Judith E. (Judy) Zeh is an American statistician. She retired from the University of Washington, where she spent her entire career,[1] and is a research professor emerita of statistics at Washington.[2] She is known for her research on bowhead whale populations.[3][4][5][6]
Zeh's research concerns population dynamics and population estimation. She has applied these methods more specifically, in association with the International Whaling Commission, to bowhead whale populations.[3][4][5] In this application, she and her collaborator Adrian Raftery became pioneers in the use of Bayesian statistics for population estimation.[6][7]
In 1999, she was elected for a three year term as chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. She became the first woman in over 50 years in that position.[5][8]
Zeh was educated entirely at the University of Washington, where she also spent her entire academic career. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1962, and the next year began working as a computer programmer in Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, where she remained until 1974.[1]
While employed there, she earned a second bachelor's degree in 1965 in mathematics and numerical analysis, and a master's degree in 1969 in mathematical statistics. From 1975 to 1979, she was a doctoral student in biomathematics; after completing her Ph.D. in 1979, she became a lecturer in electrical engineering, while also working off-campus as a senior statistical analyst at Mathematical Sciences Northwest.[1]
She worked as a postdoctoral researcher, research associate, and lecturer in statistics from 1982 to 1991, when she became a research associate professor in the statistics department, with a joint appointment in the Department of Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management. From 1999 to 2004 she also held an adjunct position on Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington.[1]
In 1998, Zeh was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[9]
Judy Zeh, following in Doug Chapman's footsteps, served as chairman of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission during 2000–2002.