Robert M. Gray
Encyclopedia
Information theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
, and the Alcatel-Lucent Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. He is best known for his contributions to quantization and compression, particularly the development of vector quantization
Vector quantization
Vector quantization is a classical quantization technique from signal processing which allows the modeling of probability density functions by the distribution of prototype vectors. It was originally used for data compression. It works by dividing a large set of points into groups having...
.
Awards
Gray received the 2008 Claude E. Shannon AwardClaude E. Shannon Award
The Claude E. Shannon Award of the IEEE Information Theory Society was instituted to honour consistent and profound contributions to the field of information theory. Each Shannon Award winner is expected to present a Shannon Lecture at the following IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory...
from the IEEE Information Theory Society
IEEE Information Theory Society
The IEEE Information Theory Society , formerly the IEEE Information Theory Group, is a professional society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers focused on several aspects of information: its processing, transmission, storage, and usage; and the "foundations of the...
, for his fundamental contributions to information theory, particularly in the area of quantization theory. He was also the recipient of the 2008 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal
IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal
The IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal is presented "for outstanding achievements in signal processing" theory, technology or commerce. The recipients of this award will receive a gold medal, together with a replica in bronze, a certificate and a honorarium.The award was established in...
, the 1998 Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from the IEEE Information Theory Society
IEEE Information Theory Society
The IEEE Information Theory Society , formerly the IEEE Information Theory Group, is a professional society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers focused on several aspects of information: its processing, transmission, storage, and usage; and the "foundations of the...
, and the 1993 IEEE Signal Processing Society Award.
Gray received the 2002 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. This award reflects the impact he has had on engineering theory and practice through his students; he has advised 50 Ph.D. students, including 13 women Ph.D.'s.
Amongst other honors, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2007, and received the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000.
Early life
Born in 1943 in San Diego, Gray grew up in Coronado, CaliforniaCoronado, California
Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...
. He was a middle child in a family of five.
Gray followed his two older brothers to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. He earned the B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1966, where he was a classmate of Lawrence Rabiner
Lawrence Rabiner
Lawrence R. Rabiner is an electrical engineer working in the fields of digital signal processing and speech processing; in particular in digital signal processing for automatic speech recognition...
. Gray earned the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in 1969; his Ph.D. advisor was Robert A. Scholtz
Robert A. Scholtz
Robert A. Scholtz is a distinguished professor of Electrical engineering at University of Southern California, known for ultra-wideband and spread spectrum communications....
. During his graduate school years, he played guitar in the rock band (unprintable).
He began his career at the US Naval Ordnance Laboratory
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory , now disestablished, formerly located in White Oak, Maryland was the site of considerable work that had practical impact upon world technology. The White Oak site of NOL has now been taken over by the Food and Drug Administration.-History:The U.S...
, following a family naval tradition.
Books
Gray has written or co-authored a number of technical texts, including:- Toeplitz and Circulant Matrices (1971, revised 2006)
- Probability, Random Processes and Ergodic Properties (1988, revised 2007)
- Introduction to Statistical Signal Processing (1986, revised 2007)
- Entropy and Information Theory (1991, revised 2007)
- Source Coding Theory (1990)
- Vector Quantization and Signal Compression (1992)
Gray is also an amateur historian and has collected together some historical letters from diplomats into books:
- Amy Heard: Letters from the Gilded Age (2005)
- Max&Max (2005)