NSF/CBMS Regional Conference in Mathematical Sciences - Imaging in Random Media - Spring 2008

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The goal of this conference is to introduce a mathematically oriented audience to sensor array imaging in cluttered media. This is an emerging interdisciplinary area in applied mathematics, with roots in wave propagation, random media, statistics, optimization and numerical analysis. Over the years, our ability to deploy very large sensor arrays and to collect large data sets has increased steadily, but the available imaging methodology is reaching its limits. Its foundations must be reexamined in an interdisciplinary framework, its resolution limits must be reassessed and the robustness to noise and clutter has to be addressed.Some very interesting results have emerged in recent years: Novel adaptive imaging algorithms for cluttered media have been developed and put in a clear mathematical framework. New approaches to resolution theory, such as the concept of statistical stability of the imaging process and quantification of resolution loss caused by clutter have been advanced. Novel image enhancement-techniques have been obtained using tools from statistics, wave propagation in random media and modern optimization. The principal lecturer of theconference, Professor George C. Papanicolaou, has been at the forefront of this research. His lectures will introduce mathematicians from academia, the oil industry and medical imaging to a new and mathematically advanced technology in imaging science. This is a technology with potential for a big impact in crucial applications such as seismic exploration, ultrasonic, non-destructive testing of aging concrete structures, foliage or ground penetrating radar, etc.