Thomas Huang
Prof. Thomas S. Huang at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the leading figures in computer vision, pattern recognition and human computer interaction.
Research
Multimodal human computer interaction, esp. the use of speech- and vision-based techniques in developing more natural and effective interfaces as alternatives to complements of conventional interfaces such as the keyboard and the mouse. Research projects include the integration of speech recognition and visual gesture analysis in controlling display in virtual environments; and the use of visual lip reading to enhance audio speech recognition accuracy.
3-D modeling, analysis, and synthesis (animation) of human face, hands, and body. The original motivation for this research is very low bitrate 3-D model-based video coding, esp. for video phone and teleconferencing scenarios. The idea is that if a 3-D model of the user at the transmitting end is constructed at the receiving end, then only the movement information needs to be extracted at the transmitting end and sent to the receiving end, where this information is used to drive the 3-D model and to regenerate the video sequence. Obviously, the tools developed for these scenarios are applicable to many other problems, such as virtual space conferencing with avatars, and electronic games.
Multimedia (images, video, audio, text) databases including content based image retrieval. Of special interest are the use of relevance feedback in adapting the databases system to user intentions (when browsing or searching), and the construction of a table of contents and a semantic index for video using multimedia information (image sequence, audio, and closed-captions if available).
Although the above problems are application motivated, the main goal is to develop general concepts, methodologies, theories, and algorithms which would be widely applicable to multimodal and multimedia signal processing in general. Huang's research support includes the NSF, DOD, UIUC Research Board, and a number of industrial firms.
Published Work
Representative publications by Thomas Huang include: Jaimes, A., Gatica-Perez, D., Sebe, N., Huang, T.S. (2007), "Human-centered Computing: Toward a Human Revolution", IEEE Computer, 40(5), pp. 30-34.
Cohen, I., Cozman, F., Sebe, N., Cirelo, M., Huang, T.S. (2004), "Semi-supervised Learning of Classifiers: Theory, Algorithms and Their Applications to Human-Computer Interaction", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 26(12), pp. 1553-1567.
Pan, H., Levinson, S.E., Huang, T.S., and Liang, Z.P. (2004), “A Fused HMM Model with Application to Bimodal Speech Processing,” IEEE Transactions On Signal Processing, 52/3, pp. 573- 581.
Zhou, X.S. and Huang, T.S. (2003), "Relevance Feedback in Image Retrieval: A Comprehensive Review," ACM Multimedia Systems Journal, pp. 536-544.
Bruckstein, A.M., Holt, R.J., Huang, T.S., and Netravali, A.N. (2000), "New Devices for 3D Pose Estimation: Mantis Eyes, Agam Paintings, Sundials, and Other Space Fiducials," International Journal of Computer Vision, pp. 131-139.
Lew, M.S., Wong, K., and Huang, T.S. (1994), "Learning and Feature Selection in Stereo Matching," IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, pp. 869-881.
Arun, K., Huang, T.S., and Blostein, S.D. (1987), "Least-Squares Fitting of Two 3-D Point Sets, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, pp. 698-700.
Honors and Outstanding Achievements
* Picture Coding Symposium: Pioneering Research in Picture Coding Award (2006) * IS&T and SPIE Imaging Scientist of the Year Award (2006) * Okawa Prize for Information and Telecommunations Technology, 2005. * Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award, 2005. * Center for Advanced Study Professor, UIUC, 2003- * Pan Wen-Yuan Outstanding Research Award, Pan Wen-Yuan Foundation, 2002 * King-Sun Fu Prize, International Association of Pattern Recognition, 2002 * Information Science Award, Association of Intelligent Machinery, 2002 * Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2002 * Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2001 * Member, National Academy of Engineering, 2001 * IEEE Achievement Award for Contributions to Motion Analysis, 2000 * IEEE Third Millenium Medal, 2000 * Speech, and Signal Processing, 1998. * Signal Processing at the IEEE Int. Conf. on Acoustics, * IEEE Signal Processing Society, honored as a Pioneer in * IEEE Signal Processing Society "Oral History" interviewee, 1997 * Peter Bartel Visiting Professor, U. Washington, 1997 * William L. Everitt Distinguished Professor, Dept. of ECE, UIUC, 1996- * IEEE Signal Processing Society, Society Award, 1991 * IEEE ASSP Society Technical Achievement Award, 1988 * Pattern Recognition (An International Journal), Best Paper Awards: 1989, 1992, and 1995 * Co-author of IEEE ASSP Society Best Paper, 1986 * Fellow, Japan Society for the promotion of science, 1986 * SPIE, Fellow * International Association of Pattern Recognition, Fellow * Optical Society of America, Fellow, 1986 * IEEE, Fellow, 1979 * A. V. Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award, 1976-77 * Guggenheim Fellow, 1971-72