article: singtao daily 2005

(translation by EChew & KLChew)

Music and mathematics may be two disjoint disciplines, but they can be combined. University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Industrial and Systems Engineering professor, also Integrated Media Systems Center Research Area Director, Elaine Chew, was recently honored by the 2005 Presidential Early Career in Science and Engineering award, in recognition of her accomplishments in the integration of music and mathematics research. This year, approximately sixty young scholars received this award.

Elaine Chew is both a scholar, and a well-known pianist; she researches music computation and mathematical models of cognition, and invented the Spiral Array model, which allows music to be more easily understood, known, and accepted by humans. According to Elaine Chew, this research is highly interdisciplinary, integrating performing arts and computer science, models, human cognition, as well as developments in network techniques etc. Her model uses lines and diagrams to express musical tones, integrates several music inner groupings, to research tonality in music theory. Many algorithms can be derived from this model, for example, automatic key finding and segmentation, which is considered currently the fastest and most accurate algorithm of its kind.

According to Elaine Chew, back from the White House after receiving her award, this success belongs not only to one person; first, she thanks her PhD advisor Bamberger, who led her to the understanding that music and human cognition can mutually affect each other; next, many teachers and friends have helped her, including the father of Linear Programming Dantzig; third, her husband and colleague François, in these first few years of her research, has been her constant consultant and supporter.

The Presidential Early Career in Science and Engineering Award was established by President Clinton in 1995, managed by the National Science Foundation, to recognize and support outstanding young scientists and engineers.