Alan T. Waterman Award

加州理工学院数学家伊曼纽尔·坎德斯被选为国家科学委员会著名的艾伦·T·沃特曼奖获得者。委员会提到坎迪斯开发了新的数学工具，可以有效地数字表示波信号，以及他发现了将模拟数据转换为更干净、更紧密的数字形式的新方法--这项工作有望在大量现代技术中改进信号的数字处理。随着数字技术的出现，将模拟信息忠实地转换为数字表示一直是一个重大挑战。被称为采样的转换方法必须从模拟对象中选择足够的信息，以便以数字形式充分地再现它。最近，坎迪斯开发了一种新的采样机制，可以从比传统方法使用的数据位少得多的数据比特中忠实地恢复信号和图像。这一新的抽样理论可能会成为同时以更快的速度采样和压缩数据的协议的基础。坎德斯说：“实际上，这意味着只需几个传感器就能获得超分辨率信号。”一年一度的沃特曼奖表彰由美国国家科学基金会(NSF)资助的任何科学或工程领域的杰出年轻研究人员。候选人的年龄不得超过35岁，或获得博士学位后7年。除了一枚奖章外，获奖者还将在3年内获得50万美元的赠款，用于在获奖者选择的机构进行数学、物理、医学、生物、工程、社会或其他科学的科学研究或高级研究。

Emmanuel Candes, a mathematician at the California Institute of Technology, has been selected to receive the National Science Board's prestigious Alan T. Waterman Award. The board cited Candes' development of new mathematical tools that allow efficient digital representation of wave signals, together with his discovery of new methods to translate analog data into a cleaner, tighter digital form--work that promises to improve the digital processing of signals in a vast array of modern technologies.With the advent of digital technologies, translating analog information faithfully into digital representations has been a major challenge. The translating method, called sampling, must select enough information from the analog object to adequately reproduce it in digital form. Otherwise, key information may be lost.Recently, Candes developed a new sampling mechanism that allows the faithful recovery of signals and images from far fewer data bits than traditional methods use. This new sampling theory may come to underlie protocols that sample and compress data simultaneously and much faster. "In practice," Candes said, "this means one could obtain super-resolved signals from just a few sensors."The annual Waterman award recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Candidates may not be more than 35 years old, or seven years beyond receiving a doctorate. In addition to a medal, the awardee receives a grant of $500,000 over a 3-year period for scientific research or advanced study in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineering, social, or other sciences at the institution of the recipient's choice.