GODDARD SCIENTIST RECEIVES AN EXCEPTIONAL SPACE ACT AWARD

Dr. Norden Huang, of the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes at NASA’s Goddard Space Center, Greenbelt, Md., has received a NASA Space Act Award in the exceptional category for his invention of the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method, a unique spectral analysis method for analyzing nonlinear and nonstationary data and images. The award was presented today at Goddard, and it includes a cash amount of $30,000.

The NASA Headquarters Inventions and Contributions Board recognized the new method of data analysis "as one of the most important discoveries in the field of applied mathematics in NASA history." This new method is expected to provide a more accurate result for nonlinear and nonstationary data than the Fourier method of spectral analysis.

"I discovered the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method by chance, while performing research using conventional methods which are based on linear stationary assumptions," stated Huang. The world is not stationary, and many phenomena studied by scientists are the result of nonlinear processes."

Huang uses a formula in his method developed by the distinguished mathematician, David Hilbert, therefore, the method is designated the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method.

"The simplicity and diversity of the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method is amazing, " stated Huang. The method can be applied in a variety of fields to study things such as: basic nonlinear mechanics, climate cycles, solar neutrinos variations, earthquake engineering, geophysical exploration, submarine design, structural damage detection, satellite data analysis, nonlinear wave evolution, turbulence flow, blood pressure variations and heart arrhythmia.

NASA has filed three patents on the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method. Numerous research organizations have been granted access to the method through the NASA Space Act.

Harvard Medical School is using the method to study changes in heartbeat as it relates to sleep apnea and epileptic seizures. The University of California at San Diego is using the new method to find a more accurate measure of ‘normal’ blood pressure. This same method can also be used to study vibrations related to of the health and safety of structures, such as buildings and bridges.

The scientist has been working for NASA since 1975, and studies ocean surface waves as affected by wind and currents. These parameters are critical for making better global weather and climate forecasts.

He received a post-doctoral fellow in the Oceanography Department of the University of Washington from 1967 to 1969. At North Carolina State University, he served both as an assistant professor and a tenured associate professor in oceanography from 1969 to 1975.

Huang received his graduate degree in 1967 from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Md. His field of study at JHU was determined by fate. The ship bringing him to the United States from Taiwan developed engine problems shortly after leaving the harbor. As a result, he arrived at the University late, after all the research positions related to structural or solid mechanics were taken. The only slot left was a research assistant in the Gravito-Hydrodynamics Laboratory. So he switched to fluid mechanics and eventually studied ocean waves for his Doctoral Thesis.

Huang received his undergraduate degree in 1960 in from National Taiwan University. Throughout the years, he has published about 90 refereed papers. His paper on the Hilbert-Huang Transformation Method was published in the proceedings of the Royal Society of London in 1998.

Among his awards are a NASA Medal for Meritorious Service in 1985 and a Best Publication Award in 1997. He served as an associate editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research (1984 to 1988), and since 1990, has been an associate editor for the Journal of Physical Oceanography.

Huang was born in Hubei, China on Dec. 13, 1937. The inventor currently resides in Bethesda, Md., with his wife, Beeshyn. He has two daughters, Wynn, a lawyer, and I-Hua, a medical student.

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