Grace Goldsmith Wahba (born August 3, 1934) is an American statistician and retired I. J. Schoenberg-Hilldale Professor of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Best known for the development of generalized cross-validation[2] and "Wahba's problem",[1] she has developed methods with applications in demographic studies, machine learning, DNA microarrays, risk modeling, medical imaging, and climate prediction.

Wahba had an interest in science from an early age, when she was in junior high she was given a chemistry set.

[1] She worked in industry for several years before receiving her doctorate from Stanford University in 1966 and settling in Madison in 1967.

The Institute of Mathematical Statistics announced the IMS Grace Wahba Award and Lecture in 2021.