Follow the progress in the graduate course
Written by admin // January 20, 2010 // Graduate, Learning Discussion, Online Classes // 8 Comments
As we round the corner for the semester, this blog post shows how the progress of students in the graduate course in biometrics. What do the students work on, what technology do they use, what topics do they cover, and what are their research projects? Over the next few weeks, we’ll be updating their research projects.
8 Comments on "Follow the progress in the graduate course"
This week we did introductory items, review the syllabus, course objectives (Understand basics of commercially available biometric technologies;
Understand issues related to deployment of biometric technologies; Be able to decide which biometric system is the best for a particular application;Write and interpret biometric testing reports). Students also had to complete various items such as the CITIprogram test for IRB review. We started on a brief introduction of identity management. This module is broken down into four sections, each examining different aspects of identity management as it relates to biometrics. Each semester, we have students follow the latest news and case studies relating to a particular theme – this semester, the theme is healthcare and biometrics. We’ll be posting information about the case studies that students find in a separate area on the webpage.
Week 2 is underway – we have completed the introductory discussion of biometrics and healthcare, and today will look at Biometric Performance Terminology. We will discuss the different types of testing methodologies, including how to identify factors that influence biometric system performance, and be able to interpret the various performance metrics. Also in the module, we will go through the concepts of Doddington’s Zoo. You will learn how to interpret and write a performance evaluation report. The first lab activity is to understand how to calculate false non-match rates, generate a DET curve, interpret a DET curve, and compare the results. Students will also look at different testing reports, those done internally, as well as publically available ones, such as the NPL Biometric Product Test report
Week 3 starts with a review of fingerprint recognition. We have also started lab work in earnest with the review of the DET curves. The first lab report is due this week – this is where students will review a set of fingerprints, and analyze them using Verifinger. The report has the following sections to it: introduction and motivation; a brief literature review; description of the dataset, development of a research question and hypothesis; methodology; analysis and results. The project this semester looked at replicating the study of the young and elderly dataset.
Week 4 looked at two different topics (1) sample quality (2) face recognition. Elham Tabassi from NIST gave a lecture on sample quality and its impact on biometric systems. We provided the students with an overview of the various methodologies of capturing face recognition, and discussed some of the work being underway in the lab. The students completed another report, this time analyzing face recognition quality and performance using commercially available software.
Week 5 – discussed iris recognition. We have several different types of iris recognition cameras in the lab, so we discussed each of these, including the issues relating to interaction. A lot of the research that we do in the lab relates to subject interaction with the device (see HBSI information). Its around this time that we present students each semester with their research project, but this semester wanted to give the students something slightly different to work on. We provided the students in the class with three research papers that we had written, with the idea that they should read our papers and then try and replicate the study using the data that we have in the lab. They would then present this back to the original authors of the work, and ask them any questions that they didnt understand. We also asked the students to provide a couple of slides that could prompt further research. We ask graduate students in their thesis and dissertations to have a section on conclusions and recommendations for further research, but as they leave – they rarely get to see their work continue. In this case, we had the original authors either in the lab present for the students presentation, or we had them on a teleconference. All of the groups had further work proposed, and will present the results of that work in two weeks.
Week 6 looked at hand geometry, and the various applications that hand geometry can be found in. We also looked at keystroke dynamics. Students also continued their work on the further research that they proposed in the previous week.
Week 7 – we did a quick overview of vein recognition. We have three types of vein recognition technologies in the lab – back of the hand, palm vein, and finger vein. We spent most of this lecture period looking at the results of their projects. We’ll be posting the presentations later on this semester in this thread.
Week 8 – over the past week, we gave the group time to think about their research so far, whether to continue that research and make it into their semester project, or to go ahead and start on a different topic. Two of the groups decided to examine their work further, and the other group decided to look into a new topic.