11/09/2007

Four young Greek researchers included in the list of 35 young innovative scientists published by the Technology Review in 2006 received prizes from the MIT Club of Greece at a special event held on Thursday, 6 September at the Eugenides Foundation. Nikos Paragios, Apostolos Argyris, Manolis Kellis and Paris Smaragdis received prizes for their innovative research in fields such as biotechnology and IT.

Nikos Paragios, 34, combines research in IT with biology, attempting to develop software which will allow computers to recognise images with greater accuracy and thereby improving a wide range of applications, from medical diagnosis to driving. His research activities include developing software that will translate a text into sign language, making it easier to communicate with people with impaired hearing. He has also made an important contribution to the imaging techniques used in medicine (magnetic tomography). Nikos Paragios studied in the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete and at INHRFA in France and today teaches at Ecole Centrale in Paris.

Apostolos Argyris, 30, studies the application of chaos theory to encryption. He has managed to "disguise" a message as noise, send it over a distance of 120km via underground fibre optic cables and retrieve it at the other end, thereby creating a chaotic encryption system capable of offering added protection when it comes to sensitive data transmissions. Apostolos Argyris completed all his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Greek universities (Aristotle University, University of Crete and University of Athens) where he is continuing his research.

Manolis Kellis, 29, works in the biotechnology sector. His research focuses on the effort to better understand the human genome and is based on algorithms and analysis techniques which allow for comparison with the genomes of other living beings to seek out the evolutionary footprints, in other words common characteristics of a given DNA sequence during its development over time. Manolis Kellis completed all his studies at the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at MIT and today teaches as Asst. Professor at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Paris Smaragdis, 32, completed his postgraduate studies in the famous MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on developing mechanical systems capable of hearing, and, to a certain extent, understanding sounds. For example, they could identify a person moving from room to room or monitor the sound of machines to identify operational problems.

More information about the award-winning Greek scientists and details about their research can be found on their personal websites.

Every year since 1999 the Technology Review, published by MIT, has prepared a list of the 35 leading scientists aged under 35 (TR35 - formerly TR100). The innovative research of these young scientists relates to fields such as medicine, IT, communications, electronics and nanotechnology, and according to Technology Review's editors, promises to change the world. Although 2006 was the top year for Greek participation so far, in the past many other Greek scientists have also been included in the TR35 list.

Source: MIT Club of Greece