Namrata Vaswani
A.V. Williams Bldg., Rm 4444
University of Maryland, College Park, MD-20742
Email: namrata ATengDOTumdDOTedu
Tel (school): 301-405-0290,  (home):   301-422-4039
Fax: 301-314-9115
 
Education Publications Research Interests Work Experience System Experience  Honors/Awards

EDUCATION
Ph.D. (August 1999 - (Expected) Summer 2004)
Major: Communications and Signal Processing
Dept. of Electrical  and Computer Engineering
University of Maryland, College Park
Thesis : Change Detection in Shape Dynamical Models and its Applcition to Activity Recognition

B.Tech. (August 1995 - May 1999)
Dept. of Electrical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, India 

Relevant Courses: Real Analysis-I & II, Optimal Control, Mathematical Statistics-II,  Statistical Signal Processing, Advanced Digital Signal Processing, Random Processes, Estimation and Detection Theory, Information Theory,  Linear System Theory, Image Processing, Image Understanding, Digital Communications

PUBLICATIONS
Particle Filters and Change Detection:

  • Namrata Vaswani, " Slow and Drastic Change Detection in General HMMs Using Particle Filters with Unknown Change Parameters", in preparation for IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.
  • Namrata Vaswani, "Bound on Errors in Particle Filtering with Incorrect Model Assumptions and  its Implication for Change Detection", accepted for IEEE Intl. Conference on Acoustics, Speech & Signal Processing  (ICASSP'), 2004.
  • Namrata Vaswani, "Change Detection in Partially Observed Nonlinear Dynamic Systems With  Unknown Change Parameters", accepted for American Control Conference (ACC), 2004.
  • Namrata Vaswani, Rama Chellappa, "A Particle Filtering Approach to Abnormality Detection in Nonlinear Systems and its Application to   Abnormal Activity Detection",  3rd Intl. Workshop on Statististical and Computational Theories of Vision, 2003, (SCTV 2003), to be held along  with ICCV 2003.


    • "Shape Activities":  Activity Modeling and Recognition Using Shape Dynamics of  the Configurations of Objects/People :
  • Namrata Vaswani, A. RoyChowdhury, Rama Chellappa, " "Shape Activities": Dynamic Stochastic Models for Moving/Deforming Shapes with Application to Abnormal Activity Detection", accepted  for publication in IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.
  • Namrata Vaswani, A. RoyChowdhury, Rama Chellappa, "Activity Recognition Using the Dynamics of the Configuration of Interacting Objects",  IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2003.
  • N. Vaswani, A. RoyChowdhury, R. Chellappa, " Statistical Shape Theory for Activity Modeling" , IEEE Intl. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2003.
  • R. Chellappa, N.Vaswani, A.RoyChowdhury, "Activity Modeling and Recognition Using Shape Theory",  Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation (BRIMS), 2003.


    • A Linear Subspace Technique for Pattern (Image/Video) Classification:
  • Namrata Vaswani, Rama Chellappa, " Principal Component Null Space Analysis for Image/Video Classification", submitted to   IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
  • Namrata Vaswani, Rama Chellappa, "Classification Probability Analysis of Principal Component Null Space Analysis", accepted for   Intl. Conference on  Pattern Recognition (ICPR), 2004.
  • Namrata Vaswani,  "A  Linear Classifier for Gaussian Class Conditional Distributions with Unequal Covariance Matrices",  Intl. Conference on  Pattern Recognition (ICPR), 2002.


    • Infra-Red Image Compression:
  • N. Vaswani, A.K. Agrawal, Q. Zheng, R. Chellappa, "Moving Object Detection and Compression in IR Sequences",  to be published as  a  bookchapter in Computer Vision beyond the Visible Spectrum, Eds B. Bhanu and I. Pavlidis, Springer, 2003.
  • NamrataVaswani and Rama Chellappa, "Best View Selection and Compression of Moving Objects in IR Sequences",  IEEE Intl. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2001.


    • Undergraduate Research:
  • A. Ramamoorthy, N.Vaswani,  S. Chaudhury and S. Bannerjee, "Recognition of Dynamic Hand Gestures" , Pattern Recognition, Vol. 36, No. 9, pp. 2069-2081, September, 2003.
  • M. Sharma, N.Vaswani and S. Tuli, "Novel Techniques for Time and Frequency Domain Characterization of Surface Acoustic Wave Devices", VIII National Symposium on Ultrasonics in 1997, at Amritsar, India.


    • RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Statistical Signal and Image Processing, Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning
  • Information Theory for Image/Video Compression and Hypothesis Testing
  • Sequential Monte Carlo  (Particle Filters): Convergence Issues, Applications in Tracking, Approximate Nonlinear Filtering, Change Detection
  • Statistical Shape Theory and Applications in Image Processing/Computer Vision/Robotics
  • Hypothesis Testing: Abnormality and Change Detection, Pattern (Image/Video) Classification, Retrieval


    WORK EXPERIENCE

  • Graduate Research Assistant, Centre for Automation Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Prof Rama Chellappa  (Nov'01-Present)

    •  -  Change Detection in Partially Observed and Non-linear Systems with Unknown Change Parameters Using Particle Filters
     - "Shape Activities": Dynamic Stochastic Models for Moving/Deforming Shapes with Application to Abnormal Activity Detection
     - Linear Classifiers for Gaussian Class Conditional Distributions with Unequal Covariance Matrices: Algorithm and Analysis
  • Research Intern, HRL Laboratories, Malibu, Dr Narayan Srinivasan, Dr Shubha Kadambe  (June-Oct '01)

    •  - Vision Based Object Detection for Collision Warning (June '01-Sept' 01)   (Cannot release reports)
     - Overcomplete blind Source Separation Using Convolutive Independent Component Analysis (ICA): Three month project terminated in one month due to Visa  restrictions imposed after 9/11/2001
  • Graduate Research Assistant, Centre for Automation Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Prof Rama Chellappa (Dec '00 - May '01)

    • - Linear Classifiers for Gaussian Class Conditional Distributions with Unequal Covariance Matrices: Algorithm and Analysis
    -Object Detection, Best View Selection and Compression of Moving Objects in IR Image Sequences
    -Hardware Compatible, Realtime Algorithms for Object Detection, Best View Selection & Compression of Moving Objects in IR Image Sequences
  • Graduate Research Assistant, UMIACS, Univeristy of Maryland, College Park, Prof Larry Davis (Aug-Dec'99)

    • Gesture-Driven Control of Spaces and Objects in Collaborative Augmented Reality
  • Synergy Systems and Solutions, New Delhi, India, Mr Vidhu Agarwal  (May-Aug'99), 3 month consultation for the company

    • Theory and Algorithms for Developing a Pipeline Leak Detection Software
  • Undergraduate Practical Training, Philips Semiconductors, Bangalore, India,  Ms Sheela Pillai  (May-Aug'98)

    • Design and Synthesis of a Peripheral Interface Bus Controller (May-July 1998 )
  • SURA (Summer Undergraduate Research Award) Project, Centre for Applied Research in Electronics, IIT Delhi, India (May-Aug'97)

    • Time and Frequency Domain Characterization of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) devices and Cancellation of Triple Transit Interference
     

    SOFTWARE AND SYSTEM EXPERIENCE
    OS: Windows(NT, 98, 3.x), Unix, Linux, DOS
    Languages: Visual C++, C++, C, Pascal, BASIC
    Software: MATLAB, LaTeX, Open Inventor for 3-D Graphics Programming

    HONORS / AWARDS

  • Nominated for Best B.Tech Project in Electrical Engineering at IIT, Delhi. (1999)
  • Summer Undergraduate Reseach Award(1997): Awarded a Research grant for completing the project entitled "Time and Frequency Domain Characterization of Surface Acoustic Wave(SAW) Devices"
  • Gold Medal in Delhi Regional Mathematics Olympiad (1995)
  • National Talent Search Exam.(NTSE) Scholarship (1993-99)

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    REFERENCES
    Prof. Rama Chellappa (Advisor)
    Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Center for Automation Research
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    Email: rama@cfar.umd.edu, Phone: (301) 405-3656, Web: http://www.cfar.umd.edu/~rama

    Prof. Adrian Papamarcou (Ph.D. Committee Member)
    Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    Email: adrian@isr.umd.edu, Phone: (301) 405-3664, Web: http://www.isr.umd.edu/~adrian

    Prof. P.S. Krishnaprasad (Ph.D. Committee Member)
    Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Institute for Systems Research
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    Email: krisna@isr.umd.edu, Phone: (301) 405-6843 Web: http://www.isr.umd.edu/~krishna

    Prof. Andre Tits
    Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Institute for Systems Research
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    Email: andre@isr.umd.edu, Phone: (301) 405-3669, Web: http://www.isr.umd.edu/~andre

    Prof. Eric V. Slud
    Statistics Program, Dept. of Mathematics
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    Email:  evs@math.umd.edu, Phone: (301) 405-5469, Web: http://www.math.umd.edu/~evs