASA) uses the title of Fellow of the American Statistical Association as its highest honorary grade of membership. The designation of ASA Fellow has been a sign ...

, and a member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. At a meeting of the Jubilee Meeting of the Royal Statistical Society, statisticians met and formed the agreed statues of the International Statistical ...

Death

Aliaga died on October 15, 2011, of

gallbladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer, with an incidence of fewer than 2 cases per 100,000 people per year in the United States. It is particularly common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern Ind ...

at her home in Columbia.

Early life and education

Personal life

Career

Death

References

Further reading