[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 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.
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.
From 1999 to 2004 she also held an adjunct position on Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington.