Research Philosophy

In addition to my graduate and undergraduate coursework, I have had the opportunity to work on some projects and supervised research. This has helped me gain insight into both the practical and the theoretical aspects of computer science as well as develop the analytical skills, the knowledge base and the level of maturity necessary for excelling in graduate studies and research. My current research is based on “Real time Motion Detection using Structure and Color” which has recently been accepted in the International Conference of Image Analysis and Recognition (ICIAR), 2009. Here detection using structure is carried out with the aid of information gathered from the Census Transform computed on gradient images based on Sobel operators and using color is done by computing temporal histograms, which allow efficient characterization without prior assumptions about color distribution in the scene. Also work is in progress for Developing a Foveal Visual System which was submitted at IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) at Snowbird Utah, 2009.

I have been also worked in sequence analysis research such as RNA structure prediction mechanisms using Machine Learning algorithms formally known as "Optimizing cut in RNA sequences using Machine Learning". Apart from that my research activities include “Face Detection using Principal Component Analysis”, “Face Recognition and Tracking”, and “Predicting 3D structures of protein molecules” etc. However it was my undergraduate project on “Automatic Image Enhancement using Genetic Algorithms” that developed my interest in Computer Vision especially in Image Processing Techniques. The genetic algorithm has the capability to find an optimal solution and hence GA is used to determine the value of the parameters and multipliers, to obtain the exact form of the function for image enhancement. Here enhancement is being done by gray level rescaling where each pixel is directly quantized to a new gray level in order to improve the contrast of an image and the evaluation function is needed for quantifying the desired amount of enhancement.

I look forward to a career of research in the broad area of Computer Science after completing my graduate education at UTEP. It is well known that future research in the varied fields of science, engineering and humanities will heavily depend on computers in general. Being a researcher in computer science would enable me to solve real world problems first hand and thereby serve the society most directly. I feel that this is a most rewarding vocation and definitely one that I intend to pursue after my graduation.