Dr. Zelda B. Zabinsky is a Professor in Industrial Engineering 
at the University of Washington.  She started at the University of 
Washington in 1985, after she completed her Ph.D. in Industrial and 
Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.  
Professor Zabinsky was awarded a Benton Fellowship for her graduate 
studies in Operations Research at the University of Michigan.  In 1992, 
while at the University of Washington she received a Research Initiation 
Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop global
optimization algorithms for engineering design. She currently has a
second NSF grant to continue developing optimization in engineering design.
Software developed, in part, under this effort is currently in use at the
Boeing Co. to design fuselage panels with advanced composite materials.

Professor Zabinsky has published numerous papers in the areas of global
optimization, algorithm complexity, and optimal design of composite
structures.  She recently received an Erskine Fellowship to continue work
in global optimization at the University of Canterbury, NZ, and she is
writing a book on Stochastic Methods in Global Optimization.
Her work has appeared in Mathematical Programming, Journal of Global
Optimization and the international journal Composite Structures.  Her
research has been funded by Boeing Commercial Airplane Company,
NASA-Langley, FAA, and NSF.  Dr. Zabinsky is also involved in applications
of Operations Research to air traffic management and airspace design, as
well as other applications in transportation, health care, forestry,
structural optimization and manufacturing.