Professor Hassanieh honored with ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award

5/17/2017 Julia Sullivan, ECE ILLINOIS

His highly efficient Sparse Fourier Transform processes data 10 to 100 times faster than previously possible, surpassing the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

Written by Julia Sullivan, ECE ILLINOIS

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) awarded ECE ILLINOIS Assistant Professor Haitham Al-Hassanieh the 2016 Doctoral Dissertation Award. In his dissertation, The Sparse Fourier Transform: Theory and Practice, he developed more efficient algotrithms for computing the Fourier transform, a fundamental tool for processing streams of data in computer science. He exploited the sparsity of many real-world signals to increase algorithm speed and efficiency resulting in data processing that is 10 to 100 times faster than previously possible.

This new rate surpasses the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), long considered to be the most efficient algorithm in this area. However, the FFT has struggled to keep up with Big Data. Hassanieh not only presented the theorhetical foundation of his new Sparse Fourier Transform (SFT), but also demonstrates how it could be used to solve key problems in wireless networks, mobile systems, computer graphics, medical imaging, biochemistry, and digital circuits.

Haitham Al-Hassanieh
Haitham Al-Hassanieh
Prof. Hassanieh came to ECE ILLINOIS from MIT in spring 2016 and conducts research at the Coordinated Science Lab. His Sparse Fourier Transform algorithm was previously chosen by MIT Technology Review as one of the top 10 breakthrough technologies of 2012. He has also been recognized with the Sprowls Award for Best Dissertation in Computer Science and the SIGCOMM Best Paper Award.

Learn more about Hassanieh's award and the two honorable mentions presented by ACM this year.


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This story was published May 17, 2017.