Huiying Shen, Ph.D.

hshen@ski.org

Education:

Ph.D.   1996     Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs

M.S.     1989     Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City

B.S.      1982     Civil Engineering, Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Experience:

Feb. 1999 - Feb. 2002    Senior software engineer           Blindsight Corporation, MA

Mar. 1998 -  present      Senior Programmer/Analyst       Smith-Kettlewell, San Francisco, CA

Jan. 1996 -  Dec. 1997   Software engineer/Programmer  ENVIRON International Inc., Novato, CA

Projects:

Developed an algorithm, combining a bottom-up approach and belief propagation, for finding text signs such as street names, and addresses, helping blind/low vision persons gathering useful information in the street and other environment.

Developed a LED/LCD display reader for Symbian camera cell phones, such as Nokia 6681, helping blind/low vision persons operating appliance, such as microwave owens.

Developed an algorithm for detecting zebra crosswalks and other cues at intersection, helping blind travelers crossing streets.

Developed a deformable template algorithm for reading digits and alphabetical letters, helping blind/low vision persons read text signs after detecting them.

Implemented the Color Target detecting algorithm for Symbian cell phone.  Color Target labeling can play an important role in wayfinding for blind/low vision persons.  The results played an important role in funding of a NIH grant to be awarded to SKERI (a score of 125 is almost a sure thing).

Implemented a LED/LCD display reader for desktop PCs for a SBIR phase I project by Blindsight.  The results played an important role in getting a SBIR Phase II grant for Blindsight.

Implemented a simpler version of text finder algorithm.  The results played an important role in getting an NIH R01 grant for UCLA.

Participated in the motorized wheelchair project for blind travelers, using stereo computer vision technology.

Implemented an air quality model, which simulates chemical reactions and transport in 3-dimentions in the atmosphere, and predicts ozone and other harmful chemical concentrations in the air.

Research Interests:

Graphical models, Markov random field, EM-Algorithm, Belief propagation, Multigrid methods.

Development of computer vision applications for blind/low vision persons.

Computer Skills:

Symbian OS (Nakia cell phones), Linux, Windows.

OOP, C++, STL, Python, wxWindow

Publications:

H. Shen and J. Coughlan. “Finding Text in Natural Scenes by Figure-Ground Segmentation.” To appear in International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR ‘06). Hong Kong. August 2006.

J. Coughlan, R. Manduchi and H. Shen. "Computer Vision-Based Terrain Sensors for Blind Wheelchair Users." 10th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP ’06). Linz, Austria.

H. Shen and J. Coughlan. "Reading LCD/LED Displays with a Camera Cell Phone." To appear in 2nd IEEE Workshop on Embedded Computer Vision (ECVW '06), in conjunction with CVPR 2006. New York. June 2006.

J. Coughlan, R. Manduchi and H. Shen. "Cell Phone-based Wayfinding for the Visually Impaired." 1st International Workshop on Mobile Vision, in conjunction with ECCV 2006. Graz, Austria. May 2006.

J. Coughlan and H. Shen. “A Fast Algorithm for Finding Crosswalks using Figure-Ground Segmentation.” 2nd Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision, in conjunction with ECCV 2006. Graz, Austria. May 2006.

J. Coughlan and H. Shen. “Shape Matching with Belief Propagation: Using Dynamic Quantization to Accommodate Occlusion and Clutter.” Generative-Model Based Vision (GMBV 2004, in conjunction with CVPR 2004). Washington, DC. June 2004.

Publications in Environmental Science/Engineering:

Shen, H. and N.P. Nikolaidis, 1997, A direct substitution method for multicomponent solute transport in ground water, Ground Water, Vol. 35, NO 1, pp 67-78.

Nikolaidis, N.P. and H. Shen, H. Heng, H.-L. Hu, and J.C. Clausen, 1993, Movement of nitrogen through an agricultural riparian zone: 2. Distributed modeling. Water Science and Technology, Vol. 28, No. 3-5, pp.613-623.

Shen, H., X. Yang and N.P. Nikolaidis, 1994. Multigrid simulation of the transport of multicomponent solute in groundwater. Proceeding of the 1994 ASAE/ASCE summer international Meeting, June 19-22, Hyatt Regency Crown Center, Kansas City, MO, pp 13.

P.I./co-P.I. of Funded Projects:

P.I. for a NIH phase II SBIR project awarded to Blindsight, titled “A Device for Reading Consumer Electronic Displays”, 2001 - 2002.  Award amount: $1,186,375.