Center for Advanced Technology
and Education
Harnessing
cutting-edge technology
to
solve real-world problems
CATE
Director Malek Adjouad |
| "I
wanted to make robots touch
and see and find
out how to use those techniques
and transfer them to human
beings." |
As
a child growing up in Algeria,
Malek Adjouadi always dreamed
of becoming a doctor. When he
had the opportunity to attend
college in the United States,
he jumped at the chance
but the scholarship that made
it possible mandated that he study
engineering instead of medicine.
Adjouadi never entered the field
of his dreams. Nevertheless, some
30 years after coming to this country,
he's still pursuing his dream of
helping people. Instead of using
medicine's instruments and methods,
however, he and an interdisciplinary
faculty team are innovatively harnessing
the technologies of engineering
and computer science to develop
solutions for those in need.
Today, as director of Florida International
University's Center for Advanced Technology
and Education (CATE), Adjouadi is
spearheading cutting-edge research
which is developing algorithms and
techniques for applications including
medical diagnostics, robotic automation,
and human-computer interfaces to assist
those with visual or motor function
disabilities.
CATE was established in 1993 with an
initial three-year grant from the National
Science Foundation (NSF); subsequent
funding through 2004 has been awarded
by NSF and the Office of Naval Research.
The objectives of the center are to
create a state-of-the-art computing
environment that engages both educational
and research avenues; address several
critical technology areas, with an emphasis
on real-time imaging; enhance the curriculum;
and attract and retain students, particularly
minority graduate students.
The research conducted at CATE focuses
on two central themes:
* the
integration of software development and
hardware design to solve real-world problems;
and
* the
creation of a strong link between teaching
and research, with such a link benefiting
undergraduate and graduate studies.
Based
on these central themes, CATE conducts research
in:
* image
processing and computer vision;
* EEG-based
brain research and human-computer interfaces
* robotics
for motion planning and automated guidance;
* real-time
and multidimensional signal processing; and
* biomedical
applications in confocal microscopy and flow
cytometry for hematology studies and data
analysis.
Professor
Armando Barreto (left) and doctoral student Navarun
Gupta working with an eye tracking system used
in human-computer interfaces
|
Early
in his academic career, Adjouadi embarked
on a research course that would lead to
the themes explored at the center. After
receiving his bachelor's degree in electrical
engineering from Oklahoma State University,
Adjouadi conducted his master's and doctoral
studies at the University of Florida.
For his thesis, he |
studied
how to endow robots with a sense of "touch" and
his dissertation was on "Computer Vision Techniques
to Help the Blind."
"My research interests came from my early desire
to become a medical doctor," Adjouadi explained.
"I always wanted to develop engineering techniques
that would complement the medical field. I wanted
to make robots touch and see and find out
how to use those techniques and transfer them
to human beings."
To help realize its objectives, CATE has forged
research partnerships with several biomedical
corporations and hospitals, including Beckman-Coulter,
Inc., Baptist Hospital, Fraunhofer Institute and
Intelligent Hearing Systems. Three particularly
active collaborations are ongoing with three Miami
partners: Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University
of Miami School of Medicine, The Neuroscience
Center at Miami Children's Hospital and the Spinal
Cord Injury Service of the Veteran's Administration
Medical Center in Miami.
At Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Armando Barreto,
associate professor of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, and Julie Jacko, an NSF consultant
from Georgia Tech University (and former FIU faculty
member), work with Robert Rosa on the design and
development of human-computer interfaces for individuals
with visual impairments.
At the world-renowned eye institute they have
conducted research with partially sighted individuals
(as well as control group subjects with normal
vision) in which an eye gaze tracker system tracks
the orientation and position of the pupil, and
electroencephalograms (EEG) measure activity in
the visual cortex, the portion of the brain in
which visual images are "seen." The research proposes
that for every position on the visual continuum
there is a corresponding computer interface design
that will accommodate users with visual impairments.
The research is studying possible links between
the physiological characteristics of partially
sighted people and different computer interface
designs. A potential outcome of the research could
be the development of interfaces which would enable
individuals to redress or overcome their visual
impairment. Another aspect of the research involves
the use of sounds that change when the cursor
on the computer screen is moved toward icons on
the screen -- or to have these same sounds provide
assisted guidance in indoor or outdoor environments.
Barreto and Adjouadi are also conducting research
on interfaces for individuals with severe motor
disabilities. In one project, an eye gaze tracking
system is utilized to move a cursor on a computer
screen. In a second project, three electrodes
on the forehead and temples detect contractions
of the jaw and forehead muscles to move a cursor.
For instance, clenching the jaw on one side would
move the cursor in that direction and clenching
both sides of the jaw simultaneously would be
detected and translated into the "clicking" of
a computer mouse button. This technology could
be linked to motorized systems that would enable
mobility.
The research CATE is conducting with The Neuroscience
Center at Miami Children's Hospital focuses on
bridging two complementary technologies
one using electrodes clinically implanted in the
brain and the other using external electrodes
used to help understand brain activities.
These tools are being employed to study epilepsy
and the brain responses that occur during an epileptic
seizure. Samples of tissue from the portion of
the brain that causes seizures will be studied
on CATE's confocal microscope, a highly sophisticated
instrument capable of creating three-dimensional
displays of microscopic specimens.
Drs.
Ilker Yaylali and Prasanna Jayakar of the
Miami Children's Hospital Neuroscience Center
are collaborating with CATE scientists.
|
The
collaboration has considerable theoretical
and practical implications given the relevance
and complexity of brain signals that must
be understood to develop pragmatic applications.
In addition to advancing the goal of designing
viable human-computer interfaces, the work
has the potential to lead to new methods
and theories of information processing.
"Miami Children's Hospital and FIU are working
together to develop programs to advance
the growth of neuroscience at both institutions,"
said Prasanna Jayakar, director of the The
Neuroscience Center at Miami Children's
Hospital. "We are working on advances in
the fields of cognitive neuroscience, |
epilepsy, neuro-imaging technologies and furthering
the understanding of the molecular basis of abnormalities
of brain tumors and epilepsy."
The areas of learning strategies and cognitive
science, which are central to the development
of human-computer interfaces and artificial intelligence,
are the specialties of Ana Pasztor, professor
of computer science. Her work is closely related
to and complements the work done in the CATE lab:
While people in the CATE lab study aspects of
experience from a third-person perspective through
various machines and measurements, she studies
subjective experience from the first-person perspective
of the experiencing person. Her work has a wide
range of applications: from artificial intelligence
where intelligent agents with subjective
experiences (such as emotions) are being studied
and built to education reform, where building
new knowledge on students' existing experiences
is being advocated and researched.
"I'm interested in people how they learn,
how they function," Pasztor explained. "A lot
of the work in the CATE lab deals with cognitive
science and the possibility of intelligent machines."
In addition to its research agenda, CATE pursues
the goal of recruiting and supporting the education
of undergraduate and graduate students, with an
emphasis on women and minority group members who
are underrepresented in the sciences and engineering.
To date, the center has graduated two doctoral
students, 17 master's students and 18 bachelor's
students. Currently in the pipeline toward graduation
are nine doctoral students, seven master's students
and 14 undergraduate students.
"The visit to the CATE lab is the highlight of
all the tours I lead for prospective students,"
said Nola Garcia, pre-college programs coordinator
and recruiter for the College of Engineering.
"In addition to the lab's technology, the students
there are phenomenal. He (Adjouadi) picks the
best and brightest students; they show their enthusiasm
and it gets prospective students excited."
Looking
toward the future, Adjouadi shared several ambitious
long-term goals CATE will pursue. He hopes the
research team will realize its ambitious vision
of creating working computer models and interfaces
to help guide blind individuals or allow access
and mobility for people with multiple disabilities.
In addition, he believes they can develop techniques
that will result in more precise diagnoses and
treatments of neurological disorders.
"There are a myriad of incredible technologies,"
he said. "I feel we can make this contribution,
but it's tremendously complex."
FIU
Ana
Pasztor works with children from Claude Pepper
Elementary School on their subjective experience
studying math.
|
