Atam Dhawan, ECE Dept., NJIT
Time: 11:30 AM (Lunch), 12:15 PM (Presentation), Wednesday, October 19th, 2005.
Place: Royal Buffet and Grill, 1375 Rte. 35, Middletown, NJ. (732-275-1445)
(Intersection of Rte 35 and Kings Highway, in Middletown Plaza, next to ShopRite Store)
Reservations: $8.00 for IEEE Members (IEEE ID Required), $11.00 for non-members
Make reservations at http://ewh.ieee.org/r1/njcoast/, Click on "Online Registration", then "Register for Talk"

Abstract

Since the advent of x-rays, medical Imaging and computerized image analysis have made significant contributions in diagnostic radiology and health care. Several imaging modalities have been developed to acquire anatomical and physiological information about human body and organs. These modalities differ in basic principles of image acquisition but provide, in most cases, complementary information to define a physiological process. It is important to acquire and analyze all of the information describing the specific anatomical and functional behavior for diagnosis, treatment and therapeutic intervention. It becomes apparent that synergetic multidisciplinary efforts involving researchers from medicine, biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and computer science are needed for further advancement of existing imaging technologies. Such a synergy is also needed to invent new multiparameter imaging technologies to improve understanding and modeling of physiological behavior which could be used for early diagnosis of specific diseases and to devise better methods of treatment, intervention and clinical management. Future trends may include a virtual environment of interactions among researchers and clinicians through global databases and information processing modules involving models, simulations and clinical trials.

Our research group has been involved in developing medical imaging and intelligent image analysis methods for more than 15 years. Some of the projects including optical imaging of skin-lesions using Nevoscope (a patented technology), multiparameter and multimodality 3-D brain image fusion, and multifeature analysis will be discussed.

Biography

Atam P. Dhawan, Ph.D. obtained his B.Eng. and M. Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India. He was a Canadian Commonwealth Fellow at the University of Manitoba where he completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with specialization in medical imaging in 1985. In 1984, he won the first prize and the Martin Epstein Award in the Symposium of Computer Application in Medical Care Paper Competition at the Eighth SCAMC Annual Congress in Washington, D.C., for his work on developing a three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique to detect early skin-cancer called melanoma. From 1985 to 1988, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Houston. Later, in 1988, he joined the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor where he became Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, and Radiology (joint appointment). From 1990-96, he was the Director of Center for Intelligent Vision and Information System. From 1996-98, he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Adjunct Professor of Radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. From 1998-2000, he was Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Toledo and Director of Medical Imaging and Informatics Laboratory. Since 2000, he is Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Dr. Dhawan is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of SPIE, ASEE and Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society. His current research interests are medical imaging, multi-modality medical image analysis, multi-grid image reconstruction, wavelets, genetic algorithms, neural networks, adaptive learning and pattern recognition. He is the inventor of Nevoscope and Veinlite technologies that are now being commercialized for transillumination based optical imaging of skin-lesions and veins. His research work in the areas of medical imaging, multi-modality medical image processing, adaptive learning and pattern recognition has been funded by NIH, NSF, NASA, and a number of leading industries.  Dr. Dhawan has published more than 175 research articles in refereed journals, edited books, and conference proceedings. Recently, he has authored a textbook, Medical Image Analysis published by John Wiley & Sons.

Dr. Dhawan is a recipient of Martin Epstein Award (1984), National Institutes of Health FIRST Award (1988), Sigma-Xi Young Investigator Award (1992), University of Cincinnati Faculty Achievement Award (1994) and the prestigious IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Early Career Achievement Award (1995) and University of Toledo Dorman Distinguished Lecture Award (1999). He serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (1996-2002; 2004-present), Associate Editor of International Journal of Pattern Recognition, and on the editorial board of the International Journal of Computing Information and Technology. He has also served as an Assistant Editor of IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering (1995-2000). He has served on many IEEE EMBS professional committees and has delivered Workshops on Intelligent Biomedical Image Analysis in IEEE EMBS International Conferences (1996, 1997, 2000, 2003). He served as the Chair of the “Emerging Technologies Committee” of the IEEE-EMB Society from 1997-99. He served as the Chair of the “New Frontiers in Biomedical Engineering” Symposium at the World Congress 2000 on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. He is the Conference Chair of the 2006 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Conference to be held on August 31-Sept 3, 2006 in New York.

Dr. Dhawan is listed in Who’s Who In the World (2004, 2005, 2006), Who’s Who in America (2000-2006), Who’s Who in Engineering (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005), Who’s Who in Education (2002, 2006) and Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (2002, 2004, 2006).

For Further Information: Contact Rulei Ting (732)-420-3706, rt@ieee.org, Ying Cheng (732)-420-2449, ycheng@att.com, Sohail Jalal (732)-420-6143, sohailj@ieee.org, Jennifer Chen (732)-949-8748, yychen@ieee.org