Career Goals / Research Interests
I am interested in a career in applied R&D, where I
can use my knowledge and my imagination to design and develop new technologies
and products. My research interests are in the fields of computer vision,
sensors, digital imaging and neural networks. Current research is in machine
vision, image enhancement for robotic vision, digital imaging, image
restoration, remote sensing and sensors. Other research areas I am interested in
are natural language processing (semantic representations using neural networks)
and hardware design.
Education
¨
Sept.
1995 – Jan. 2000: Simon Fraser University, Dept.
of Computing Science; Ph.D. in Computer Science. Thesis Title: “A
Neural Network Approach to Color Constancy”.
¨
Sept.
1988 – July 1993: Polytechnic University of
Bucharest, Faculty of Control Engineering and Computer Science, Software
Department; degree obtained: M.Sc. Thesis title: “Optical Character Recognition System, using Neural Networks”.
Experience
¨
July 1999 – present:
Vision Research Scientist, International Submarine Engineering,
Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada.
¨
Together with a team from HR Textron and
Textron Systems, I designed, implemented and tested
real-time image processing algorithms for the vision system used in Smart
Pump automated car refueling gas stations (built for Shell Oil). The vision
system is responsible for computing the position of the car in the bay and for
locating the fuel door. The algorithms that I implemented improved the
reliability of the vision system in outdoor environments, with uncontrolled
lighting conditions.
¨
As part of a team at ISE, I helped design and
implement a real-time stereo vision system for an automatic fueling robot for
assembly lines. The vision system locates and tracks the fuel stem of cars on
the assembly line, and provides real-time positioning feedback to the control
system.
¨
1996 –
July 1999: Doctoral Research.
Computational Vision Lab, Simon Fraser University. Supervisory committee: Dr.
Brian Funt and Dr. Bob Hadley.
¨
Research in machine vision, digital
photography, neural network approaches to color correction, image restoration,
sensors and calibration techniques.
¨
1996:
Graduate Research Assistant. School of Computing Science. Simon
Fraser University.
¨
Designed a neural network for language
acquisition from sparse input with no error feedback.
¨
Designed a neural network for semantic
micro-feature prediction.
¨
1995–1996:
Teaching Assistant. School of Computing Science. Simon Fraser
University.
¨
CPTM-201 (Data Structures) and CMPT-384
(Symbolic Computation).
¨
1994–1995:
Systems Engineer. CDT
Consulting, Ltd. (a Romanian based company). Full-time.
¨
Designed and implemented a data acquisition and
processing system for civil engineering that provides structural analysis under
various static and dynamic scenarios (e.g. earthquakes)
¨
1993–1994:
Executive Manager. Gemeni, Ltd. (a Romanian-Swiss company).
Full-time.
¨
Managed the day-to-day operations of the
company.
¨
1991–1993:
GIS analyst (contract work).
¨
The beneficiary of the projects was France
Telecom. The contracts included image vectorization and software development, in
AutoLISP, for the AutoCAD environment. The software covered two main areas, one
regarding a database interface for the vectorized elements and one regarding
automatic image registration and other plug-ins.
¨
1991–1993:
Database Developer. (contract work).
¨
Contracts included various relational database
applications, written in FoxPro.
¨
1991-1993:
Desktop Publisher and Graphic
Designer. (contract work).
¨
DTP, technical editing and graphic design for Paideia
Publishing House.
U.S. Patents
¨
Method
of Estimating the Illuminant Chromaticity Using Neural Networks.
Co-inventors: Brian Funt, Vlad C. Cardei and Kobus Barnard, U.S.
Patent 5,907,629.
¨
Fully
Programmable Priority Encoder. Co-inventors: Vlad
C. Cardei and Slawomir Pilarski. U.S. provisional patent application filed.
Programming Skills
¨
Extensive programming experience (more than 15
years; four national programming awards) with C/C++ (including Visual C++),
Pascal, LISP, Fortran, Matlab, assembly languages for various architectures
(Intel, IBM360, Zylog, etc.). Experience with various operating systems,
including WinNT, Unix, QNX, etc. Experience with OOP, using Visual C++
(including MFC).
Professional Activities
¨
Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
¨
Reviewer for CVPR’99 (Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition)
¨
Reviewer for ICANN’99 (Intl. Conf. on Artificial Neural Networks)
¨
Member of the B.C. Advanced Studies Institute
Graduate Student Advisory Committee (1997-1999)
Affiliations
¨
IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
¨
IEEE Computer Society
¨
IS&T (The Society for Imaging Science and Technology)
Scholarships/Fellowships
¨
NSERC
(National Sciences and Engineering Research Council) PGS-B Scholarship (1998-2000
)
¨
SFU President’s Ph.D. Research Stipend (Summer
1999)
¨
Robar Industries Limited Graduate Scholarship
in Expert Systems (Spring 1999)
¨
Westak Int’l Sales Inc. Graduate Scholarship
in Expert Systems (Spring 1999)
¨
Clark, Wilson Graduate Scholarship in Expert
Systems (Spring 1999)
¨
SFU (Simon Fraser University) Graduate
Fellowship (Summer 1998)
¨
Ralph M. Howatt Family Graduate Scholarship in
Expert Systems (Spring 1998)
¨
Century 21 Charlwood Family Graduate
Scholarship in Expert Systems (Spring
1998)
¨
FAS (Faculty of Applied Sciences) Graduate
Fellowship (Fall 1997)
¨
SFU (Simon Fraser University) Graduate
Fellowship (Summer 1997)
¨
Deskin Sales Graduate Scholarship in Expert
Systems (Spring 1997)
¨
Ladner Downs Graduate Scholarship in Expert
Systems (Spring 1997)
Publications – Journals & Books
¨
Vlad C. Cardei and Brian Funt, “Color
Correcting Uncalibrated Digital Images,” J. of Imaging Science and Technology, Invited Paper. In press.
¨
Brian Funt and Vlad C. Cardei, “Computational
Uses of Colour”, in Vancouver Studies in
Cognitive Science, Vol 9: Color Perception, Ed. Steven Davis,
Oxford Univ. Press,1999.
¨
Bob Hadley and Vlad C. Cardei, “Language
Acquisition from Sparse Input and No Error Feedback,” Neural
Networks (12)2, Elsevier Science, pp. 217-235, 1999.
Publications – Conference Proceedings & Technical
Reports
¨
Vlad C. Cardei and Brian Funt,
“Committee-Based Color Constancy,” Proc.
IS&T/SID Seventh Color Imaging Conf., pp.311-313, Scottsdale, Nov. 1999.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei, Brian Funt and Kobus Barnard,
“White Point Estimation for Uncalibrated Images,” Proc. IS&T/SID Seventh Color Imaging Conf., pp.97-100,
Scottsdale, Nov. 1999.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei, Brian Funt and Michael
Brockington, “Issues in Color Correcting Digital Images of Unknown Origin”, CSCS
12, Bucharest, Romania, May 26-29, 1999.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei, “From Dichromatic to
Trichromatic Images; Implications for Image Recovery and Visualization”,
PICS’ 99, Savannah, Georgia, April 25-28, 1999.
¨
Brian Funt and Vlad C. Cardei, “Bootstrapping
Color Constancy,” Proc. SPIE Vol. 3644,
pp.421-428, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging IV, B.E. Rogowitz and T.N.
Pappas; Eds., May 1999.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei, Brian Funt and Kobus Barnard,
“Adaptive Illuminant Estimation Using Neural Networks,” ICANN’98,
Skövde, Sweden, Sept. 2-4, 1998.
¨
Robert F. Hadley, Dirk Arnold and Vlad C.
Cardei, “Syntactic Systematicity Arising from Semantic Predictions in a
Hebbian–Competitive Network,” Proc. of
the Twentieth Annual Conf. of the Cognitive Science Society,
Madison, Wisconsin: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Publ., 1998.
¨
Robert F. Hadley and Vlad C. Cardei,
“Acquisition of the Active-Passive Distinction from Sparse Input and No Error
Feedback,” Conf. on Computational
Psycholinguistics, Berkeley, August 10-12, 1997.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei, Brian Funt, Kobus Barnard,
“Modeling Color Constancy with Neural Networks,” Proc. Int. Conf. on Vision, Recognition, Action: Neural Models of Mind
and Machine, Boston, May 29-31, 1997.
¨
Brian Funt, Vlad C. Cardei, Kobus Barnard,
“Neural Network Color Constancy and Specular Reflecting Surfaces,” AIC
Color ‘97, Kyoto, Japan, May 25-30, 1997.
¨
Brian Funt, Kobus Barnard, Michael Brockington,
Vlad C. Cardei, “Luminance-Based Multi-Scale Retinex,” AIC
Color ‘97, Kyoto, Japan, May 25-30, 1997.
¨
Brian Funt, Vlad C. Cardei, Kobus Barnard,
“Learning Color Constancy,” Proc.
IS&T/SID Fourth Color Imaging Conf., Scottsdale, Nov. 19-22, 1996.
¨
Robert F. Hadley and Vlad C. Cardei,
“Acquisition of the Active-Passive Distinction from Sparse Input and No Error
Feedback,”
Technical Report CSS-IS TR97-01, Simon Fraser University, 1997.
¨
Vlad C. Cardei and Robert F. Hadley,
“Predicting Semantic Categories Using a Hybrid Neural Network,”
Technical Report CSS-IS TR97-02,
Simon Fraser University, 1997.
Professional awards
¨
ASI Excellent Poster Award: “Computers Seeing
Colour” (with K. Barnard). (ASI Exchange, Vancouver, 1998).
¨
The First Prize for the research theme:
“Optical Character Recognition System, using Neural Networks”. (Polytechnic
University of Bucharest, 1993).
¨
The First Prize for the research theme:
“Contributions at the Development of Programs for Determining the Parameters
of the Structures of Crystalline Nets” (co-author). (Polytechnic University of
Bucharest, 1990).
¨
The Special Prize of the Physics Chair for the
research theme: “A Database Related to Information about Scientific Research
in the Field of Physics of the Materials” (co-author). (Polytechnic University
of Bucharest, 1989)
¨
Winner of the National Computing Science
Competition: Third Prize (1984), Special
Prize (1985), First Prize (1986), Third Prize (1987).
References
¨
References will be provided upon request.