Grace Goldsmith Wahba (born August 3, 1934) is an American statistician and retired I. J. Schoenberg-Hilldale Professor of

Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. She is a pioneer in methods for

smoothing In statistics and image processing, to smooth a data set is to create an approximating function that attempts to capture important patterns in the data, while leaving out noise or other fine-scale structures/rapid phenomena. In smoothing, the d ...

noisy data Noisy data are data that are corrupted, distorted, or have a low signal-to-noise ratio. Improper procedures (or improperly documented procedures) to subtract out the noise in data can lead to a false sense of accuracy or false conclusions. Nois ...

. Best known for the development of generalized cross-validation and " Wahba's problem", she has developed methods with applications in demographic studies,

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

, DNA microarrays,

risk modeling Financial risk modeling is the use of formal mathematical finance, mathematical and econometric techniques to measure, monitor and control the market risk, credit risk, and operational risk on a firm's balance sheet, on a bank's accounting ledger ...

medical imaging Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to revea ...

, and climate prediction.

Biography

Wahba had an interest in science from an early age, when she was in junior high she was given a chemistry set. At this time she was also interested in becoming an engineer. Wahba studied at Cornell University for her undergraduate degree; in 1952, Cornell and

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

were the only Ivy League universities that admitted women. When she was there women were severely restricted in their privileges, for example she was required to live in a dorm and had a curfew. She received her bachelor's degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1956 and a master's degree from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

in 1962. She worked in industry for several years before receiving her doctorate from Stanford University in 1966 and settling in Madison in 1967. She is the author of ''Spline Models for Observational Data''. She retired in August 2018 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her life and career are discussed in a 2020 interview.

Honors and awards

Wahba was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1997 and to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2000. She is also a fellow of several academic societies including the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, 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 ...

, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. Over the years she has received a selection of notable awards in the statistics community: * International Prize in Statistics, 2025 * R. A. Fisher Lectureship, COPSS, August 2014 * Gottfried E. Noether Senior Researcher Award, Joint Statistics Meetings, August 2009 * Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Elizabeth Scott Award, 1996 * First Emanuel and Carol Parzen Prize for Statistical Innovation, 1994 She received honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

degrees from the University of Chicago in 2007 and The Ohio State University in 2022. The Institute of Mathematical Statistics announced the IMS Grace Wahba Award and Lecture in 2021.

References

External links

*
Grace Wahba's University of Wisconsin website Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahba, Grace 1934 births Living people American women statisticians Fellows of the American Statistical Association Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Cornell University alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni Stanford University alumni Bayesian statisticians Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics Machine learning researchers 20th-century American women mathematicians 21st-century American women mathematicians 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists American mathematical statisticians