Xiang Sean Zhou

Senior Staff Scientist, Program Manager

Computer Aided Diagnosis and Therapy Solutions

Siemens Medical Solutions

PA, USA

Research Interest:

Image processing, computer vision, pattern classification, and machine learning,

Content-based multimedia information analysis and retrieval

Education

1998-2002: Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering 

             (M. E. Van Valkenburg Fellowship Award)

Beckman Institute

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

            Thesis topic: Exploration of Visual Data

1996-1998: M. S. in Electrical Engineering

University of Cincinnati

Thesis: Adaptive Order-statistic Filters for Image and

3-D Data Processing

1988-1995: Ph.D. candidate (1993-1995) in Engineering Economics

B.S. in Electrical Engineering (1993)

B. Econ. in Economics and Management (1993)

Diploma: An Integrated Intelligent Scheduling System for

Large-scale Power Systems

Tsinghua University, China.

Professional Services

. Panelist, National Science Foundation, Intelligent and Information Systems, 2003.

. Program Co-Chair and Committee Member, International Conference on Image and Video Retrieval, 2003.

. Associate Editor, Pattern Analysis and Applications, Since 2005

. Program Committee Member and Reviewer for journals and international conferences in the fields of multimedia, machine learning, computer vision, and pattern recognition.

Honors, Awards, and Scholarships

. 2001 M. E. Van Valkenburg Fellowship Award, for demonstrated excellence in research in the areas of circuits, systems, or computers, Department of ECE, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

. 2000 Finalist: V. Dale Cozad Business Plan Competition, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

. 1998/99, 2000/01 Research Assistantship, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

. 1997 University Summer Research Fellowship Award, University of Cincinnati

. 1994 Huang Yu-jia Commemorative Scholarship, for excellence in research as a graduate student. Tsinghua University

. 1994 Guang Hua Scholarship for Graduate Students, First Prize. Tsinghua University

. 1993 Automation (Excellence) Scholarship (3 awarded among 750 students in department of Automation), Tsinghua University

. 1989, 90, 92 First Prize of Excellent Students, for excellence as an undergraduate student, Tsinghua University

. 1992 First Prize on the Exhibition of Scientific & Technological Innovation of Students (10 out of 750), Tsinghua University

. 1991 Guang Hua Scholarship for Undergraduate Students, First Prize. Tsinghua University

 . 1994 Honorary Member of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society of two-year colleges (one of 6 students from Beijing, China, selected during an Honor-Student-Exchange Program between Beijing Student Federation and the Phi Theta Kappa.)

Research Topics (more details):

. Statistical Approach for Contour Detection and Tracking: A learning-based detection and segmentation approach and a tracking framework incorporating system dynamics, measurement heteroscedastic noise, and a subspace model in a unified fusion framework.

. Conditional Feature Sensitivity Analysis: A new analytical framework bridging active recognition and feature selection, with possible applications in robotics, vision, and computer aided diagnosis in medicine. 

. Relevance Feedback in Multimedia Retrieval: BDA (Biased Discriminant Analysis), Kernel BDA, and One-class SVM as novel relevance feedback tools; relevance feedback for image regional matching; Cross-scale image matching

. Image Analysis and Modeling: Structural features and water-filling algorithm for efficient edge feature extraction; ICA-based probabilistic appearance and structure modeling for image matching and object detection.

. Video Streaming over Wireless Network: Optimal nonlinear sampling of video for streaming over low bit rate channels.

. Unifying Keywords and Visual Content in Image Retrieval: Combining low-level features (color, texture, structure) with high level semantic labels in image retrieval system; Pseudoclassification in image retrievalLearning semantic relations among keywords during image retrieval process; Intelligent dialog system design; Learning from user layout of images.

. Image Processing: Adaptive Order Statistic Filtersfor image and 3-D medical data denoising.

. 3-D Reconstruction: Camera calibration, parameter estimation and accuracy enhancement for 3-D reconstruction from range data. --Joint project with GE Aircraft Engine.

. Medical Image Processing: Active Contours for Medical/Brain Image (CT) SegmentationJoint project with University Hospital , Cicncinnati, Ohio

. Large-scale Optimization Algorithms Applied toward Power System Planning

. HMM for language and speech analysis and modeling

Summer Work:

Summer, 2001: SCR (Siemens Corporate Research).

Projects:

Semantic Key-frame Extraction and Optimal Nonlinear Sampling of Video for Low Bit Rate Streaming

Mentor : Dr. Shih-Ping Liou

Summer, 2000: MERL (Mitsubishi Electronic Research Lab).

Projects: (I worked on two projects)

PASM (Probabilistic Appearance and Structure Models for Images)

PDH (Personal Digital Historian)

Mentors: Dr. Baback Moghaddam, Dr. Chia Shan, and Dr. Neal Lesh

Summer, 1998: developed a 2-D barcode recognition system for a local startup company.

Publications

Book / Edited Proceedings :

Xiang Sean Zhou, Yong Rui, and Thomas S. Huang, Exploration of visual data, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003 

E. Bakker, T.S. Huang, M.S. Lew, N. Sebe, X. S. Zhou, Image and Video Retrieval, Proceedings of the International Conference on Image and Video Retrieval (CIVR 2003) Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2728, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-40634-4, July, 2003 

Book Chapters:

Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Small sample learning issues for interactive video retrieval in joint low-level feature and keyword space," in: B. Furht and O. Marques (ed.), The Handbook of Video Databases-Design and Applications, CRC Press, to be published in 2002/2003

Journals:

1. T. Chen, W. Yin, X.-S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, and T. S. Huang, "Total variation models for variable lighting face recognition", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. (To appear) 2006

2. X. S. Zhou, A. Garg, and T. S. Huang, "Nonlinear Variants of Biased Discriminants for Interactive Image Retrieval", IEE Proc. Vision, Image & Signal Processing (IEE-VIS), 2005

3. W. Yin, T. Chen, X. S. Zhou, A. Chakraborty, "Background correction for cDNA microarray images using the TV+L1 model", Bioinformatics, 2005

4. X. S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, and A. Gupta, "An Information Fusion Framework for Robust Shape Tracking," IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (T-PAMI), Vol. 27, No. 1, 115-129, Jan 2005.

5. D. Comaniciu, X. S. Zhou, and Sriram Krishnan, "Robust Real-Time Myocardial Border Tracking for Echocardiography: An Information Fusion Approach,"  IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging (T-MI), Vol. 23, No. 7, 849-860, 2004.

6. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Relevance feedback for image retrieval: a comprehensive review," ACM Multimedia Systems Journal, special issue on CBIR, vol. 8, no. 6, April 2003. pp: 536-544.

7. Xiang Sean Zhou, Thomas S. Huang, "Relevance Feedback in Content-based Image Retrieval: Some Recent Advances", Information Sciences, vol. 148, Dec. 2002, pp: 129-137.

8. Xiang Sean Zhou, S-P Liou, "Optimal Nonlinear Sampling for Video Streaming at Low Bit Rates", IEEE Trans. On Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Special Issue on Wireless Video, vol. 12, no. 6, June, 2002, pp: 535-544.

9. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Unifying Keywords and Visual Contents in Image Retrieval", IEEE Multimedia, April-June Issue, vol. 9 no. 2, 2002, pp: 23-33.

10. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Edge/Structural Features for Content Based Image Retrieval," Pattern Recognition Letters, Vol 22/5, Apr. 2001. pp 457-468.

11. Xiang Sean Zhou, Ruihua Yin, Wenjian Wang, Xiaogu Wu, William G. Wee, "Calibration, parameter estimation, and accuracy enhancement of a 4DI camera turntable system", Optical Engineering, Vol. 39(01), Jan. 2000, 170-174

12. Xiang Sean Zhou, Chundi Mu, "An Integrated Qualitative and Quantitative Decision Method for Long-term Dispatch of Hydrothermal Power Systems", Control and Decision (One of the key Chinese Journals in the area), 1996

Conference Proceedings:

1. J. Freund, D. Comaniciu, Y. Ioannis, P. Liu, R. McClatchey, E. Moley-Fletcher, X. Pennec, G. Pongiglione, and X.S. Zhou. Health-e-Child: An Integrated Biomedical Platform for Grid-Based Pediatrics. In Proc of Health-Grid 2006, Valancia, Spain, June 2006

2. Jing Xiao, Bogdan Georgescu, X S Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, and Takeo Kanade: Simultaneous Registration and Modeling of Deformable Shapes, IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'06), New York, NY, June 2006

3. Z. Tu, X.S. Zhou, A. Barbu, L. Bogoni, and D. Comaniciu: Probabilistic 3D Polyp Detection in CT Images: The Role of Sample Alignment, IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'06), New York, NY, June 2006

4. Zhuowen Tu, Xiang (Sean) Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, and Luca Bogoni, “A Learning Based Approach for 3D Segmentation and Its Application on Colon Detagging,” European Conf. Computer Vision (ECCV’06), Graz, Austria, 2006

5. Wei Hong, Bogdan Georgescu, Xiang Sean Zhou, Sriram Krishnan, Yi Ma, and Dorin Comaniciu, “Database-Guided Simultaneous Multi-slice 3D Segmentation for Volumetric Data,” European Conf. Computer Vision (ECCV’06), Graz, Austria, 2006

6. Yefeng Zheng, Xiang Sean Zhou, Georgescu Bogdan, Shaohua Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, “Example Based Non-rigid Shape Detection,” European Conf. Computer Vision (ECCV’06), Graz, Austria, 2006

7. Terrence Chen, Thomas S. Huang, Wotao Yin, Xiang Sean Zhou, “A New Coarse-to-Fine Framework for 3D Brain MR Image Registration,” Computer Vision for Biomedical Image Applications, First International Workshop, CVBIA 2005, Beijing, China, October 21, 2005, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3765 Springer 2005, pp: 114-124

8. T. Chen, T. S. Huang, W. Yin, and X.-S. Zhou, "A new coarse to fine framework for 3D brain MR image registration", IEEE International Workshop on Computer Vision for Biomedical Image Applications (in cojunction with ICCV) 2005.

9. T. Chen, W. Yin, X. S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, T. S. Huang, "Illumination Normalization for Face Recognition and Uneven Background Correction Using Total Variation Based Image Models", IEEE Int’l Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR’05), San Diego, CA, 2005.

10. B. Georgescu, S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, A. Gupta: Database-Guided Segmentation of Anatomical Structures with Complex Appearance, IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'05), San Diego, CA, 2005

11. B. Georgescu, X.S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, and B. Rao, "Real-Time Multi-Model Tracking of Myocardium in Echocardiography using Robust Information Fusion," Int'l Conf. Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI'04), France 2004

12. X. S. Zhou, A. Garg, and T. S. Huang, "A Discussion of Nonlinear Variants of Biased Discriminants for Interactive Image Retrieval", in Proc. Int'l Conf. on Image and Video Retrieval (CIVR'04),  Dublin City University, Ireland, July 21-23, 2004

13. X. S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, R. Cruceanu, B. Xie, and A. Gupta, "A Unified Framework for Uncertainty Propagation in Automatic Shape Tracking," IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'04), Washington, DC, 2004

14. X. S. Zhou, D. Comaniciu, and S. Krishnan, "Coupled-Contour Tracking through Non-orthogonal Projections and Fusion for Echocardiography," European Conf. Computer Vision (ECCV'04), Prague, Czech Republic, 2004

15. Xiang Sean Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, and Sriram Krishnan, "An information fusion framework for robust shape tracking," Int'l Workshop on Statistical and Computational Theories of Vision, Nice, France, Oct. 2003.

16. Xiang Sean Zhou, Dorin Comaniciu, and Arun Krishnan, "Conditional feature sensitivity: A unifying view on active recognition and feature selection," IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV'03), Nice France, Oct. 13-16, 2003.

17. S. Rajaram, A. Garg, X. S. Zhou and T. Huang, "Classification approach towards ranking and sorting," European Conf. On Machine Learning (ECML’03), Croatia, Sept., 2003.

18. Xiang Sean Zhou, S-P Liou, and T. S. Huang, "Optimal Content-Sensitive Temporal Sampling of Video under Bandwidth and Buffer Constraints," IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 26-29, 2002.

19. Baback Moghaddam, Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Factored Local Appearance Models," International Conference on Pattern Recognition, Quebec City , August 11-15, 2002.

20. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Small Sample Learning during Multimedia Retrieval using BiasMap", in Proc. IEEE Conf. Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Hawaii, Dec. 2001.

21. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, Exploring the Nature and Variants of Relevance Feedback, in Proc. IEEE Workshop on Content-Based Access of Image and Video Libraries, in conjunction with CVPR01, Hawaii, Dec. 2001.

22. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, Comparing Discriminate Transformations and SVM for Learning during Multimedia Retrieval, ACM Multimedia2001, Sept. 30-Oct 5, 2001, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 2001.

23. Milind Naphade, Xiang Sean Zhou and Thomas S. Huang, "Multimedia understanding: Structuring and Automatic Annotation," NCSA/NIMA/NSF workshop on Motion Imagery, Washington D.C. , Nov., 2001.

24. Xiang Sean Zhou, B. Moghaddam, T. S. Huang, ICA-based probabilistic local appearance models, ICIP2001, Greece, 2001.

25. Z. Xiong, Xiang Sean Zhou, William Pottenger and Thomas Huang "Speeding up Relevance Feedback with Triangle-Inequality based Algorithms," ICASSP'2002, Orlando, Florida. May 13 - 17, 2002.

26. Y. Chen, Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, One-class SVM for Learning in Image Retrieval, IEEE Intl Conf. on Image Proc. (ICIP'2001), Thessaloniki, Greece, October 7-10, 2001.

27. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, Unifying Keywords and Contents for Image Retrieval, International Workshop on Content-Based Multimedia Indexing, Italy, September 19-21, 2001.

28. Xiang Sean Zhou, Thomas S. Huang, "A generalized relevance feedback scheme for image retrieval", Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4210: Internet Multimedia Management Systems, 6-7 November 2000, Boston, MA, USA.

29. Milind Naphade, Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, Image Classification using labeled and unlabeled images, presented at the SPIE Intl. Symposium on Voice, Video and Data Communications, Program on Internet Multimedia Management Systems, Nov 6,  Boston, 2000.

30. Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Image retrieval: Feature primitives, feature representation, and relevance feedback", IEEE Workshop on Content-based Access of Image and Video Libraries (CBAIVL-2000), in conjunction with IEEE CVPR-2000, Hilton Head, SC. June, 2000.

31. Zhou, X. S., T. S. Huang, "Image representation and retrieval using structural features," Proc. ICPR2000 (Intern. Conf. on Pattern Recognition), Sept., 2000, Spain.

32. Zhou, X. S., T. S. Huang, "CBIR: from low-level features to high-level semantics", Proc. SPIE Image and Video Communication and Processing. 2000, San Jose, CA. Jan.24-28, 2000

33. Zhou, X. S., Y. Rui, and T. S. Huang, "Water-filling: a novel way for image structural feature extraction", Proc. IEEE Inter. Conf. on Image Processing, Kobe, Japan. Oct. 25-29, 1999

34. Rui, Y., X. S. Zhou, and T. S. Huang, "Efficient access to video content in a unified framework", Proc. IEEE Inter. Conf. on Multimedia Computing and Systems, Florence, Italy. June 7-11, 1999

35. Zhou, X. S., William G. Wee, "Adaptive Order Statistic Filters for Noise Characterization and Suppression without A Noise-free Reference," Proc. SPIE AeroSense Symposium, Orlando, Florida. 1998

36. Zhou, Xiang, Chundi Mu, "A Decomposition-Coordination Algorithm with Constraint Self-Regulation for Long-term Dispatch of Multiple Reservoirs", Third Universities Symposium on Automatic Control, Beijing, China, 1994

Invited Talk/Papers

Xiang Sean Zhou, Thomas S. Huang, Invited talk on image retrieval for IMA Workshop on "Digital Libraries - Classification, Retrieval and Visualization", February 26-March 2, 2001

T. S. Huang, Xiang Sean Zhou, "Image retrieval by relevance feedback: from heuristic weight adjustment to optimal learning methods", invited paper ICIP2001, Greece, October, 2001

Xiang Sean Zhou, T. S. Huang, "Relevance Feedback in Content-based Image Retrieval: Some Recent Advances," Invited paper 6th Joint Conference on Information Sciences (JCIS), Durham, North Carolina, March 8-14, 2002

T. S. Huang, Xiang Sean Zhou, Munehiro Nakazato, Ira Cohen, and Ying Wu, "Learning in Content-based Image Retrieval," invited talk, 2nd International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL'02), MIT, June 12 - 15, 2002

(Click here to download representative papers.)

Teaching Experience

. 1/98 - 6/98 (Winter and Spring): College of Evening and Continuing Education, University of Cincinnati

Lecturer for undergraduate courses: "Network Analysis II, III"

. 3/98 - 6/98 (Spring Quarter): University College, University of Cincinnati

Lecturer for undergraduate course: "Computer Networks" (Novell Network Management)

. 9/97 - 12/97 (Autumn Quarter): College of Evening and Continuing Education, University of Cincinnati

Lecturer for undergraduate courses: "Electronics I" and "Network Analysis I"

. 04/97 - 06/97 (Spring): College of Evening and Continuing Education, University of Cincinnati

Lecturer for undergraduate course: "Feedback Control"

. 93 - 94: School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, China.

Teaching Assistant, undergraduate course: "Operations Research"

. 92 - 93: Department of Automation, Tsinghua University

Student Advisor, for a class of 30 undergraduate students