Math Professor Awarded $3 Million to Study Information Synthesis

June 14, 2008

Carey E. Priebe, professor of applied mathematics and statistics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, calls himself "just a math guy." Just a millionaire is closer to the truth. Priebe has been named a National Security Science and Engineering Fellow, which entitles him to an unrestricted $3 million federal grant to do with as he wishes.

This new Department of Defense fellowship program seeks to identify and encourage researchers who will delve into novel ideas. The resulting research would be fundamental and unclassified. The "awardees are encouraged to publish their results," said Deputy Under Secretary William Rees, Jr.

Earlier in his career, Priebe was a lab researcher at the Naval Ocean Systems Center and the Naval Surface Warfare Center. Pursuing his Ph.D. at night while working by day on the mathematics of sonar-based submarine detection, he became interested in studying mass information synthesis. "A major problem in the military is how to predict what's going to happen," Priebe told the Baltimore Sun. "It plays a major role in who wins and who loses."

The proposal that Priebe submitted to the Defense Department comprised 20 pages of mathematical conjectures about how to process and make sense of huge amounts of data. With the money from the Pentagon, he said, he plans to turn conjecture into a mathematical theory that others can apply.

Priebe will use his $3 million grant to pay for graduate student researchers and for collaborators' expenses.

"People say, 'If only I had the opportunity.' I have every opportunity now," Priebe noted.

Source: Baltimore Sun, June 12, 2008.