ADVANCE Fellows Award: Theory and Application of Machine Perception to Understanding Human Behavior

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

EIA-0340851 Gwen Littlewort-Ford Institution: University of California San Diego Title: Theory and Application of Machine Perception to Understanding Human Behavior This ADVANCE Fellows award provides support to explore facial recognition systems and their ability to recognize emotion based on facial expression and to apply a facial recognition system to education and cognitive disorders. The project has several significant goals including: mathematical analysis of neural and machine learning systems; engineering computer vision systems that provide information about human behavior in real world interactions, and furthering the understanding of human-computer interactions and the nature of tasks solved by the brain. The intellectual merit of this project is centered in its strong research basis working with and extending the work of a leading research team. The proposal mentions several original concepts and possibilities that may significantly impact machine learning, computer vision, and HCI. The PI and the group with which she is working have excellent credentials and expertise to conduct such state-of-the art investigations and to then demonstrate the practical applications that result from the research. The project provides the PI with an environment to re-establish herself in her research field and position herself for a permanent academic position based on the contributions of the project to the scientific community. The broader impacts include potential applications to benefit education and human potential development, among the many possible avenues for successful results. If successful, the research results could be applied to a number of everyday tasks, including online learning and medical diagnostic tools. It could open new learning opportunities and employment potential to individuals whose learning could be supported by the new technologies.