News & Events
NEW ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JEFFREY HO IS WELCOMED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
January 18, 2005
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- New technology in face recognition and tracking could impact how money is obtained from an ATM as well as the tracking of terrorists. Jeffrey Ho, assistant professor, is conducting research to develop algorithms and techniques to be utilized in artificial intelligence. His interests include face recognition, face tracking, machine learning and image clustering.
Ho joined the Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering in August. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and a MS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A native of Taiwan, Ho's goal is to complete serious and significant research within the next five years.
Ho described his work as "allowing computers to comprehend and appreciate the wonderful visual world we live in." He was quick to demonstrate and explain what his research entailed. In face tracking, the goal is to develop an algorithm that can enables the computer to first locate a target, and then, be able to follow it. However that algorithm must be robust enough to control for a number of different environments, light and shadows, for example. Whereas, in image clustering, there may be 20 different people in a collection of images, and the computer needs to recognize one particular person. This involves teaching the computer through algorithms and various equations to detect underlying patterns in the data - from facial features to hair color to size and shape and more.
In his first semester at UF, Ho is teaching an upper-level undergraduate course: Artificial Intelligence and Heuristic. He admits that it is very challenging to teach advanced students, and artificial intelligence is a particularly difficult subject because of its heavy mathematical framework and people's preconceptions about simulating human intelligence.
Ho's
research also focuses on medical imaging. He is currently working on an algorithm
to compare two different shapes in the brain. The hippocampus is the portion
of the cerebral hemisphere in the basal medial part of the temporal lobe of
the brain. This part of the brain is important for learning and memory, for
converting short term memory to more permanent memory and for recalling spatial
relationships in the world. Medical researchers predict that the shape of
the hippocampus in individuals suffering from schizophrenia is different from
that of those without the disease. It is estimated that approximately one
percent of the population develops schizophrenia during their lifetime, and
more than 2 million Americans suffer from the illness in a given year. Ho's
research developing an algorithm to compare different shapes in the brain
has the potential to impact medical research on schizophrenia.
Ho is diligent in his research and optimistic about the possibilities. His previous success includes a post-doctoral research fellowship supported by the National Science Foundation with the Beckham Institute at the University of Illinois, as well as contributions as a member of the technical team for the ASIMO humanoid robot program at Honda Corporation of America.
The Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering is proud
to welcome Jeffrey Ho to the University of Florida!
Writer: Mandelyn Hutcherson, 352-392-4700 ext. 5011, HutchersonM@mail.vetmed.ufl.edu
Source: Jeffrey Ho, 352-392-1529, jho@cise.ufl.edu
