Chellappa Elected AAAI Fellow

A longtime researcher in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) will be recognized in January for his pioneering contributions to the field of computer vision.

Rama Chellappa, professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering, was just elected to the 2015 class of Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

He joins a select group of scientists honored for their significant and sustained contributions—over at least a 10-year period—to the field of artificial intelligence.

“Rama represents the very best of what UMIACS can do,” says Amitabh Varshney, director of the institute. “His impact is wide, as a prolific researcher, noted educator, and proven leader in assembling the very best talent to address difficult challenges in computer vision and related topics.”

Chellappa’s research includes signal and image processing, computer vision, pattern recognition, multi-dimension stochastic processes, statistical interference, image analysis, robust and secure biometrics, and artificial intelligence in computer vision.

AAAI specifically recognized Chellappa for his “significant contributions to Markov random fields, 3-D recovery from single and multiple images and image/video-based recognition.”

To view an overview of Chellappa’s work in computer vision, facial and gait recognition, and active authentication, go here.

Chellappa will be honored Jan. 27 during the association’s annual conference in Austin, Texas.

He is the fifth member of UMIACS to be named an AAAI Fellow, joining Bonnie Dorr, Jack Minker, Dana Nau and V.S. Subrahmanian.