Lab Awards and Recognition: Highlights, Interviews and other News

Highlights

  1. Best Paper Award IEEE Biometrics Council, 2022.
  2. IEEE Biometric Council Plate – Service Recognition 2022.
  3. Awarded the “West Point coin for Computational Engineering Mathematics”, US Army (Math), 2022 and 2021.
  4. Affiliated faculty at the Institute for Cybersecurity and Privacy, Department of Computer Science, UGA, Feb 2021 – 2023.
  5. Elected to be the “Executive Secretary of the NIST Face Identification Committee”, 2021 – 2024.
  6. VP on Education – IEEE Biometrics Council (2020 – 2022)
  7. Board of Directors – Document Security Alliance (2020 – present)
  8. Academic Research and Innovation Expert Group of the Biometrics Institute, 08/2017 – now
  9. SME Biometrics: DCIAC – DoD as of 2018
  10. SME Biometrics: HDIAC – DoD, 2015 – now
  11. Best Paper Award, IEEE EISIC 2017, Athens, Greece.
  12. Recognized as one of the “Top 25 Professors of Software Engineering to Know”, OnlineEngineerPrograms.com
  13. Outstanding Researcher Award 2015 (LCSEE, WVU)
  14. Finalist of the Innovation and Commercialization Award at WVU (Ceremony, March 31st 2016)
  15. Finalist (top 5 in the WV State) of the TechConnectWV – Spirit of Innovation Award – Nov 2015
  16. Best Reviewer Award (BTAS is the most prestigious conference in biometrics worldwide) 2016.
  17. Best 26 Journal papers for 2015: The previously published 2015 MILab journal paper: “N. Narang and T. Bourlai, “Face recognition in the SWIR band when using single sensor multi-wavelength imaging systems”, Image and Vision Computing, Journal – Elsevier, vol. 33, pp. 26-43, Jan 2015” was selected among 10 Elsevier Journals one of the Best 26 Journal papers for 2015. It was selected to appear in “Elsevier – Virtual Special Issues Celebrating the Breadth of Biometrics Research 2015”
  18. Certificate of Technical Excellence – Infrared Training Center (FLIR) 2015        
  19. International Scholar Recognition Award, WVU (International Students and Scholars Office) 2013
  20. Nominated for the WVU Early Career Innovation Award 2014 and 2015
  21. Certificate of Technical Excellence – Infrared Training Center (FLIR) 2013         
  22. Best Conference Paper, IEEE Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems, Washington DC, U.S.A. (2007)

Books

  1. Book #4, “Disease Control through Social Network Surveillance”, by Springer, Spring 2022.
  2. Book #3, (1st name Editor); “Securing Social Identity in Mobile Platforms”, by Springer, Spring 2020.
  3. Book #2 (Co-Editor) – “Surveillance in Action”, by Springer, 2018.
  4. Book #1 (Sole Editor) – “Face Recognition Across the Imaging Spectrum, by Springer, 2016.

Interviews and New Reports (National and International)

2020

  • Conference Chairperson and Advisory Board Member: Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) “Biometrics and Law Enforcement”, Washington DC, Feb, 2020.
  • Sponsorship Chair of IEEE ASONAM (conference), 2020.
  • Connect ID Session Chair, Washington DC, 2020
  • Session Chair and Planning Committee Member, FedID, Atlanta, GA, 2020.

2019

  • Conference Chairperson and Advisory Board Member: Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) “Biometrics and Law Enforcement”, Washington DC, Feb, 2019.
  • Co-Organizer IEEE ASONAM (SNAST Workshop), Calgary, Canada, 2019.
  • Sponsorship Chair of IEEE ASONAM (conference), Calgary, Canada, 2019.
  • Morning Session Chair of IEEE ASONAM (SNAST), Calgary, Canada, 2019.
  • Program Chair, ICB 2019.
  • Session Chair, Biometrics Summer School 2019, Alghero, Italy 2019.
  • Doctoral Consortium Chair, Biometrics Summer School 2019, Alghero, Italy 2019.
  • Session Chair and Planning Committee Member, FedID, Tampa, Florida, 2019.
  • Tutorials Chair, Premier Biometrics Conference (BTAS), 2019.
  • Co-Chair – IEEE Big Data; Cyberhunt Workshop, December 2019.

2018

  • Conference Chairperson and Advisory Board Member: Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) “Biometrics and Law Enforcement”, Washington DC, Feb, 2018.
  • Co-Organizer IEEE ASONAM (SNAST Workshop), Barcelona, Spain, 2018.
  • Sponsorship Chair of IEEE ASONAM (conference), Barcelona, Spain, 2018.
  • Morning Session Chair of IEEE ASONAM (SNAST), Barcelona, 2018.
  • Chair (Morning Session Presentations), Biometrics Summer School, Alghero, Italy, June 2018.
  • ICB 2018: Doctoral Consortium Chair, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, 20-23 Feb 2018.
  • Co-Chair – IEEE Big Data; Cyberhunt Workshop, December 2018 – HERE
  • Chair / Advisory Board, European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference (EISIC) 2018, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden, October 24-25, 2018 – HERE
  • ICPR Area Chair (Associate Editor): “Track 4: Biometrics and Human Computer Interaction”, August 20-24, 2018

2017

  • Demo Chairperson: IJCB 1-4 October, 2017 (Premier Biometrics Conference – BTAS + ICB)
  • Co-Organizer and Sponsor Chair of IEEE ASONAM (SNAST – Workshop), Australia, 2017 – HERE  
  • Publicity Chair, IEEE EISIC 2017, Athens, Greece.
  • Session Chair, IEEE EISIC 2017, Athens, Greece.
  • Conference Chairperson and Advisory Board Member: Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) “Biometrics and Law Enforcement”, Washington DC, Jan, 2017.
  • Conference Chairperson and Advisory Board Member: IDGA Biometrics International, Washington DC, July, 2017.
  • Session Co-Chair: IDGA Homeland Security Week Conference, October 2017.

Innovation and Commercialization

Confirmix (WVU start-up Company) – T. Bourlai, CTO and co-founder

2016

  • Chair (and invited talk): IDGA Biometrics and Law Enforcement Conference, Washington D.C., January 2016

2015

  • Invited Talk: Biometrics Institute, London, UK, October 2015
  • Chair (and invited talk): IDGA Smart Policing Conference, Washington D.C., April 2015
  • Attended the Biometrics Institute Meeting at New Zealand Embassy, Washington, D.C., March 2015
  • Chair (and invited talk): IDGA Biometrics and Law Enforcement Conference, Washington D.C., January 2015
  • Invited Talk: U.S. Army Labs, January 2015
  • Invited Talk: NSA (National Sheriff’s Association), January 2015

2014

  • Invited Talk: University of Rochester, Rochester N.Y., Dec 2014
  • Invited Talk: SRC, Syracuse, N.Y., Dec 2014
  • Invited Talk: Night Vision and Thermal Optics 2014, IQPC, London, UK, Sept 2014 
  • Webinar to CITeR Affiliates, November 2014
  • CITeR Meeting, Arizona, November 2014
  • Invited Talk: Biometrics Institute, London, UK, October 2014
  • Invited Talk: University of Newcastle, UK, October 2014
  • Interviewed by IDGA, Biometrics for Government and Security, “The Future of Face Recognition,” Feb. 2014 
  • Interviewed by IDGA, Night Vision Systems Summit, “Night Vision Face Recognition,” Summer 2014
  • Webinar to CITeR Affiliates (with Dr. A. Clark), on “Passport Face Matching Techniques,” April 2014
  • Invited by the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement (IDGA) to be the chair and a speaker (two presentations ) at the “IDGA Biometrics for Government and National Security Conference,” Washington D.C., Feb 2014
    • Chair of the event
    • Presentation on: “Mobility and Biometric Smart Cards” – Day 1
    • Presentation on: “Current State of Facial Recognition Technology” – Day 2
  • Invited to present, “New Camera Sensor Technologies,” at the WVU Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Morgantown, March 2014
  • Invited to participate at the CITeR Strategic Planning Workshop, Washington D.C., March  2014
  • Invited by the Winter 2014 Biometrics Summit to present on “Face Recognition Readiness,” March 2014
  • Invited to participate at the Biometrics Institute USA Drinks Reception, hosted by The Australian Embassy, March 2014, Washington D.C.
  • Invited to represent CITeR (booth) and provide a demo on face recognition (with WVU student C. Whitelam) at the Connect:ID EXPO, Washington D.C., March 2014
  • Invited talk at the Five Eyes Analytical Workshop (Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds) – sponsored by the Defense Intelligence Agency, on “Moving Forward: Challenges in Forensic Human Identification Using Face Images,” at Mississippi University, March 2014
  • WVU seminar at Department of Chemical Engineering on “Advances on Human Authentication,” Feb. 2014
  • Invited seminar on Graduate Academy Workshop, “Life after Graduation,” WVU, April 2014
  • 11th Summer School for Advanced Studies on Biometrics for Secure Authentication, Biometrics in Forensics, Security and Beyond – Tutorial Practical FR, Alghero, Italy, June 2014
  • Invited to Linking Innovation, Industry and Commercialization (LIINC), through the WVU Office of Research and Economic Development: Bioscience and Biomedical Showcase, NRCCE, WVU, Feb 2014

2013

  • InfraMation 2013 (organized by FLIR), invited paper and oral presentation on “Applications of Passive Infrared Imaging to Forensic Facial Recognition,” Orlando, Fla., November 2013
  • CITeR fall 2013 Meeting at NIST, October 2013
  • Invited talk by University of Notre Dame: “Can we identify people in difficult environments by using their face images?” October 2013
  • BTAS  2013:
    • Chair of the BTAS 2013, DEMO Session, Sept. 2013
    • Lead of the BTAS 2013 Doctoral Symposium and Career Pathways Session, Sept 2013
  • World e-ID Congress, invited talk on “Current Challenges in Face Recognition Technology: Identification of People in Difficult Environments,” Nice, France, Sept. 2013
  • Panel Moderator – chair and tutorial presenter at the ISS World Americas on Facial Recognition Technologies for Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering, Washington, D.C., Sept. 2013
  • Biometric Consortium Conference 2013, Tampa, Fla, Sept. 2013:
    • Speaker on “Heterogeneous Face Recognition: Current Challenges and Case Studies” 
    • Co-speaker with Dr. A. Clark on “New Methodology for Passport Photo Enhancement”
    • Speaker on Biometrics, Identity, and Security Research Showcase on “Multi-spectral face recognition: identification of people in difficult environments”  
  • Chair (and presenter) of the IDGA Actionable Intelligence Conference, Washington D.C., August 2013
  • CITeR mid-cycle meeting, invited to present on “Face and Ear-based Mid-Wave Infrared Biometrics,” Morgantown, August 2013.
  • Online Webinar, “Facial Recognition Readiness: What Criminal Investigators and Intelligence Analysts Need to Know,” July 2013
  • Invited to the Eighth Annual Night Vision Systems, IDGA Presentation (day 2 opening speaker) on “Current Challenges in Night Time Face and Ear Recognition,” Arlington, Va., July 2013
  • Chair and two invited talks at the IDGA Forensics Enabled Intelligence Conference, April 2013 
  • Invited talk on: “Face Recognition and Recent Challenges” at Rutgers University, April 2013 
  • Invited at the Winter Biometrics Summit Presentation (speaker) on: “Passport Face Matching,” Miami, Fla., March 2013.
  • CITeR mid-cycle meeting: invited to present on two topics: (i) “Long Range, Uncontrolled Face Recognition”and (ii) “A Preprocessing Methodology for Passport Face Matching,” Baltimore, Md., Feb. 2013
  • WVU Seminar for Faculty and Students: “News on Face Recognition?” Feb. 2013
  • International Scholars WVU: invited talk, Feb. 2013 (an award was also received)
  • Invited by the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement to present (speaker) at the Sixth Annual Biometrics for National Security and Law Enforcement Summit, Pentagon City, Va., Jan. 2013; two presentations: (i) Long Range FR and (ii) Image Restoration for FR

2012

  • Speaker at the Sixth Annual Biometrics for National Security and Law Enforcement Summit, Jan 2013, Washington D.C.
  • Winter 2013 Biometrics Summit, Miami, Fla., March 2012
  • Interview with the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement, 2012 [ VIEW ARTICLE]
  • Invited to speak at the Biometric Consortium Conference 2012 on “Exploring a Preprocessing Methodology for Passport Photo Enhancement,” Tampa, Fla., Sept. 2012
  • Invited to present at the IDGA Biometrics & Identity Management Summit, Arlington, Va., August 2012
  • Invited to present a tutorial on “Unconstrained Face Recognition at Open Borders,” at a workshop of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics – BORDERS, Washington, D.C., June, 2012
  • Invited to Linking Innovation, Industry and Commercialization through the WVU Office of Research and Economic Development: Bioscience and Biomedical Showcase, highlighting innovation from WVU faculty, National Research Center for Coal and Energy; poster presentation on “Current Biomedical-related Research,” Feb. 2012
  • WVU seminar for faculty and students, invited by Dr. M.C. Valenti, on “How Not to Write a Paper,” Feb. 2012
  • Fifth Annual Biometrics for National Security and Defense Summit, Enhancing Identity Technology, Collection and Protection, Institute for Defense & Government Advancement; presentation on: “Identity Management by Means of Small Platforms (Smart Cards and Mobile Devices),” Washington, D.C., Jan. 2012
  • 2012 Biometrics Summit presentation on “Understanding How Important and Possible Eye Detection and Face Recognition are when Performed Using Face Images Acquired Under Challenging Conditions,” Miami, Fla., Feb. 2012.

Student Achievements

  • Cameron Whitelam, during his postgraduate studies, was selected as an intern for the 2012 Office of Naval Research Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program, summer 2012 [ VIEW ARTICLE]

SPIE Newsroom Magazine

  • T. Bourlai, “Short-Wave Infrared for Face-based Recognition System,” SPIE Newsroom Magazine – Defense & Security, April 2012 [HERE] [DOI: 10.1117/2.1201204.004192] [ personal invitation].
    • Special thanks to the WVU biometrics team L. Hornak, B. Cukic, J. Dawson, A. Ross and N. Kalka for their contributions, and to B. Lemoff from WVHTC.

IEEE CYBER 2012

  • N. Mavridis, T. Bourlai and D. Ognibene, “The Human-Robot Cloud: Situated Collective Intelligence on Demand,” IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control and Intelligent Systems, Thailand, May 2012

Journal Accepted

  • T. Bourlai, R. R. Pryor, J. Suyama, S. E. Reis and D. Hostler, “Use of Thermal Imagery for Core Body Temperature Estimation During Pre-cooling, Exertion, and Recovery in Wild-land Firefighter Protective Clothing,” Pre-hospital Emergency Care: Official Journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors, [In Press – Expected May 2012].

IEEE Senior Member

  • I have been elected to the grade of Senior Member. I would like to thank the people that supported me.

SPIE 2012

  • T. Bourlai, J. VonDollen, N. Mavridis, C. Kolanko, “Evaluating the efficiency of a nighttime, middle-range infrared sensor for applications in human detection and recognition”, Infrared Imaging Systems: Design, Analysis, Modeling, and Testing XXIII, Baltimore, Md., Apr. 2012 [oral]
  • T . Bourlai, A. Ross, C. Chen and L. Hornak, “A Study on using Middle-Wave Infrared Images for Face Recognition,” SPIE, Biometric Technology for Human Identification IX, Baltimore, Md., Apr. 2012 [oral]
  • T. Bourlai, N. Narang et. al., “SWIR Multi-Wavelength Acquisition System for Simultaneous Capture of Face Images,” SPIE (Vol. 8353), Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVIII, Baltimore, Md., Apr. 2012 [oral]
  • A. Abaza, T. Bourlai and M. A. Harrison, “Human Ear Detection in the Thermal Infrared Spectrum”, SPIE (Vol. 8354), Thermo-sense: Thermal Infrared Applications XXXIV (IR Sensors and Systems) , Baltimore, Md., Apr. 2012 [oral]
  • J. Ice, N. Narang, C. Whitelam, N. Kalka, L. Hornak, J. Dawson and T. Bourlai, “SWIR Imaging for Facial Image Capture through Tinted Materials, SPIE (Vol. 8353), Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVIII, Baltimore, Md.,, Apr. 2012

2011

  • Linking Innovation, Industry and Commercialization through the WVU Office of Research and Economic Development: DOD-related Research highlighting innovation from WVU faculty, National Research Center for Coal and Energy, WVU; poster presentation on “Current DOD-related research,” November 2011
  • IEEE Signal Processing Society (Pittsburgh Area), presentation on “Methodological Advances on Pulse Measurement through Thermal Imaging of Human Faces,” University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.,, November 2011
  • Club PiSCES: Program to Stimulate Careers in Engineering and Science: through a WVU Internal Public Service Grant, Club PiSCES was funded to develop a partnership with the WVU Health Science and Technology Academy to match faculty with HSTA clubs to discuss their research or a science topic related to their research. Presentation at the HSTA Club at East Fairmont High School on “New technologies utilizing human faces for physiological monitoring and human recognition,” Nov. 2011

WIFS 2011

  • T. Bourlai and Z. Jafri, “Eye Detection in the Middle-Wave Infrared Spectrum,” WIFS 2011 (32.5% Acceptance Rate) [oral]
  • T. Bourlai, C. Whitelam, I. Kakadiaris, “Pupil Detection under Lighting and Pose Variations in the Visible and Active Infrared Bands,” WIFS 2011 (32.5% acceptance rate) [oral]

IJCB 2011

  • N. Kalka, T. Bourlai, B. Cukic, L. Hornak, “Cross-spectral Face Recognition in Heterogeneous Environments: A Case Study on Matching Visible to Short-wave Infrared Imagery,” IJCB, 2011
  • D. Cao, C. Chen, M. Piccirilli, P. Marco, D. Adjeroh, T. Bourlai, A. Ross, “Can Facial Metrology Predict Gender?” IJCB, 2011

NLETS 2011 (two presentations)

It was a great honor and pleasure to participate in the NLETS 2011 annual business meeting that took place in Burlington, VT, June 26-29 2011. NLETS is the premiere interstate justice and public safety network in the nation for the exchange of law enforcement-, criminal justice- and public safety-related information. To accomplish this, the NLETS system provides unrivaled reliability based on a network built to endure threats without impacting performance. I would like to thank my colleagues at WVU and NLETS organizers for this great opportunity and their support.

Invited Talk at Michigan State University

Prof. Anil Jain was kind enough to invite me to give a talk to his Biometrics Research Group at MSU in March 2011.

Another Award Granted to CITeR by ONR – PI T. Bourlai

You can run, but you can’t hide—even in the dark or behind obstacles—thanks to research being done at West Virginia University. An award of $150,000 was given to the Center for Identification Technology Research at WVU’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources by the Office of Naval Research to initiate the project entitled, “Ascertaining Identity within Human Networks in Night Environment.” [ VIEW ARTICLE]