Malek Adjouadi and Armando Barreto
Center
for Advanced Technology and Education, Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering
Florida
International University, University Park, Miami, Florida 33199
adjouadi@eng.fiu.edu; barreto@eng.fiu.edu;
The NSF funded Center for Advanced Technology and
Education (NSF-CATE) at Florida International University (FIU) was established
in the fall of 1993 through an initial 3-year NSF-CISE-CDA-IIMI grant that was
later augmented with a 2-year continuation grant. Additional grants from the NSF-ARI and the NSF-MRI programs
allowed us to enhance greatly our infrastructure in key research areas related
to real-time 3-D confocal microscopy and EEG-brain research based on real-time
Electrical Source Imaging using 256 electrodes - ESI-256. A new five-year grant (8/99-7/04) from the
NSF-CISE-EIA-MII program is allowing us to expand our Institutional
Infrastructure in Support of Computer Engineering with Special Focus on
Human-Computer Interface Research and Information Processing using parallel and
distributed computational platforms.
The NSF-CATE center constitutes a modern multidisciplinary
infrastructure used for both instructional and research activities. New opportunities for carrying out research
in areas of critical technology need have served us well, not only in
addressing new CISE research directions, but also in solidifying our
collaboration with industry and the private sector. These efforts have made it possible to attract and retain a great
number of graduate students who are finding in this infrastructure all the
support they need to pursue their graduate studies all the way to the Ph.D.
level. We are happy to report that many
of these outstanding graduate students come from the traditionally
underrepresented groups (African Americans and Women). A comprehensive outreach program to our
local high-schools and colleges along with the support of undergraduates serve
to maintain a prospering student pipeline where undergraduate students are
exposed early to the merits of research, thus facilitating their transition to
the graduate program.
Florida
International University (FIU) is an urban institution located in Miami with
campuses at University Park (main campus), North Miami (renamed officially on
May 17th by the Board of Regents as the Biscayne Bay Campus), and a new campus, one mile away
from University Park, housing the Engineering and Applied Science (EAS)
building, a 250,000 sq.ft. structure on a 36-acre land. Chartered by the Florida Legislature in 1965, the University opened
its doors in 1972. A member of the State University System of Florida,
FIU is a doctoral-granting, multi-campus institution offering more than 200
degree programs, including 42 doctoral programs. As of Fall
of 1999, the University has an enrolment of 31,274 students, making it the
largest public university in South Florida. Academic programs of our
institution include 135 B.S., 125 M.S. and 48 Ph.D. programs all approved by
the Florida Board of Regents. FIU has
been consistently cited in US News & World's Report's annual survey under
"America's Best Colleges" as one of the country's finest regional
universities. FIU's diverse enrollment reflects the multicultural composition
of our community. Nearly 67% of our enrollment is drawn from minorities. The University has the second largest
contingent of African-American students (14.5%) in the state and the largest
contingent of Hispanic students (52.5%) of any doctoral-granting university in
the country. Women constitute 56.5% of
our enrollment. Also, FIU graduates the most Hispanic-engineering students in
the continental US. In particular, our
Electrical and Computer Engineering department is ranked first in the total
Hispanic undergraduate enrollment and third in the nation in the number of
total Hispanic graduate enrollment (Source:
AAES- Engineering Workforce Commission).
The University has been designated a Title III institution by the US
Department of Education, and is a member of the HBCU/Minority Institutions
Consortium, and the National Science Foundation's Gateway Coalition.
The NSF-funded Center for Advanced Technology
and Education - CATE - provides a multidisciplinary research environment
engaging researchers as well as facilitating classroom and laboratory-based
instruction in key technology areas.
CATE constitutes an infrastructure that is viable for cutting-edge
educational activities in support of both undergraduate and graduate students,
with funding allocated to carryout the following research areas:
Image Processing and Computer Vision; - EEG-Based Research,
Human-Computer and Brain-Computer Interfaces; - Robotics for Motion Planning
and Automated Guidance; - Real-time and Multidimensional Signal Processing; -
Confocal Microscopy; - Flow Cytometry for Hematology studies and Data Analysis.
The CATE
center focuses on two central themes: (1) the integration of software
development and hardware design towards the solution of key problems in areas
deemed of critical technology need, and (2) the creation of a strong link on
one hand between academia and industry/private sector sharing similar research
objectives, and on the other hand between instructional activities and research
activities within our college, strengthening our curriculum in the process and
benefiting undergraduate and graduate studies. Based on these central themes,
researchers in the CATE center attempt to bring their research findings to the
realm of practicality and in service to our society. New algorithms and techniques are being developed for such things
as diagnostics in medical applications, and human-computer or brain-computer
interfaces that will better the lives of those among us who live with
disabilities focusing on visual impairment or blindness, loss of motor
functions, and key brain disorders such as epilepsy.
Our main URL
is: http://cate.fiu.edu/infra2000.
Links to our work is provided at the University level and through academic
colleagues and some industry like (http://www.neuro.com/neuroscan/index.htm)
One of our primary
objectives were to (1) establish a modern infrastructure capable of addressing
critical research areas of CISE and (2) Create an environment that will
encourage recruitment of graduates as well as undergraduates, as we focus on
redressing the recruitment rate of underrepresented minorities. For example, in the NSF-CATE center of the
total 42 students that we have recruited, 25 are female students where 11 are
African Americans and 20 are Hispanics.
With the instructional and
research activities made possible by this NSF grant we were able to create a
strong networking research partnership with our academic partners here at FIU
and elsewhere in the USA, and with industry and the private sector. Details are provided in Section 2.3.
Our research activities have grown and diversified to
include the general fields of (a) Information Processing; (b)
EEG-Brain Research, Human-Computer Interfaces focusing on people with
disabilities, Biomedical Applications, and Specific Applications of Robotics.
We have created summer/academic programs that involve a large number of
our community high schools.
We have just this year created two instructional/research laboratories
as identified in Section 2.4.2.
We have developed 7 new classes and redesigned 2 courses to include parallel
and distributed processing, all in direct support of the instructional/research
activities addressed by this grant. Details are provided in Section 2.4.3.
·
Faculty: Malek Adjouadi, Armando Barreto, Gustavo Roig, Ana
Pasztor, Maria Martinez, Mark Weiss.
·
Students: 11 Ph.D. Students, 13 M.S.
students and 10 Undergraduates (details are given in Section 3)
·
RESEARCH PARTNERS: Neuroscience
Center at Miami Children’s Hospital, Beckman-Coulter Corporation,
Baptist Hospital, Fraunhofer Institute, Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute, The
Spinal Cord Injury Service with the Veterans Administration Medical Center,
and Intelligent Hearing Systems.
·
CONSULTANTS:
Julie Jacko, University of Wisconsin at Madison; Richard Alo, University of
Houston Downtown; and Kurt Vanlehn, University of Pittsburgh.
The main
equipment of the NSF-CATE center include:
·
The
Electric Source Imaging – 256 channel system (ESI-256) for brain research
·
Eye-Gaze
Tracking Systems: Eye-Gaze tracking systems are available with both remote and
head-mounted optics
·
Onyx
Machine with four R-8000 processors
·
A
Cluster of Eight Computers for Distributed Processing including all networking
accessories for local and remote login
·
RCM
8000 real-time Confocal Microscope
·
An
upgraded Nomad 200 integrated mobile robot system with multi-sensory modalities
·
A
Coulter EPICS Profile II Flow Cytometer for in-flow analysis of microscopic
particles
·
Servers,
Workstations and PCs include 20 SGI Indy Workstations; 2 Origin 200 servers
with video streamers, 1 Challenge M server; 20 Personnel Computers (Pentiums
with MMX Technology); and all supporting accessories including Printers and CCD
cameras. All computers of the NSF-CATE
center are accessible locally or through remote login.
Student Support - 11 Ph.D. Students, 13 M.S. students and 10 Undergraduates
-
Ph.D. Students (12): Patricio
Vidal, John Riley, Noemi Fernandez, Mildred
Saenz, Weiting Cai, Christophe Godefroy, Julio Blandón,
Navarun Gupta, Carlos Reyes (on-leave until Fall 2000), Noemi Fernandez (FEEDS from Houston), Mildred Saenz (On leave – Newly wed).
-
Ms Students (14): Erika Suarez, Daniela
Viegas, Peterjohn Hugh, Marco Midon, Marlin Brinson, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Euton Lyons, Ovidio Alfanso, Danmary Sanchez, Celso Duran, Alsison Valdivieso, Marc Rossman., and
Fatima Kanej
-
UNDERGRADUATES
(10): Claudia Rodriguez, Luz Camacho, Christine Bedia,
Kirinia Nunez, Tarla Toomer, Robert Hazbun, Orfirio Sanchez, Alexis Bussieres,
Tony Reddick, Alejandro Simon
NEW STUDENTS RECRUITED FOR FALL 2000 consist for now of 2MS students,
and 6 new undergraduates. Of these 42 students that we have recruited, 25 are
female students where 11 are African Americans and 20 are Hispanics, and one is
a blind individual who will obtain his Masters this summer.
(b) Degrees Granted
5 M. Sc. degrees: Peter John
Hugh, Julio Blandon, Maria Estrada, Arnoldo Sans, and Marco Midon.
2 B.S.degrees: Kerlin Quintyn
and Phuong Luu.
(c) NSF Graduate Fellowships
Annette Taberner,
1997-2000; Erica Suarez, 1998-2001; and Danmary Sanchez, 1999-2002
(d) Student Honors
-
Patricio
Vidal: 1999 Alfred Estrada Scholarship Award.
-
Erika
Suarez: Received the Contest Chairman's Choice Award for the technical paper
presented at the 37th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium, April
2000.
-
Erika
Suarez: Elected to Who's Who Among Students in American Universities &
Colleges, 1999-00.
-
Daniela
Viegas: NTCC 2000 SHPE/NSF scholarship (SHPE = Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers, and NTCC = National Technical Career Conference).
-
Orfirio
A. Sanchez: Association of Cuban-American Engineers (ACE) scholarship,
1999-2000
- Julio Blandon: Motorola Scholarship, Fall 1999.
- Danmary Sanchez: 1999 Honorable Mention: Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student Award.
(e) Summer 2000 Internships:
-
Julio
Blandon: Global Technology Development Group (GTDG), Commercial, Government,
and Industrial Solutions Sector (CGISS), Motorola Communications Enterprise
(CE), Plantation, Florida.
-
Claudia
Rodriguez: Motorola, Communications Enterprise, CGISS-Kramer Hardware
Department
-
Alejandro
Simon: Lucent Technologies, Wireless division, Columbus, Ohio.
-
Patricio
Vidal: Beckman-Coulter, Inc., Miami, Florida. Algorithms Group and with
Motorola, Plantation, Florida. CGISS Department.
-
Erika
Suarez, Motorola, Boynton Cellular Design Center.
-
Alison
Valdivieso Crabtree: Motorola, Plantation, Fort Lauderdale Florida, IDEN Division.
-
Daniela
Viegas: GE Medical Systems in Wisconsin, CT Systems Engineering Group.
-
Orfirio
A. Sanchez: Georgia Institute of Technology, summer undergraduate research
internship.
-
Danmary
Sanchez: Motorola, Inc., Global Software Division.
-
Mark
Rossman: IBM, Raleigh, North Carolina, Diagnostics Group.
-
Marco Midon: NASA
Goddard, Mission Management Test Group, Greenbelt, Maryland.
·
The
Distributed Processing Lab housed within the NSF-CATE center
·
The
Web Design and Development Laboratory housed within the Engineering Information
Center.
The following courses have developed in support of
the research activities of the NSF-CATE center:
-
EEL
2880 Applied Software Technique for Engineering (designed to expose students
early to programming applications)
-
EEL
4930: Introduction to Web Design and
Development (Experimental Course offered for the first time in Spring 2000, and
is so popular that it is offered this summer with the 30 students enrolled-max
allowed)
-
EEL
5757: Real-Time DSP Implementations (already approved and catalogued)
-
EIN 5993: Cognitive
Engineering in Human-Computer Interaction (a joint course with Industrial
Engineering) that our senior and first-year graduate students can take.
-
EEL
6076: Biosignal Processing II: Introduction to Brain Topography (Offered first
time in Fall 1999).
-
EEL
6751: Wavelet Theory Applied to Signal Processing (already approved and
catalogued April 2000)
-
EEL
6994: Neural Systems (Experimental course taught for the first time in Spring
1999). This course is to be submitted to the curriculum committee for approval
by August 2000.
-
EEL
4747: Microcomputers II, and EEL 6758: Engineering Design of Microprocessor
Based Operating Systems were both redesigned by Dr. Maria Martinez to include
parallel and distributed processing.
Our students and faculty
continue to organize workshops, and participate in lecturing at local community
high schools. Visits to FIU by
different classes are regularly scheduled. We have hired this past year Ms.
Nola Garcia, Miami-Dade Coordinator for US FIRST Robotics who is now serving as
our coordinator for Student Recruitment.
Among her many accomplishments this year, most prominent is her
organizing of the 2nd annual Florida International Invitational for
Robotics Championship (May 19-200, 2000) where we had coverage from the local
affiliates ABC, NBC and CBS (the ABC
segment was 11 minutes long with supportive contribution from the Dean of our
College of Engineering). There were 14 teams from around the state of Florida
and 1 from Puerto Rico. There were over
2500 students from Miami Dade County and also some from Broward County that
participated in this incredible event.
Also under the leadership of
Dr. Maria Martinez, we organized the FIU Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)-GTE Foundation - College of
Engineering workshop.
This year we recorded 17
publications appearing in a wide spectrum of journals [IEEE Transactions on
Signal Processing; Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development; Journal of Particle and Particle Systems
Characterization; Journal de Genie Biologique et Medical; SIGGAPH Newsletter] and in key conferences. Two articles of our students won awards for
best publications.
Under the research
leadership of Dr. Armando Barreto, our graduate students were able to design
two HCI working prototypes one based on software development in support of a commercial
eye gaze tracking system, and the other on a custom hardware-software EMG-based
system design.
With the research activities
that stem form our modern infrastructure we have built a strong collaboration
with key partners in areas we see as critical in the general areas of
human-computer interfaces and information processing. Few notable examples are:
-
The Neuroscience Center at Miami Children’s Hospital (NCMCH), where our collaboration centers
on EEG brain research using subdural electrodes through clinical means and
external electrodes through non-invasive means using a modular (8x32)
Electrical Source Imaging system with 256 channels (ESI-256).
-
The Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Service with the Veterans Administration
Medical Center (VAMC) in Miami, where our collaboration centers in the testing and
evaluating of human-computer interface prototypes for veterans with severe
motor disabilities.
-
The Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute (BPEI) of the University of Miami
School of Medicine, where Drs. Julie Jacko and Dr. Armando Barreto have engaged in
numerous research collaborations focusing on the design of human-computer
interface and interaction research with low-vision patients.
-
The Beckman-Coulter Corporation, where our collaboration involves the processing
and classification of large databases on inflow blood cells using flow
cytometry.
-
This
year’s goals in acquiring the infrastructure on time, and in carry out our research
activities supported by instructional activities were met with success.
-
We
have done extremely well in recruiting minorities into our graduate programs (
with alarger proportion of woman and African Americans)- We foresee this trend
to continue in view of the students that have shown interests in applying for
next Fall of 2000.
-
The
results we have obtained so far in research, publications, funded grants,
student recruitment, outreach programs, collaboration with industry/private
sector have all exceeded our expectations, and the objectives stated in our
proposal have been accomplished this first in the life of the grant.
-
This
year, we have seen an increase in all of the aforementioned activities in
contrast to the previous year. This was
anticipated in view of the enhanced infrastructure and the increased potential
to support more students.
-
Our
university has provided all the expected matching funds and our college has
even exceeded its share by supporting more students through tuition waivers and
also partially supporting our student recruitment coordinator.
We are
working to increase the interest by industry and our colleagues in the
biological sciences in the research merits provided through confocal
microscopy. Our research and
publications should come to the level worthy of this sophisticated equipment,
which is the confocal microscope.
The NSF-CATE center has
provided our institution as whole with a lot of visibility. We are
mentioned in several brochures and have appeared on local television. Our curriculum is greatly enhanced in key
areas that comes to benefit directly the careers of our students. We are now well positioned to seek funding
with different agencies and different NSF directorates. We are able to address such important
research issues as EEG-Brain research, Human-Computer Interfaces to help people
with disabilities, and several other applications involving information
processing. We have established close
collaboration with key partners in industry and the private sector as detailed
in the section on Indication of Success.
1.
Adjouadi,
M., Reyes, C., Vidal, P., and Barreto, A., “An Analytical Approach to Signal
Reconstruction Using Gaussian Approximations Applied to Randomly Generated Data
and Flow Cytometric Data”, to appear in
the IEEE Transactions on Signal
Processing, (Acceptance recommended by the Associate Editor) September 1999.
2.
C.
Godefroy and M. Adjouadi, “Particle Sizing in a Flow Environment Using Light
Scattering Patterns”, Journal of
Particle and Particle Systems Characterization, 17 (2000) Wiley-VCH, May
2000.
3.
M.
Adjouadi, C. Reyes, J. Riley, P. Vidal, “Adaptive FIR Smoothing Techniques for
Flow-Cytometric Histogrammed Data”, Journal
of Particle and Particle Systems Characterization, 17 (2000) Wiley-VCH, May
2000.
4.
Barreto,
A., Taberner, A., and Adjouadi, M., “Mu Rhythm Variability and its Impact on
the Development of Brain-Computer Interfaces”, accepted for publication in the Journal
de Genie Biologique et Medical, ITBM (Innovation and Technology in Biology and
Medicine), (Letter of acceptance
received May, 1999).
5.
Barreto,
A., Scargle, S. D., and Adjouadi, M., “A Practical EMG-based Human-Computer
Interface for Users with Motor Disabilities”, accepted for publication in Vol.
37(1) of the Journal of Rehabilitation
Research & Development, January/February 2000, pp. 53-63.
6.
Cremades
G., Sanchez D., Adjouadi M., Barreto A.,
“An empirical study in human-computer interface research using EEG
signals recorded with an ESI-256 machine.” Submitted to the Journal of
Psychophysiology, May 2000.
7.
Barreto,
A. B., Scargle, S. D., and Adjouadi,
M., “Hands-off Human-Computer Interface for Individuals with Severe Motor
Disabilities”, in Human-Computer Interaction: Communication, Cooperation and Application
Design, Vol. 2, pp. 970-974, Publishers Bullinger, H-J., and Ziegler,
J.(Eds.), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.
8.
Grafals
O., Gupta N., Cremades G., Barreto A., Adjouadi M., “Decreased 3D-Sound Spatialization Accuracy Caused by Speech
Bandwidth Limitation Over Commodity Audio Components.” Biomedical Science
Instrumentation, Volume 36, April 2000, pp. 245-250.
9.
Suarez
E., Viegas M., Adjouadi M., Barreto A.,
“Relating Induced Changes in EEG Signals to Orientation of Visual
Stimuli Using the ESI-256 Machine.” Biomedical Science Instrumentation, Volume
36, April 2000, pp. 33-38. *
Recipient of a the Chairman’s Choice Paper Award
10.
Barreto,
A., Scargle, S. D., and Adjouadi, M.,
“Real-Time Digital EMG/EEG Signal Processing in a Human-Computer Interface
for Users with Severe Motor Disabilities” *,
Proceedings of the International Conference on Signal Processing Applications
& Technology (ICSPAT), 1999 November 1-4, 1999, Orlando, FL. (CD-ROM
Format) * Recipient of a
1999 ICSPAT Paper Award
11.
Barreto,
A., Hugh, P.O., Jacko J.A., Adjouadi, M., “Enhanced Human-Computer Interface
for Partially Sighted Users Through Real-Time Spatial Auditory Icons”,
Proceedings of the International Conference on Signal Processing Applications
& Technology (ICSPAT), 1999 November 1-4, 1999, Orlando, FL. (CD-ROM
Format)
12.
Barreto,
A., Scargle, S. D., and Adjouadi, M.,
“A Real-Time Assistive Computer Interface for Users with Motor
Disabilities”, invited paper, published in the ACM Special Interest Group on
Computers and the Physically Handicapped, ACM SIGCAPH Newsletter, Number 64,
June, 1999, pp. 6-16.
13.
Grafals
O., Gupta N., Cremades G., Barreto A., Adjouadi M., “Evaluation of Digital Sound Spatialization Accuracy Over
Commodity Audio Channels in a Personal Computer.” Proceedings of 1999 Computing
Research Conference, December 1999, Mayaguez Puerto Rico, pp. 5-8.
14.
Sanchez
D., Fatema K., Cremades G., Adjouadi M., Barreto A., “The effects of Human-Computer Interfaces in Mental Effort, as
Measured by Alpha Activity.” Proceedings of 1999 Computing Research Conference,
December 1999, Mayaguez Puerto Rico, pp. 17-20.
15. Hale-Haniff, M. Pasztor, A., “ Co-constructing subjective experience:
A Constructivist Approach. Dialogues in Psychology”, Vol. 16, 1999.
Copyright © 1999 Center for Advanced Technology and Education