PROFILE: Hany Farid

TEACHING EXPERIENCE: A member of the Dartmouth faculty since 1999, Farid, 39, is associate professor and associate chair of the computer science department, with a joint appointment in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience.

EDUCATION: B.S. in computer science and applied mathematics, University of Rochester, 1989; Ph.D. in computer science, University of Pennsylvania, 1997; two-year post-doctoral appointment in MlT's brain and cognitive sciences department.

CLAIM TO FAME: Farid manipulates the boundaries between science, engineering mathematics and optics to develop technology with fascinating real-life applications, such as devising mathematical formulas to detect cancer in blood samples, digitally reconstructing ancient Egyptian tombs, and creating mathematical and computational techniques to detect digital tampering in photographs and other media. Much of Farid's work tackles problems of the natural world with equations. He also looks at the way the human brain processes visual information.

A BEAUTIFUL MIND: During his undergraduate years Farid was inspired by a professor who showed him the "beauty and elegance" of mathematics. "I was particularly amazed that mathematics could be used to explain the physical world around us. It seems somewhat miraculous to me. I want- ed to think about really cool problems that lent themselves to formal mathematical analysis. I loved being able to take what seemed like messy complicates problems and reduce them to a handful of concise equations."

CSI, HANOVER ? Farids pioneering work could be the stuff of prime-time TV shows. He and his group developed mathematical algorithms that can detect statistical changes in photographs that signify tampering. "It is becoming hard to believe what we see anymore," he says. "A digitally altered photograph, often containing no visual clues of having been tampered with, can be indistinguishable from an authentic photograph. As a result, photographs are no longer the definitive recording of events." Farid's expertise has attracted the attention of the CIA and FBI, and his research with Dartmouth's Image Science. Group was featured in The New York Times' 2004 "Year in Ideas" issue. It has also landed him in courtrooms" nationwide examining photographic evidence in criminal court cases. :

THOUGHTS ON DARTMOUTH: "My students and I have the intellectual freedom to explore a nearly endless array of exciting questions of our choosing," says Farid. His favorite Dartmouth story involves his friend Tillman Gerngross, associate professor of engineering at the Thayer School, who one day found himself balancing on the back of Farid's motorcycle as they drove through Hanover, desperately clutching a six-pack in one hand. As Farid slowed to a stop at a red light, a student for whom they had each recently written a Fulbright recommendation walked by with her family- The woman's parents were 'slightly mortified" as introductions were made, recalls Farid, but the student went on to win the Fulbright. "The other best thing about this job," laughs Farid, "is that we don't really have to grow up."

OFF CAMPUS: Single, no children; enjoys skiing,riding his bicycle and motorcycle. Summers he volunteers with Dartmouth's robotics program for talented Upper Valley youth and at a math camp, inspiring the next generation of digital cowboys.