The journal "Technology Review" of MIT published in its November
issue a list of the top 100 young "innovators" from 5 domains:
The journal "Technology Review" of MIT published in its November
issue a list of the top 100 young "innovators" from 5 domains:
Everybody wants pretty pictures on their screens but nobody wants to wait
eons for a download, nor do they want image files to occupy their entire hard
drive. Thus the critical importance of image compression—mathematical
algorithms that condense visual information into the smallest possible number
of bits. In recent years “wavelets”
have emerged as an effective and
flexible alternative to the once-standard technique known as Fourier transforms.
The latest generation of wavelets are proving adept at processing
three-dimensional forms such as spheres and textured surfaces.
This new mathematical framework was developed by Wim Sweldens as a postdoc at
the University of South Carolina, following work on wavelets for his
doctorate in applied mathematics at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
in Belgium.
Sweldens, a Belgian national, has also pursued his research at Interval
Research in Palo Alto.
Now a permanent resident of the United States, Sweldens has been a member of the technical staff of Bell Labs since 1995. He is now working on a signal-processing challenge in digital mobile communications—employing a matrix of antennas to turn radio interference into additional bandwidth. His research could lead to fewer dropped calls, lower battery drain on pocket telephones, and more bandwidth for wireless data transmissions. Sweldens works hard to spread the gospel of wavelets: He established and continues to edit Wavelet Digest, a monthly newsletter with 15,000 subscribers, which MIT mathematics professor Gilbert Strang calls “a key place for the exchange of news about wavelets.”
