Keynote Speakers


Prof. Erchin Serpedin, Texas A&M University  
IEEE Fellow

Short bio: Erchin Serpedin received the specialization degree in signal processing and transmission of information from Ecole Superieure D’Electricite (SUPELEC), Paris, France, in 1992, the M.Sc. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 1992, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 1999. Erchin Serpedin (Fellow, IEEE) is currently serving as a Professor and Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Program at Texas A&M University at Qatar as well as a tenured Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. He is the author of 3 research monographs, 1 textbook, 160 journal papers and 260 conference papers. He served as editor-in-chief of EURASIP Journal on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, an online journal edited by Springer-Nature, and as associate editor for a dozen of journals such as IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, Signal Processing (Elsevier), EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, Physical Communication (Elsevier), and IEEE Communications Letters. His research interests include signal processing, wireless communications, bioinformatics, and machine learning. He is an IEEE Fellow.

Speech Title: Automatic Assessment of Congenital and Acquired Facial Deformity and Reconstructive Surgical Outcomes
Abstract: Congenital and acquired facial deformities have a deep influence on individuals' psychological and social well-being, and may be associated with diminished self-esteem, heightened anxiety, social withdrawal, and depression. To alleviate the psychosocial burden of these deformities, patients seek impartial assessment and corrective surgical intervention. An objective and universally accepted method of measuring facial deformities is not currently available. Therefore, facial reconstructive surgeons and their patients rely on subjective assessments looking into a mirror, examining pre- versus post-surgical photographs, or by considering anthropometric measurements that may not reflect the complex relationships that play into the human perception of a face. This talk surveys the proposed solutions to overcome this limitation via Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered platforms to assess the degree of departure from normality of facial anomalies.

 


Prof. Robert Minasian, The University of Sydney, Australia 

(IEEE Life Fellow, OSA Fellow, Fellow of The Royal Society of NSW)

 

Short bio: Robert A. Minasian received the B.E. degree from the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, the M.Sc. degree from University College London, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Melbourne. He is a Chair Professor with the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is also the Founding Director of the Fibre-optics and Photonics Laboratory. His research has made key contributions to microwave photonics and photonic signal processing. He is recognized as an author of one of the top 1% most highly cited papers in his field worldwide. Professor Minasian has contributed over 400 research publications, including Invited Papers in the IEEE Transactions and OSA (now Optica) Journals. He has 84 Plenary, Keynote and Invited Talks at international conferences. He is an Advisory Editor of Optical Fiber Technology. He has served on numerous program, technical and steering committees of international conferences. He has also served on the Australian Research Council and on the Research Evaluation Committee for the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative. Professor Minasian was the recipient of the ATERB Medal for Outstanding Investigator in Telecommunications awarded by the Australian Telecommunications and Electronics Research Board. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (now Optica), and a Fellow of The Royal Society of NSW.

Speech Title: Advances in Integrated Photonic Signal Processing and Sensing
Abstract: Integrated photonic signal processing offers new powerful paradigms for signal processing and sensing systems. This stems from its inherent advantages of wide bandwidth and immunity to electromagnetic interference. Current trends are focused on integrating photonics onto silicon platforms to leverage the highly developed CMOS fabrication technologies and to enable boosting the performance of future systems performing signal processing and deep learning, with the potential for implementing high bandwidth, fast and complex functionalities. Recent advances in silicon photonics integrated signal processing and sensing are presented. These include techniques for LIDAR on-a-chip systems and neural network assisted control for beamsteering, photonic approaches to artificial neural networks for deep learning, programmable integrated photonic processors, and high-resolution integrated sensors using optical microresonators that strongly enhance the light-matter interaction to attain high sensitivity and which utilize deep learning techniques to enhance the photonic sensor interference resilience performance. These photonic processors open new capabilities for the realisation of high-performance signal processing and sensing.

 


Prof. Aaron H.P. Ho, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

(SPIE Fellow, HKIE Fellow, Professor, Biomedical Engineering)

 

Short bio: Professor Ho received his BEng and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Nottingham. Currently serving the Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), as the department chairman and a professor, he has been with the Department of Electronic Engineering and held positions as Associate Dean of Engineering, CUHK; Assistant Professor in Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong; Senior Process Engineer for semiconductor laser fabrication in Hewlett-Packard. His service in the professional and academic community includes Chairman of Hong Kong Optical Engineering Society; Chairman of IEEE Electron Device/Solid-State Circuits (ED/SSC) Hong Kong Chapter, Admission Panel member of Technology Business Incubation Programme (IncuTech) operated by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP); Council Member of The Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). His current academic interests focus on nano-sized semiconductor materials for photonic and sensor applications, optical instrumentation, surface plasmon resonance biosensors, lab-on-a-chip and biophotonics. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles, 33 Chinese and 6 US patents. He is a Fellow of SPIE and HKIE.

Speech Title: Bio-detection based on Centrifugal Force-Actuated Microfluidics

Abstract: Typical microfluidic devices are based on the linear-flow strategy. Actuation of fluidic flow relies entirely on the use of pumps. We have explored the possibility of using inertial forces by spinning the fluidic device platform. This so-called centrifugal microfluidics approach has a unique advantage of offering sample actuation force anywhere within the rotating device platform, hence making it particularly suitable for conducting multiple bio-detection events simultaneously. Our effort focuses on the development of lab-on-a-disc devices for detecting target biomolecules. Sample-to-answer detection of several clinically relevant bacteria and pathogens, thus making the technique highly suited for point-of-care applications, have been demonstrated. We also report our recent effort in the development of a lab-in-a-centrifuge platform for conducting real-time monitoring of centrifugation and inertial force-actuated analysis of single molecules using a inverted pyramidal silicon nanopore.