Promotion DossierVeton Z. Këpuska
Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Florida Institute of Technology
Contact Information
Olin Engineering Room 353
Phone: 321-674-7183
E-mail: [email protected]
Table of Contents
I. Brief History of the Candidate
II. Teaching and Related Activities
III. Research and Scholarly Activities
IV. Service Activities
V. Summary
VI. Appendixes
I. Brief History of the CandidateI joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Florida Institute of Technology in January 2003 as an Associate Professor. My MS and Ph.D. degrees are from Clemson University (1986, 1990); prior to that I received an MS from the University of Zagreb (1983-1984). Following my Ph.D. I worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the “Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry” of ETH Zürich. Earlier I served as a Lecturer at University of Prishitina. During the years 1993-2003 I worked as Research Scientist for number of private organizations in the Boston area. During that time, due to the company’s policies, I was not allowed to publish work related articles.
II. Teaching and Related ActivitiesMy teaching methodology and practice was recognized in 2009 by honoring me with the Kerry Bruce Clark Teacher Award. This award is attributed to the achievements presented below.
As depicted in the Figure 1, since I joint FIT in 2003, I have proposed and conducted total of 19 distinct courses including my most recent course Android Embedded Application Development. One can view the list of courses from my publicly available U drive http://my.fit.edu/~vkepuska/ (e.g., depicted in the Figure 1 below).
Figure 1. My public_html view of my U: drive folder.
Among more relevant courses, I have developed both graduate level courses: Speech Processing, Speech Recognition, Search and Decoding in Speech Recognition, Android Embedder Application Development (e.g., ECE 5525, 5526, 5527, and 5590), and undergraduate level courses: Microcomputer Systems 1 & 2, and Multifarious Systems 1 & 2 (e.g., ECE 3551, ECE 3552 as well as ECE 3553 and ECE 4553). Each one of those required courses includes extensive teaching materials (e.g., PowerPoint Presentation, Word Documents, and other related material, e.g., software tools etc.) as well as lab material where appropriate that I have developed through the years being an Associate Professor here at FIT. Each class in the figure above is represented by its 4 digit code (e.g., 5526) and department (e.g., ece). Each folder (e.g., course) is populated with the wealth of material that I have generated and/or collected throughout the time since I joined FIT. For example, if one would pick a class from the link above, the content of the folder should show https://my.fit.edu/~vkepuska/ece5526:
Figure 2. Example of my publicly available folder of my Speech Recognition Class.
This ece5526 represents my Speech Recognition class. In this class I use MATLAB assignments (among other homework assignments), to empathize several points:
1. Exercise key concepts from Estimation Maximization (EM) algorithm (e.g., effect of parameters: mean and covariance, diagonal or full matrix, on the performance of estimation algorithm).
2. To drive those points, e.g., shape of distribution, I utilize extensively MATLAB capabilities to display graphically representation as depicted below:
Plot of Diagonal and Equal Covariance Matrix Distribution
Diagonal with not-Equal Covariance Matrix Distribution
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Non-Diagonal and not-Equal Covariance Matrix Distribution
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Figure 3. Depicting Examples of Various Distributions.
Iso-likelihood lines with DIFFERENT covariances
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Figure 4. Example of ISO-Contours Depicting Two Distinct Distributions Covariance’s
Example of this homework assignment is given in Appendix A.4 section.
I approach the teaching by focusing on “exit knowledge” of the students where the students must present to me verbally that they have mastered the subject matter. To this end, I have developed an interactive web-tool that I extensively use to guide me and my students through final-exam stage of each class. With it I can setup the date, time, and location of the exam. Example of exam setup-page is provided in the link in Appendix A.1. Students sign-up for presentation at a time of their choosing as specified in my web-based-application. Students are given extensive guidelines during my lectures, when they need further information, as well as written information on how to prepare for final exam (Appendix A.2.). As is spelled out in that document, the presentation is based on the work that students prepare throughout the semester and it culminates with their presentation. The grading of their work is based on three components: Presentation defense (PowerPoint), written report (Word or other written document), and experimental results that includes the source code of the project. According to my evaluations and enrollment figures most of my students like this kind of final exam and they prefer it to have this type of exam instead of classic form.
I teach a relatively large number of courses (e.g., 3 courses per semester), that cover the areas that range from Speech Processing, Speech Recognition, Natural Language Processing, Speaker Identification, Digital Signal Processing, Adaptive Filtering, Pattern Recognition, Neural Networks as well as undergraduate level courses that includes subjects of Programming Languages (C/C++, Fortran, Pascal, perl, awk, Prolog, Lisp), Computer Architecture, (e.g., Microcomputer Systems 1 and 2), and Web Design Tools (e.g., Multifarious Systems 1 and 2, that is, HTML, Perl, PHP, SQL, MySQL, etc.). In all graduate level as well as undergraduate level classes I utilize MATLAB and MATLAB programming tool (e.g., Speech Analyses and Special Effects Laboratory: SASE_Lab(), Appendix A.3. ) .
In all my courses I require from students to demonstrate mastery of the subject area by developing a practical application combining theory with an appropriate application. The demonstration requires students to verbally defend their work through: (1) Presentation, (2) Detailed Documentation (Microsoft Word, README file, source code, etc.) depicting their work, and (3) Implementation and a demonstration of the project.
Each project is assessed based on detailed instructions for the project requirements that is provided as a reference file from my publically accessible U drive. This document resides in each corresponding class link under “Final Project Requirements document” as exemplified by the following link:
http://my.fit.edu/~vkepuska/ece3551/Final%20Project%20Requirements.doc.
The examination and quality of assessment of the project is conducted by providing each student with 30min time slots to present his/her work. Large classes require 2-3 days of presentations typically starting from 8:00 am-12:00 pm, and 1:00pm-6:00pm per day to complete the examination. Note that registering for a time slot is done with the www based application (see for example http://my.fit.edu/~vkepuska/web/courses.php#ece3551-projects
Fellowships, Honours and AwardsAt the onset of joining FIT, I took a team of graduate students to competition (Donald McMann, Brian Ramos) UML-ADI Assistive Device Competition, June 2005, University of Massachusetts Lowell MA, and won the First Place http://faculty.uml.edu/Mufeed_Mahd/UML_ADI/photo_fit.htm.
In addition, I have achieved and/or directly influenced various awards in the upcoming years 2006-2008: Best Paper Nomination, Best Junior Design, Third Place in IEEE SouthEastCorp, Greatest Commercial Potential – “Smart Room”. My greatest achievement of that time included Kerry Bruce Clark Teacher awarded to me at 2008 from FIT. I also was very active in my area of specialization, Speech Recognition, where I organized single handedly prestigious NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation Workshop in 2009 and hosted by hour deferment ECE and FIT. In year of 2012 I was awarded NSF I-Corps for my Wake-Up-Word (WUW) Speech Recognition (SR) technology. Consequently for next few years I was trying to commercialize my WUW-SR. In addition, as CO-PI I worked with my Graduate Student for a NSF teaching grant that lead to development of SASE-Lab (A.5).
The remaining years, 2013-2017, I spend by traveling to China, Dian Ji University, Shanghai and Hubei University, Wuhan and helping recruiting efforts. Consequently, FIT has been receiving at least 10 students per semester per year.
During this period of time my student have achieved national and international recognition: Tudor Klein, Xerxes Behary are employed by Microsoft, Ronald Ramhdan is employed by Apple, Sean Powers and Jacob Zurasky, employed locally by NXT-ID Inc., and a number of other students.
Teaching LoadSince I joined FIT I have taught a total of 19 different courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Most, if not all, of my courses are required by ECE curriculum.
● Undergraduate:1. Hardware Software Design – ECE 25512. Hardware Software Integration – ECE 25523. Signal and Systems – ECE 32224. Digital State Machines – ECE 35415. Microcomputer Systems 1 – ECE 35516. Microcomputer Systems 2 – ECE 35527. Multifarious Systems 1 – ECE 35538. Multifarious Systems 2 – ECE 45539. Computer Architecture – ECE 455110. Computer Communications - ECE 456111. Electric and Electronic Circuits – ECE 4991
● Graduate:12. Speech Processing – ECE 552513. Speech Recognition – ECE 552614. Search and Decoding in Speech Recognition – ECE 552715. Acoustics of American English Speech – ECE 552816. Embedded Android Programming – ECE 557017. Computer Networks 2 – ECE 553518. Digital System Design 1 – ECE 5571
19. Digital System Design 2 – ECE 55721
Student Enrollment My student enrollment figures have steadily grown as indicated in the table below:
Student Enrolled since 2006:Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Spring 23 29 48 51 26 27 25 37 78 65 70Summer 31 31 29 35 28 26 74 43 34Fall 54 61 61 61 51 65 71 81 114 109 82
Total 77 90 140 143 106 127 124 144 266 217 186
Teaching MaterialAll my teaching material is publicly available through my U drive (http://my.fit.edu/~vkepuska/). In addition to my regular teaching load I have instructed a number of different Special Topics courses (not listed). The list of course is provided above in Teaching Load section.
In addition to those courses that I have introduced at the onset after joining FIT, I started to offer additional graduate level course, ECE 5570 Embedded Android Programming. This course has grown in demand; the last summer 2016 I have offered the course, it attracted 15 graduate students. Presently I am offering the course to 12 students.
Student AdvisingI have been advisor to many Ph.D.’s, MS’s as well as undergraduate students; a few notable graduate students were: Tudor Klein, Xerxes Beharry -Microsoft, Ronald Ramadhan – Apple, Sean Powers, Jacob Zurasky NXT-ID Inc., Brandon Schmitt, Chih-Ti Shih, Raymond Sastraputera, etc.
Typically I have had over 30 student advisees per semester. In addition to advising roles for both undergraduate and graduate students, I am the faculty advisor to the IEEE-HKN engineering honor society Zeta Epsilon Chapter here at Florida Tech.
Student Advising (2016):Undergraduate 15MS Degree Students 11PhD Degree Students 11
Total 37
List of advisees is given below:
Ph.D. Students – Primary Dissertation Advisor● Abdulaziz, Azhar S., PhD CPE
1 The courses using the blue color are required courses in ECE department.
● Al-Khuwaiter, Tahsin A., PhD CPE● Alfathe, Mahmood F., PhD CPE● Alshamsi, Humaid S., PhD CPE● Bohouta, Gamal M., PhD CPE● Elharati, Hussien A., PhD EE● Mohamed Eljhani, PhD CPE, “Front-end of Wake-Up-Word Speech Recognition System Design on
FPGA”, Spring 2015● Al Ghamdy Amin O., 2010● Tamas Kasza, PhD CPE, “Communications Protocol for DF-based Wireless Indoor Localization
Networks,” Spring 2006
M.S. Students-Major Thesis Advisor● Eljagmani Hamda, MS CPE● Hasanin Ahmad, MS CPE● Maryam Najafi, MS CPE● Anita Devi, MS CPE “Google Speech Recognition using Embedded System,” Spring 2016● Marwa Alzayadi, “Utilizing Sphunx-4 on Speech Recogntion,” Spring 2016● Ashwini Srivastava, “Comparison of Microphone Array Beamforming Algorithms using Designed
Hardware and Microsoft KINEETCT,” Fall 2015● Tianyi Bi, MS CPE “Using CMY Sphinx in Standard Chinese Automatic Speech Recognition System
Design,”, Fall 2015● Zhenmin Ye, MS EE “Design a Step-Up- Tranformer for P300 Wedlgin Power Supply,”, Summer 2015● Safa M. Al-Taie, MS ECE “Improving the Accuracy of FIngerpriting Sysem Using Mutibiometric
Approach,” Spring 2015● Jacob Coughlin, MS EE “Optimizing Wakeup-Up-Word Application for Embedded Deployment,”
Spring 2015● Boopathy Prakasam, MS EE “Microphone Array for Speech Processing and Recognition,” Spring 2015● Wenyang Zhang, MS CPE “Comparing the Effect of Smoothing and N-gram Order: Finding the Best
Way to Combine the Smoothing and Order of N-gram,” Spring 2015● Ibrahim Al-Badri, MS CPE “Speech Corpus Generation from YouTube,” Fall 2014● Wilson Burgos, MS CPE “Gammatone and MFCC Features in Speaker Recognition,” Fall 2014● Jacob Zurasky, MS CPE “Digital Signal Processing Applications of the TMS320C6747”, Fall 2012● Mohammed Almeer, MS CPE● Patarapong Rojanshien, MS CPE “Speech Corpus Generation from DVD’s of Movies and TV series”,
Fall 2010● Xerxes Beharry, MS CPE “Phoning home: Bridging the Gap Between Conservation and Convenience,”
Fall 2010● Arthur Kunkle, MS CPE “Sequence Scoring Experiments Using the TIMIT Corpus and the HTK
Recognition Framework,”, Spring 2010● Raymond Sastraputera, MS CPE, “Prosodic Features for Wakeu-Up-Word Speech Recognition”, 2009● Chih-Ti Shih, MS CPE “Use of Pitch and Enegy of the Speech Signal for Discrimination of ‘Alerting’
from ‘Referential’ context”, 2009● Za Hniang Za, MS CPE “A Study of Approaches for Microphone Array Signal Processing”, 2008
● Tien-Hsiang Lo, MS CPE “Analysis of Weighted-Sum of Line Spectrum Pair Method for Spectral Estimation,”, Spring 2005
● Elias Victor, MS CPE “1553 Avionics Bus Hardware Integration Into Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV) Simulation Model,” Spring 2005
Ph.D. Students – Advisory Committee Member● Al Rozz Younis Anas Younis, 2017● Shakre Elmane, Dynamics in Recommendations of Updates For Free Open-Source Software, 2016● Jim Bryan, A Robust Speaker Identification Algorithm Based On Atomic Decomposition and Sparse
Redundant Dictionary Learning, 2016● Scott Meredith, PhD ECE, “Lightning Generated Electric and Magnetic Fields: a Methodology into the
Development of Three Models and Their Utilization in Determining the Currents Induced within a Three-wired Tether”, 2011
● Mohamed ???, ECE PhD, 2010● Igor Lugach, PhD MEA, “Effect of Accurate and Simplified Interactions Modeling in a Null-Flux
Electromagnetic Levitation System on Performance of Multi-DOF Sliding Model Controller” 2006● Michel Ouendeno, PhD CPE, “Image Fusin for Improved Perception”, 2007
MS. Students – Advisory Committee Member● Subhadra Subramanian, , EE, 2016.● Taher Parekh, Real Time Implementation of an Inertial Measurement Unit based on Fiber- Bragg
Sensor arrays using Legendre polynomials, Mechanical Engineering, 2016● Hai Hoang Truong Tran, A Comparative Study of Relational Database Server Performance on
Windows vs. Linux, Computer Science and Cyber Security, 2015● Chih-Ti Shih, MS ENM, 2009● Patric Durland, MS SYS, “Project Arcade”, 2009● Osaam Saraireh, MS ES, 2007● Rachan Varigiya, MS CS, “Keyword Spotting Using Normalization of Posterior Probability Confidence
Measures”, 2004
I typically advise 25-35 undergraduate students each year, and directly work with at least 2 junior and senior design teams most of whom distinguished by their accomplishments:
● Best Junior Design 2007 - Visual Audio - (Brandon Schmitt).● Greatest Commercial Potential - "Smart Room" Senior Design 2008 (Matt Hopkins, David
Herndon, Patrick Marinelli).I also serve as advisor to Chi Phi student society here at Florida Tech. The Chi Phi Fraternity was
awarded the Dr. Thomas Gehring Award for Chapter Excellence in 2007 .
Speech Analysis and Special Effects Laboratory (SASE Lab) ToolThrough an NSF funded research project, I and my former student (Jacob Zurasky) have developed SASE_Lab - Speech Analysis and Special Effects Laboratory (details included in Appendix A.2). This is a comprehensive tool that allows me to utilize my variety of interest from simple recording of utterances, to its analysis (waveform, and spectrographic analysis) as well as modifying the speech by adding various special effects, as described in detail in Appendix.
III. Research and Related Activities
Wake-Up-Word Speech RecognitionI consider my main scientific contribution to be the solution that I have invented in the area of my specialty: Speech Processing and Recognition, so called Wake-Up-Word Speech Recognition (see the following blog: http://lovemyecho.com/2015/11/11/echo-custom-wake-words-why-isnt-this-a-thing-yet/).
I have solved a difficult problem for which there are no other appropriate solutions. The problem can be summarized as discrimination between a target word/phrase having a wake-up or alerting context (e.g., “Alexa, I need to talk to you.”) from that same word/phrase in a referential context (e.g., “Today I talked to Alexa on the phone.”). I have developed a revolutionary speech recognition technology (called Wake-Up-Word or WUW for short) that solves this problem. This solution can change how we can interact with computers. This solution can be applied to general speech recognition problem thus improving their accuracy over 1,500%-30,000% providing solutions that approach human performance.
The solution is protected by my two US patents: ("Scoring and re-scoring dynamic time warping of speech" US # 7,085,717, and "Dynamic time warping using frequency distributed distance measures", US # 6,983,246). Those patents are referenced in by following patents:
7,437,291 Using partial information to improve dialog in automatic speech recognition systems 7,143,034 Dynamic time warping device for detecting a reference pattern having a smallest
matching cost value with respect to a test pattern, and speech recognition apparatus using the same
7,085,717 Scoring and re-scoring dynamic time warping of speech 5,455,889 Labeling speech using context-dependent acoustic prototypes
FundingI strongly advocate and practice teaching approach that bridges the gap between theory and practice. This approach has allowed me to establish a number of strategic partnerships with industry: ThinkEngine Networks (http://www.thinkengine.com), iCVn (http://www.iCVn.com), QTSI (http://www.qtsi.com), PCB (http://www.pcb.com), Knigh's Armament Company (http://www.knightarmco.com), BMW, Microsoft, etc.
With industry partnerships I have been able to support my research. The current total amount of direct support from industry exceeds ~$250,000.
For example, ThinkEngine Networks (http://www.thinkengine.com) supported my research in speech recognition for first 2.5 years at FIT by providing supplemental payment of $35,000 per month. For more information please consult my CV and/or contact a former senior Vice Presidents of Research: Geoffrey Parkhurst: [email protected] and Paul Gagne: [email protected] (detailed contact information also listed under references from industry section).
In addition, through my industry collaborators, I have brought in equipment worth well over $100,000. In the collaboration with iCVn of Baltimore my team has designed a new hardware that will augment the “Shinwoo” money counting device with a scanner capable of reading serial numbers from any currency (e.g., US Dollars, UK Pounds, SW Franks, European Union Euros, etc.), configured by software that we have developed. We have also re-designed and re-implemented their core application software that now connects to the Shinwoo device and communicates with it. For further information please contact Theodore Paraskevakos, President and CEO at [email protected] (detailed contact information also listed under references from industry section).
During the first half of 2006 I have completed a very import pilot study for QTSI of Cocoa Beach utilizing my Wake-Up-Word Speech Recognition Technology to Seismic Signals. The achieved results from this study, according to professionals in that field, are the best compared to up-to-date published reports of that time.
PCB, an internationally recognized corporation, has donated over $5,000.00 worth of specialized industrial quality equipment consisting of high precision microphones and data acquisition equipment for microphone array research. In addition PCB is partnering with myself for NSF’s MRI research proposal to establish a largest microphone array laboratory in the south east. Contact information: Ray Rautenstrauch [email protected].
Additional notable collaborations are listed below:
● BMW – Actively working with Dr. Joachim G. Taiber, BMW Group, Head of IT Research Office, Information Technology Research Center (ITRC), Greenville South Carolina.
● Tudor Klein and Microsoft - Working with Microsoft through my former Graduate Student, Tudor Klein, to establish an appropriate relationship to contribute development of their new-generation of speech recognition software. Contact information [email protected].
● NIST, Speech Group - I have enrolled an FIT team (Arthur Kunkle and Dileep Koneru) in NIST sponsored evaluation effort, Rich Transcription Evaluation Project, with a goal to further advance speech recognition area. At a moment I have two graduate students actively involved in this project that if successful will bring significant attention to FIT. The goal of our participation is not only to use existing technologies but also to incorporate my inventions into existing systems (e.g., HTK and Sphinx) demonstrating their superiority over conventional methods.
● PowerPoint Commander is voice activated Power Point presentation software application that developed utilizing my WUW speech recognition system. This application was a cross platform (Windows as well as Apple OS) as a result of research and developed effort that I have done over 2005-2013 years. This application incorporates my Wake-Up-Word (WUW) Speech Recognizer. It enables users to control their power-point presentation program using voice only. The uniqueness of the application is the ability of the technology to distinguish a presentation speech from the speakers command. For example:
❖ Presentation of Speech: "Processing of speech signal requires application of short time analysis. The overall process is depicted in the block diagram presented in the next slide."
❖ Command: "Computer! Go to Next Slide."
Although speech recognition technology has been around for over 25 years, it has to be emphasized that this kind of accuracy performance required by this application has not been developed by any commercial or research institutions yet, and thus my WUW technology has a potential to revolutionize the way we communicate with computers.
I have submitted a $10-Million multi-institutional, collaborative Center of Excellence proposal, as co-PI to the Florida Board of Governors. The proposal ended up being among the top 10 proposals in scientific merit as judged by the prestigious Oak Ridge Associated Universities reviewers (ORAU: Top 10 in Scientific Review Ranking). My contribution as judged by my pears was critical to the scientific merit ranking of the proposal (see Dr. Rodriguez recommendation).
Two (2) NSF projects were awarded (totaling $260,000) and 1 is pending ($1,198,728). I have also submitted 3 proposals: to Rockwell Collins, State of Florida and Lindberg Ann Foundation as PI/Co-PI totaling $2,156,012. In addition I have submitted a number of SBIR proposals, one of which was invited proposal by National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of the US Government. Succinctly put, I have generated or I have been involved in generation of on average greater than 3.3 proposals per year.
A plethora of additional outcomes are the fruit of two major projects (totaling $260,000): (1) EMD-MLR project sponsored by NSF and supported through grant DUE-CCLI-0341601 of $99,996 under the Course, Curriculum and Laboratories Improvement (CCLI) program and the Educational Materials Development (EMD) track, and (2) AMALTHEA project (AMALTHEA REU Site) also sponsored by NSF under the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program and grant IIS-REU-0647018 for $160,701 over a period of 3 years (2007-2010). I am a Co-PI that played a crucial role in its successful execution as elaborated in detail in Supporting Documentation for Scholarly and Research Related Activities section.
In 2009 I have organized and hosted at FIT “NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation Workshop”. For details of this workshop follow this link: http://itl.nist.gov/iad/mig/tests/rt/2009/index.html
My students have won the Third Place in IEEE Student Hardware Competition, Best Junior Design for Visual Audio, Best Paper Nomination, and a First Place in the First Competition for Assistive Device (2005).
A few more notable research achievements in addition to previously noted are provided below. In 2012 I was awarded I-Corps NSF grant through which I have established Zëri Corporation (www.zeriinc.com) which in turn provided an excellent opportunity for my graduate students to engage in scientific and entrepreneurship skills.
The support for research that I have conducted since I have joined FIT comes from my industry partners (e.g., ICVN, QTSI etc.) and from government sponsored programs (e.g., NSF, DOE, etc.). My research activity draws on my past extensive experience in conducting cutting-edge Research and Development work.
PatentsIn year 2016-2017 we are witnessing a proliferation of speech oriented services and devices that deploy the technology that I am one of the inventors: please refer to the list of patents bellow.
• Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) Using Frequency Distributed Distance Measures, US6983246 B2, January 3, 2006.
• Frequency Distribution of Minimum Vector Distance for Dynamic Time Warping, WO 2003100768 A1, April 1, 2006.
• System and Methods for Facilitating Collaboration of a Group, US 20110134204 A1 June 2009• Exploiting Differences in Correlations for Modeled and Un-Modeled Sequences by Transforming
Trained Model Topology in Sequence Recognition, Provisional Patent Application, August 2009
Summary of my Research AchievementsSome of the highlights of my achievements are provided in the table below presented in reversed chronological order:
2015 IMG-LAB. Image Analysis Laboratory using MATLAB (NSF Funded Project)2014 Zëri Inc. Founded a Speech Recognition Company, www.zeriinc.com2013 SASE-LAB - Development of Speech Analysis and Recognition Laboratory using
MATLAB. (NSF Funded Project)2012 NSF I-Cops. Wake-Up-Word Speech Recognition (NSF Funded Project).2011 FaST - Calculate Potential Energy Savings-from Using Mobile Smart
Technologies. (DOE Funded Proejct)http://scie nce.energy.gov/wdts/fast/project-descriptions/2011-projects/epa-calculate-potential-energy-savings-from-using-mobile-smart-technologies/
2009 Organized and Hosted at FIT NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation Workshop, "NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation" 2009
2008 – 2009 Kerry Bruce Clark Teacher2008 Greatest Commercial Potential - "Smart Room" Senior Design 2008.2007 Third Place in IEEE SouthEastCo. Student Hardware Competition: Basketball
Robot2007 Best Junior Design 2007 - Visual Audio2006 Best Paper Nomination "2006-472: A MATLAB TOOL FOR SPEECH PROCESSING,
ANALYSIS AND RECOGNITION: SAR-LAB"2005 UML-ADI Assistive Device Competition, June 2005, University of Massachusetts
Lowell MA, First Placehttp://faculty.uml.edu/Mufeed_Mahd/UML_ADI/photo_fit.htm
1984 – 1985 Fulbright Fellow1987 – 1988 Harris Fellow1977 – 1979 Univeristy of Prishtina Fellow
TRDA Developed a web portal with my graduate students for TRDA of Melbourne in collaboration with Nterspec.
PPT Commander PPT Commander – A Voice Only Activated Power Point Presentation
ApplicationApple Ported PPT Commander to Apple Mac OS
Voice-Activated Elevator Simulator
Developed Voice Activated Elevator Simulator:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5CeVtQMvK0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ8eyBTbS_E
Nursing Call Station Developed a Nursing Call Station Voice Only Activated interface for patients. Researching for ways to extend its capability for the patient to control its bed, TV and other devices connected to the system.
BMW Developed a Voice Activated Car Inspection System prototype for BMW:http://files.me.com/hardcaseron/l3byyd.mov
High-Speech Currency Bill Reader
Designed and Developed a High Speed Currency Bill Reader system using Embedded Hardware. (IVCN Funded Project)
NIST Hosted and Participated in International "NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation" 2009 (Funded in part by ECE Department of FIT and Participants)
First Place: Analog Devices
First Place in the First Annual Analog Devices & University of Massachusetts DSP Contest 2005 (Brian Ramos and Don McMann),http://faculty.uml.edu/Mufeed_Mahd/UML_ADI/photo_fit.htm),
Third Place Third Place in IEEE SouthEastCon 2007 Student Hardware Competition: Basketball Robot among 38 Universities (Ronald Ramdhan, Xerxes Beharry & Sean Powers). http://www.southeastcon.org/2007/students/. The robot is displayed in Deans Conference Room.
Best Paper Best Paper Nomination " 2006-472: A MATLAB TOOL FOR SPEECH PROCESSING, ANALYSIS AND RECOGNITION: SAR-LAB" ASEE 2006 (undergraduate co-authors Rogers N., Patel M.),
Best Junior Design Best Junior Design 2007 - Visual Audio - (Brandon Schmitt).
Greatest Commercial Potential
Greatest Commercial Potential - "Smart Room" Senior Design 2008. (Matt Hopkins, David Herndon, Patrick Marinelli).
Incorporating Undergraduates in ResearchMy most important research and educational contribution to Florida Tech, is my dedication to involving undergraduates in research. All my achievements with the students were done with undergraduate students or with graduate students that were raised from FIT undergraduate ranks (e.g., Tudor Klein, Sean Powers, Brandon Schmitt, Xerxes Beharry, Ronald Ramdhan, Raymond Sastraputera, Chris Hellriegel, Pattarapong Rojansthien, etc.). In particular (i) my heavy focus on undergraduate research has produced a wealth of outcomes especially over the past 3 years, (ii) I have established a reputable collaborative partnership with industry, and (iii) I have established a major educational collaboration with Dr. Anagnostopoulos and other faculty at FIT and elsewhere (FGCU, UCF).
For over a decade, I have been focused on expanding opportunities for my undergraduate students to participate in research that traditionally was reserved to graduate students. Typical example is my research project funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE). I took 6 FIT students for two weeks to Washington DC during the summer of 2011. Before we traveled to Washington DC, for final stage of the project, we were conducting research at FIT in the area of Energy. The paper “Energy Savings from using Mobile Smart Technologies”, under the supervision of Paul Karaffa, DOE fellow, was published in 2013.
● Këpuska, V. et al. (2013). Energy Savings from using Mobile Smart Technologies, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, doi: 10.1063/1.4811096, 2013
IV. Service and Related Activities My service activities at FL Tech include:
● Reviewing for various entities: o “The New University Researchers Start-up Program of Fonds de recherche du Québec”, by
Guy Tremblay, Ph.D, Program Manager, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies, 140 Grande Allée East, Quebec City, QC, CANADAG1R 5M8, Phone: 418 643-3439, Fax: 418 643-1451, Email: [email protected]
o I was invited to serve as reviewer for NSF in 2016. Meeting ID: P161746 Meeting Name: NRT Engineering III Panel, Meeting Start Date: 04/11/2016, Meeting End Date: 04/13/2016. Panel Leader: Richard A. Tankersley, Ph.D., Program Director, NRT, IGERT, GK12 and GROW, Division of Graduate Education National Science Foundation.
o I am serving for over 5 years as Editor in Chief at the “Scientific & Academic Publishing”; http://www.sapub.org/journal/editorialdetails.aspx?JournalID=1045&PersonID=10112.
o Also I serve as reviewer for a number of journal publications including:▪ Springer Journal’s Editorial Office, International Journal of Speech Technology▪ Advances in Research▪ Neural Networks
o Expert Reviewer for security clearance for FIT students. Most recently:▪ NC04 - Cardinal, Patrick (207070) - Expert : Këpuska, Veton (KEPVE1601
I also served as:● Faculty Senator for ECE for two years,● Member of the EE Curriculum Committee for 5 years, ● FIT’s hiring committee 4 times.● In 2009 I have organized prestigious NIST Workshop
http://itl.nist.gov/iad/mig/tests/rt/2009/index.html for which I have received a high marks for organizing this workshop.
uCollaborator CoalitionAs a result of Dr. Rodriguez (FGCU) and my efforts, we have created the uCollaborator Coalition of Excellence (uCE, pronounced "you see") gathering researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Institute of Technology and University of Central Florida (Institute for Simulation and Training) and industrial partners (further details provided in the following link www.ucollaborator.com). Currently, uCE is engaging in research, development, and commercialization of a new breed of ubiquitous collaboration technologies. And, recently, the coalition has submitted a couple of grant proposals for developing an open-platform to connect the physical and virtual worlds both synchronously (same time) and asynchronously (anytime, anywhere). I took the lead on one of them (NSF-IIS 905145: RI:HCC:Medium:RUI: uC: Ubiquitous Collaboration Platform for Multimodal Team Interaction Support).
Conferences and Related ActivitiesDuring 2008/2009 year I have actively participated in NIST RT Evaluation. This activity culminated with:
● Organization and Hosting of the NIST RT 2009 Workshop.● Participation in the evaluation of the RT technologies that was developed at FIT● Securing of NIST MARK III 64 microphone array for R&D and data collection.● Initiated and Organized a Hosting Cite at FIT and Hosted NSF REU Webinar.The review of the quality of organization of the event is provided under NIST Rich Transcription
Evaluation Workshop 2009 under Appendix A4. Supporting Documentation for Service and Related Activities.
In 2004 & 2005 I and Dr. Marius Silaghi have proposed and introduced a Special Speech Processing and Recognition track in FLAIRS. This task entailed hosting the www site with the information about the new track, collecting the papers, recruiting reviewers, organizing, conducting and managing the peer review process, and notifying the conference chair of the final list of accepted papers. In addition I have also served as a session chair to both of those sessions. In total I have served as char in 3 conferences (FLAIRS 2004 & 2005) as well as ASEE 2006. In ASEE I was invited to serve as a session chair. In addition, my paper also was nominated for best paper award out of total of 9 nominated papers - Këpuska V., Rogers N., Patel M., (2006). A MATLAB Tool for Speech Analysis, Processing and Recognition: SAR-LAB, ASEE, Chicago, 2006. (Best Paper Award Nomination).
ReviewingI have served as a professional reviewer for the: Wiley and Sons book “Speech and Audio Signal Processing: Processing and Perception of Speech and Music”, by Morgan Gold. In addition I have served as reviewer for Elsevier Journals Speech Communication, Neural Networks, Nonlinear Analysis Theory and Methods, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks (2007), ACM Symposium on Applied Computing – NLSP (2008), FLAIRS (2005 and 2006); First Conference on Information Technology and Engineering Sciences, Kosova (2007). Also, I have served as Reviewer for Academic Advancement of Dr. Dimitrios Charalampidis - ECE department of University of New Orleans. In the past, prior to joining FIT I have often served as reviewer for the International Journal of Speech Technology, IEEE ICASSP, ICSLP.
CommitteesAdditional service activities include representing ECE department in FIT's Graduate Curriculum Committee (2003-2005). Served as member of Department Head Search Committee (2007) as well as currently (2008-2009). Serving in ECE department's ABET and Curriculum Committee. In addition as the only Computer Engineering Faculty with a Computer Engineering Degree I advice directly my Department Head in all matters regarding to Computer Engineering Curriculum.
OutreachMy activities contributed to university's outreach efforts through AMALTHEA and EMD-MLR; NSF funded projects; I have represented FIT in Harris Engineering Week several times (2004-2008), LASER DAY (2005-2007) and personal presentations at BCC, Melbourne L.B. Johnson Middle School, Cocoa Beach High School. Finally I am serving as a judge in science fair for Central Brevard Catholic Homeschool Group (2007, 2008, 2009) (e-mail: [email protected]).
CBD Board of DirectorsSince 2000, I served as a member of Board of Directors for a non-governmental human-rights organization "Center For Balkan Development". For more information please see http://www.friendsofbosnia.org/who_board.html.
V. Summary
In sum, based on my research, teaching, and service, I believe that I have achieved outcomes consistent with expectations for tenure and promotion at FIT.
