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NASA is pleased to announce that one of its most dedicated scientist—Dr. Norden Huang—has won one of the prestigious Service to America Medals for 2006 from the Partnership for Public Service*. Presented at a black-tie ceremony September 27th in Washington, D.C., the awards pay tribute to America’s dedicated federal workforce, highlighting those who have made significant contributions to our country.

"The innovative work done by Dr. Huang has produced benefits both here on Earth by helping to improve existing technologies and applications as well as contributed to the continuing exploration of our universe" said Dr. Edward J. Weiler, Director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Winners of the “Sammies” were chosen based on their commitment and innovation as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation. The selection committee included CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, Stanford University president Dr. John L. Hennessy, Southwest Airlines chairman Herb Kelleher, AOL vice chairman Ted Leonsis, and Annenberg Foundation executive director Dr. Gail C. Levin.

While working in the field of oceanography at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Dr. Huang developed what is considered to be one of the most important discoveries in the field of applied mathematics in NASA history: the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) technology.

HHT is a revolutionary, adaptive set of signal-analysis algorithms. Unlike precursor technologies, HHT provides an effective method for analyzing nonlinear and nonstationary signals (such as those occurring in natural phenomena) while improving the accuracy of linear and stationary signal analysis.

Although this type of technology might not be easy for the average person to understand, its value is easily grasped. Within NASA, HHT has aided aircraft design, testing of the tiles that insulate the Space Shuttle, and the search for planets and black holes.

Outside of NASA, the technology has wide-ranging applications:

• Federal investigative organizations are working to incorporate HHT into systems to analyze speech patterns and identify individuals in recordings in forensic examinations.
  
  
• The Navy is using HHT in its research to improve submarine design and to more easily identify and locate different types of submarines.
  
  
• The Federal Highway Administration used HHT in highway design and engineering studies. (see related success story)
  
  
• Researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are using HHT to understand biomedical and physiological phenomena, enabling a better understanding of avian flu, Dengue Fever, strokes, and sleep apnea.
  
  
• Recently licensed by BCG Wireless, HHT is helping improve signal reception capability in radio frequency (RF) communication devices, such as RFID chips and cell phone communication systems.

“I am so pleased to receive this award,” said Dr. Huang, who hails from Hubei, China and is now with the Research Center for Data Analysis at National Central University in Taiwan. “I’m particularly grateful to the Innovative Partnerships Program Office at NASA Goddard for seeing the potential for my technology. I had no idea how many applications use signal analysis, and I have greatly enjoyed seeing HHT make advancements in so many areas.”

Contact

Innovative Partnerships Program Office
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Phone: (301) 286-2642
E-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov