Associate professor is awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
By Elliot Mattingly, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Computer science professor Hany Farid has been named one of this year's 187 recipients of the prestigious Guggenheim fellowships.
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awarded fellowships for 2006 to 187 artists, scholars and scientists, including Dartmouth Associate Professor of Computer Science Hany Farid. The fellows will split $7.5 million in award money for research and funding.
Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt commended Farid for his ground-breaking work in computer science.
"I am so pleased that Hany has been recognized for his distinctive and pioneering research in computer science with this prestigious award," she said. "His dynamic teaching has also enriched our curriculum and contributed to a growing field of interest nationwide. We're proud to have him here."
Farid's research centers on the mathematics and statistics of images, audio recordings and videos.
He has used his expertise to digitally recreate the interior of ancient Egyptian tombs, offering undistorted panoramic views of them.
His intricate knowledge of the technology used in digital imaging is also frequently called upon in court, where he regularly serves as an expert witness to determine the accuracy of digital evidence.
Using scientific algorithms, Farid can determine whether digital evidence for primarily scientific legitimacy or art authentication cases has been falsified or distorted.
"I've always been interested in thinking about different ways of representing, analyzing and visualizing digital images, and most recently in developing techniques to expose digital tampering," Farid said.
His work has been profiled by newspapers like The New York Times and The Boston Globe, as well as magazines such as The Economist and Newsweek.
Last year, ethics and religion professor Ronald Green and government professor Linda Fowler received the prestigious award.
Including Farid, the Foundation has awarded 37 Dartmouth professors fellowships since its creation in 1925.
Almost 3,000 applicants applied for the 2006 award, according to a Guggenheim Foundation press release. The foundation chooses its fellows on the basis of "distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment."
The foundation has awarded over $247 million to just over 16,000 fellows since its founding. Former notable Guggenheim fellows include photographer Ansel Adams, composer Aaron Copland, poet Langston Hughes, diplomat Henry Kissinger and chemist Linus Pauling.