Albert Einstein, Gerty Cori, and Sally Ride – these are just a few members of
Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society that has been inducting thousands of distinguished scientists since 1886, more than 200 of whom have received the Nobel Prize. The organization can now count Ahmed Zayed, DePaul University professor of mathematics, among its ranks.Zayed was chosen for a research career that embodies excellence and the spirit of scientific collaboration, two of the main objectives of Sigma Xi's mission. Membership is by nomination only and peer based.
Zayed's work has broken ground in the field of applied harmonic analysis, a branch of mathematics that investigates the connection between functions and their transformations. Functions may represent audio signals and images, and their transforms would represent their frequency contents. Function transformations are used widely across fields of scientific inquiry, from mathematics to engineering and physics for a range of practical applications. Zayed's earlier work was on Shannon sampling theory, which is the fundamental mathematical tool used in analog-digital conversion, the cornerstone of modern digital technology. His current research is on integral transforms and fractional transformations, which have numerous applications in signal and image processing and optics.
His research has culminated in more than 124 publications across leading journals, 24 book chapters, and 11 books, including his latest volume, "Fractional Integral Transforms: Theory and Applications" (2024). As a sign of his work's esteem among international colleagues, two Chinese universities recently invited Zayed to teach the book to post-doctorates and graduate students during a month-long stay. He has served on the editorial boards of 26 international scientific journals.
He is also a past recipient of the College of Science and Health's highest research honor, the Excellence in Research Award, which recognizes faculty who have made significant contributions to their area of research over the course of their career.
You can learn more about Zayed's work here.