Beckman researcher Thomas Huang has been chosen for an IBM Faculty Award for 2006. Huang is co-chair of the Human-Computer Intelligent Interaction research initiative.

Dr. Huang received the IBM Faculty Award for a project titled "Audio-Visual Recognition of Human Emotional and Cognitive States" which aims to provide real-time, robust algorithms for applications such as computer-aided learning, smart kiosks, electronic games, and automobiles.

The IBM faculty awards program honors researchers worldwide in its goal of fostering collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development and services organizations. It seeks to promote courseware and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines and geographies that are strategic to IBM. Candidates for the award must be nominated by an IBM employee with common interests who will serve as a liaison for the collaboration.

Huang's research interests at Beckman focus on topics such as multi-modal human-computer interfaces, multimedia databases, and image processing.