Ronald Schafer, recognized as one of the world's leading authorities
on digital signal processing, has joined HP Labs as the newest
HP Fellow.
Schafer, who co-authored the digital signal processing field's
definitive guide and did some of the earliest research in
the field, will work in the Mobile and Media Systems Lab
on problems of acoustic signal processing for audio communication
and entertainment.
Schafer joins HP from the Georgia Institute of Technology,
where he and his colleagues built the world's most prestigious
signal processing laboratory in academia, the Center for
Signal and Image Processing.
Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is the technology of representing
signals such as speech, audio, and video in digital form
and the modification, transmission, and storage of such digital
signals using digital computation and communication. DSP
underlies a wide range of modern electronic systems, from
mobile phones to modems to digital cameras and multimedia
PCs.
His research in topics such as cepstrum analysis, digital interpolation
and time-frequency analysis/synthesis has been applied to in today’s
digital speech processing systems for data compression for mobile phones
and voice-over IP and for voice I/O for computers. His contributions
in areas such as iterative algorithms, mathematical morphology, 3D reconstruction,
statistical modeling and interpolation have had important impact in areas
such as medical imaging, neurobiology, wireless communication systems
and digital photography.
In addition to his work in academia, Schafer founded Atlanta
Signal Processors Inc., which created the first design tools
for software development for Texas Instruments' first programmable
digital signal processor.
"Ron brings to HP a unique mix of technical and business
savvy," said Dick Lampman, senior vice president for research,
HP and director of HP Labs.
Schafer has been a close collaborator with Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
for many years. He is co-inventor of one patent and co-author of numerous
research papers with HP Labs researchers, and he was instrumental in initiating
many other research collaborations between Georgia Tech faculty and HP
Labs researchers.
"The collaborations that Ron forged with HP and other companies have
provided a model for successful university/industry interaction," Lampman
said.
The title of HP Fellow is reserved for the company's most talented technical
leaders; employees whose innovative spirits have inspired the technology community.
HP Fellows demonstrate major impact across multiple technical
and business areas, applying exceptional depth and breadth
of knowledge to important, complex problems. Recognized as
technical authorities, Fellows identify emerging technical
trends and help focus HP resources to tap their potential.
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