Vasilescu Honored For Her Groundbreaking Research in Face Recognition and Human Motion Analysis.

New York, NY -Alex Vasilescu, a research scientist at the Media Research Laboratory/Center for Advanced Technology at New York University, has been named to the 2003 list of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by MIT's Technology Review magazine. Vasilescu was selected based on her groundbreaking research on anti-terrorism applications, including face recognition and human motion analysis. Vasilescu works with Demetri Terzopoulos, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics, and an expert in computer graphics, computer vision, and artificial life technologies.

To view Vasilescu's current research, please see here: http://mrl.nyu.edu/~maov/

The TR100 consists of 100 individuals under age 35 whose innovative work in technology has a profound impact on today's world. Nominees are recognized for their contributions in transforming the nature of technology in industries such as biotechnology, computing, energy, medicine, manufacturing, nanotechnology, telecommunications and transportation. Honorees are chosen by the editors of Technology Review, as well as a panel of expert judges, including Vinton Cerf, internet pioneer and WorldCom executive, David Tennenhouse, director of research at Intel and former Chief Scientist at DARPA, and George Whitesides, Mallinckrodt Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University.

Vasilescu's research in face recognition resulted in the development of TensorFaces, a unified mathematical framework that separates and explicitly accounts for the different factors that make up a facial image. Vasilescu's work on Tensor Faces is funded by the Department of Defense's Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) Office for Combating Terrorism. Vasilescu will be honored September 24 - 25 at The Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT.

"This award is a reflection of inspirational colleagues and work environment," says Vasilescu. New York University, which was established in 1831, is one of the largest and most prestigious private research universities in the U.S. Through its 13 schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, dentistry, education, nursing, business, social work, the cinematic and performing arts, public administration and policy, and continuing studies, among other areas.

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