Zelda Barbara Zabinsky is an

industrial engineer Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

and

operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

er specializing in the application of

global optimization Global optimization is a branch of operations research, applied mathematics, and numerical analysis that attempts to find the global minimum or maximum of a function or a set of functions on a given set. It is usually described as a minimization ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

. She is a professor of industrial engineering at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where she also holds adjunct positions in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil and environmental engineering.

Education and career

Zabinsky did her undergraduate studies at the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1888. The institution offers a variety of undergraduate degrees as well as five graduate programs in counseling, education, oc ...

, majoring in mathematics with a minor in biology. Her interests from this time include optimization of transportation as well as predator-prey dynamics. After graduating, she worked at the

National Marine Fisheries Service The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the ste ...

and

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

before following her husband 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 ...

, where she worked on applications of operations of research to health care at Vector Research, now part of the

Altarum Institute Altarum is a nonprofit research and consulting organization that serves government health insurers, health foundations, and other nonprofit clients that focus on health and health care. Altarum traces its history back to 1946 as Willow Run Labora ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering 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 ...

. Her 1985 dissertation, ''Computational Complexity of Adaptive Algorithms in Monte Carlo Optimization'', was supervised by Robert L. Smith. She joined the University of Washington faculty in 1985.

Book

Zabinsky is the author of the book ''Stochastic Adaptive Search in Global Optimization'' (Kluwer, 2004).

Recognition

Zabinsky is a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers The Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), formerly the Institute of Industrial Engineers, is a professional society dedicated solely to the support of the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving ...

, elected in 2009. She was elected to the 2019 class of Fellows of the

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often s ...

, for "fundamental contributions in developing theory and algorithms for global optimization, with significant applications in engineering design, health care, and numerous other fields, and substantial impacts in education and service".

References

External links

Home page
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Women in STEM: Ep. 8 Math House
interview with Zabinsky on encouraging children to follow STEM careers {{DEFAULTSORT:Zabinsky, Zelda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American industrial engineers American operations researchers University of Puget Sound alumni University of Michigan alumni University of Washington faculty Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers American women academics