Biometrics researchers recognized for computer science innovation and bias work

Renowned biometrics expert Anil K. Jain, Michigan State Researcher and Distinguished Professor of computer science and engineering, tops the 2020 global H-index ranking for scientific research impact with an H-index of 188, the university announced.

Jain’s index was determined following a thorough analysis of over 6,000 profiles on Google Scholar and DBLP. An international expert in pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision and biometrics recognition, Jain leads MSU’s Biometrics Research Group.

He is part of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the World Academy of Sciences, as well as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science and International Society for Optics and Photonics.

Jain was granted six U.S. and two Korean patents and was included in the National Academy of Inventors for his research in technology transfer.

“Professor Anil Jain is a truly world-class researcher,” said J.C. Mao, corporate vice president at Microsoft, in a prepared statement. “The education and training I got from MSU was my biggest asset when I graduated 26 years ago and it still is today. I am so grateful to Anil, who has been my longtime mentor and friend ever since.”

Jain spoke extensively to Biometric Update about the challenge of providing universal identification for people in underserved parts of the world a year ago.

Inioluwa Deborah Raji recognized for racial, gender bias work

University of Toronto Engineering alumna and biometrics researcher Inioluwa Deborah Raji has been included on MIT Technology Review’s Top Innovators Under 35 list for her work on racial and gender bias in biometric facial recognition, the university announced.

During her internship at MIT’s Media Lab, Raji worked with scientist Joy Buolamwini on analyzing commercial facial recognition developed by Microsoft, IBM and Amazon, concluding the algorithms had in-built bias.

“My reaction to IBM was pretty mild because our research group, the Algorithmic Justice League, had been talking to IBM for a while and knew it was winding down and was privately addressing the bias in their models,” Raji said in a prepared statement. “The remarkable thing about IBM’s statement was that they took a public, ethical stance.”

Microsoft and Amazon soon joined IBM in the decision.

Raji was a research mentee for Google collaborators when she was a fourth-year student at University of Toronto Engineering, and worked on auditing practices for AI testing to end biases. She continues her work in AI ethics as a Tech Fellow at the AI Now Institute at New York University.

In 2019, biometrics researchers Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, and Inioluwa Deborah Raji won the AI for Good category in VentureBeat’s AI Innovation Awards for their research into algorithmic bias in facial recognition.

Article Topics

AI  |  Anil Jain  |  bias  |  biometrics  |  biometrics research  |  computer vision  |  ethics  |  facial recognition  |  Inioluwa Deborah Raji  |  machine learning  |  MSU  |  University of Toronto