James W. Cooley, Ph.D.
Class of 1949

Researcher, IBM Watson Research Center

Elected, National Academy of Engineering, 2000.
Cited for: "Creation and development of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm for the time series analysis."

James Cooley graduated from Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mathematics in 1949.  In earned the Master's degree and the Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. 

Dr. Cooley was a longtime member of the research staff at the IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights.  Prior to IBM, Dr. Cooley worked at the Courant Institute in New York and before that he was a programmer at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton where he worked on computers with John von Neumann. 

In 2002 he was awarded the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal for outstanding achievements in signal processing.  He also received the IEEE Third Millennium Medal for Outstanding Achievements and Contributions.  IBM honored him in 1967 with a prestigious Outstanding Contribution Award for the Fast Fourier Transform Algorithm.

In 2000, Dr. Cooley was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.  He was cited for the creation and development of Fast Fourier Transform algorithm for the time series analysis. 

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