Improving Data Performance

Yuejie Chi, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering here at CMU, has been changing the world by researching how to collect and analyze data more efficiently. Chi, who holds the Robert E. Doherty Career Development Professorship and is also affiliated with the Machine Learning Department, focuses on studying the extraction of information from large pieces of data, as well as the collection of data without losing its information. Recently, her work has been recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Professor Chi became the inaugural winner of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Early Career Technical Achievement Award from IEEE’s Signal Processing Society, “for contributions to high-dimensional structured signal processing.” The award is given to influential scientists working in the field of signal processing and must be less than 40 years of age or 10 years from their highest degree at the time of nomination.

IEEE described this award as an honor for “an individual who, over a period of years in his/her early career, has made significant technical contributions to theory and/or practice in technical areas within the scope of the Society, as demonstrated by publications, patents, or recognized impact on the field, including but not limited to, a standard, a product, or a technology trend.”

This honor awarded Chi with $1,500. Chi’s research focuses on data science, where she examines and develops data representations that take advantage of structures and geometry to minimize complexity and improve performance.

Her work is relevant to many different fields of science and of everyday life. From the medical field to retail to the world of arts and entertainment, data collection and analysis is of vital importance to move forward and stay up-to-date with modern technology.

Needless to say, Chi is paving the way for advancements in not just data science, but also in the fields of engineering and machine learning as a whole. The 2019 IEEE SPS Early Achievement award is just one award in her long list of honors throughout her career. Other awards to Chi’s name include the PECASE Award, NSF CAREER Award, AFOSR Young Investigator Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Google Faculty Research Award, and the IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award.