Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

Stelson Lecture Abstract

Combining the mathematics of digital image processing with the history, craftsmanship, and science of art conservation, my research team at Duke University, Bass Connections Image Processing Algorithms for Art Conservation, spent a year working with the NC Museum of Art to study, restore, and exhibit a 14th-century altarpiece that hadn’t been displayed in its entirety for over a century.

About The Speaker

Ingrid Daubechies is a James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, and is known for her work with wavelets in image compression and the mathematical methods that enhance image-compression technology, and for developing sophisticated image processing techniques used to help establish the authenticity and age of some of the world's most famous works of art, including paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Rembrandt. Daubechies is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Daubechies also serves on the board of directors of Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE), a program that helps women entering graduate studies in the mathematical sciences.

About the Stelson Lecture Series

Thomas Stelson was a distinguished Civil Engineer who served as the Dean of Georgia Tech's College of Engineering from 1971 to 1974, as Vice President for Research from 1974 to 1988, and as Executive Vice President from 1988 to 1990.

During the 70's and 80's, he oversaw a vast expansion in Tech's research expenditures during an era when Tech went from being primarily teaching-oriented university to a major research institution.

Stelson helped the School of Mathematics create the Center for Dynamical Systems and Nonlinear Studies, and he endowed the School's Stelson lectures in 1988 in honor of his father, Hugh Stelson, who was a mathematician. Hugh Stelson earned his doctorate from the University of Iowa in 1930 and went on to teach at Kent State University and Michigan State University. He worked on problems related to interest rates, annuities, and numerical analysis.

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Gathering 4 Gardner

This Stelson Lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Mathematics, the College of Sciences, and the Gathering 4 Gardner foundation.